Laverne & Shirley 

The misadventures of two single women in the 1950s and '60s.

Creators:

Lowell Ganz, Garry Marshall, Mark Rothman

Stars:

Penny Marshall, Cindy Williams, David L. Lander

Nominated for 6 Golden Globes. Another 2 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Penny Marshall	...	Laverne DeFazio 178 episodes, 1976-1983
Cindy Williams	...	Shirley Feeney 158 episodes, 1976-1982
David L. Lander	...	Andrew 'Squiggy' Squiggman / ... 156 episodes, 1976-1983
Eddie Mekka	...	Carmine 'The Big Ragoo' Ragusa / ... 150 episodes, 1976-1983
Michael McKean	...	Lenny Kosnowski 149 episodes, 1976-1983
Phil Foster	...	Frank DeFazio 148 episodes, 1976-1983
Betty Garrett	...	Edna Babish / ... 97 episodes, 1976-1981
Leslie Easterbrook	...	Rhonda Lee 51 episodes, 1980-1983

Storyline

Laverne DeFazio and Shirley Feeney were best friends and roommates coping with dates, neighbors, and each other During the late '50s and early '60s they worked as bottlecappers for Shotz Brewery in Milwaukee. They moved to Burbank, California in 1965 to start a new life when they got replaced at the brewery by an automated bottlecapper.

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Plot Keywords:

character names as series title | roommate | happy days spin off | brewery worker | bottle cappers | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Family

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Certificate:

TV-G

Did You Know?

Trivia

Bruce Kimmell appears in the good time girls episode as a suitor for Shirley, (Cindy Williams). That same year (1976), Cindy Williams also played Bruce Kimmel's girlfriend in a movie he directed and that they starred in together: The First Nudie Musical (1976).

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Goofs

The show was originally set in Milwaukee, famed for its brewing history. The title characters were bottlecappers in the fictional Schotz Brewery, so they are shown working along a brewery's bottling line during the opening titles. However, this sequence was obviously shot in an Anheuser-Busch facility, as the bottles shown streaming along the conveyor are the iconic 'teardrop' bottles used for Michelob beer in the 1970s. Anheuser-Busch, the St. Louis-based maker of Budweiser, never had a facility in Milwaukee.

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Quotes

Laverne De Fazio: Are all those girls in those films really naked?
Arthur 'Fonzie' Fonzarelli: No, some of them wear socks!

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Alternate Versions

The syndicated versions were called "Laverne & Shirley & Company".

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Connections

Referenced in Scrubs (2001)

User Reviews

Loved it as a kid...

I was 13 when L&S debuted, loved at and followed it faithfully until it jumped the shark when they all moved to California (didn't the same thing happen to Lucy & Ethel?)It actually was a far better show than "Happy Days" other spin-off, "Mork & Mindy", which relied solely on the admittedly generous comedic talents of Robin Williams to generate laughs (the rest of the cast may as well have come from Madam Tussaud's). This was a show where everyone had a role, a chance to stand out-except maybe for Carmine Ragusa, who was the only somewhat weak character. These weren't lily-white folks-on one show Laverne thought she was pregnant-they were working class dreamers who aspired to something better, albeit their dreams were of rich husbands. One of my favorite scenes is where Laverne & Lenny (who now reminds me of Butthead to Squiggey's Beavis) are singing "I Know the Look!" A classic, and I'm glad I had the privilege to see it the first time around!

Details

Release Date:

27 January 1976 (USA)

Also Known As:

Laverne & Shirley & Friends

Filming Locations:

Anheuser-Busch, 8250 Woodley Ave, Van Nuys, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Miller-Milkis Productions, Henderson Productions, Paramount Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min (178 episodes)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1