The site for the Fonzie statue has been chosen.
It won't be adorning the Chase Plaza on Wisconsin Ave. as originally planned. It will be tucked away on the riverwalk.
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
The Fonzie statute will become a reality this summer, but its downtown Milwaukee location will carry a somewhat lower profile than originally planned.
The bronze Fonz, a life-size statue of "Happy Days" TV show character Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli, will be enshrined on the riverwalk, just outside the patio of Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery, 740 N. Plankinton Ave.
That section of the riverwalk draws a fair number of people, especially during the summer. But it has less visibility than the riverwalk plaza south of E. Wisconsin Ave. and one-half block west of N. Water St., the original proposed site for the statue.
The change occurred in part because arts supporters, including former Milwaukee Art Museum Director David Gordon, opposed the Wisconsin Ave. location. They said the Fonzie statue could detract from future public art planned for that same area.
"Collectively, there was a realization of people having strong feelings about having (the statue) at such a prominent location," said Gordon, a member of a committee that selected the statue site.
Fonzie's new home is "a great location," said Gordon, who recently left the museum and launched a consulting firm, Gordon Advisory LLC.
The Rock Bottom site presents a better spot for visitors to take photos of the statue, said David Fantle, vice president of public relations at Visit Milwaukee, a nonprofit group that promotes the city as a tourism and convention destination. Visit Milwaukee led the campaign to create the statue.
...The Rock Bottom location, while not on Wisconsin Ave., is "in the heart of downtown," said Stacie Callies, executive director of Westown Association, and a member of the site selection committee. Westown is an organization of downtown business and property owners located west of the Milwaukee River.
This sounds like a good compromise to me.
I wasn't in favor of the Wisconsin Ave. location, but I also didn't think that the statue threatened to destroy Milwaukee's image. ...The statue will be dedicated on Aug. 19, at a ceremony to be attended by Henry Winkler, who played Fonzie, and other "Happy Days" cast members, Fantle said. Visit Milwaukee wants the statue up before Harley-Davidson Inc.'s 105th anniversary celebration, which begins on Aug. 28.
It's interesting that Visit Milwaukee, a group devoted to promoting the city as a tourist destination and convention site, wants the statue to be dedicated and ready for Harley's 105th anniversary celebration.
They obviously believe that it will be a crowd pleaser....Plans for the statue prompted some local art gallery owners to criticize the project as kitsch. Backers say the statue isn't meant to be art, but rather a fun addition to downtown's attractions.
I hope the gallery owners are satisfied.
Former Milwaukee Art Museum Director David Gordon certainly seems pleased with the site for the bronze Fonz.
If it turns out that it's not the right location, it can always be moved with relative ease. It's not like it's a Big Blue Shirt attached to a parking structure at the airport.
What was once a dream will become a reality.
A bronze Fonz is coming to downtown Milwaukee.
Expect to see Fonzie statue by Labor DayIt's now official: the bronze statue of the Fonz will be added to downtown Milwaukee's landscape later this year. The $85,000 needed to create the life-size statue of "Happy Days" TV show character Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli has been raised, according to an announcement today by Visit Milwaukee, the group leading that effort.
The sculpture, which is planned for the plaza south of E. Wisconsin Ave. and west of N. Water St., near the Chase Plaza office tower, will likely be unveiled around Labor Day.
Plans for the statue were first reported in September, prompting some local art gallery owners to criticize the project as kitsch. Backers said the statue isn't meant to be art, but rather a fun addition to downtown's attractions.
The likelihood of the proposal making the leap from drawing board to reality increased in November, when Visit Milwaukee announced it had raised two-thirds of the funds, and had hired Lake Mills artist Gerald Sawyer to create the statue.
Is this a step back for Milwaukee?
No. A statue of Fonzie is of no consequence compared to the scourge of violent crime in the city and the dismal performance of so many of the students in its public school system.
Will this statue cement Milwaukee's image as a home of "mediocre public art," as gallery owners and critics fear?
No. I agree with the backers of the statue that it's not meant to be "art" in that snooty sense. Lighten up. Relax. It's fun. Kitsch is cool.
Will Fonzie bring in tourists?
I doubt that people will choose to visit Milwaukee because of the statue. Tourists may want to take photos with the bronze Fonz, but I don't think that the statue, in and of itself, will be a significant draw. Fonzie fans aren't like Trekkies.
In sum, I don't think the statue is some sort of disaster when it comes to efforts to elevate Milwaukee in terms of public art.
Milwaukee is a big place. It's not as if Fonzie will tower over the city. It's not going to be some dominant force sucking the lifeblood from all of Milwaukee. I don't think City Hall will start using an image of it on its letterhead.
It is what it is. One statue. Like it or not.Henry Winkler, who played Fonzie in the show, was in town to mark the occasion. He spoke with reporters in front of the Culver's restaurant in the Shops of Grand Avenue.
