The FONZ Visits Boston!

THOUSANDS upon thousands of adults had their childhood reproduced before their very eyes over the weekend as the FONZ visits Boston! 

It was a special treat for Happy Days and Barry fans at the three day Fan Expo Boston at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.  

If you are not familiar with Fan Expo, get ready for a visual ride of yesterday and today. It's the exhibition center FULL of collectors item comic books. Also, you'll see on camera stars of your favorite past and present TV shows, movies and animated features. Add to that, you'll see many familiar movie and TV props. How about a picture next to the DeLorean from Back To The Future, or the Batmobile, from the Batman television series?

The gigantic line to meet the iconic Emerson grad, was worth it for the thousands of Happy Days and Barry fans. Henry, not only played The Fonz on Happy Days, he is a Hallmark movie star regular, as well as a regular on HBO's Barry. Henry, next to Barry star Bill Hader plays the narcissistic, snarky acting teacher, Gene Cousineau. Meeting Henry, was an honor.

During the first season of Happy Days, Henry's Fonz character, had limited lines. But his performance was so compelling and memorable, by the second season, Winkler became the breakout star. In one radio interview Ron Howard who played Richie Cunningham said he became nervous about Winkler's rise to fame. "I became threatened when I noticed Henry getting more lines than ME. I was the star, and Henry stole the spotlight!"

But when Happy Days ended, Henry found it difficult to find work, because he was SO identified with the Fonz character.  Henry told the LA Times that it took 8 or 9 years at a time to get work and it was debilitating. "I didn't know where to find it, whatever it was, I didn't know what I was going to do, I had a family, a dog, a roof, Oh my God." We are happy to report, happy days are back, for Henry!

Winkler wasn't the only fan favorite at Fan Expo Boston. Hayden Christensen made an appearance. He played the adult Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader in two Star Wars movies. Henry Winkler was not the only iconic actor that suffered from typecasting. You would think that after being the guy behind Vader, the Force would be with you.  That was not the case for Hayden. After Star Wars some reports say his film career floundered. One film Jumper, got some exposure, but who saw it? I am happy to report that Disney brought Hayden back to revive his duel characters on the Disney + shows, Obi Wan, and the upcoming Star Wars series, Ahsoka, starring Rosario Dawson as a Jedi Knight.

As I got to meet him, he looked me square in the eye, shook my hand and said "thank you brother," when I mentioned how happy fans are that Anakin is back! His appreciation was heartfelt. Maybe, it WAS the Force!

So, let's go find Henry Winkler as The Fonz visits Boston! Who else paid a fun visit to our fair city?

This happy fan is my wife Heidi, who was SO happy to meet the Fonz! Henry Winkler was awesome to every fan!

That's Jedi Jaybeau on the left with REAL Jedi Knight, Star War's star, Hayden Christensen.

Does this guy look familiar? If you're a fan of HBO's The Last Of Us, you'll recognize actor Gabriel Luna, who played Joel's brother Tommy. Joel is played by Mandalorian star Pedro Pascal. Gabriel also stars next to Arnold Schwarzenegger in Netflix Fubar. 

Two excited fans dressed as Star Wars III Padme, ready to meet Hayden.

This guy is a SERIOUS fan of The Mandalorian!

Excited fan ready to meet Hayden, dressed as Star Wars, Episode IV, Princess Leia.

Heidi with her favorite nerd.