Tuesday, July 05, 2022

Trivial Connection of the Day: The Fonz and total institutions

I'm reading Sad Little Men, Richard Beard's sparkling polemic about what boarding school does to the little boys who grow up to be our leaders.

In passing, Beard has provided our Trivial Connection of the Day. Because, not surprisingly, he discusses the work of the Canadian-born sociologist Erving Goffman on total institutions. 

While doing so says:

Professor Goffman also has an interesting sister, an actor who played the Fonz's grandmother in Happy Days and who was later a favourite of David Lynch.

That was Frances Bay who, sure enough, turns out to have appeared in Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me.

I shall review Sad Little Men here soon, but it may well be one of those reviews that just quotes all the best lines from the book.

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