How ‘Happy Days’ Helped ‘Save More Lives Than Any Other Program in History’
What To Know
- Anson Williams, who starred in Happy Days, credits the show with helping popularize the Heimlich maneuver, created by his uncle Dr. Heimlich.
- Williams facilitated Dr. Heimlich’s appearance on The Merv Griffin Show, which led to further exposure on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, dramatically increasing public awareness of the life-saving technique.
- As a result of this television exposure, the Heimlich maneuver became widely known and has since saved thousands of lives worldwide.
Happy Days star Anson Williams recently highlighted how the beloved sitcom indirectly saved countless lives through the Heimlich maneuver.
On January 19, the actor, now 76, took to Facebook with a link to a story about a high school staff member saving a teacher’s life while choking.
“My uncle, Dr. [Henry] Heimlich, created the Heimlich maneuver,” he captioned the update. “Happy Days is a major reason for its success. It’s a long story, but the creators and cast of Happy Days have helped save more lives than any other program in history!”
In 2022, Williams — who played Warren “Potsie” Weber in the show — detailed the connection between the Heimlich maneuver and Happy Days on Jeff Dwoskin’s Classic Conversations podcast.
Dr. Heimlich created the method of saving choking victims in 1974, when hitting them on the back was the typical reaction. At the time, however, Williams’ uncle had a hard time getting the word out about the Heimlich. Williams decided to invite him to attend when he was a guest on The Merv Griffin Show.
Although the show’s producers nixed the idea of having Dr. Heimlich demonstrate the maneuver, Williams approached Merv Griffin about it right before the interview. Griffin, surprisingly, had read something about the Heimlich, and thought it was “interesting.”
“Unbeknownst to anybody, he tells the audience, ‘You know, Anson told me something interesting. Is there a Dr. Heimlich in the audience?'” Williams recalled. “‘I’ve read something about the Heimlich maneuver. Can you tell me more about it?'”
Ultimately, Heimlich discussed his findings with Griffin on the show. “And then, Merv said these words: ‘Will you try it on me?'” Williams recounted. “And Dr. Heimlich comes on stage and does the Heimlich maneuver.”
Johnny Carson‘s brother, Dick Caron — who directed The Merv Griffin Show at the time — talked to a producer at The Tonight Show. Three weeks later, Dr. Heimlich appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
“And there on the Johnny Carson show, he’s doing the Heimlich maneuver on Johnny Carson,” Williams said. “OK, at that point, the Heimlich maneuver went crazy, like blew out. God knows how many thousands of lives have been saved.”
Happy Days, streaming on Paramount+ and Pluto TV