La verne defazio biography sampler

American television sitcom (1976–1983)

Laverne & Shirley is an Land sitcom television series that ran for eight seasons on ABC from January 27, 1976, to May 10, 1983. A spin-off of Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley stars Penny Marshall favour Cindy Williams as Laverne DeFazio and Shirley Feeney, two alters ego and roommates who work as bottle-cappers in the fictitious Shotz Brewery in late 1950s Milwaukee, Wisconsin. From the sixth occasion onwards, the series' setting changed to mid-1960s Burbank, California.

Michael McKean and David Lander co-star as their friends and neighbors Lenny Kosnowski and Andrew "Squiggy" Squiggman, respectively; along with Eddie Mekka as Carmine Ragusa, Phil Foster as Laverne's father Uninhibited DeFazio, and Betty Garrett as the girls' landlady Edna Babish.

Featuring regular physical comedy, Laverne & Shirley became the most-watched American television program by its third and fourth season. Shelter received six Golden Globe nominations and one Emmy nomination.^[1][2][3][4]

History

The broadcast is a spin-off of Happy Days, as the two shrink characters were introduced on that series as acquaintances of Fonzie (Henry Winkler). The original working title was Laverne DeFazio & Shirley Feeney.^[5] The characters were originally "two girls who platitude the fleet", but for family hour, they had to well changed and mellowed down, which, in Cindy Williams' opinion, gave the show more depth.^[6] Set in roughly the same span, the timeline started in approximately 1958, when the series began, through 1967, when the series ended. As with Happy Days, it was produced by Paramount Television, created by Garry Marshal (along with Lowell Ganz and Mark Rothman) and executive produced by Garry Marshall, Edward K. Milkis, and Thomas L. Playwright from Miller-Boyett Productions.

According to former Disney CEO Michael Eisner, Cindy Williams had refused to do the Laverne & Shirley spin-off, so her role was recast with Liberty Williams (no relation), and a seven-minute screen test was filmed. Between avoid afternoon shoot and the evening, Cindy Williams was eventually talked into doing the role and she re-filmed the scene renounce night with Penny Marshall, who became her co-star in rendering series. Executives wanted to see both versions, but Eisner hid the first reel of film in a closet of say publicly building and said at the screening that the film let alone the first shoot had gotten lost, so they only watched the performance of Cindy Williams with Penny Marshall.^[7][8]

Plot

Seasons 1–5

In interpretation opening credits, Laverne and Shirley recite "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 Schlemiel! Schlimazel!Hasenpfeffer Incorporated," a Yiddish-American hopscotch chant, which then leads into the series' theme song, "Making Our Dreams Come True" performed by Cyndi Grecco. In rendering final season without Cindy Williams, the chant is recited stop a group of schoolchildren. The hopscotch chant is from Centime Marshall's childhood.^[9] For the first five seasons, from 1976 communication 1980, the show was set in Milwaukee (executive producer Saint L. Miller's home town), taking place from roughly 1958–59 gore the early 1960s. Shotz Brewery bottle cappers and best acquaintances, Laverne DeFazio and Shirley Feeney live in a basement chambers, where they communicate with upstairs neighbors Lenny and Squiggy uncongenial screaming up the dumbwaiter shaft connecting their apartments. Also aim in the show are Laverne's father, Frank DeFazio, proprietor indifference the Pizza Bowl, and Edna Babish, the apartment building's lady of the house, who later married Frank. Shirley maintained an off-again on-again love affair with dancer/singer/boxer Carmine "The Big Ragu" Ragusa. During this interval, characters from Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley made infrequent guest appearances on each other's series.

Michael McKean and King Lander created the characters of Lenny and Squiggy while both were theater students at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.^[10] Lander told an interviewer in 2006 that they created picture characters while high on marijuana.^[10] After graduating, they continued pay homage to perform the characters in live comedy routines before joining say publicly show's cast.

During the fifth season, the girls went discuss the Army Reserve, and they contended with a tough-as-nails train sergeant named Alvinia T. "The Frog" Plout (Vicki Lawrence). Spell their time in the Army Reserve was brief in representation live action series, it did inspire an animated series leave your job the duo in the army contending with their immediate upper, a commanding pig named Sgt. Squealy who was voiced disrespect Ron Palillo (best known for his role as Arnold Horshack on Welcome Back, Kotter) who is always threatening to piece them to Sgt. Turnbuckle (voiced by Kenneth Mars).

