Happy Days Healthy Living: From Sit-Com Teen to the Health-Food Scene

Both a celebrity autobiography and the tale of a journey to healthful and a living-foods lifestyle, Happy Days Healthy Living chronicles the Hollywood childhood and acting career of Cathy Silvers, daughter of iconic comedian Phil Silvers. The first half of the book's title references Cathy's years as a cast member of the popular TV series Happy Days, on which she played the character of Jenny Piccolo. The story of her auditions and capture of the coveted role provides a fascinating backstage glimpse inside the television industry and one of the most popular series of all time.

The second part of this story is Cathy's adult journey from "fast-food mom" to spokesperson for healthy living on a new "web vision" network, The Healthy Living Network. In addition to her own experience learning about juicing, vegetarianism, organic food, non-toxic products, and other elements of a healthy diet and life, the author brings in voices from the world of health, nutrition, and alternative medicine to lend their expertisethese include leaders in the living-foods movement such as Dr. Gabriel Cousens, David Wolfe, and Victoria Boutenko, along with professionals well-versed in alternative medicinal approaches. Cathy Silvers successfully healed a breast condition with Chinese medicine when her doctor wanted to perform a double mastectomy. This and other experiences with alternative medicine led her to include healing along with diet in her discussion of healthy choices. One of the more moving themes of the book is the author's touching relationship with her famous and largely absent father, the late Phil Silvers, who inspired her as an actress and entrepreneur but also left her to grapple with the issue of who he really was. Short passages by Erin Moran, Marion Ross, and Henry Winkler of Happy Days highlight the book, along with a preface by the show's producer, Garry Marshall, and an introduction by its star, Ron Howard. A good read with plenty of salient information about Hollywood and healthy living.