Laverne & Shirley

The series is a spin-off from Happy Days, as the two lead 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 date the fleet", but for family hour, they had to be changed and mellowed down, which, in Cindy Williams' opinion, gave the show more depth.^[6] Set in roughly the same period, the timeline started in approximately 1958, when the series began, through 1967, when the series ended. As with Happy Days, it was made by Paramount Television, created by Garry Marshall (along with Lowell Ganz and Mark Rothman) and executive produced by Garry Marshall, Edward K. Milkis, and Thomas L. Miller 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 that afternoon shoot and the evening, Cindy Williams was eventually talked into doing the role and she re-filmed the scene that night with Penny Marshall, who became her co-star in the series. Executives wanted to see both versions, but Eisner hid the first reel of film in a closet of the building and said at the screening that the film from the first shoot had gotten lost, so they only watched the performance of Cindy Williams with Penny Marshall.^[7][8]

In the 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 the final season without Cindy Williams, the chant is recited by a group of schoolchildren. The hopscotch chant is from Penny Marshall's childhood.^[9] For the first five seasons, from 1976 to 1980, the show was set in Milwaukee (executive producer Thomas L. Miller's home town), taking place from roughly 1958–59 through the early 1960s. Shotz Brewery bottle cappers and best friends, Laverne DeFazio and Shirley Feeney live in a basement apartment, where they communicate with upstairs neighbors Lenny and Squiggy by screaming up the dumbwaiter shaft connecting their apartments. Also included in the show are Laverne's father, Frank DeFazio, proprietor of the Pizza Bowl, and Edna Babish, the apartment building's landlady, who later married Frank. Shirley maintained an off-again on-again romance with dancer/singer/boxer Carmine "The Big Ragu" Ragusa. During this period, characters from Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley made occasional guest appearances on each other's series.

 

Michael McKean and David 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 the characters while high on marijuana.^[10] After graduating, they continued to perform the characters in live comedy routines before joining the show's cast.

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

 

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

In March 1982, Cindy Williams became pregnant with her first 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 on her scheduled due date. The case was later settled out of court and Williams was released from her contract.^[11]

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

 

• 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 alongside 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 from seeing a vintage sweater in the wardrobe department with an initial sewn in the upper left corner, something that would help the audience remember that she is Laverne.^[12] She is the only character to appear in all 178 episodes of the series.
• Shirley Wilhelmina Feeney (Cindy Williams) is the perky, positive one. She also tends to be meek, while Laverne is more outspoken. She later becomes a huge fan of teen-idol Fabian. Her overbearing mother Lily (Pat Carroll) expects more from Shirley than she can give. Shirley is sensitive and tends to overreact. When she tries to hold back a laugh, she bites her knuckle on her index finger. Shirley works at Shotz brewery with Laverne. She has a special relationship with her stuffed cat, Boo Boo Kitty, a name Williams gave the toy after forgetting a line in rehearsal, and was the name of her mother's cat.^[13]
• Leonard "Lenny" Kosnowski (Michael McKean) is a lovable goofball greaser who pesters Laverne and Shirley, along with his best friend and roommate Squiggy, both of whom live upstairs from Laverne and Shirley's lower-level apartment. Lenny works as a truck driver at the Shotz brewery. Lenny says that, while he is not completely sure, he thinks his last name is Polish for "Help, there's a hog in my kitchen". McKean's role was shortened in the eighth season due to his filming This is Spinal Tap. He only appeared in five episodes, credited as a guest star. (As of 2024, McKean is the only surviving original cast member.)
• Andrew "Squiggy" Squiggman (David Lander) works and lives with childhood friend Lenny. Squiggy, who is a greaser like Lenny, makes nearly every entrance (as a running gag, they usually enter just as Laverne and/or Shirley are describing something unpleasant) with his trademark "Hello" said in a comically dopey voice. In the final season, Squiggy's lookalike sister Squendoline is introduced. Originally created by Lander and McKean as Anthony Squiggliano, the 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 romance. "The Big Ragu" is a part-time boxer and former Golden Gloves champion who owns a dance studio and is constantly working to make it big as a dancer and singer. In the final episode of the series, he auditions for the musical Hair, at last landing a major role on Broadway.
• Fabrizio "Frank" DeFazio (Phil Foster) is Laverne's father who runs the Pizza Bowl, a local hang out. In season six, he opens up Cowboy Bill's in Burbank, California. Although he 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 for his daughter is "Muffin". Frank is also protective of Shirley, becoming somewhat of a surrogate father to her since her family was far away.
• Edna Babish DeFazio (Betty Garrett, seasons 2–6) is the five-time-divorced landlady who eventually marries Laverne's father. In season 2, she was dressed quite plainly, and Garrett's then-long hair was put under a more conservative wig, but in the third season, a new wardrobe worker suggested that she should be more "jazzy", with her real hair and colorful costumes, and this change fleshed out the character.^[15] Edna occasionally 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 written out as having left Frank.
• Rhonda Lee (Leslie Easterbrook, seasons 6–8) is a tall, voluptuous, somewhat ditzy blonde actress/singer/dancer/model trying to get discovered and make it big in Hollywood. She is Laverne and Shirley's neighbor and a regular character after they move to Burbank. Rhonda, who also comes off as rather narcissistic about her good looks and self-obsessed, always refers to herself in the third person, by her first name. Rhonda often bursts into Laverne and Shirley's apartment (occasionally at inopportune times, much like Lenny and Squiggy often do) to borrow things without really asking and to brag about her social engagements or romantic dates with desirable men with the intention of making the girls envious.
• Sonny St. Jacques (Ed Marinaro, season 6) is a stuntman and Laverne and Shirley's landlord in Burbank. A tall, handsome, muscular man, Sonny is often seen with his shirt off or open. He was intended as a love interest for Laverne. After several episodes in Burbank, Sonny was written out of the show and rarely, if ever, mentioned again. (In reality, Marinaro left the series to star in Hill Street Blues.)

