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The Fonz Made Leather Coats Equal Cool

The Fonz Made Leather Coats Equal Cool

Leather jackets have long been seen as a symbol of what it means to be American, and to be cool. The most famous wearer of a leather coat is the Fonz, a character on the sitcom Happy Days.

Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli, popularly known as Fonzie or simply the Fonz, was a fictional character on Happy Days, which ran for a decade from 1974 to 1984. The Fonz was played by Henry Winkler, who was almost always seen wearing a brown leather coat. The Fonz was directly associated with his leather jacket, which became an icon representing all the things that made a teenager cool.

The character Fonzie is a leather coat wearing mechanic who lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin sometime in the late 1950s. Although he is a high school dropout and is seen by the establishment characters in the show as a rebel, he has a number of skills and qualities such as womanizing, strong loyalty, and sexual attractiveness. Despite the low opinion of the authorities, he commands tremendous respect throughout much of Milwaukee for his well-deserved reputation for fighting. In one particular episode, he won a duel against an expert fencer; in another, he literally mangled a gangster's prosthetic iron hand with one fist. He was also known as a skilled ladies' man and knowledgeable mechanic. In addition, the Fonz had a history of romantic involvement with virtually every attractive woman in Milwaukee, and had a level of imperturbable "cool."

The Fonz is cool in his behavior, but that quality has been attached specifically to his leather coat. His leather coat symbolizes the sexually attractive, virile, man that women want to be with and men want to be like. The Fonz, who quickly became one of the most popular characters on the show, was seen as influencing the behavior of an entire generation of kids, including popularizing leather coats.

Happy Days, which was a highly popular sitcom, at one point questioned promoting the leather coat wearing Fonz character. Creative differences between Happy Days' producers and ABC helped boost the Fonz's popularity. ABC executives did not want a sympathetic character such as the Fonz to appear in a leather jacket, which they thought would make him appear to be a thug, which is why the Fonz can be seen wearing a white jacket in early episodes. The compromise reached with the producers was to decree that Fonzie could only wear his signature leather coat if his motorcycle was in the scene, as a leather coat is legitimate safety apparel for someone riding a motorcycle. The show's producers responded by placing the motorcycle in all of his scenes, even indoor ones. The leather coat soon became trademark attire for Fonzie, leading to ABC to relax the Fonz's dress code. The jacket is now on display at The Smithsonian Institution, reminding all Americans who see it of the lasting legacy of cool embodied in a leather coat.

The wide range of viewers who watched Happy Days and believed the Fonz was cool helped make leather coats a symbol of teenage rebellion and spunk, as well as a symbol of what it means to be liked, cool, and worthy.