58 Fun Facts About Laverne & Shirley

On which network did Laverne & Shirley run for its eight seasons?

ABC aired all eight seasons, mostly on Tuesdays after its parent show; a 1979 switch to Thursdays sent ratings tumbling, and the network moved it back within months.

Laverne & Shirley was a spin-off of which sitcom?

Happy Days introduced the pair as double dates in a 1975 episode; within two years their spin-off had overtaken it as America's most-watched show.

What was the name of the brewery where Laverne and Shirley worked?

Shotz Brewery was invented for the show, though Pabst and Schlitz were real; its owner's annual talent show gave the cast several song-and-dance episodes.

In which city was Laverne & Shirley set for its first five seasons?

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was the setting for the first five seasons; the sixth season, starting in late 1980, moved the characters west to California.

Which actress played Laverne DeFazio?

Penny Marshall played Laverne DeFazio for all eight seasons, then turned director: her 1988 comedy Big was the first film directed by a woman to gross over $100 million.

Which actress played Shirley Feeney?

Cindy Williams played Shirley Feeney, though she nearly passed on the series: unsure about the spin-off at first, she had to be talked into it.

What job did Laverne and Shirley do at the brewery?

Bottle-cappers on the brewery's assembly line, the pair lost those jobs in season six when automated capping machines replaced them, prompting the move west.

Michael McKean and David Lander created Lenny and Squiggy as students at which Pittsburgh university?

Carnegie Mellon, then called Carnegie Tech, is where McKean and Lander met as freshmen; they played the pair for years in the troupe The Credibility Gap before the sitcom hired them as writers.

With which single word, said in a dopey voice, does Squiggy make almost every entrance?

"Hello" is Squiggy's nasal greeting as he and Lenny barge in, usually just as the women finish describing something disgusting.

What is the name of Shirley's beloved stuffed cat?

Boo Boo Kitty got its name by accident: the actress playing Shirley forgot a line in rehearsal and blurted out the name of her mother's cat.

What is Laverne's favourite drink?

Milk and Pepsi came from real life: the actress playing Laverne drank it as a child, after her mother poured the soda into an unrinsed milk glass.

What nickname did Shirley's boyfriend Carmine go by?

The Big Ragu, Carmine Ragusa, was a part-time boxer turned song-and-dance man who followed the gang to California, still chasing his show-business break.

Which actor played Carmine?

Eddie Mekka played Carmine; a Tony-nominated stage performer, he sang and danced whenever the scripts put the character on stage.

Before the move west, Laverne's father Frank ran which local hangout?

The Pizza Bowl hosted the gang's get-togethers; when the family went west, Frank traded it for a barbecue restaurant.

Who played Edna Babish, the landlady who married Laverne's father?

Betty Garrett played Edna Babish; a star of three MGM musicals in 1949, she lost years of screen work after her husband, Larry Parks, was blacklisted.

To which California city did Laverne and Shirley move in the sixth season?

Burbank became the setting from season six, with the timeline jumping to the mid-1960s as the pair moved into a new apartment in Southern California.

After moving to California, Laverne and Shirley took what job at a department store?

Gift wrappers at Bardwell's department store, the pair began by wrapping rum-filled chocolates and later plotted a break-in to retrieve a rude note they had sent the boss.

What is the title of the Laverne & Shirley theme song?

"Making Our Dreams Come True" was written by Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox and, released as a single, peaked at number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1976.

Which singer performed the Laverne & Shirley theme song?

Cyndi Grecco was singing at a California theme park when the song's writers spotted her and offered her the theme, which became her only chart hit.

Laverne & Shirley's opening chant runs "Schlemiel, Schlimazel" and then which two-word phrase?

Hasenpfeffer Incorporated ends a hopscotch chant that Laverne's actress recited on her way to school as a child and taught her co-star for the opening credits.

Which producer created Laverne & Shirley along with Lowell Ganz and Mark Rothman?

Garry Marshall created the series with Lowell Ganz and Mark Rothman and, with no time for a full pilot, sold it on a hastily shot short scene; he later directed Pretty Woman.

Which studio made the Saturday-morning cartoon Laverne & Shirley in the Army?

Hanna-Barbera made the 1981 cartoon, with both stars voicing their characters; it grew out of a brief Army Reserve stint in the sitcom's fifth season.

Which comedian played Alvinia Plout, the drill sergeant who terrorised Laverne and Shirley in the Army?

Vicki Lawrence's Sergeant Plout came back a season later as a fugitive: jilted by a general, the tough sergeant had gone AWOL and hid out with her former recruits.

In the cartoon Laverne & Shirley in the Army, what kind of animal was the pair's drill sergeant?

A pig named Sergeant Squealy gave the orders in the 1981 cartoon, forever threatening to report the pair to his own superior, Sergeant Turnbuckle.

Which Welcome Back, Kotter actor voiced the drill sergeant in the Laverne & Shirley cartoon?

Ron Palillo, the wheezing class clown Arnold Horshack, voiced the sergeant; in later life the former Sweathog stood at the front of the class himself, as a teacher.

Michael McKean's Lenny all but vanished from Laverne & Shirley's final season while he made which film?

This Is Spinal Tap, the spoof rock documentary, kept McKean off the set, so Lenny turned up in only a few final-season episodes, billed as a guest star.

What was the title of the 1979 in-character album released by McKean and Lander?

Lenny and the Squigtones came out on Casablanca Records in 1979, once the two sidekicks had grown popular enough to carry an album of songs entirely in character.

Which future rock-mockumentary character is credited on McKean and Lander's 1979 album?

