Children's TV icon, Happy the Hobo, passes away

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - A clown known to tens-of-thousands of children as Happy the Hobo passed away Sunday.

A family member confirmed to NewsChannel 15 early Monday morning that Mike L. Fry died at the age of 51 Sunday at an Indianapolis hospital.

He is survived by his wife, Erin, and daughter, Ella.

Fry was the host of Happy's Place on WFFT in Fort Wayne from 1982 to 1990. The children's show aired in over 200 cities across the U.S. during Fry's time with the program. Fry left the show in 1990 to run his own fortune cookie business, Fancy Fortune Cookies .

Happy's Place was filmed in front of a live audience filled with children at the WFFT studios in Fort Wayne, then known as Super 55 Fox.

The program aired through the 80's up until 1997.

Steve Shine, a Fort Wayne attorney, worked at WFFT in the news department. He knew Fry and said his love for children was apparent.

"I used to like to stand next to him, just to get some of the good will and the aura that would exude from his presence at any public appearance," he said.

Fry started his cookie business in 1988 and used his clown experience to take the company to further success, which has been in business now for 24 years.

On the About Us page of the Fancy Fortune Cookies site , Fry writes in detail about his experience going from a performer to a business owner. In it he writes about how his " Willy Wonka fantasy came true:"  

"My name is Mike Fry—I’m a fortune cookie fanatic and flavoring pioneer, and that one idea forever changed my life... . ( Check out the first newspaper article about my original concept. ) As it turned out, I did turn the fortune cookie business upside down. You see, as a former Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey clown, I understood the value of serving up fun to my customers. And at that time I had my own nationally syndicated children’s TV show, Happy The Hobo (pictured below) so I also knew how well people respond to surprises and vivid colors. With that background, I guess I was destined to invent colored, flavored fortune cookies."

Fry was born in Watseka, Illinois in 1961 but grew up in Huntington County.

Fry was hospitalized last week. The family member said Fry was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease last year. He was awaiting a liver transplant.

The following is a YouTube video posted by Mike Fry's YouTube account of some clips and bloopers from Happy's Place: