Click here to listen to Newsradio 620 WTMJ's Jay Sorgi report on the Fonz's presence officially coming to the downtown Riverwalk.
Interview: Henry Winkler on Wisconsin's Morning News
Downtown Milwaukee will soon see a familiar character in a statue: "The Fonz" in bronze in downtown Milwaukee.
It will find a permanent home on Milwaukee's riverwalk over Labor Day Weekend, thanks to people who've raised the necessary $85,000.
Actor Henry Winkler, who played the ultra-cool Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli on the Milwaukee-set TV show "Happy Days," couldn't be more happy.
"Somebody thinks that the character is 'whatever' enough to make a statue in the city where the character lived and grew up," said Winkler.
He's especially thrilled he didn't have to model it.
"That was the clincher, that I didn't have to be covered in metal, was the reason I actually said yes."
Winkler, who talked on Newsradio 620 WTMJ's Wisconsin's Morning News, says he even told the Fonz himself.
"He lives in a small room in our house, and he is thrilled to death," states Winkler, with tongue firmly planted in cheek.
"He can't wait to come and see himself bronzed."
Seriously, though, Winkler is back in town for a talk on dyslexia, a condition he still battles, while also conducting a press conference to celebrate the statue going up.
He says Milwaukee's always been a special place for him and the Happy Days cast.
"We've always been treated with unbelievable warmth, no matter how cold it gets in Milwaukee, and that's the truth," says a grateful Winkler.
"The hometown, the Fonz, Milwaukee, everybody thinks of this wonderful fantastic city in the Midwest."
When he flew in Friday morning and saw what the city's become since he portrayed the city's favorite TV character, he responded with fervor.
"This is amazing!" exclaimed Winkler. "It's grown, it's beautiful, it's a fabulous city."
"I just say a big thank you to all the Milwaukeeans who thought this was a good idea."
Local Groups Thought Of It
Dave Fantle, spokesman for VISIT Milwaukee, which markets the area, said the idea for the statue came from his group and Spirit Milwaukee, a civic booster group, about a year ago.
They had learned that the TV Land icon statue program was planning a statue of Fonzie and soon learned it was interested in putting it in Milwaukee. The effort was responsible for a Mary Tyler Moore statue in Minneapolis and one of Bob Newhart in Chicago, among others, but the cable network later ended the program.
So the two Milwaukee groups took it upon themselves to get donors who gave $2,000 or more, including TV Land, to raise more than $85,000.
In addition, funds were raised from nearly 300 T-shirts and "Bronze the Fonz" thumbs-up cookies sold at a Jefferson, Wis., bakery.
Steven Palchinski, 22, of Martensville, Saskatchewan in Canada, said he would like to take a trip to Milwaukee to see the Fonz statue. He said he's been watching "Happy Days" since the early 1990s and liked how the show used Fonz to help prompt kids to read or show emotion.
In one episode Richie Cunningham almost dies in a bike accident and the Fonz started to cry at his bedside.
"This was put in because some teachers wanted to show their autistic students that emotion was OK and they used the Fonz in all his ... awesomeness to prove that to them," Palchinski said in an e-mail. "It was sheer genius in my opinion."
In November, he even started a group on the social networking site Facebook called "Bronze the Fonz." It has four members so far and Palchinski expects to get more soon.
Beauty, or in this place cool, is in the eye of the beholder. Mike Brenner, who started Hotcakes Gallery four years ago, said the statue -- which he called a monstrosity -- was originally billed as art but after some in the art community complained, it was called a "trinket."
He plans to close his gallery permanently, partly because of the statue. Brenner already wasn't doing well financially and blames it on the lack of local interest in the arts and city leaders' lack of vision.
The few pieces of public art in the city are poorly maintained, Brenner said. He said he wouldn't have a problem with the statue if city leaders did more to promote the local arts. The statue perpetuates the perception that Wisconsin doesn't have more to offer than the Packers, serial killer Jeffery Dahmer and the show "Happy Days," Brenner said.
"Can we just try to move forward, a little bit?" he said.
"It's a publicity stunt that has dramatic effects about our perception."
Winkler said everyone has a right to his or her own opinion.
He personally loves the Fonz.
"He introduced me to the world," Winkler said. "He put a roof over my head. He put my children through college. He was fun to play and he introduced me to a second family who I love to this day."
Fantle said he's spoken with Brenner and another disenchanted gallery owner and hopes everyone can "live harmoniously with the Fonz."
"We can either run and hide from our traditions -- beer, brat, fish fries, custard, "Happy Days," etc. or realize that they all embody good times and we should celebrate this," Fantle said in an e-mail.
Plans call for dedicating the statue around Labor Day, which coincides with Harley-Davidson Inc.'s 105th anniversary celebration. That's set for Aug. 28-31.
An exact spot hasn't been chosen, but it will likely be along the Milwaukee River.
Winkler, who's also a producer and director, just finished a run as Captain Hook in "Peter Pan" in London. He has also written a series of best-selling children's books called, "Hank Zipzer: The World's Greatest Underachiever."
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)