# Fonz statue.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fonz-statue/460659
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [August 20, 2008, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fonz-statue/460659 "2008-08-20T12:36:12Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Petrobey\_Mavromihalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Petrobey_Mavromihalis)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2008, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fonz-statue/460659/1 "2008-08-20T12:36:12Z")
Any of you lot live in Milwaukee? Is this new [statue of the Fonz](http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/08/entertainment_enl_1219223257/img/1.jpg) as scarcely horrible as it seem?
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2008, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fonz-statue/460659/2 "2008-08-20T13:35:41Z")
It looks like a proof of concept demonstration for a CGI mimetic poly-alloy Christopher Walken for _Terminator IV_.
…and there’s nothing scarce about the “horrible” there.
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### Author:  [@Petrobey\_Mavromihalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Petrobey_Mavromihalis)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2008, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fonz-statue/460659/3 "2008-08-20T13:53:17Z")
[QUOTE=Larry Mudd]
…and there’s nothing scarce about the “horrible” there.
[/QUOTE]
I was setting you up for that pun. No way I’d misspell scarily and then choose the wrong option from the spell checker. No, not I. :smack:
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2008, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fonz-statue/460659/4 "2008-08-20T14:10:12Z")
Is this another TVLand tribute? We saw the Mary Tyler Moore statue in Minneapolis last summer and yes, it’s a terrible likeness. I can’t imagine that TVLand payed all that much to have it made. If this is the same kind of thing, then yes, I can imagine how scarily horrible it is.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2008, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fonz-statue/460659/5 "2008-08-20T14:30:48Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Is this another TVLand tribute? We saw the Mary Tyler Moore statue in Minneapolis last summer and yes, it’s a terrible likeness.
The statue of Elizabeth Montgomery in Salem, MA isn’t bad. But that Fonz looks terrible. According to the TV Land website, they just dedicated the Fonz statue yesterday, so it does indeed appear to be their handiwork:
[http://www.tvland.com/landmarks/the\_fonzie\_statue.jhtml](http://www.tvland.com/landmarks/the_fonzie_statue.jhtml)
> **[Milwaukee joins cities with statues honoring TV characters](https://www.twincities.com/2008/08/17/milwaukee-joins-cities-with-statues-honoring-tv-characters/)**
>
> MILWAUKEE — Tourists and locals alike will soon get to take a photo with a piece of Milwaukee history: Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli giving the thumbs-up.
> A life-size statue of the leather jacket-wearing character from…
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### Author:  [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2008, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fonz-statue/460659/6 "2008-08-20T14:32:40Z")
Dear og, I don’t know which is scarier: that statue or what Henry Winkler looks like today. Okay, it’s the stautue. It looks like Bizarro-Fonz.
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### Author:  [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2008, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fonz-statue/460659/7 "2008-08-20T14:40:58Z")
The Bob Newhart one by Navy Pier in Chicago is cute. He’s sitting in an armchair with a pad and pencil, and there’s a bronze couch next to the chair so you can get your picture taken having a session with Dr. Bob Hartley. And it’s a decent likeness.
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2008, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fonz-statue/460659/8 "2008-08-20T14:58:40Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay]
Is this another TVLand tribute? We saw the Mary Tyler Moore statue in Minneapolis last summer and yes, it’s a terrible likeness.
[/QUOTE]
At least it’s [not](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2118/2175646625_59d233dd12.jpg?v=0) her [current insectoid look](http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/03/04/marytyler_sgran_7954674_600.jpg).
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2008, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fonz-statue/460659/9 "2008-08-20T15:03:48Z")
[QUOTE=Lute Skywatcher]
At least it’s [not](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2118/2175646625_59d233dd12.jpg?v=0) her [current insectoid look](http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/03/04/marytyler_sgran_7954674_600.jpg).
[/QUOTE]
Eek! She’s creeping up on Joan Rivers in the “Excessive and Unnecessary Plastic Surgery” category.
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### Author:  [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2008, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fonz-statue/460659/10 "2008-08-20T15:26:22Z")
> [@](#):
>
> TV Land fully sponsored six other statues, but has since ended the program. Those are Mary Tyler Moore in Minneapolis, Bob Newhart in Chicago, Elvis Presley in Honolulu, Ralph Kramden in New York City, Samantha from “Bewitched” in Salem, Mass., and Andy Griffith in Raleigh, N.C.
Perhaps they realized that once they’d put a tool-belted statue of Pat Harrington in Indianapolis the obscurity point would have been passed
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### Author:  [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2008, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fonz-statue/460659/11 "2008-08-20T18:24:50Z")
Somewhere in Phoenix, there’s a diner waiting for its Linda Lavin statue to arrive.
