Oh man, feel the Fort Wayne love. Yeah, Happy’s Place! I watched that show every day after school at my babysitter’s. And Froggy’s Pad in the morning. I remember Thundercats… Detective Gadget… all the classics. I SO always wanted to be in the audience. Remember how they’d always mention what the kids got in their grab bags at the end? My sister told me a few years ago that they’d changed Happy’s, and then eventually that it had gone off the air. That’s too bad. It was like Wayne’s World for the under 10 set.

But Small Wonder was eeeevil. 🙂

Steve Schenk! or Shank! That was him, right?

Hah! That’s right, Steve Shine. I knew it was Steve Something, but I couldn’t for the life of me remember. I can hear his voice in my head, though. He was the newsguy there for as long as I could remember.

Well, thanks to the wonders of the Internet I managed to track down Happy. He’s running a gourmet fortune cookie company (I shit you not). Maybe he knows. Shall we e-mail him? 🙂

Did you ever get the answer to the voice behind the frog? I used to watch Happy’s Place, too. Now I’m living in NC. I did a search of Happy’s Place and your site popped up!

I used to watch Happy’s Place all the time. But what was the point of Lawn Boy? Seriously. I guy who wore a construction helmet and a sweat-shirt with a cereal brand on it just makes no sense. I remember when that frog used to have his own show in the mornings. But if anyone knows of any images i can find of that show, please let me know

Ahhhh. Happy’s Place. I had to look it up to see if anyone on the Internet had mentioned it. Mainly, it was to make sure I wasn’t crazy. You know how you sometimes have memories that aren’t really memories? Some sick part of your mind just decided to make it up and mess with you. I had to make sure that wasn’t the case with my Happy’s Place memories. Because, now that I think about it, Happy’s Place is a sick sick memory. Thanks for confirming it. I’m both relieved and disturbed.

Craig Beaverson was the vioce of Froggy. I know it was really a show at 16 I was forced to go along with my clown group to be on the show…but atleast I got to use my clown name and face and not my real name and face….as a kid I used to beg to be allowed to go…never happened until way after I was over it oh well it was a good show and had great cartoons.

to add to our fox 55 knowledge base, steve shime’s kids name is evan shine and he is the worlds biggest pot head. my friend was in a drivers training class with a while back, and the kid could barely talk.
kinda sad.

yeah i used to watch happys place too, but not because i liked it, i always thought it was so boreing. but that was back in the day before i got a computer and my first c++ compiler. actually i hated that show but for some reason i watched it anyway…

Seriously Vinnie? That is amazing. I always wondered how many Happys there were. I do remember that theme, or atleast one of them, it was an old 70’s song and I can’t who did it or what it was called. I heard it a few years back on some stupid old navy or gap commercial and still can’t figure it out, oh well. Yeah I miss that show, even though it scared me a little.

Anyone remeber when the original Happy fell off the Happymobile during the 3 Rivers Parade and broke his leg and they subbed in “Cousin Happy” for awhile….wow, how I love Super 55 Fox nostalgia!!!

The fortune cookie company link doesn’t work. I’d like to email Happy. Anyone have contact info?

I was on Happy’s Place when I was 5 yeas old and its still haunts me to this day (I’m now 23)! My grandmother taped it from t.v. so me, my mother, my aunt and cousin could watch ourselves. My mother did a “we’ll be right back” thing with Happy for commercial break. Unfortunatly, my brother taped over the show a week later with a TMNT episode so Happy is gone. I am looking for some archive that might have every single episode for sale or something like that so if anyone has any suggestions, send them to me!

A guy I went to high school with was a technician or cameraman or something at Channel 55, and he once mentioned that when Happy would go through the stack of pictures kids would send in, somehow centerfolds would make their way into the stack, and whenever Happy would say, “Um, let’s skip this one”, that was why.
Channel 55 was a hoot when it first came on in late 1977…It was the first Fort Wayne station to stay on all night (other than when 33 had the Jerry Lewis telethon)…During the Blizzard of 78, Kent Hormann would stand outside and give live weather updates, and get pelted with snowballs the entire time. They used to have their prime time lineup (all old reruns before they were known as “classic TV”) run on a crude character generator…When they showed “Alfred Hitchcock Presents”, they didn’t have enough room to type in the whole title, so it would usually just read “A. Hitchcock”. Another buddy of mine swore that once, it read simply “A Cock”…Trippy.

This is Craig Beaverson (aka Froggie). To answer all of the questions youmay have.
1. There were 4 Happys.
1) Mike
2) Cousin. His name ?
3) Adrian
4) Philip
2.Mike fell and blew his knee out while doing a handstand on top of the Happy Mobile.

3. No recordings of Happys Place where saved by 55 or any of us involved with the show. In hind sight that was very stupid.

