Proverbially happy little chap (5)
I believe the answer is:
larry
'proverbially happy little chap' is the definition.
'Larry' can be an answer for 'chap'. I am not sure about the 'proverbially happy little' bit.
'little chap' is the wordplay.
'little' becomes 'l' (abbreviation for little).
'chap' becomes 'arry' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'l'+'arry'='LARRY'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for larry that I've seen before include "happy man" , "Proverbially happy fellow" .)