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.

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.