4. Dagaboy, your friend is wrong, big time, the CG “A Cock” never aired. End of story.

Wow! As a former New Haven resident, I too have memories of Happy’s Place, Steve Shine, Shocker Theatre and the Hilger’s Market commercials (they had a wonderful crop every year as I recall.) Probably because it was the same commercial year after year!!!
I cannot believe that Froggie is on this thread. Did you have to talk different to make your voice sound like that, or is it actually that deep and froggish?
My swim coach was a sports therapist and he either provided physical therapy to Happy after he blew out his knee, or he delivered his knee brace or something like that. As a child at the time, that was exciting news!!
Does anyone recall the programming that was on channel 10 public access around 1989 or 90? I remember this show that was two guys jamming, one on guitar and a guy playing drums who always used these crazy facial expressions to accompany their music. My dad and I could usually watch for 5 or 10 minutes, then would have to change it. That’s all I remember about ACPL channel 10 public access.

Huh. Mike’s comment there led me to do a new Internet search on the original Happy… and whaddaya know, he’s now a toy inventor!

what a great show i saw the website 4 the toys and its got his e-mail add. and phone number

This topic is probably dead by now but it can’t hurt to reminisce a little myself. My kid was watching a cartoon called Voltron on cartoon network recently and I swore I’d seen it before so I googled it and the people that made it made a show called Saber Rider. Some of you probably remember it being one of the cartoons that were shown on Happy’s Place. Well to make a long story longer I called my mom up and had her bring over a stack of VHS that had been in her garage for almost 15 years. Among them I found to episodes of Happy’s Place from Monday August 8, 1988 and Monday January 15, 1990. Those are really specific date because at the beginning of the episodes Happy uses a monitor to tell what day it is. My brothers and I went on the show more than a few times and it was awesome each time. At the end of the show they gave all the kids a bag of stuff. That was quality television and as I can tell from the other people that posted on here they enjoyed the show as much as I did.

Well I found some more Happy the Hobo information out so I thought I would share it with the group. This is an article about “Cousin Happy” his name is Chris Danielson and he is a pastor. Here is where I found the article.

http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070226/NEWS01/702260312

Has anyone on here given anymore thought to putting together a Happy’s Place fan site? I have looked all over the web and this seems to be the only place that has any real on going discussion on the topic.

My grandpa took me to Happy’s Place when I was three. That was in the old old days when Mike Fry was Happy. When he quit, there was a two year wait list to get tickets to the show. He was so over the top and crazy! His sister Deb used to babysit my cousins. Then, when I was in high school, I went to a methodist church camp, and Chris Danielson (cousin Happy) was the keynote speaker. He was friends with the pastor of my church so I got to hang out with him and ask him some Happy’s Place questions. Fast forward to March 2007. I had an interview to work at Lincoln Financial Group, and the guy that interviewed me for the job was Adrian Guenther. Yep, another Happy the Hobo has come into my life. So I work with him now, and he’s a real cool guy. Now if I can just meet this Philip guy I will have met every Happy the Hobo. And no offense to Craig, but I’m kind of disappointed to find out that Steve Shine wasn’t really the voice of Froggie.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3350196052212016221&hl=en

Mike Fry was of course the true Happy from my childhood, but when I was in high school, a bunch of my friends and I religiously watched the new Happy (Adrian, correct?), who was on with Lawnboy and Chester. I didn’t care about the cartoons at that point, but some of the comedy those guys pulled off was hilarious. A lot of it was borderline subversive — stuff that would go right over kids’ heads or just be too absurd for them to find humorous. It was strange and surreal –somewhat akin to Pee Wee’s Playhouse, but with a far less expensive set and a studio audience. One of the latest memories I have of the show is of Lawnboy standing in a field while trying desperately to give tickets to the show away to cows. His cracking voice had a piteous quality to it that made almost every line he delivered ridiculously funny. One other thing I remember is that it seemed that every time the Goofy Game-O-Rama involved projectiles (Frisbees, Nerf darts, etc), Chester was the MC. This era was very different from the Happy1 days, but it is almost as special to me. Did anyone else out there notice this strange brand of humor? And does anyone out there know the identities of Lawnboy or Chester?

Gah I miss Happy’s Place, I too used to watch it all the time as a kid, I grew up in Warsaw, Indiana. So I know how it feels also. I wish there was still videos of it around, but sadly non-exist, if anyone has any videos rip and upload them to youtube please.

I don’t know Lawnboy’s identity. All I remember is that Lawnboys used to be my dad’s hero….funny.

I work @ Super Fox 55 and I can confirm that all shows from the 80’s have either been lost or are w/ people who are no longer work here.
The theme song is “Give It Up” by KC & The Sunshine Band from 1984.
Froggy was played by Graig Beverson who still works here and is the last link left to Happy’s Place @ Fox 55.
If I get a chance I will make vids of shows starting with 1991 but all the footage is on MII tapes & we really don’t use those machines much anymore.
My brother was on the show in 1984 & picked me to say hello to.

Hi, great string you have here, I was the fourth and final Happy…6 years on the job until I finally ran the show into the ground.

I too grew up watching Mike Fry as Happy, that’s how I learned how to juggle and that was really my only qualification to get the job in the first place. I never made it on the show as a kid but I did meet the original Happy at a basketball game when I was in middle school.