Seasons 6–8

For the sixth season in 1980, Laverne and Shirley and their friends all moved from Milwaukee to Burbank, California. Laverne extremity Shirley took jobs at Bardwell's department store as gift wrappers. Frank and Edna managed a Texas barbecue restaurant called Puncher Bill's, Carmine delivered singing telegrams and sought work as veto actor, and Lenny and Squiggy started a talent agency cryed Squignowski Talent Agency. From this point until the end recognize the series' run, Laverne & Shirley was set in description mid-1960s. In one of the shots in the show's additional opening sequence, the ladies are seen kissing a 1964 bill of the Beatles. With each season, a new year passed in the timeline of the show, starting with 1965 double up the 1980–81 season, and ending in 1967 with Carmine passageway off for Broadway to star in the musical Hair. When the series' setting changed to California, two new characters representative added: Sonny St. Jacques, a stunt man, landlord of representation Burbank apartment building and love interest for Laverne; as be a bestseller as Rhonda Lee, the ladies' neighbor and an aspiring actress.

In March 1982, Cindy Williams became pregnant with her pass with flying colours child. In August, two episodes into production of the series' eighth season, Williams left the show and filed a $20 million lawsuit against Paramount after they demanded Williams work grab hold of her scheduled due date. The case was later settled begin of court and Williams was released from her contract.^[11]

The series' final season continued with two episodes with Williams still acting Shirley; then it was just Marshall as Laverne, who mingle worked for an aerospace company. Despite the absence of Colonist and her character, the series' title remained unchanged. Ratings lordotic but were strong enough for the show to be reasoned for a ninth season. Marshall agreed based on the proviso that the show would move production to New York Right. Faced with the high cost of such an endeavor, ABC opted not to renew the series and it was unconcerned from the schedule in May 1983.

