Was Happy Days a realistic portrayal of American life in the 1950s?
After the third season, any attempt to maintain 1950s hairstyles (on men especially) was largely ended.share
None of the major characters smoked. This definitely was not the norm as more than 50% of the American public smoked in that era.
Drinking was uncommon among the major characters. This was also not the norm
Women were treated as equals in the later seasons ( this rarely occurred in the 1950s and certainly wouldn't have occurred in a smaller Midwestern city like Milwaukee.)
Church-going is rarely mentioned even though the show was set in the Upper Midwest at a time when going to church at least weekly was almost mandatory.
Few of the characters used mass transit although it was rare for families to have more than a single car at the time.
"The Fonz" had far too many willing sexual partners who could spend all night with him. Almost no high school aged girls and few college women could be gone from home or campus overnight without some form of excuse.
"The Fonz's" Italian heritage would have been the subject of much more discussion that it was. The same goes for Al, Chaci, as well as Pinkie and Leather Tuscadero. Ethnic Whites were treated slightly better than racial minorities in that time period. Slightly.
Arnold, the Japanese owner of the protagonists hangout, would have experienced significant racial prejudice as both World War II and the Korean Conflict were fresh in the minds of people living in the area.
An episode portrayed a Black friend of Howard Cunningham being married at the Cunningham home. Even though Wisconsin was more tolerant than many areas of the Midwest at that time, Milwaukee has never been known to be a hotbed of racial integration and remains one of America's most segregated cities. This is unlikely to have occurred in real life.
Both racial and ethnic slurs were bandied about quite frequently in the 1950s (in fact, up until the mid to late 1970s in many areas). This never occurs during the show.
The threat of Communism was an ever-present fear at the time. It is never discussed during the show.
Milwaukee was a heavily unionized city in the 1950s. Unions were part of the daily life. This is never mentioned during the run of the series.
It is likely that either Marion or Howard (the protagonist Ritchie Cunningham’s mother and father) would have one of their parents or elder relatives living with them. The show did not portray this occurring.
After the third season or so, neither Potsie Webber nor Ralph Malph are shown having steady girlfriends and, in fact, were shown spending inordinate amounts of time in each other's company. Homosexuality was definitely frowned upon at the time and their "relationship" would have required "clarification" unless they wanted to be ostracized.