FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

The Bronze Fonz is a public artwork by American artist Gerald P. Sawyer, located on the Milwaukee Riverwalk in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Bronze Fonz depicts Henry Winkler as “The Fonz,” a character in the 1970s television series Happy Days, which was set in Milwaukee.

Description

The sculpture, made of bronze, depicts actor Henry Winkler as he appeared in his role as Arthur Fonzarelli (also known as “Fonzie” or “The Fonz”). Fonzarelli was an iconic character in the 1970s television show Happy Days, a sitcom about a family in 1950s–1960s Milwaukee. He stands in his usual attire, a leather jacket and jeans, and gives a two-handed thumbs up gesture, as he often did in Happy Days.

The statue is located on the Milwaukee Riverwalk, just south of Wells Street. It is accompanied by an inscription that lists donors who contributed to the Bronze Fonz project.

TODAY’S ALMANAC

NATIONAL AVIATION DAY

Ever since 1939, August 19 has been celebrated as National Aviation Day, the legacy of a presidential proclamation first made by Franklin D. Roosevelt to celebrate the birth date of civil aviation pioneer Orville Wright. Together with his brother Wilbur, the Wrights are credited with inventing, building, and flying the world’s first successful airplane. Specifically, Orville Wright piloted the first controlled, sustained flight of a powered, heavier-than-air machine with the Wright Flyer on December 17, 1903, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Although not the first to build experimental aircraft, the Wright brothers were the first to invent aircraft controls which truly made fixed-wing powered flight possible. Orville was born in Dayton, Ohio, while his partner and older brother, Wilbur Wright, was born on a farm near Millville, Indiana. Today, National Aviation Day celebrates the history and development of the aviation.

Every Year

• BORN : SNUFFY SNUFFLEUPAGUS (CHARACTER ON SESAME STREET)
• NATIONAL AVIATION DAY

1690s

• 1692: FIVE HANGED FOR WITCHCRAFT IN SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS

1760s

• DIED 1765: AXEL FREDRIK CRONSTEDT (SWEDISH SCIENTIST)

1810s

• 1812: IN A BATTLE OFF NOVA SCOTIA, THE USS CONSTITUTION EARNED THE NICKNAME “OLD IRONSIDES” AND SANK THE BRITISH FRIGATE HMS GUERRIÈRE

1830s

• DIED 1838: JAMES GEDDES (ENGINEER)

1850s

• 1856: FARMER GAIL BORDEN OBTAINED A PATENT FOR HIS PROCESS FOR CONDENSING MILK

1870s

• BORN 1871: ORVILLE WRIGHT (AVIATOR)

1880s

• BORN 1883: COCO CHANEL (DESIGNER)

1900s

• BORN 1902: OGDEN NASH (WRITER)

1910s

• BORN 1919: MALCOLM FORBES (PUBLISHER)

1920s

• BORN 1921: GENE RODDENBERRY (AUTHOR, PRODUCER)

1930s

• BORN 1931: WILLIE SHOEMAKER (JOCKEY)
• DIED 1936: FEDERICO GARCÍA LORCA (WRITER)

1940s

• BORN 1946: BILL CLINTON (42ND U.S. PRESIDENT)

1950s

• BORN 1952: JONATHAN FRAKES (ACTOR)
• BORN 1955: PETER GALLAGHER (ACTOR)

1960s

• 1960: THE SOVIET UNION LAUNCHED SPUTNIK 5, A SPACE MENAGERIE. TWO DOG PASSENGERS, BELKA AND STRELKA, BECAME THE FIRST LIVING ORGANISMS RECOVERED FROM ORBIT
• BORN 1963: JOHN STAMOS (ACTOR)
• BORN 1965: KYRA SEDGWICK (ACTRESS)
• 1966: STRONG EARTHQUAKE IN TURKEY KILLED OVER 2,000 PEOPLE
• BORN 1966: LEE ANN WOMACK (COUNTRY MUSICIAN)
• BORN 1969: MATTHEW PERRY (ACTOR)

1970s

• BORN 1977: CALLUM BLUE (ACTOR)
• DIED 1977: GROUCHO MARX (COMEDIAN & ACTOR)
• BORN 1979: JENNIFER MORRISON (ACTRESS)

1980s

• DIED 1980: OTTO FRANK (FATHER OF ANNE FRANK)
• BORN 1982: ERIKA CHRISTENSEN (ACTRESS)

1990s

• 1995: 72-POUND LAKE TROUT WAS CAUGHT IN GREAT BEAR LAKE IN THE NORTHWEST TERRITORIES

2000s

• DIED 2002: SRI SWAMI SATCHIDANANDA (FOUNDED “YOGAVILLE” IN VIRGINIA)
• 2004: CARLY PATTERSON BECAME THE FIRST AMERICAN IN 20 YEARS TO WIN THE WOMEN’S OLYMPIC GYMNASTICS ALL-AROUND GOLD MEDAL
• 2008: A BRONZE STATUE OF ARTHUR “FONZIE” FONZARELLI WAS UNVEILED IN MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN

2010s

• DIED 2012: TONY SCOTT (DIRECTOR)

COURTESY www.almanac.com