NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Laverne and Shirley

Laverne & Shirley was a popular American television situation comedy which ran on ABC from 1976 to 1983. It starred Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams as roommates working in a Milwaukee brewery in the late 1950s. It was a spinoff of Happy Days.

The opening

The opening sequence is very popular and has been parodied in many pop culture outlets, including the movie Wayne's World. In the beginning, the girls are skipping down the street, arm in arm, reciting a hopscotch chant which has little meaning: "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight! Schlemiel! Schlemazel! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!"

The sequence has also been parodied in other languages, on Friends in a Spanish-language track under the title Laverne y Shirley and on Saturday Night Live, in Japanese, under the name Rabun to Shuri.

Other characters

Michael McKean and David Lander portrayed their obnoxious, yet loveable, greaser neighbors, Lenny Kosnowski and Andrew "Squiggy" Squiggmann. Betty Garrett played Edna Babish, the girls' landlady. She eventually fell in love with Laverne's father Frank DeFazio, Phil Foster, and married him. As Shirley's singing and dancing boyfriend, Carmine "The Big Ragoo" Rugusa, Eddie Mekka, provided a little romance and a strong right arm for the gang. The Big Ragoo was also the former Golden Gloves champion of Milwaukee.

Location

At one point the show's location was changed from Milwaukee to California. At this time, the show moved from the 1950s to the 1960s. By the end of the show's run, Laverne & Shirley was set circa 1968.

In the last season, Cindy Williams left the show. Although Penny Marshall was featured solely, the show was still called Laverne & Shirley.

Results from FactBites:

Laverne & Shirley - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (496 words)
	Laverne and Shirley was a popular American television situation comedy which ran on ABC from 1976 to 1983.
	In 1980, all of the remaining characters in Laverne and Shirley, and therefore the setting of the show, moved from Milwaukee to Southern California.
	Laverne and Shirley took jobs at a department store in the gift wrapping department, Frank and Edna opened a country and western restaurant called Cowboy Bill's, and Carmine started doing singing telegrams and working as an actor.

Laverne and Shirley (1004 words)
	Shirley was portrayed as interested in marriage, yet she was not sure that Carmine was "the one"; instead of settling, she kept her independence and her friendship with Carmine.
	Laverne and Shirley was an early prime-time proponent of women's rights and placed much value in the viewpoints and experiences of 50's women, suggesting that even in that decade women could be independent.
	Laverne and Shirley may have been a female "odd-couple", Shirley fanatically neat and Laverne hopelessly sloppy, but they balanced each other and provided a system of mutual support demonstrating that women could compete in the world of work as well as in the world of ideas.

More results at FactBites »

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