Lawnboy was played by a cameraman named Rick who is still a really good friend of mine, he lives in Louisville where he is one of the top photogs for a Louisville News Team…he’s won a bunch of Emmys for his shooting.

Chester was played by a guy named Paul who I’ve lost touch with…you out there Paul?

Our comedy was a little over the top and we sure didn’t have the audience Mike could capture in his day. We did have a blast though, enjoyed every minute of the show. It eventually got cancelled because people weren’t buying enough breakfast cereal or something like that.

I still live in broadcast range of FOX 55 (formerly SUPER 55 FOX) and have tons of our show skits on VHS. I can’t even get my kids to watch them.

Ok, Kris. Here’s a little nostalgia. Flashback to the blizzard of ’78. Little Kristy is only 10-1/2 mos. old. Daddy, Grandma Vee, & Grandma Harter got snowed in @ Mamaw’s house in Auburn. Your uncle Rick walked to our house on top of the fence by the school because they were worried about us. Your Aunt Deb, Rick & Mike were all snowed in at home. Our neighbor was an oxygen supplier and the county dug out a lane on our street with a backhoe to his house so he could get out and deliver oxygen to someone. The fire department came down and rescued us on snowmobiles. You screamed the entire way to Grandma Vee’s house. Once we got there, it was fun time! You got to play with your uncles and Channel 55 was broadcasting 24 hours a day (only one then). And I remember the guy giving the weather outside! Wow, Happy’s Place & Froggie’s Pad. You poor kids. We should never have had TV.

I also was on Happy’s Place in 4th grade. A friend of mine had a birthday party there and we all went. I wore my parachute pants, a bandana tied on my knee, and my spiked red leather bracelet (yeah, just a bit over the top for a 4th grader). But, because I was SO cool, probably not, I got to do the bump into break and say “We’ll be right back”. We didn’t have a VCR, so my mom tried to take a picture of the TV, but she used a flash and the picture was ruined. FLASH FORWARD 20 YEARS… I have worked in at WPTA/Indiana’s NewsCenter for almost 9 years. I have met Lawnboy/Rick when he was still in town and we were both news photogs. I worked with Adrian after the merger. I know Philip from The Civic. And I work with one of the original Happy’s Place producers here at the station. It’s funny how things kinda come full circle. I too would love to see some old footage. If anyone has any and needs help transferring it, please get in touch, I would love to help.

Thanks for the link!

Dum diddy dum dum dum. diddly doo da
http://www.myspace.com/mikelfry

Oh my god. Looks like Mike Fry is having a Happy Jr.!

Check his wife’s Myspace page.

dude.

I was amazed to find this site.. My little brother and I would watch Happy’s Place every day after school.. we never made it on to the show, but we did see Happy(Mike Fry) at Southtown Mall once, and he wouldn’t give us the time of day, he was to busy talking to the pretty blondes in the food court.. That changed our attitude about the show from that point.. but even still it is a memory from my past and I am all for nostalga (ok so i can’t spell)

I’ve been a happy fan for as long as I can remember television. One thing that has been at the back of my mind every time someone mentions the show is during the show sometime in the mid 90’s I swear the music they played when they cut to commercial was the melvins. The first time I heard it I was in shock and none of my friends would believe me and never watched the show to find out for themselves. Can someone please tell me if I’m going crazy or what, the song I think it was is sweetis off the album stonerwitch, it was only a few seconds of it right before the commercials. any help would be greatly appreciated I’ve been trying to prove this for years.

rick miller is who played lawn boy
i met him at a fort wayne wizards game
then he was a camera man for nbc33 news
after they got sold i nevere heard from him again.

I’m sure whoever owns this board is hoping this will eventually die, so sorry to revive. Never on Happy’s Place, but I don know where all the old footage is 😉

You see I’m Mike Fry’s wife. You should facebook him. He’s there and will give everyone the time of day, even if you aren’t a “hot blond.” LOL…

Anyway a bloopers reel was just uploaded to youtube not too long ago.
Link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbunpRVp21I

Hope you all enjoy it! Mike would love to hear from you. He gets emails quite frequently and always replies to them. Whoever is reading, Have a great day!

Incidentally, I just realized that the first couple comments from this discussion were missing, making the jump to the “Happy’s Place” discussion really random. Not sure what happened there, but I’ve restored the missing ones.

This sure has brought back some memories for me. I did some time at 55 too. I remember when Mike was hired. The place turned upside down shortly after the first show was broadcast and was never the same. Everything took second place to Happy. He was on fire and had kids screaming with laughter for years. What an impact!

hello fellow lovers of Happy’s Place this is ChesterTfox 🙂 glad to talk to you out there I’m still alive and still have the costume, well preserved. There is so many stories, and wild times. I started 55 as a film shipping editing clerk, and work myself into the posisition of Chester. I do not know if it was a step up, but it was fun times. Thanks for watching the show everyone it’s nice to know we touched so many hearts and souls. Thanks for the opertunity to entertain you.

I saw it. Pretty sad. He was still too young!