Far from just changing the landscape of television, did Happy Days actually save people's lives? Well, one of its stars seems to believe so, and it has everything to do with the Heimlich Manuever.
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Anson Williams has a very Potsie way of telling it. It turns out that the sitcom may have helped popularize the life-saving measure. For the few who haven't heard of the Heimlich maneuver, it's a way to help save someone who is choking. By pressing on the midline torso of a person, you can hopefully force up any food that may be stuck in the windpipe.
On
Facebook, Williams, who played Warrent "Potsie" Weber, boldly proclaimed, "My Uncle, Dr. Heimlich, created the Heimlich Maneuver. 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!"Strange 'Happy Days' Trivia
But what is that story?
Well, Williams's second, thoracic surgeon Dr. Henry J. Heimlich, developed the technique in the 1970s. But Heimlich didn't have a way of spreading the information to the public. That's where Williams and Happy Days come into play.
Thanks to the sitcom, Williams had secured some clout in the entertainment world and Hollywood. He managed to secure his cousin, who he called his uncle, a spot on The Merv Griffin Show to demonstrate the technique.
That appearance later led to another appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Thanks to these TV spots, Heimlich was able to reach millions of impressionable viewers. These days, you would be hard-pressed to find anyone who hasn't heard of the maneuver. It's something that has appeared in countless movies and TV shows since then. Sometimes, it is even taught in schools.
So in that way, I guess we could say that Williams is indeed correct. If he wasn't a star on Happy Days, then he wouldn't have had the pull to get his second cousin a guest spot. It's hard to say if the maneuver would have caught on otherwise. There's a bit of trivia for you that you probably didn't know.
