Retro Weekend Rewind: Fonzie and Laverne & Shirley Cartoons, Mego Fonzie Motorcycle, and Morning Funnies Cereal

For this month's edition of The Retro Weekend Rewind we’re taking a quick look at a couple of 80s cartoons, based on a couple of 70s T.V. shows, that took place in the 50s. That’s a time paradox that would make Doc Brown proud. 

Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley were two great sitcoms created by the legendary Garry Marshall in the mid 70s. (AKA The Marshall-verse) I loved these shows, as a kid, so when I saw comic book ads for new cartoons based on the shows I was ecstatic! 

Both animated shows were produced by the King of Cartoons: Hanna-Barbera Productions. The Saturday Morning versions were huge departures from the sitcoms since they involved time-travel, talking animals, and other staples of animated Saturday morning entertainment.  (And for a 6yr old me in the early 80s it was awesome!)

The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang - This 'toon aired from 1980-1982.  The show featured Fonzie, Richie Cunningham, and Ralph Malph time traveling with a girl from the future named Cupcake.  Most Saturday morning cartoons had anthropomorphic animals and this show was no different with the introduction of Fonzie's dog Mr. Cool! The original Happy Days cast did the voices of their animated counterparts. 

Voice Cast:
Fonzie - Henry Winkler
Richie - Ron Howard
Ralph - Donny Most
Cupcake - Didi Conn
Mr. Cool - Frank Welker
Narrator - Wolfman Jack

The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang intro

Laverne and Shirley in the Army - This cartoon aired from 1981-1982 and featured the girls, you guessed it, joining the Army. The cartoon was loosely based "You're in the Army Now" which was a two part episode of Laverne & Shirley from 1979.   Something the cartoon version had that the live action episodes didn't was a talking pig that out-ranked the girls name Sgt. Squealy.  Like "Fonz and the Happy Days Gang" this cartoon was also voiced by the cast of the show.

Voice Cast:
Laverne - Penny Marshall
Shirley - Cindy Williams
Sgt. Turnbuckle - Kenneth Mars
Sgt. Squealy - Ron Palillo

Laverne & Shirley In The Army intro

Fonzie and Fonzie's Motorcycle - Both of these toys were released in 1977 by MEGO. The motorcycle was batterie powered and had a "Twist Out Action" that made the toy ride across the floor and twist back around, on it's own, to change directions. The Fonz figure (Sold separately) had "Thumbs Up Action" thanks to a switch on his back. The motorcycle was later used for the CHiPs toy line. Even though Iwas only a year old when Fonzie and his motorcycle were released I still wanted one growing up. That's the power of the "Ayyyy!"

Fonzie's Motorcycle Commercial 

Morning Funnies Cereal Commercial - This cereal combined two of my favorite things: reading the newspaper funnies and ingesting as much sugar as possible first thing in the morning. Morning Funnies Cereal was released in 1988 by Ralston Cereals. The cereal was multi-colored fruit flavored smiley faces. The box featured comic-strip characters from King Features Syndicate like Dennis the Menace, Beetle Bailey, Hagar the Horrible, Hi and Loise, and others. The great part of this cereal was that the back of the box opened up to reveal multiple pages of comic strips to enjoy while eating breakfast.

Morning Funnies Cereal commercial

Hope everyone enjoyed this "Perfectamundo" trip down memory lane! If you have any suggestions for a future Retro Weekend Rewind be sure to comment below or email us at nearmintfanboys@gmail.com