It was 1974, and the first season of the (soon-to-be) hit TV show Happy Days was being shot on Stage 19 at the Paramount Lot. Little did show creator Garry Marshall know that the show would resonate with so many viewers. He also couldn’t have known it would spawn many legendary characters, like Ron Howard’s Richie Cunningham and Henry Winkler’s Fonzie, to name a few.
But he mainly couldn’t have predicted that a Beatle would low-key show up on set just to hang. In a clip making the rounds on social media from the Still Here Hollywood podcast with Steve Kmetko, Anson Williams (who played Potsie on the show) shares the story.
Guy with cool glasses and a kid
Williams sets the scene. “It was the first year of Happy Days, 1974. And it was a very cold morning. We’re on the set, you know, bored out of our mind. A kitchen scene or something. It was before we went live [to an] audience. So it was like a movie. And it was a guest star, and the four of us and Jerry, our director. So I go over to get a bad cup of coffee. Craft service was not like today. It was terrible. So I look up, and there’s this guy with kinda cool glasses and a young kid.”
Williams shrugs before continuing, “I walk back, go up to Donnie (who played the red-headed prankster Ralph Malph at the time). I said, ‘Hey, Donnie. This guy looks just like John Lennon with a kid.’ And Donnie’s going, ‘Oh, yeah. John Lennon is here to hang out with us.’ …It was John Lennon there to hang out with us. And it was Julian’s favorite show, and he saw the show. He loved the show.”
John Lennon created doodles
Lennon didn’t just drop by for a short time. He hung out for a while. Williams shares, “And pretty soon it was like…he was like, ‘Hey, John,’ …I mean it was at first you’re like gaga, and then he becomes a friend. So shy, so nice, and he’s doing all these original doodles for the crew. They now could buy houses with them, right?”
He goes on to explain how it all happened. “What happened was they were on a VIP tour, and they escaped, and no one knew where they were … ‘Oh, Happy Days is there,’ and they snuck on. So the PR department found out about it, and they brought a guy who shot a picture. There’s a picture. That’s all we got. We have a picture. But we didn’t get a signature or anything. But it’s fabulous. It was fabulous to have that opportunity with a legend like that.”
“…once in a lifetime moment”
A true legend, indeed. Under the Still Here podcast’s Instagram post, commenters are floored that John Lennon would just “show up.” One writes, “I think we all would freak out if John Lennon just showed up at our work.” Another adds, “John always in his way being humble. That is a life long treat they will cherish forever. The whole cast will never forget that once in a life time moment.”
And one Instagrammer had a lovely note for Williams. “I was 9 or 10 years old when I learned that the people on television could do other things too. I think it was a county fair or a fundraiser for candidate Pete Wilson, maybe both. But yeah, Anson Williams broke the 4th wall by singing absolutely beautifully.”
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