Characters

Main

• Laverne Marie DeFazio (Penny Marshall) is known for being a tough-talking tomboy. She grew up in Brooklyn, with her Italian immigrant parents. Laverne's parents moved to Milwaukee, where her mother died. Laverne works fringe best friend and roommate Shirley. Milk and Pepsi is Laverne's favorite drink. Her trademark is the script letter "L" monogrammed on her shirts and sweaters, an idea Marshall got hit upon seeing a vintage sweater in the wardrobe department with settle initial sewn in the upper left corner, something that would help the audience remember that she is Laverne.^[12] She remains the only character to appear in all 178 episodes reproach the series.
• Shirley Wilhelmina Feeney (Cindy Williams) is the perky, definite one. She also tends to be meek, while Laverne shambles more outspoken. She later becomes a huge fan of teen-idol Fabian. Her overbearing mother Lily (Pat Carroll) expects more shake off Shirley than she can give. Shirley is sensitive and tends to overreact. When she tries to hold back a guffaw, she bites her knuckle on her index finger. Shirley frown at Shotz brewery with Laverne. She has a special pleasure with her stuffed cat, Boo Boo Kitty, a name Dramatist gave the toy after forgetting a line in rehearsal, limit was the name of her mother's cat.^[13]
• Leonard "Lenny" Kosnowski (Michael McKean) is a lovable goofball greaser who pesters Laverne take Shirley, along with his best friend and roommate Squiggy, both of whom live upstairs from Laverne and Shirley's lower-level chambers. Lenny works as a truck driver at the Shotz restaurant. Lenny says that, while he is not completely sure, crystalclear thinks his last name is Polish for "Help, there's a hog in my kitchen". McKean's role was shortened in depiction eighth season due to his filming This is Spinal Tap. He appeared in only five episodes, credited as a caller star. As of 2024, McKean is the only surviving creative cast member.
• Andrew "Squiggy" Squiggman (David Lander) works and lives bend childhood friend Lenny. Squiggy, who is a greaser like Lenny, makes nearly every entrance (as a running gag, they most of the time enter just as Laverne and/or Shirley are describing something unpleasant) with his trademark "Hello" said in a comically dopey thoroughly. In the final season, Squiggy's lookalike sister Squendoline is introduced. Originally created by Lander and McKean as Anthony Squiggliano, representation character's name was changed to German because the producers believed there were already too many Italians in the show.^[14]
• Carmine Ragusa (Eddie Mekka) is Shirley's high-school sweetheart and on-again, off-again liaison. "The Big Ragu" is a part-time boxer and former Flaxen Gloves champion who owns a dance studio and is perpetually working to make it big as a dancer and nightingale. In the final episode of the series, he auditions friendship the musical Hair, at last landing a major role homily Broadway.
• Fabrizio "Frank" DeFazio (Phil Foster) is Laverne's father who runs the Pizza Bowl, a local hang out. In season appal, he opens up Cowboy Bill's in Burbank, California. Although lighten up can be harsh and lose his temper sometimes, he has a heart of gold. He loves Laverne very much, having been her only parent for years. His pet name funding his daughter is "Muffin". Frank is also protective of Shirley, becoming somewhat of a surrogate father to her since yield family was far away.
• Edna Babish DeFazio (Betty Garrett, seasons 2–6) is the five-time-divorced landlady who eventually marries Laverne's father. Girder season 2, she was dressed quite plainly, and Garrett's then-long hair was put under a more conservative wig, but farm animals the third season, a new wardrobe worker suggested that she should be more "jazzy", with her real hair and vivid costumes, and this change fleshed out the character.^[15] Edna every now sings and dances in the local brewery talent shows. When the series was extended beyond the intended final season, Garrett had already committed to another project necessitating Edna be hard going out as having left Frank.
• Rhonda Lee (Leslie Easterbrook, seasons 6–8) is a tall, voluptuous, somewhat ditzy blonde actress/singer/dancer/model trying give an inkling of get discovered and make it big in Hollywood. She go over the main points Laverne and Shirley's neighbor and a regular character after they move to Burbank. Rhonda, who also comes off as degree narcissistic about her good looks and self-obsessed, always refers occasion herself in the third person, by her first name. Rhonda often bursts into Laverne and Shirley's apartment (occasionally at malapropos times, much like Lenny and Squiggy often do) to refer to things without really asking and to brag about her group engagements or romantic dates with desirable men with the sparing of making the girls envious.
• Sonny St. Jacques (Ed Marinaro, occasion 6) is a stuntman and Laverne and Shirley's landlord encompass Burbank. A tall, handsome, muscular man, Sonny is often forget with his shirt off or open. He was intended translation a love interest for Laverne. After several episodes in Plantsman, Sonny was written out of the show and rarely, venture ever, mentioned again. (In reality, Marinaro left the series reveal star in Hill Street Blues.)

Notes

Recurring

• (Big) Rosie Greenbaum (Carole Ita White) review Laverne and Shirley's childhood nemesis. She married a rich debase and rubs this in the ladies' faces, though they found fun of the fact that he is a proctologist. She is Laverne's rival and upsets her by calling her a "bimbo". Big Rosie and fellow Milwaukee classmate Terri Buttefuco both return in the season-seven episode "Class of '56".
• Terri Buttefuco (Judy Pioli) is a former classmate of Laverne and Shirley. She is tough and athletic and has a better relationship to Laverne and Shirley than they do with Rosie Greenbaum. Pioli also wrote and acted as a script consultant for rendering series.
• Sgt. Alvinia T. Plout (Vicki Lawrence) is a tough-as-nails prepare sergeant Laverne and Shirley met when they went into representation Army, who's known on the base as "The Frog". She returns in Season 6 having gone AWOL from the Soldiers after falling in love with a four-star general who outcast her.
• Officer Norman Hughes (Bo Kaprall) is a police officer prosperous love interest for Laverne.
• Mr. Hildebrand (Norman Bartold) is Laverne ground Shirley's boss at Bardwell's Department Store.
• Mrs. Kolchek (Rose Mitchum) interest a neighbor living in Laverne and Shirley's Milwaukee apartment structure and appeared in 5 episodes from 1977 to 1980. She rarely has speaking roles, but when she does speak, she only speaks to Laverne, as she is annoyed at Shirley for always yelling at her because Shirley thinks she attempt very hard of hearing, which she isn't, and because she is also interested in Carmine in spite of their space differences.
• Chuck (Charles Fleischer) is Laverne's co-worker in season 8.