"I can only say that I'm proud of Milwaukee," Winkler said. "I'm proud of how it's grown. I'm proud to be an honorary citizen, and I'm overwhelmed that I'm going to bring my family here, and there will be a statue of a character that I love and that gave me the world."
Henry Winkler is so gracious, a class act.
Even the statue's critics have to admit that.
When I first heard of the plans to erect a statue of Fonzie from Happy Days in a prominent downtown Milwaukee location, I was against it.
I have no problem with immortalizing the Fonz in bronze. Milwaukee shouldn't be ashamed of commemorating the Happy Days icon. I just thought a different location for the statue might be more appropriate than a downtown site. (I don't think Fonzie hung out much downtown.)
I question a Fonzie sculpture located near the Chase Plaza office tower. However, I don't object to the statue itself. I don't think it would reflect poorly on the city at all.
A statue of Jeffrey Dahmer would be a different story. That would feed into a negative image of Milwaukee, though it probably would draw loads of tourists.
I don't understand why some people are getting so bent out of shape over the Fonzie monument.
Actually, I do understand. They're snobs, elitists.
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:Arts agitator and Hotcakes Gallery owner Mike Brenner threw a self-described "temper tantrum" this week and vowed he'd shutter his gallery and leave Milwaukee if a proposed bronze sculpture of Fonzie, the character from the "Happy Days" TV series, is installed here.
Brenner's hyperbolic rant, made via e-mail and first reported by OnMilwaukee.com on Wednesday, was seconded Thursday by gallery owner Brooks Barrow, who vowed to follow suit.
"If Hotcakes closes, then I too will walk," wrote Barrow, owner of the Brooks Barrow Gallery in the Third Ward, in a post to JSOnline.com's Art City blog.
The Fonz sculpture, an $85,000 project of Visit Milwaukee, according to Brenner and Barrow, is a "monument to small town Milwaukee" and an icon of mediocre public art, something Milwaukee has been plagued with for years.
David Gordon, director of the Milwaukee Art Museum, inspired by the ruckus raised by Brenner and Barrow, weighed in with his own e-mail Thursday, sent to area media. The Fonz sculpture is a harmless novelty, he said, though it may clash with a significant public art project planned for Wisconsin Ave.
Everything in the world clashes with "The Calling."
Gordon doesn't seem to have a problem with that.
There's no question that the whiners are snobs.
What's wrong with a "monument to small town Milwaukee" anyway?
What would be a more fitting monument to Milwaukee? Would a "big city" depiction of gun violence and murder be better? Instead of Fonzie and his trademark thumbs up pose, would a statue of a thug with a gun be a more appropriate representation of the real Milwaukee?
The city would be much better served by embracing small town values than big city blight.
Are Brenner and Barrow so sensitive and so stubborn that they couldn't bear to remain in a city home to a statue of Fonzie?
Really? Is their allegiance to their community that weak?
Consider how many truly offensive things are seen on the streets of Milwaukee. Brenner and Barrow should be troubled by all that stuff, not a bronze Fonz.
If the critics don't like a Fonzified Milwaukee, they should leave and spare us the hissy fits.
The pompous and pretentious Brenner and Barrow can threaten to close their galleries. They can hold their breath until they turn blue and pass out before they pack up and move away.
And Gordon can pontificate about art in the city but I doubt he'll win over many hearts and minds.
Personally, I think Brenner and Barrow and Gordon should take it down a notch. They should go bowling. Bumper bowling would probably be best given their obvious self-esteem issues. Yes, they should rent some shoes and bowl a few games, chow down on brats and beer, snack on beef jerky. They need to loosen up.
I don't really buy the notion that the bronze Fonz will be a major tourist attraction, but it's sure to draw dramatically more visitors to the city than Hotcakes and the Brooks Barrow Gallery.
If Milwaukee residents can live with that ghastly orange monstrosity "The Calling" for all these years, I'm sure the vast majority will manage to survive with a statue of Fonzie and get by without Hotcakes.
As this debate heats up and the rhetoric becomes more extreme, I wonder where Mayor Tom Barrett stands on the issue.
Does he welcome the Fonz with open arms or does he side with the pouty snobs?
I suppose, as is so often the case, Barrett stands on the fence with one thumb up and one thumb down.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Editorial Board has weighed on in the proposed statue of Fonzie, planned to stand proudly in downtown Milwaukee at Wisconsin and Water."Aaay, it's a good idea"
OK, time for a reality check.
Some of you think putting up a statue of "The Fonz" downtown is insulting and doesn't fit the hip new image Milwaukee wants to present to the rest of the world - like, say, North Korea.
What?
North Korea?
That's really lame.Guess what? Back in the '50s and '60s, when Arthur Fonzarelli was holding court in "Happy Days," Milwaukee was about as hip as a six-pack of knockwurst. Many folks here equated being cool with frostbite. If you wanted to find a building then with 40 floors, you had to go to a linoleum store. Guys like the Fonz were as close to cool as we got.