• (Big) Rosie Greenbaum (Carole Ita White) is Laverne and Shirley's childhood nemesis. She married a rich doctor and rubs this in the ladies' faces, though they make 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 with Laverne and Shirley than they do with Rosie Greenbaum. Pioli also wrote and acted as a script consultant for the series.
• Sgt. Alvinia T. Plout (Vicki Lawrence) is a tough-as-nails drill sergeant Laverne and Shirley met when they went into the Army, who's known on the base as "The Frog". She returns in Season 6 having gone AWOL from the Army after falling in love with a four-star general who jilted her.
• Officer Norman Hughes (Bo Kaprall) is a police officer and love interest for Laverne.
• Mr. Hildebrand (Norman Bartold) is Laverne and Shirley's boss at Bardwell's Department Store.
• Mrs. Kolchek (Rose Mitchum) is a neighbor living in Laverne and Shirley's Milwaukee apartment building 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 is very hard of hearing, which she isn't, and because she is also interested in Carmine in spite of their age differences.
• Chuck (Charles Fleischer) is Laverne's co-worker in season 8.

Laverne & Shirley debuted in the 1975–76 TV season, with its first episode airing in January 1976, in the Tuesday night time slot after Happy Days. By its third season, it had become the most-watched American television program according to Nielsen ratings. In August 1979, before the start of its fifth season, Laverne & Shirley was moved to Thursdays at 8 pm opposite The Waltons on CBS and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century on NBC. By the end of the fifth season, ratings fell sharply and the sitcom failed to make the list of the top 30 programs. In an effort 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 moved the series back to its familiar Tuesday-night berth, where it remained for the next three years. Between 1980 and 1982, the ratings improved considerably, but, despite having regained its original time slot and changing its format, Laverne & Shirley never regained the popularity it had attained during its first four years on the air, and during its final season struggled against The A-Team on NBC. By the time of its cancellation in 1983, the series ranked at number 25 for the season. The show aired in reruns on ABC daytime from April 1979 to June 1980.

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

The program 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, jigsaw puzzles, coloring books, video slot machine^[16] and other toys.^{[citation needed]}

Paramount Home Entertainment and (starting with season 2) CBS DVD have released the entire series of Laverne and Shirley on DVD in Region 1, albeit with music substitutions and scene 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 Region 4 by Paramount.

 

 

The theme song 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 favorite, becoming a top-30 American hit in 1976.^[19]

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

In 1979, Michael McKean and David Lander followed suit with the album Lenny and the Squigtones, also performed in character, featuring original songs (and some spoken material) penned by 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 album. They also performed "Love Is a Terrible Thing", another song from the album.

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

 

Wikiquote has quotations related to Laverne & Shirley.

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Laverne & Shirley.

• Laverne & Shirley at IMDb
• Laverne & Shirley at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television