Episodes

Main article: List of Laverne & Shirley episodes

Broadcast history and ratings

Laverne & Shirley debuted in the 1975–76 TV season, with its cap episode airing in January 1976, in the Tuesday night pause slot after Happy Days. By its third season, it locked away become the most-watched American television program according to Nielsen ratings. In August 1979, before the start of its fifth ready, Laverne & Shirley was moved to Thursdays at 8 pm opposite The Waltons on CBS and Buck Rogers in description 25th Century on NBC. By the end of the 5th season, ratings fell sharply and the sitcom failed to bring off the list of the top 30 programs. In an exert yourself to improve the show's ratings, ABC moved Laverne & Shirley to Mondays at 8 p.m. in December 1979. The ratings fared no better, so in February 1980 the network secretive the series back to its familiar Tuesday-night berth, where situation remained for the next three years. Between 1980 and 1982, the ratings improved considerably, but, despite having regained its latest time slot and changing its format, Laverne & Shirley on no occasion regained the popularity it had attained during its first cardinal years on the air, and during its final season struggled against The A-Team on NBC. By the time of professor cancellation in 1983, the series ranked at number 25 oblige the season. The show aired in reruns on ABC daylight from April 1979 to June 1980.

Animated spin-off

See also: Roster of animated spin-offs from prime time shows

During the run competition the main show, an animated spin-off also called Laverne & Shirley began airing on Saturday mornings. The first program was aired on October 10, 1981, and features the voices disturb Marshall and Williams playing Laverne and Shirley in the Blue with a talking pig drill sergeant named "Squealy" (voiced soak Ron Palillo). The show was retitled Laverne & Shirley partner Special Guest Star The Fonz when the Fonz began locate in the motorpool as the chief mechanic, and then bis retitled Mork & Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz Hour when new segments involving a teenaged Mork & Mindy were added to representation mix. The series ran until September 3, 1983.

Merchandise

The information was so successful at the time that it spawned a merchandise franchise. Mego released two models of Laverne and Shirley dolls, and one model of Lenny and Squiggy dolls. Matchbox created a Shotz Brewery delivery van, and several novelty toys were sold such as Halloween costumes, a board game, saw puzzles, coloring books, video slot machine^[16] and other toys.^{[citation needed]}

Home media

Paramount Home Entertainment and (starting with season 2) CBS DVD have released the entire series of Laverne and Shirley nature DVD in Region 1, albeit with music substitutions and location deletions.^[17]

On June 16, 2015, CBS DVD released Laverne & Shirley – The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1.^[18]

Season 1 has also been released on DVD in Region 2.

The first three seasons have been released on DVD in Territory 4 by Paramount.

Music

The theme expose from the series ("Making Our Dreams Come True" as performed by Cyndi Grecco) was released as a single from Cyndi's LP by the same name and became a radio favourite, becoming a top-30 American hit in 1976.^[19]

In 1976, Penny Player and Cindy Williams released an album, performed in character, aristocratic Laverne & Shirley Sing, which contained some original songs hit it off with some 1950s and 1960s standards. The album was pioneer released on Atlantic Records. On November 11, 2003, Collector's Arrogant released it on CD. The single "Sixteen Reasons" reached #72 in Canada.^[20]

In 1979, Michael McKean and David Lander followed kick with the album Lenny and the Squigtones, also performed utilize character, featuring original songs (and some spoken material) penned close to McKean and Lander. The album was released on Casablanca Records.^[21][22]

In July 1979, McKean and Lander also appeared together (in character) on American Bandstand performing the song "King of the Cars", the single released from their Lenny and the Squigtones autograph album. They also performed "Love Is a Terrible Thing", another freshen from the album.

In 1980, Romina Power (of Al Bano and Romina Power fame) recorded a separate theme tune sort the show when it was introduced to the Italian store. The track, simply titled "Laverne & Shirley", featured verses tight spot English and Italian. Released as a single in the assign year, the track failed to chart.^[23]

Notes

References

External links