TV URBAN LEGEND: John Lennon was a big Happy Days fan, so he brought his son, Julian, to the show's set to meet the cast.

In popular culture, there are certain photographs that capture such odd "crossovers" from different fields of life that that they just fascinate us as a people. Nothing quite matches the absurdity level of Richard Nixon and Elvis Presley shaking hands...

And, now that I mention it, Nixon is also responsible for another classic example of "Wait, that doesn't belong here" when he made a guest appearance on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In ("Sock it to ME?")...

However, another photo of this sort that became very popular over the last few years after being practically never distributed before then is this photograph of John Lennon and his 10-year-old son, Julian, visiting the set of Happy Days...

There are a number of interesting things about this photo. First and foremost, it is just cool to see John Lennon and Henry "Fonzie" Winkler in the same photograph. Decades later, this meeting is still something that Winkler and the other cast members of the show look back upon fondly. Another aspect, though, that makes it so interesting is how much it humanizes Lennon. Nothing seems to say "Celebrities are real people" than when a famous person in one field brings their kid to see a hit TV show, because kids of famous people get that their parents are famous, but they are also kids, so they fall for all of the big hit shows of the day, as well. Think of how many famous people have guest-starred on Nickelodeon and Disney Channel kids shows to impress their kids. It's a very relatable feeling.

However, was that really what was happening here?

Anson Williams talked about it recently, and he mentioned how the shoe was a minor hit at the time, but Lennon was a big fan.

The dates, though, don't seem to bear that out.

The photo was taken from the filming of the show's fourth episode, "Guess Who's Coming to Visit?" We know this because the guy at the far end of the photo is Alan Abelow, who played "Skizzy," a dude who was drag racing the Fonz in that episode. It was his only appearance on the series.

That episode AIRED on February 5, 1974. The show's first episode aired on January 15, 1974. Lennon's visit was in January 1974. It is unclear exactly when they would be filming an episode airing on February 5th. Most likely, only a single episode of the series would have aired by the time.

In other words, Lennon wasn't there because he or his son was a fan of the show. As it turned out, they were simply visiting Paramount Studios with Lennon's then-girlfriend May Pang (during his separation from Yoko Ono. They later reconciled). Fang is likely who took the photo in question. She later recalled how they visited the sets of Mannix and the Odd Couple. They sat in on a full episode taping of The Odd Couple.

So what this was was simply a case of visiting each sight at the Studios. Lennon was a big fan of American 1950s culture, so he likely was thrilled by the concept of Happy Days, but come on, this obviously wasn't the way that it has been presented over the years as Lennon taking his kid to meet the Fonz. They likely had no idea who Fonzie was at the time.

The legend is...

STATUS: I'm Going False

Thanks to my sister-in-law, Jenn, for suggesting that I do something related to Milwaukee while we're on a visit there (after our trip to North Carolina was de-railed by that whole, you know, hurricane thing).

Be sure to check out my archive of TV Legends Revealed for more urban legends about the world of TV.

Feel free (heck, I implore you!) to write in with your suggestions for future installments! My e-mail address is bcronin@legendsrevealed.com.