Pinky Tuscadero

Saturday evening I was transported back to my childhood for about an hour and a half. Pat and Stacie, my brother and sister-in-law, gave us for Christmas a Happy Days 4th Season dvd set which features shows from 1976-1977. I would have been eight years old then. 🙂 Three months after Christmas we just finally took the plastic off of the dvd case Saturdday night and began watching disk #1!

We watched “Fonzie Loves Pinky (Parts 1, 2 & 3)” – the original airdates were September 21 and 28, 1976. As soon as the show started, my memories took me back to the first time I saw these episodes. A smile came over my face when Pinky Tuscadero entered the scene in her pink blouse tied in front at her waist, white shorts (they were much shorter than I remembered them to be), and pink short boots. Oh, I quickly remembered how I SO wanted to be like Pinky Tuscadero when I grew up! 🙂 There was no woman cooler than her! (Keep in mind I was a Tom-boy then, and still am at heart!) I wanted to drive a pink motorcycle. I wanted to have a boyfriend like Fonzie, and I loved how she did that two snap, double clap thing. 🙂 I can remember practicing that with my friends!

The scene that really got to me was the scene of the Third Annual Demolition Derby where Fonzie and Pinky were drivers on the same team. She blew him a kiss and called him Baby before the start of the Derby. She was too cool to wear a helmet, which I recall thinking that was not a smart move. If you remember the scene, it comes down to two teams left…Fonzie and Pinky and the Mallachi Brothers. Pinky’s T-bird stalls, she decides to climb out on her hood to try to fix it (another not-smart move), and gets injured as she and her car gets hit by the infamous and dreaded Mallachi Crunch from the Mallachi Brothers.

Being about eight years old, I recall thinking that this was the end for Pinky…that she was going to die as Fonzie held her in his arms before she was whisked off to the hospital. She pulled out a pink scarf and gave it to Fonzie before she was taken away. The next scene is, with revenge in his eyes, and a determination to win the Derby for Pinky, he smashes the Mallachi Brothers’ cars and wins!

Of course, Pinky lives. Fonzie proposes to her in the hospital as she has a pink bandage wrapped around her head. All seems perfect until later in the episode Fonzie realizes he doesn’t want to be known the rest of his life as “Mr. Pinky Tuscadero.” My heart was crushed…this perfect couple were made for each other, and now he’s ending their romance?! “Come on Fonzie!”

Ok, so I’m not much like Pinky today…God had different plans for me, and I’m okay with that! I don’t wear pink as much as she did, but I do represent a company who’s signature color is pink! 🙂 I don’t drive a pink motorcycle, but God gave me the privilege to earn and drive a pink Cadillac in my career a few short years ago. 🙂 I don’t have a boyfriend like The Fonz, but I married a man who is much cooler! And I never did master that two snap, double clap thing! 🙂 (At least not that I can remember!)

I think the thing that drew me to like Pinky so much was her independent and confident spirit. Growing up my dad and mom taught me to be an independent and confident girl, and I’m so thankful for that. So, maybe I am like Pinky in that way, yet I’m not so independent that I won’t shut the people out in my life who want me to depend on them at least a little. 🙂 I wonder what ever happened to Pink Tuscadero anyway?

It was fun to relive just a little of my childhood memories through these Happy Days episodes. I can’t wait to watch the next one…