Episode 12 – In the Name of Love

Prom Queen Cindy Shellenberger asks Richie would she be his tutor. They agree Cindy will come over that night to Richie’s house so they can study together. Potsie invites himself over just to catch another glimpse of Cindy, but is quickly sent packing.

While in Richie’s room, Cindy asks Richie, “Do you want to kiss me?” Richie can’t believe his luck. After the kiss, and without skipping a beat, Cindy then presses Richie to explain the difference between a simile and a metaphor.

Richie then approaches Fonzie for dating advice. Fonzie says to take Cindy to the HALF MOON DRIVE-IN and park in row L alongside the 7th stall from the left. Richie questions whether that will be romantic enough. Fonzie replies, “The car speaker there is busted. There’s nothing to do BUT be romantic – unless of course you can lip read”.

At the drive-in, Richie asks Cindy would she like to go steady. She says she never goes steady unless she hears THE PLATTERS singing MY PRAYER. Explaining further, Cindy tells Richie some girls know when they’re in love when they hear bells, but for her it’s that song.

Ok, so this isn’t MY PRAYER. What it is, is THE PLATTERS (formed in 1952 and inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990) most successful #1 hit THE GREAT PRETENDER.

Richie then asks, “Why did you let me let me kiss you if you didn’t want to go steady?” Cindy explains that whenever she studies with boys, all they ever think about is how to kiss her. “So I give them one kiss and then we can concentrate on the books. It’s sort of a study system”.

The next morning Richie shares at the breakfast table his troubles winning the heart of Cindy. Marion tells the story of back when Howard was trying to woo her by using red paint to paint the words I LOVE YOU in symbols on the sidewalk outside her house.

Richie decides to do the same, writing in chalk on a sidewalk he knows Cindy passes on her way home from school every day. However when Cindy sees the engraving she fails to understand the symbols and Richie’s message falls flat.

No, "ewe." I love "ewe."

Later, Richie observes Cindy looking at a tattoo on the arm of a worker at Arnolds. Richie decides this is a way he can impress Cindy and heads to the tattoo parlor. Howard gets wind of Richie’s plan and heads down to the parlor to stop Richie.

Determined not to give up, Richie gets Fonzie to stencil a non-permanent image of a fish on his arm. When he shows Cindy however, she says she’s not crazy about tattoos but was just fascinated with the busboy’s one at Arnold’s “because he could make his wiggle”.

Richie uses a napkin to rub off his fish stencil-tattoo in front of Cindy. Finally accepting they will only ever be friends, Richie hands the napkin to Cindy, saying “I’d like you to have a memento of our relationship.”

For those who are interested in this sort of thing, apparently this scene, where Fonzie is shown reading a magazine while sitting in a booth at Arnolds, represents a goof.

The edition of HOT ROD MAGAZINE (published since 1948) read by Fonzie was from the same year the episode was filmed, 1974, yet HAPPY DAYS was set in the 1950’s.

10 thoughts on “Episode 12 – In the Name of Love

  1. That was involved! I gotta give it to Richie that time for trying everything. Cindy sounds like the classic definition of “spaced out.” I think she was too much of a character for him anyway. Funny note about the Hot Rod date. Now, when you say a “goof” do you mean a mistake or a joke?
  2. Yours is one of the worst for me, Glen, with the tech stuff. When I can’t “like” on other pages, if there’s a “follow” and/or “sign on” down in the corner, even though I already am signed on, if I sign on there, it then allows me to go in and “like” and everything else. Your site doesn’t even seem to have that at the bottom. Sorry to bog your site down with my complaints. Just keeping you updated, haha. Btw… RIP Olivia Newton-John
  3. That feedback will prompt me to go in and have another look in the dashboard, so thanks Stacey. Olivia Newton-John seemed like a genuinely nice person and is someone all Aussies will forever be proud to call their own. This clip, from the 1980 movie XANADU, features roller-skating choreography for the first 3 minutes and 25 seconds and then Olivia makes her entrance after that. Apparently, XANADU was based on the 1947 film DOWN TO EARTH in which Rita Hayworth played Olivia Newton-John’s role of “Terpsichore” (For those who know their Greek mythology, which is not many of us, ‘Terpsichore’ is one of the nine muses and goddess’s of dance and chorus). There’s irony there because what Aussies always loved about Olivia Newton-John, is that despite scaling the giddy heights of fame, she remained so down to earth in character and personality.
  4. Uh…that’s pretty amazing, Gene Kelly on skates! I don’t remember that at all!! And the ’40s video that Xanadu is based on–of course hubby already knew Xanadu was based on that earlier movie, lol !! I did NOT know, plus… the word Terpsichore…new word for the day!

Got thoughts? Wanna share some? Do you know just how much I would enjoy that?