The happy days the actors shared more than a love of acting.
As Brian Levant and Fred Fox Jr., producers and showrunners of the beloved series, discuss in their new book – 50 Years of Happy Days: A Visual History of American Television Classics — The cast also had a baseball league where they played together.
“In the chapter called ‘Barnstorming a Softball Team,’ we talk about how Garry Marshall improved the relationship between the cast. He even improved our relationship with the cast, being able to be with them off the set. We made amazing memories,” Fox Jr. tells PEOPLE.
“Marion [Ross] says Garry started a construction baseball team them on the team, but the discipline and teamwork that was displayed on stage carried over to the field,” says Levant.
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Henry Winkler talks to a Dodgers player at a charity event.
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Ron Howard and Henry Winkler are reuniting at the 2024 Emmys for their 50th anniversary happy days: ‘I feel at home’
“And Marion is so funny, we talk about how she used to tell people, ‘I’m a 53-year-old woman who has to tell my friends that I can’t go shopping because I’m coaching baseball,'” he adds. with a laugh.
What started as a fun hobby that served as another way for the cast to bond eventually became a beloved tradition. Moreover, they were good, they just lost a few matches. Their team would even be open to major league teams at the height of the show’s popularity.
They also used sports as a way to honor the soldiers, traveling and meeting with the soldiers at the stations they made to play games. The cast and crew participated in two USO tours as well as a number of charity events, showcasing the skills of the team.
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The cast and crew of “Happy Days” lined up in baseball uniforms in 1979.
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Together they visited the border between East and West Germany, seven years before the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The tradition continued even after the end of the show, Fox Jr. reveals. and the Levant in the book.
“At 6 a.m. on November 12, 1983, the morning after taping their last ever episode, they flew to Okinawa and swept four games in four days against military teams across the island outpost,” they share.
The passage continues: “Even for people used to being the center of attention, on both trips, the entire group was overwhelmed by the incredibly warm response they received from the soldiers and their families.”
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Source: HIS Education