Happy Days

teacher and students and that disad-
vantaged kids can do well if they have
a positive influence in their lives."
Yet, right from the beginning, mil-
lions of viewers were hooked. Indeed,
the hip educator Kotter had insight
into his students; and during their
years at James Buchanan High
School, the Sweathogs were able
to learn.
Before the sitcom, Kaplan
had no acting experience
and went straight from
the nightclub/comedy
club circuit to television
performer. In those
days, it was unusual for
a comedian to turn actor,
'especially to star in a sit-
com. But not nowadays: Jerry Se-
infeld, Jeff Foxworthy, Tim Allen, Brett
Butler, Ellen DeGeneres and Margaret

ish characters, along with Italians, His-
panics and blacks."
However, as successful as the show
was, there was controversy surround-
ing the premise. According to Gabe Ka-
plan, some critics objected to making a
sitcom out of low-academic students.
"The Boston affiliate wouldn't carry
the show for the first six weeks because
it was felt that the city was having some
racial tension at that time, and showing
a row-academic class of mixed back-
grounds wasn't the right thing to do,"
Kaplan recalls. "The people who criti-
cized the show thought we were trying
to be a funny Blackboard Jungle, but
that wasn't it at all. The show was re-
ally about the relationship between a

Cho have easily made the transition. In
fact, it's fairly common for program de-
velopers to go to comedy clubs just to
look for new talent.
Today, 'Welcome Back Kotter" can be
seen weeknights on Nick at Nite, and
the show is a craze on college campuses
around the country. "There seems to be
a nostalgia for that era, and people en-
joy the comedy," says Kaplan. "I think
the show was funny then — and I think
it's funny now." ❑

PHOTOS PROVI DED COU RTESY OF CAPITAL CITIES✓ABC INC.

But what set "Kotter" apart from oth-
er shows of the '70s was the racial and
ethnic diversity of the characters, in-
cluding the dimwit Juan Epstein, played
by Robert Hegyes; the whiny Arnold
Horshack, played by Ron Palillo; the cool
Freddie "Boom Boom" Washington,
played by Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs; and,
of course, the heartthrob Vinnie Bar-
barino, played by John Travolta.
"What was especially interesting
about a show like `Kotter' was the eth-
nic mix," says Watson. "You had a Jew-
ish student — actually a Puerto Rican
Jew — a black and an Italian. And it
was their distinct personalities and how
they blended together that made the
show appealing. Although during the
1950s there were Jewish characters,
such as the Goldbergs, that ethnicism
got homogenized in the '60s. It wasn't
until the '70s that you started to see Jew-

So where are Henry Winkler and
Gabe Kaplan now? They're en route
to Detroit next week. Read more
about them in today's Profiles in JN
Entertainment.

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