TV pitchman ‘Happy Harry’ Haneman dies

Tuesday, July 30, 2002 | 8:20 a.m.

Harry "Happy Harry" Haneman, a longtime Las Vegas businessman and colorful local television pitchman known for the catch phrase "I make everrrrybody happy!" died Sunday at his Las Vegas home. His age was not released.

Haneman operated the Pussycat-A-Go-Go nightclub on the Strip in the mid-1960s and opened Quality Liquidators furniture store at 4000 W. Harmon Ave. in the 1990s. He opened Happy Harry's Eatery eight months ago in the Flamingo-Arville Plaza.

Services are set for 5 p.m. today at Palm Mortuary-Jones.

Wearing a bushy black wig, a shirt open to mid-belly and lots of gold jewelry, Haneman's television commercials for his store that sold discount furniture from area hotels would typically end with him extending his arms to the heavens as the camera pulled back to display his wares and he shouted his slogan.

In the mid-1960s, Haneman made his first mark on Las Vegas by opening the Pussycat-A-Go-Go on the corner of Sands and Las Vegas boulevards, on what is now part of the Desert Inn property.

The club was a hot spot that gave many new bands their first taste of performing on the Strip. Among them was the Checkmates, which became a Las Vegas lounge mainstay.

In the 1970s and '80s, Haneman operated restaurants in California, where he named sandwiches after celebrities who frequented the establishments. He continued that tradition when he opened Happy Harry's Eatery last November.

Among the local celebrities to have a Happy Harry's hot-baked designer submarine sandwich named for them were Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, magicians Siegfried and Roy, and comedian Marty Allen.

Haneman was born in Berlin, Germany. He zealously kept his age a secret. His family asked Palm Mortuary not to include his birth date in the death notice released Monday.

Haneman is survived by his wife, Rita Haneman, and a sister, Ruth Royak, both of Las Vegas.