Yeah, you ask, but won't putting the Fonz in bronze just further the "Happy Days" stereotype? Too late. It's already there. Be proud.
And if Fonzie is no longer cool, why did Samuel L. Jackson, portraying the ultimate cool hit man in the film "Pulp Fiction," tell another character, Yolanda, to be cool, like "Fonzie"?
People already think Milwaukee's too cold. Let 'em know we're cool, too.
This is very telling.
The Board looks to the wisdom of a fictional character, a hit man no less, to make its case for a statue of a fictional character.
More proof that the Board is disconnected with reality.
Let's be honest. Milwaukee has some really crappy outdoor sculpture.
The worst has to be "The Calling."A short distance from the Art Museum, you’ll find a vibrant and bold piece, “The Calling” by Mark di Suvero. The sculpture sits on the bluff at the eastern end of East Wisconsin Avenue like a rising sun. The large iron sculpture resembles an orange sunburst....
The kindest thing I can say about the sculpture is that it's an eyesore.
Thankfully, the Blue Shirt meant to adorn a parking structure at the airport was killed.
That was one less embarrassment for the city.
Now, there's another art project in the works -- a statue of "the Fonz" of Happy Days fame.
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:"The Fonz" soon might be part of our downtown landscape, immortalized in a life-size bronze sculpture that city tourism leaders hope would be a stopping point for visitors.
The Fonz, of course, is Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli, the character from the long-running TV show "Happy Days," set in a nostalgic version of Milwaukee, circa the late 1950s and early 1960s. Visit Milwaukee, a non-profit group that promotes the city as a tourism and convention destination, is leading an effort to raise $85,000 to commission the statue, which likely would be in the plaza south of E. Wisconsin Ave. and west of N. Water St., near the Chase Plaza office tower.
So far, Visit Milwaukee has raised $45,000, and the group is confident it will meet its timetable of unveiling a bronze Fonz in 2008, said Dave Fantle, the agency's vice president of public relations. The agency already has contacted four artists and hopes to choose a sculptor by the end of October, he said.
Oh my God!
I don't think this is a good idea.
Having Fonzie immortalized in bronze isn't the problem. It would be nice in a little green space at a custard stand.
But at Wisconsin and Water?
No. No. Not good.The project carries the blessings of "Happy Days" co-creator Garry Marshall and Henry Winkler, the actor who played Fonzie during the show's 10-year run, which started in 1974.
Winkler confessed he was a bit taken aback when Fantle contacted him about the project.
"It's an honor," Winkler said. "But it is so bizarre to think there should be a statue. I wasn't sure it was something that could happen to me."
Or, more accurately, happen to a character brought to life by Winkler, a 61-year-old actor, producer, director and author. Still, Winkler likes the idea and says he would come to Milwaukee for the statue's dedication.
"If it helps the city, a city that has been so supportive and warm to me over the years," he said, "then I am so OK with it."
Winkler is so gracious.
He seems like a genuinely nice man, so willing to help the city.
I don't object to the statue itself. It's the prominent proposed downtown location that I question.
I probably wouldn't find "The Calling" so repulsive if it didn't have such a place of honor.
Location, location, location....The dedication ceremony for the statue, with appearances by Winkler and possibly other "Happy Days" cast members, would draw media attention to Milwaukee, Fantle said. He said the sculpture would provide another tourism draw for a city that anticipates an upswing in visitors when Harley-Davidson Inc. opens its museum.
But what about those umpteen attempts to depict Milwaukee to the outside world as some place other than the home of "Happy Days" and "Laverne and Shirley," a "Happy Days" spinoff that some complain has typecast Milwaukee as a stodgy, blue-collar town?
"This isn't a statue of 'Laverne and Shirley,' " Fantle said. "This is a statue of a TV icon who remains the epitome of cool."
The Fonz represents the old image of Milwaukee, which some visitors still would appreciate, Fantle said. He said the statue could serve as a bridge between that world and Milwaukee's new image, exemplified by the Milwaukee Art Museum and other developments.
Huh?
Tourists in Milwaukee for other events may check it out, but I really don't think that a statue of "the Fonz" would draw in tourists. Sure, there may be some Fonzie fanatics who would consider making a pilgrimage to Milwaukee to bask in the glory of the statue, but I think those numbers would be few.
Fonzie isn't Elvis. Is a downtown Milwaukee statue of a fictional TV character "the epitome of cool"?
I don't think so. I don't think it would have been "cool" when Happy Days was at the height of its popularity 30 YEARS AGO.
How would a Fonzie statue be a bridge between old Milwaukee and the newer developments, like the Calatrava?
Relatively speaking, the 1970s aren't "old" Milwaukee. To me "old Milwaukee" is the Pabst Mansion, Old World Third Street, the beer barons.
Anyway, does there need to be a bridge?
I don't think so.
However, if the Fonzie statue would replace "The Calling," I might support the idea.
