Book Review: My Days, Happy and Otherwise

 Book Review: My Days
Happy and Otherwise by Marion Ross

Sunday, Monday, Happy Days, Tuesday, Wednesday, Happy Days, Thursday, Friday, Happy Days, Saturday, What a Day… 

Happy Days aired from 1974 through 1984 and was a major hit for ABC—though now, in a confusing series of events that I don’t understand, CBS owns the show. Season 2 streams on Paramount+ and if you’re an old fan or if you’ve never heard of the show, you can check it out and then join me in demanding that they start to stream the other seasons. 

The show revolved around the life of Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard) and his family and friends. A couple of seasons into the run of the show, Henry Winkler’s character, Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli, became the “breakout star” of the show, though for fans, all of the characters were beloved.

Marion Ross played Mrs. Marion Cunningham, Richie’s mom, on Happy Days as well as Sophie Burger on Brooklyn Bridge. A talented actress whose determination to succeed is inspiring, she came to fame late in life. After reading this book, I can’t help but wonder why she wasn’t a megastar before the 1960s even started.

For me, there is no better TV mom, and I couldn’t wait to read her book. 

She grew up the way many people do, poor but not realizing it when she was younger. It’s only later as you grow up that you realize people have different situations and everyone isn’t living the same sort of life. From a young age, she harbored a secret dream to be a Broadway stage actress, but it was television where she found fame. 

Her role on Happy Days grew as the seasons went on, and I was always so glad when her character had a big part in an episode. She always had the best lines, the big “Ooooh” moments because of her unique relationships with the other characters. For me, many of her lines have stood out over the years, and it was more for her delivery than for anything else. 

You have to know the impact this show had. If you didn’t live through it, you might not understand its popularity. This was THE show on TV. Everyone watched. The fame of the characters, the actors and actresses was unparalleled at the time. Mrs. C was the epitome of the perfect ‘50s housewife/mother as far as any one in the ‘70s and early ‘80s thought. What she really did, though, was reinvent the ‘50s housewife for a ‘70s audience. In one episode, she’s reading The Feminine Mystique. In another episode with a plot revolving around a time capsule to be opened 100 years in the future, Mrs. C says she hopes women will have more of a say 100 years in the future. These are things a woman of the ‘50s might never have let herself sat aloud, but Marion Ross made them perfectly relatable, and reasonable.

Mrs. Cunningham was always a favorite of mine. I was sure she was brilliant, even though she hid behind the ’50s norm of appearing to defer to her husband. In Season 2 Episode 15 The Not Making of the President, Mrs. C confesses to her husband that she didn’t vote the way he thought she’d voted and in Season 5 Episode 27 Fonzie for the Defense, Mrs. C turns a 1 cent sale at her husband’s hardware store into a financial windfall and he doesn’t understand how she did it. 

After Happy Days was cancelled, she took the role as Sophie Berger on Brooklyn Bridge and played her to perfection. According to the book, there are people today who believe she’s Jewish because she played this part so well.

Marion Ross is a woman who knows her craft. 

Beyond the two TV shows, I’ve seen her guest appearances on other TV shows and I’ve seen her in films, but I hadn’t known about her years working for Paramount Studios and her time on stage. 

Her biography is a great joy to read. She gives you a peek into her life and keeps it engaging and revealing. You come away knowing more about this amazing, talented woman and respecting her all the more. 

Get to know this icon of pop culture. It will feel like going home.