''Happy's Place'' is an afternoon children's television program that aired on WFFT-TV in

Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...

, in the 1980s and 1990s.

Background

The program was known for its two-hour block of children's programming (in later supplied by the

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

network) that initially aired from 3 to 5 in the afternoon. In the mid to late 1980s, programming included ''

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'', ''

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'', ''

The Smurfs ''The Smurfs'' (french: Les Schtroumpfs; nl, De Smurfen) is a Belgian comic franchise centered on a fictional colony of small, blue, humanoid creatures who live in mushroom-shaped houses in the forest. ''The Smurfs'' was first created and in ...

'', ''

He-Man He-Man is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the sword and planet ''Masters of the Universe'' franchise, which includes a toy line, several animated television series, comic books and a feature film. He-Man is characterized by h ...

'', '' Saber Rider'' and ''

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''. The original program was called ''Happy's Hour'' which began broadcasting in 1976 on

WTVQ WTVQ-DT (channel 36) is a television station in Lexington, Kentucky, United States, affiliated with ABC and MyNetworkTV. Owned by Morris Multimedia, the station maintains studios and transmitter facilities on the outer loop of Man o' War Boule ...

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...

, with Tim Eppenstein playing the character of Happy and Mike McMellon providing the voice of Froggie. During programming breaks,

Happy Happiness, in the context of mental or emotional states, is positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. Other forms include life satisfaction, well-being, subjective well-being, flourishing and eudaimonia. Sinc ...

, who was a

clown A clown is a person who performs comedy and arts in a state of open-mindedness using physical comedy, typically while wearing distinct makeup or costuming and reversing folkway-norms. History The most ancient clowns have been found in ...

dressed as a

hobo A hobo is a migrant worker in the United States. Hoboes, tramps and bums are generally regarded as related, but distinct: a hobo travels and is willing to work; a tramp travels, but avoids work if possible; and a bum neither travels nor works. E ...

, would do children's activities from the WFFT studios. In the show, he had a sidekick named Froggie, a

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods ...

(voiced by Craig Beaverson). Froggie had his own morning program on WFFT, entitled ''Froggie's Pad''. ''Froggie's Pad'' featured children's cartoons such as '' ThunderCats'' and ''

SilverHawks ''SilverHawks'' is an American animated television series developed by Rankin/Bass Productions and distributed by Lorimar-Telepictures in 1986. The animation was provided by Japanese studio Pacific Animation Corporation. In total, 65 episodes were ...

''. Later on, Chester T. Fox (Paul Moring) and Lawn Boy (Rick Miller) were added.

History

The original program was called ''Happy's Hour'' which began broadcasting in 1976 on WTVQ, Channel 62 in Lexington, Kentucky, with Tim Eppenstein playing the character of Happy and Mike McMellon providing the voice of Froggie. The voice of Froggie was later provided by Greg Rice. Eppenstein, McMellon, and Rice all reunited in 2011 for the documentary film ''When Happy Met Froggie'', which reunited the cast and crew of the show. The documentary film also featured interviews with actresses

Lana Wood Lana Wood (born Svetlana Lisa Gurdin; March 1, 1946) is an American actress and producer. She made her film debut in ''The Searchers'' as a child actress and later achieved notability for playing Sandy Webber on the TV series '' Peyton Place'' a ...

and

Morgan Brittany Morgan Brittany (née Suzanne Cupito) is an American actress born in Los Angeles. She is known for her role as Katherine Wentworth, the scheming younger half-sister of Pamela Ewing and Cliff Barnes, on the prime-time soap opera ''Dallas''. Care ...

, who made guests appearances on the original television show. Charles Willer was slated to be the first Happy, but he turned the job down when WFFT asked him to retire his other locally-known clown character, Chuckles the Clown, as a condition of employment. The original Happy was then played by Mike Fry, a television show host-turned inventor. Fry left the show in 1990 to concentrate on the gourmet fortune cookie company he started with girlfriend Kim Harvey in 1988. Happy's Place was visited by "Cousin" Happy (Chris Danielson), dressed in the same hobo apparel when the original Happy blew out his knee and needed surgery. This injury was the result of Mike slipping off the roof of the "Happymobile"—a customized golf cart—during Fort Wayne's Three Rivers Festival Parade in 1988. A new "Happy" (Phillip Colglazier, now the executive director of the Fort Wayne Civic Theatre) eventually joined the show when Mike Fry left to pursue his inventing career. That Happy eventually left the show to a fourth Happy the Hobo (Adrian Guenther), who went on to work for

WPTA-TV WPTA (channel 21) is a television station in Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States, affiliated with ABC, NBC, and MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Gray Television alongside CW+ affiliate WISE-TV (channel 33). Both stations share studios on Butler Roa ...

. The show featured an in-studio audience, in which children met Happy on TV during breaks between programs in a single file line. Children were chosen to play games on the show. Parents had a place to sit on the side and were not shown to be part of the TV audience. When the kids were leaving after the show was over, they were all given goodie bags containing treats like Pop Weaver microwave popcorn, Astro Pops suckers, and

Archway Cookies Archway Cookies is an American cookie manufacturer, founded in 1936 in Battle Creek, Michigan. Since December 2008, it has been a subsidiary of Lance Inc., a snack food company, which in turn merged with Snyder's of Hanover to form Snyder's-Lanc ...

. From 1981 to 1997 ''Happy's Place'' was a live program, and no recordings of ''Happy's Place'' were saved by WFFT, however there are some episodes on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

. The best known theme song of the show was the song "Give It Up" by

KC & The Sunshine Band KC and the Sunshine Band is an American disco and funk band that was founded in 1973 in Hialeah, Florida. Their best-known songs include the hits "That's the Way (I Like It)", "(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty", "I'm Your Boogie Man", ...

. Mike Fry (aka the original Happy) died on November 5, 2012, at

Indiana University Health University Hospital Indiana University Health University Hospital is a teaching hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, affiliated with the Indiana University School of Medicine and Indiana University Health. With nearly 1,100 physician faculty members a ...

of an autoimmune disease.

References

{{reflist 1980s American children's television series 1990s American children's television series Local children's television programming in the United States American television shows featuring puppetry Television shows about clowns