Ralph Malph

Infobox character
name = Ralph Malph


caption =
first = "All the Way"
last = "Ralph's Family Problem"
cause = Joined the Army
gender = Male
age =
born =
death = Unknown (still alive as of 1965)
occupation = Soldier, Optometrist
family = Mickey Malph (father)
Minnie Malph (mother)
episode =
portrayer = Donny Most
creator = Garry Marshall

Ralph Malph was a character on "Happy Days" played by Don Most. Until he, along with Richie Cunningham went off to join the army (leaving the series), he always had just two things on his mind: dating and humor. He often told jokes that got little or no reaction from any other character, but that didn't stop him from saying his catchphrase, "I still got it". From the first season to his last, he was a practical joker and often used novelty items such as whoopie cushions, Groucho glasses, spring-loaded eyeball glasses, soda pop with shards of glass as ice cubes, and joy buzzers. In the famous "Fonzie jumps the shark" episode, he states that he enjoyed Jack Benny growing up, but that it was just a childhood phase that he grew out of. Ralph's dad is an optometrist, who shares his son's silly sense of humor.

In the first season, Malph's girl-chasing was the primary focus of his character. He would occasionally get dates but generally he wasn't very successful at it - although was more successful than Richie and Potsie. As the seasons progressed, he was shown to be easily frightened and often panicked greatly at the least and greatest occurrences. Originally the series tended to focus on Richie and his best friend Potsie, often in schemes to attract women, with Ralph as a sort of extra third friend. In the early seasons (the ones that were shot on film with no studio audience) Ralph was considerably "cooler" than Richie and Potsie, being a member of the gang The Gems and having a hot rod car. As the series shifted its focus to concentrate more on breakout character Fonzie and his friendship with Richie, Ralph was more often paired with Potsie. This was evident even more when the characters graduated from High School, when Ralph and Potsie rented and shared an apartment together, and they would often have arguments. In the first episode of this arrangement, "The Apartment", Richie also moved in with them, but due to the pairs continual squabbling decided to move back home.

In one episode where they were feuding, ""Ralph vs. Potsie", they divided the apartment with white tape and assigned themselves one side of the room each. They always eventually patched up their differences in each episode. Malph would sometimes say to him, "You're such a Potsie!"

Ralph returns home from the army in the episode entitles "Welcome Home" and he decides to become an optometrist just like his father. Ralph goes off to university and this serves as his last appearance in Happy Days.

One small continuity error remains with the character of Ralph's father. Originally, his father owned a woman's dress store in town and his name was Harry Malph (played by Mike Monahan in the first season episode "Because She's There"), but when the show shifted to a studio audience format in the third season, Ralph's father was shown to be an optometrist, Mickie Malph, played first by Alan Oppenheimer and then subsequently and more famously by Jack Dodson. Additionally, in the same first season episode, Ralph's mother was named Harriet and was played by Gracia Lee; from the third season onward, however, she was referred to as Minnie Malph, and her character was never shown on camera again.

Some of Don Most's other work has had hidden tribute to Ralph Malph. In an episode of Dungeons & Dragons, Most's character of Eric the Cavalier is telling jokes in a town square which are either ignored or subject to angry responses. The DVD of Dungeons & Dragons said that Eric's attempt at stand up comedy was tribute to Ralph Malph.