Of course, Happy Days questions haunt scholars around the globe but I don’t care. I am a working man who made the mistake of half-remembering Richie Cunningham’s Brother this morning at work and I have spent the remainder of the day trying to remember… Chip, Skip, Chuck… ???
I checked the internet tonight and only found a link which was invalid for reasons I don’t understand, or care to understand.
I am also curious as to why Richie’s Brother only appeared in limited episodes. Was he a college boy? Prison term? A part-time tranvestite in New York City?
An answer to any/all of these questions will allow me to sleep tonight.
First season only, IIRC. At first he was Richie’s mentor figure, teaching him the pitfalls of teendom (fake IDs, drink milk to coat your stomach before drinking, etc.). After they decided that the father was a better character to do that there wasn’t much else for the writers to have him do. So he went away to college and was never mentioned again.
Actually, there were 2 actors who played Chuck, Gavan O’Herlihy and Randolph Roberts.
Chuck just didn’t go off to college, he vanished from existance! In the last episode of HD (Joanie and Chachi’s wedding shudder), Mr. C is making a toast and says something about his “two wonderful children”.
Poor Chuck! Of course, to keep him company, the Winslows (of “Family Matters”) phased out their daughter Judy. Now their friends in TV Limboland.
Another “lost child” is Joan Caucus-Redfern’s eldest son in the comic strip Doonesbury. In the early strips when she was first introduced, Joan was a wife who left her husband and two children. Years later, her daughter reappeared in the strip and Joan remarried and had another son. Not only was her first son never mentioned again, but in one strip she described herself as a mother of two children.
I’m not a Happy Days scholar, but couldn’t Mr. C have been talking about Joanie and Chachi when he talks about his “two wonderful children”? You know how it is, parents regarding those who marry their children to also be their children.
This was mentioned today in my Onion daily calendar. It was an article written by Ralph Malph called “Why do people laugh every time I do something funny?” in which he speculated about the source of the laughter and cheers that occurred anytime he or his friends did something. He also wondered what ever happened to Chuck. (“I’ve asked about him from time to time, but I just get blank stares. It’s as if he never existed!”)
I was actually an assistant editor on a cable tv documentary about Happy Days, so I’ve become a bit of an expert. I’m not proud.
One part of the documentary which should air someday was a cute bit having each member of the cast talk about whatever happened to Chuck. Tom Bosley would apparently joke that he had gone off to the Yukon or deep in Africa or somewhere to study. Marion Ross (whom the Fonze kiddingly describes as Lusty!!) giggles all the way through that part of the interview, saying that they had tragically lost not one, but three Chucks! (I think if you check the IMDB, you’ll find listings for 3 different actors).
Chuck’s big thing was bouncing a baskeball wherever he went, whether etiquette allowed it or not.
And yeah, Potsy started out as a wise ass, but ended up taking a second banana role when Fonzie came in.
Did you know the fella who played Potsy had a big singing career (well, at least in Japan I think he was big)?
And there was a cartoon called “Fonz and the Happy Days Gang” about Richie and the Fonz traveling through time together?
I have lots more Happy Days fun facts if anyone’s interested. Oy.
I recall that Ron Howard returned to make the finale, and it was Richie and Joanie that Mr. C was addressing.
Another missing character: Dr. Mark Piper (Paul Fix) from “Star Trek”. He was the doctor in the third episode, “Where No Man Has Gone Before”. In reality, this episode was the 2nd pilot. Since the show was accepted on this pilot, they kept most of the characters, but replaced Piper with McCoy.