Howard develops a sore throat. It is later diagnosed as tonsillitis. He must go to the hospital for an operation. He asks Richie to work at the family hardware store in his place on the Saturday night. Richie had plans to go to a rock’n roll concert with Arlene but he cancels them so he can do the shift.
(Episode Five – Hardware Jungle)

Richie must ask the Fonz, whom he bought the tickets from, for his money back. However Howard tells Richie he can close the store early, meaning he can still go to the concert. After receiving his money back from Fonzie, he approaches him again to re-buy the same tickets.

Richie completes his shift at the hardware store alongside his friend Potsie. When it is time to leave, Richie accidentally locks himself in. In an attempt to retrieve the keys which are on the outside of the door Richie puts his foot through a plate glass window.

Richie gives his concert tickets to Potsie and tells him to go on without him.. Richie stays behind to wait for the glass repairer. Visiting his father in hospital the next day, Howard tells Richie he is proud of him for the responsibility he showed.

In HAPPY DAYS, Howard Cunningham, or ‘Mr C’ as he later became known, owned his own hardware store named CUNNINGHAM HARDWARE. An internet search reveals a hardware store in Pennsylvania, U.S that goes by that same name today.

To see Henry Winkler (Fonzie) display his current acting smarts, check out the recently released third season of the HBO American dark comedy crime drama television series BARRY. In it Winkler plays an acting coach whose students include a hired hitman. BARRY is available in Australia on BINGE – FOXTEL NOW – APPLE TV – AMAZON PRIME – HULU – and ITUNES.

Local hood Skizzy challenges Ralph Malph to a drag race. They both agree it will take place at the old airport road at 9pm that night. Potsie decides to stay over at Richie‘s house that night. Later Ralph appears outside Richie’s bedroom window. He tells Richie the race has been rescheduled for midnight.
(Episode Four – Guess Who’s Coming to Visit)

At 11:30pm Richie and Potsie sneak out of the house to attend the drag race. Richie is appointed the race starter. He is just about to wave down the signal flag to commence the race when Howard and the police both turn up at the same time.

Everyone attending the race, including Howard, are forced to attend the local police station. There they are warned by the local sergeant about the illegality of drag racing.

When they arrive back home, Howard grounds Richie ‘for life’. Marion later forces Howard to downground the punishment to two weeks.

This was the episode being filmed when musician John Lennon and his son Julian visited the HAPPY DAYS set. The visit resulted in the now widely-circulated photo below taken with the cast of the show.

Potsie invites Richie to his cousin Arnold’s stag party at the Crystal Hotel. In preparation for the night, the pair drink many cartons of milk to line their stomachs for the alcohol they plan to drink. Fonzie tells them olive oil will do the job better.
(Episode Three – Richie’s Cup Runneth Over)

At the party Potsie and Richie are presented with cigars on arrival. They’re then shown some nude playing cards. Next they join a drinking game called ‘Sloppy 60’s. The aim is to down one shot of brew every 60 seconds – ‘first one out is a draft dodger’.

The entertainment for the night is a girl called Verna La Vern, who pops out of a cake. Verna gives Richie a lift home. Howard is waiting and begins making cups of coffee for a clearly intoxicated Richie. Howard delivers his ‘drinking doesn’t make you a man’ speech.

Howard : You didn’t have too much to drink, now, did you?

Richie:  Oh, that’s silly. All we had was some beer in teeny-weeny glasses.

Howard: How many teeny-weeny glasses did you have?

Richie:  72…

Howard: I think it’s time for some teeny-weeny cups of coffee.

Richie pulls up in the carpark of Arnold’s driving his family car. A series of comments directed his way make him aware the vehicle he is behind the wheel of is considered ‘uncool’. When Ralph Malph arrives a few moments later in a flash red convertible, and drives away soon after with Betty and Trudy, Richie gets the message that a new set of wheels is something he must have.
(Episode Two -The Lemon)

Potsie and Richie pool their funds together – $175 in total – to buy a second hand car. Word quickly spreads that the pair now have their own car. Betty and Trudy call the Cunningham house and leave a message asking Richie to meet them at Arnolds.

Richie and Potsie arrive at Arnolds in their new car and receive a lot of compliments. However it is not long before mechanical problems strike. The boys ask Fonzie to fix the car. He does but for payment asks to keep the car’s shiny silver hood ornament (‘the best part of the car’).

Potsie and Richie go on a date with Betty and Trudy – “up at the lake to watch the submarine races” – in the newly fixed car. A series of things again go wrong ending with the car rolling into the lake with the girls in it after Richie leaves the handbrake off.

Howard turns up to take everyone home and delivers some wise words to Richie along the way. Richie and Potsie end up selling the sodden car to Fonzie for $25 for scrap metal.

Wouldn’t say I’m the sort of person who takes a great interest in car makes and models, but for those who do, the 2nd-hand car Richie and Potsie buy with their $175 is a 1950 Chevrolet Styleline De Luxe Convertible.

Potsie has set up a date for Richie with a girl he knows named Mary-Lou Milligan. Richie is advised to read passages from the racy book “I, THE JURY” by author Mickey Spillane (1918 – 2006) on the date. This is so Richie can show how worldly he is, since Mary-Lou is a ‘girl with a reputation’.
(Episode One – All the Way)

Richie asks Mary-Lou if she’d like to go to a movie with him that night. Mary-Lou says she can’t since she has to babysit at the Kellys. She invites Richie to drop by the Kelly’s residence to join her. Prior to the date, Richie receives advice from Potsie about particular ‘moves’ he should try while he is alone with Mary-Lou.

At the Kellys, Mary-Lou and Richie sit together on a couch. Richie reads some passages from the book I, THE JURY. After a period of awkward conversation, Mary-Lou ends nervous Richie’s anxiety by turning to him and asking, “Do you want to neck?”.

Mary-Lou tells Richie he kisses funny. Richie suggests they do something else. They find a chessboard and begin playing.

The next day all of Richie’s friends want to know ‘how far he got’ with Mary-Lou. While not exactly lying, Richie doesn’t correct his friends when they falsely come to believe he went far beyond the kissing stage with Mary-Lou.

Bothered by the deception, Richie later consults his father about what to do. Howard advises Richie he will feel better if he comes clean about what really happened on the date.

Richie corrects the false assumptions to his friends, including Fonzie, about his date with Mary-Lou. He learns from Mary-Lou that of all her dates, he is the only person who’s been totally honest. Her ‘reputation’, she says, has only been created by guys wanting to big-note to their friends with embellished tales about what went on.

The scene where Fonzie approaches the bathroom mirror to comb his hair but decides it’s perfect the way it is (at the two minute mark in the video), was created partly by way of improvisation on the part of actor Henry Winkler.

As it was originally written, Fonzie was meant to look into the mirror, pull his comb from his back pocket, and begin some ‘adjustment grooming’. Henry Winkler believed Fonzie’s ‘Mr Cool’ character would regard what he viewed in the mirror as perfect the way it was.

This ‘nothing needs improving’ walk-away from the mirror became one of the Fonze’s signature moves throughout the series.