“Hi folks, my name is Christopher Hapgood Day, Jr, but all my friends call me Happy.”
In 1957 Sally Dooley (Yvonne Lime) and Chris Day (Ronnie Burns, son of George Burns) married. They spent their honeymoon in Palm Springs and stayed in Room 7 of the Desert Palms Hotel. In the room were two-dozen yellow roses, a bowl of floating gardenias and a wedding cake with a bride and groom on top.
When Chris learns that the owner of the hotel, Clara Mason (Doris Packer) is looking for someone to run the establishment, she offers Chris and Sally the job. Chris and Sally accept the offer and over time they are allowed to buy 10% of the hotel – which they have when the series begins.
Sally and Chris also have an infant son in 1960 whom they name Christopher Hapgood Day, called simply “Happy”. As Chris and Sally attempt to run the hotel, Happy watches and comments (via voice-over dubbing of his thoughts) on their activities.
One-year-old twins David and Steven Born had the series’ title role. Because of California laws limiting child performers to four hours of work per day, broken up into small blocks, casting twins was the norm for such a role.
Although there is no screen credit for Happy’s voice – the credit reads “And Happy (of course)” – the voice was provided by Leone Ledoux, a veteran “child impersonator” who had voiced moppet roles in numerous radio shows.
Also featured is Charlie Dooley (Lloyd Corrigan), Sally’s bumbling but well-intentioned uncle.
The series ran from June 1960 to September 1960 and January 1961 to September 1961. Ratings for Happy were not high enough to justify renewal for the 1961-62 season, and the saga of Christopher Hapgood Day Jr and family came to an end after 26 episodes.
“Happy is brought to you by Kraft – Kraft for good food and good food ideas”.
Sally Day
Yvonne Lime Chris Day
Ronnie Burns Charlie Dooley
Lloyd Corrigan Clara Mason
Doris Packer Christopher Hapgood Day
David Born
Steven Born