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### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2008, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fonz-statue/460659/12 "2008-08-20T19:01:23Z")
Milwaukee native here. I’m surprised and happy to see how many of the _Happy Days_ / _Laverne and Shirley_ casts (and producer Gary Marshall) came for the dedication. They were all guests for a Brewer game at Miller Park, where Henry Winkler threw the first pitch. I would have loved an episode of _L&S_ where the gals get jobs as two of the [Klement’s Racing Sausages](http://www.klements.com/racing_sausages/index2.html).
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### Author:  [@Petrobey\_Mavromihalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Petrobey_Mavromihalis)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2008, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fonz-statue/460659/13 "2008-08-20T19:17:55Z")
But do you like the statue?
Be honest . . .
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### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2008, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fonz-statue/460659/14 "2008-08-20T19:28:34Z")
Seen from the wrong angle, it doesn’t look like Fonzie at all. And the jeans look teal, not indigo. After seeing the Mary Tyler Moore statue, I’m starting to think that bronze isn’t the best medium for celebrity likenesses.
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### Author:  [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2008, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fonz-statue/460659/15 "2008-08-20T19:29:58Z")
I live in Milwaukee and I think the statue is pretty awful-looking. I really don’t see the point of it either, beyond a few whimsical photo ops for visiting tourists. It’s a fictional character on a tv series that never even filmed here. Are we so devoid of notable locals we couldn’t come up with anything better than this??
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2008, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fonz-statue/460659/16 "2008-08-20T19:38:47Z")
[QUOTE=SaharaTea]
I live in Milwaukee and I think the statue is pretty awful-looking. I really don’t see the point of it either, beyond a few whimsical photo ops for visiting tourists. It’s a fictional character on a tv series that never even filmed here. Are we so devoid of notable locals we couldn’t come up with anything better than this??
[/QUOTE]
You kind of have to plug into the whole TVLand winking irony-free/irony-full campiness to “get” these statues. In the beginning, the whole thing (the aforementioned TVLand winking campiness) was kind of fun and amusing, if you could get yourself looking at it at the right angle. The conceit is getting old now, though.
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### Author:  [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2008, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fonz-statue/460659/17 "2008-08-20T19:44:15Z")
I’d rather see a statue of Barry Zuckercorn jumping over a shark.
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### Author:  [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2008, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fonz-statue/460659/18 "2008-08-20T20:19:08Z")
New York City has a TV Land statue of Ralph Kramden outside the Port Authority Bus Terminal. When the New York Rangers made the NHL playoffs a few years ago, they put a Rangers jersey on Ralph…#39. I thought that was pretty clever. (For those not in the know, _The Honeymooners_ ran for 39 episodes, referred to by fans as “the classic 39.” The so-called “lost episodes” which are part of the Viacom syndication package were actually routines from the original _Jackie Gleason Show_.)
I’d have to see The Fonz in person to give an opinion, but according to Winkler himself, there is one clever bit done on the statue: the initials of Winkler and his wife were placed in the veins of The Fonz’s hands, which Winkler claims Michelangelo did with his own initials on _David_.
(Is the “The” in “The Fonz” capitalized, like [The Cheat](http://www.hrwiki.org/index.php/The_Cheat)? I would assume someone as cool as The Fonz would have the “The” as part of his name.)
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### Author:  [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2008, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fonz-statue/460659/19 "2008-08-20T20:36:57Z")
[QUOTE=SaharaTea]
Are we so devoid of notable locals we couldn’t come up with anything better than this??
[/QUOTE]
From what I’ve read, that is the point sticking in the craw of most, that and “Do we not have an appreciation of better art?”
The likeness is godawful though. A lot of people will cuss themselves for ever making eye contact with it.
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### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2008, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fonz-statue/460659/20 "2008-08-20T20:58:30Z")
[QUOTE=lieu]
From what I’ve read, that is the point sticking in the craw of most
[/quote]
[Donny Most?](http://www.jsonline.com/site/photographerphotos/slideshow.aspx?PhotoID=26750&fileType=JPG&Source=Thumbnail&catid=1468&PageNumber=0)
[QUOTE=lieu]
that and “Do we not have an appreciation of better art?”
[/QUOTE]
Think of The Fonz as a counterweight to Santiago Calatrava’s [Burke Brise Soleil](http://www.mam.org/visit/details/detail_burke.php) or the [Bradley Sculpture Garden](http://www.onmilwaukee.com/ent/business/bradleysculpture.html?dontforce=true).
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