Milwaukee Pennant Fever - Art 'Happy' Felsch
Interview with Art “Happy” Felsch, self-styled as America’s number one baseball fan.
This film features Art “Happy” Felsch, a 56-year old Milwaukee upholsterer, who camps outside Milwaukee County Stadium’s ticket office to be first in line for a World Series ticket. The film begins as Felsch amiably poses in his tent and brandishes a poster that proudly lists dates for which he has been first in line for World Series tickets – 23 times between 1929-1954. Felsch turns his baseball cap sideways and performs a skit in which he animatedly delivers an imaginary pitch and watches aghast as the ball is hit out of sight. Several kids on bicycles form an audience and applaud his performance, and a couple of older passers-by pause to shake hands with Felsch. Several interior shots of the ticket office show clerks as they prepare World Series tickets to be mailed, and a closeup of the games scheduled in Milwaukee indicate Felsch currently waits to claim his ticket for the 1958 World Series. The film concludes as a reporter interviews Felsch about his World Series predictions.
Besides possibly living up to Second Lady Muriel Humphrey's future claim that Wisconsinites "love to be first" better than anyone else, Art "Happy" Felsch was also notably the nephew of Chicago White Sox center fielder Oscar "Happy" Felsch, one of eight team members infamously involved in the 1919 Black Sox Scandal.