Michael L. "Mike" Fry (October 25, 1960 – November 4, 2012) was an American serial

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

, entertainer, trainer and marketing expert. He was the original Happy the Hobo on the

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...

Happy's Place ''Happy's Place'' is an afternoon children's television program that aired on WFFT-TV in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in the 1980s and 1990s. Background The program was known for its two-hour block of children's programming (in later supplied by th ...

'', and the creative mind behind and owner of

Fancy Fortune Cookies Fancy Fortune Cookies is a company, founded by Mike L. Fry in 1988, that produces custom fortune cookies. History In late 1987, former circus clown and children's show host Mike Fry got the idea to produce custom fortune cookies, and left his jo ...

Entertainer

Mike Fry was born in

Watseka Watseka or Watchekee (c. 1810–1878) was a Potawatomi Native American woman, born in Illinois, and named for the heroine of a Potawatomi legend. Her uncle was Tamin, the chief of the Kankakee Potawatomi Indians. She was also known by the ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

but grew up in the Huntington,

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

area. He was the state

Tae Kwon Do ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean martial arts, Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast k ...

champion in 1979. He began

juggling Juggling is a physical skill, performed by a juggler, involving the manipulation of objects for recreation, entertainment, art or sport. The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling. Juggling can be the manipulation of one object o ...

at the age of fourteen, after finding out that his grandfather used to juggle dirt clods on the farm in rural Illinois. By the age of 17 he was juggling for audiences in the local area. Fry was accepted to the

Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College (originally located in Venice, Florida, then relocated to Baraboo, Wisconsin and finally Sarasota, Florida) trained around 1,400 clowns in the "Ringling style" from its 1968 founding until its 1997 ...

, in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

at the age of 19, graduating in 1981. He toured with the circus for the 1981 and 1982 season. He had the honor of being trained by three of the world's four Master Clowns:

Lou Jacobs Johann Ludwig Jacob (January 1, 1903 – September 13, 1992), professionally known as Lou Jacobs, was a German-born American Clown#Auguste, auguste clown who performed for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus for more than 60 years. ...

Frosty Little Glen Gordon "Frosty" Little (December 5, 1925 – October 26, 2010) was a circus clown who served with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus for over 20 years. He was one of only four clowns ever to have been given the title "Master ...

, and Bobby Kay. He trained in heavy object balancing, which included six-foot tables, small canoes, a twenty-five foot ladder, a running chainsaw, other people, sofas, and a television set. In 1981, he became a

Guinness Book of World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

record holder as part of a group that

juggle Juggling is a physical skill, performed by a juggler, involving the object manipulation, manipulation of objects for recreation, entertainment, art or sport. The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling. Juggling can be the manipula ...

d the most objects at one time. He left Ringling Brothers in 1982 and made the transition to television, where he wrote and co-produced ''Happy's Place'', one of America's highest-rated children's television shows, from 1982 to 1990. ''Happy's Place'' aired on

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 ...

affiliate WFFT-TV in 207 cities for eight years. At the height of the show's popularity there was a two-year wait for tickets to the show. He hosted a variety of guests from

The Harlem Globetrotters The Harlem Globetrotters are an American exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, and comedy in their style of play. Created in 1926 by Tommy Brookins in Chicago, Illinois, the team adopted the name ''Harlem'' because of ...

Jerry Mathers Gerald Patrick Mathers (born June 2, 1948) is an American actor best known for his role in the television sitcom '' Leave It to Beaver'', originally broadcast from 1957 to 1963, in which he played the protagonist Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver, the y ...

and Tiny Tim. After leaving ''Happy's Place'', Fry trained at

The Second City The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise and is the oldest ongoing improvisational theater troupe to be continually based in Chicago, with training programs and live theatres in Toronto and Los Angeles. The Second City Theatre op ...

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is ...

group in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. While in Chicago he also auditioned to play the role of

Bozo the Clown Bozo the Clown, sometimes billed as "Bozo, The World's Most Famous Clown", is a clown character created for children's entertainment, widely popular in the second half of the 20th century. He was introduced in the United States in 1946, and to te ...

, and did some writing for the show as a result. He was also an instructor at the Illinois Juggling Institute for one year while he lived in Chicago.

Inventor

During his role as Happy the Hobo, Fry became interested in inventing. In 1988 he started marketing his first viable invention, America's first gourmet flavored

fortune cookies A fortune cookie is a crisp and sugary cookie wafer usually made from flour, sugar, vanilla, and sesame seed oil with a piece of paper inside, a "fortune", usually an aphorism, or a vague prophecy. The message inside may also include a Chinese ...

. Since 1988 the company has greatly expanded on his original concept of gourmet fortune cookies, specializing in flavored, chocolate-dipped, giant, and decorated fortune cookies. In 1990 Fry started developing and marketing another of his inventions, the "Always There Bear". He spent twelve years developing, marketing and refining the idea, culminating in his invention being purchased by

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of ...

toys in 2002. His story is featured in the book ''The One Minute Millionaire'', by

Mark Victor Hansen Mark Victor Hansen (born January 8, 1948) is an American inspirational and motivational speaker, trainer and author. He is best known as the founder and co-creator of the ''Chicken Soup for the Soul'' book series. Early life Hansen was born to D ...

and Robert Allen. Fry worked with both Mark and Robert on the deal with Hasbro. His products have been used by

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

Ozzy Osbourne John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which period he adop ...

Jay Leno James Douglas Muir Leno (; born April 28, 1950) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and actor. After doing stand-up comedy for years, he became the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show'' from 1992 to 2009. Beginning in September 2009 ...

Conan O'Brien Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and producer. He is best known for having hosted late-night talk shows for almost 28 years, beginning with ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' (19 ...

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...

and many other noted

celebrities Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...

Trainer

In 2004 Fry joined up with his long-time friend and mentor Linda Chandler as a part of her Core Value Training Program. He used his experiences as a marketer, entrepreneur and entertainer to teach internet marketing strategies to thousands of international business owners.

Other works

Prior to his death, Fry was working on publishing his own children's joke book, using jokes from his live kids' show. He had collected kids' joke books for many years, and he had a huge collection of them. Fry was also working on a book pertaining to goal-setting based around hours of interviews with

adventurer An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

and author

John Goddard John Goddard may refer to: * John Goddard (engraver) (fl. 1645–1671), engraver *John Goddard (cricketer) (1919–1987), West Indian cricketer *Johnathan Goddard (1981–2008), American football player *John Goddard (adventurer) John Goddard (Ju ...

, who greatly influenced Fry to start his own life-list at age 23.

Death

On November 4, 2012 it was announced that Mike Fry had died at the

IU Medical Center The Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM) is a major multi-campus medical school in the state of Indiana. There are nine campuses throughout the state; the principal research and medical center is located on the Indiana University–Purdu ...

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

. He had suffered from an immune disorder for about 12 months. He was awaiting a liver transplant when he succumbed to the illness.

Media appearances

Books

* ''Purple Cow'' (on-line edition) - Seth Godin: Seth Godin chose Mike Fry's Fancy Fortune Cookies as one of the most unusual niche food companies. * ''The One Minute Millionaire'' - Mark Victor Hansen and Robert Allen: Used Mike Fry's invention and story as the basis for a fictional storyline. * ''Wake up and Live the Life You Love'' - Steven E. and Lee Beard: Featured Mike Fry's inspirational story along with that of Dr. Wayne Dyer, Mark Victor Hansen, and John Assaraf. * ''Be Unreasonable'' - Paul Lemburg: Used Mike Fry's Fancy Fortune Cookies idea as an example of an "unreasonable" breakthrough and innovative business idea. * ''Fortune Cookie Chronicles'': Featured Fancy Fortune Cookies, and Mike Fry's invention of the gourmet fortune cookie as part of the history of the fortune cookie.

Magazines

* ''Indiana Business Magazine'': "It's No Secret: Four important business trends revealed in Indiana's Growth 100 companies"

Newspapers

* 1988 '' Herald Press'' "Seeking a cookie fortune." * 1993 ''

New York Newsday ''New York Newsday'' was an American daily newspaper that primarily served New York City and was sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The paper, established in 1985, was a New York City-specific offshoot of ''Newsday'', a Long Island- ...

'' "Clowning Around With Cookies." * 2002 ''

Denver Daily News ''The Denver Daily News'' is a former free daily newspaper in Denver, Colorado. At the time of its closure on June 6, 2011, it distributed 25,000 copies Monday through Friday in stores, coffee shops, restaurants and workplaces. Copies could also b ...

'' "Some people can't give up the fortunes." * 2007 ''

Fort Wayne Journal Gazette ''The Journal Gazette'' is the morning newspaper in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It publishes seven days a week, and contends for circulation and advertising in a 15-county area. History ''The Journal Gazette'' traces its origins to 1863 when ''The For ...

'' "Wise Crackers: Hoosier inventor adds flavor buffet to fortune cookies." * 2007 ''

Indianapolis Business Journal ''Indianapolis Business Journal'', often abbreviated ''IBJ'', is a weekly newspaper published in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S. ''IBJ'' reports on Central Indiana business. It is the leading publication of IBJ Media. The newspaper was founded in 1980 ...

'' "Finding his fortune"

Television

* QVC: Fry appeared along with his Fancy Fortune Cookies on the show, sold out in less than three minutes.

References

External links

Official siteFancy Fortune Cookies web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fry, Mike 1961 births 2012 deaths American business theorists Business speakers