During World War I (1914 – 1918), a weekly entertainment program called “Happy Hour” was created on the battleship named USS Arkansas.
This was done to relieve the seafarers of the boredom of being at sea.
This entertainment program involved sports (wrestling and boxing matches), music, and dance.
Gradually, this practice spread to other ships and it became a thing with the US Navy.
Then in 1920, the US lawmakers banned the manufacturing, transportation, and sale of intoxicating liquors.
But thanks to the boom in the illegal production and sale of liquor, people continued drinking.
They would gather at speakeasies (illegal drinking spots) or at friends’ homes to consume ‘illegal’ alcohol, before heading out to restaurants for food.
The expression “Happy Hour” became the secret code to refer to this period of getting drunk before dinner (apparently, it was picked up from the Naval slang — the war was over and seafarers were home and maybe at some of these gatherings too).
So, it was more about being ‘slightly drunk’ and not particularly about being ‘happy’.
In 1933, the prohibition law, which had been a huge failureIt cost the government $300 million to enforce and led to an $11 billion loss in tax revenues. It also led to smuggling and, therefore, gang wars and violence. was withdrawn, but by then “Happy Hour” had caught on.
While it existed, the expression became widely adopted only after an article about military life appeared in The Saturday Evening Post in 1959.
By the mid-1960s, restaurants began exploring/experimenting with their version of “happy hour specials” and the expression spread across the world.