Nigel Tufnel is the name under which Christopher Guest was credited as guitarist on the 1979 album, half a decade before the character's 1984 mockumentary.

The actress who played Shirley quit in 1982 after being scheduled to work on which day?

Her baby's due date was written into the contract she was asked to sign, so she refused, sued Paramount for $20 million and settled out of court.

In Laverne & Shirley's final season, Laverne took a job in which industry?

Aerospace work at Ajax Aerospace soon had Laverne in trouble: she tried out an experimental anti-gravity suit with a co-worker and the test went badly wrong.

What was the name of the Texas barbecue restaurant Frank and Edna ran in California?

Cowboy Bill's opened with a scare: when the planned act fell through at the grand opening, Shirley stepped in and hurled knives at Laverne.

What did Lenny and Squiggy call the business they set up in California to represent performers?

Squignowski Talent Agency opened once Lenny and Squiggy had gone west with the women; its name fuses their surnames, Squiggman and Kosnowski.

Ed Marinaro, landlord Sonny St. Jacques on Laverne & Shirley, left to star in which series?

Hill Street Blues gave Marinaro the role of Officer Joe Coffey from 1981; Sonny, intended as Laverne's love interest, was written out after a handful of episodes.

Which Police Academy actress played Rhonda Lee, Laverne and Shirley's glamorous California neighbour?

Leslie Easterbrook played Rhonda Lee, the would-be starlet next door; when Rhonda sent Laverne to fetch her a Playboy Club job application, it was Laverne the club tried to sign up.

What was Frank DeFazio's pet name for his daughter?

Muffin was Frank DeFazio's pet name for Laverne, though he once tried to arrange her marriage into a cheese fortune.

How did Lenny and Squiggy earn a living at the brewery?

Driving delivery trucks kept Lenny and Squiggy on the brewery payroll; when Squiggy had to pass a driving test to keep the job, Laverne and Shirley coached him.

In Laverne & Shirley's final episode, Carmine leaves for New York to audition for which musical?

Hair gave the finale its title, 'Here Today, Hair Tomorrow': after years of chasing a break, Carmine leaves California to try out for the rock musical.

Why did Laverne's actress want a big letter L on the character's clothes?

To remind viewers who she was: the actress hoped the monogram would stop the scripts repeating Laverne's name, though by her own account it never did.

During its final season, Laverne & Shirley lost viewers to which new rival series?

The A-Team arrived on a rival network's Tuesday schedule midway through the sitcom's eighth season and shot into the top ten, taking much of its audience.

Which Nickelodeon sitcom later reunited Laverne & Shirley's two stars?

Sam & Cat reunited the two stars in 2013, in their first scripted show together in thirty years, as the feuding creators of a 1970s TV show.

On a trip to New York, Laverne & Shirley's gang took on which street-festival challenge?

A greased-pole climb offered a trip to Italy as its prize, so the gang took it on to win the trip for Frank's mother, whom they were visiting.

Shirley becomes a devoted fan of which teen idol?

Fabian turned up in person in season three, when the pair sneaked into his hotel in disguise, determined to meet their idol.

Which future late-night host guest-starred on Laverne & Shirley as a man Laverne longed to impress?

Jay Leno played Joey, who treated Laverne as one of the guys, so she had Shirley coach her in acting more feminine to win him over.

Which Tony Bennett hit did Carmine burst into as a running gag on Laverne & Shirley?

Rags to Riches became Carmine's all-purpose serenade because the actor who played him loved singing Tony Bennett and asked to work the 1953 chart-topper into the show.

Which future Disney chief hid the first Laverne & Shirley screen test so executives saw only the winning pair?

Michael Eisner, then a network programming executive, locked the first reel, shot with a different Shirley, in a closet and told the screening room it had been lost.

How did Laverne and Shirley communicate with Lenny and Squiggy in their first apartment building?

Screaming up the dumbwaiter shaft worked because the women rented the basement flat and the boys lived upstairs, with the shaft joining the two apartments.

In the Yiddish of Laverne & Shirley's opening chant, what is a schlemiel?

A clumsy bungler is a schlemiel; in one version of the old joke he drops the paint bucket, and the schlimazel, the born loser, is the one standing underneath.

What work did Carmine do in California while he waited for his acting break?

Singing telegrams paid Carmine's way in California; the break finally came in the last episode, when he left for New York to try out for a Broadway musical.

Which toy company released Laverne and Shirley dolls at the height of the show's popularity?

Mego issued 12-inch Laverne and Shirley dolls in 1977 and a companion Lenny and Squiggy set, in the same era as its Star Trek and superhero figures.

In the parent sitcom, Laverne and Shirley first appeared as acquaintances of which character?

Fonzie set Richie up with the pair in the November 1975 episode 'A Date with Fonzie', their first appearance before the spin-off launched in January 1976.

Before Laverne & Shirley, its two stars were writing partners on a Bicentennial spoof for which director's company?

Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope had the pair on its payroll as comedy writers when they were asked to guest in one sitcom episode as a double date, the job that became their own series.

Which actor played Laverne's gruff father, Frank DeFazio?

Phil Foster, a veteran New York stand-up comic, played Frank DeFazio, who ends up marrying his daughter's landlady.

Lenny thinks his surname, Kosnowski, is Polish for what?

Help, there's a hog in my kitchen is what Lenny thinks Kosnowski means, though he admits he is not sure; he also turned out to be 89th in line to a Polish title.

What pet name does Carmine use for Shirley?

Angel Face was Carmine's name for Shirley through years of breaking up and making up; in season seven she all but marched him to the altar, yet the two never married.

Why did Laverne & Shirley's producers have Squiggy renamed before his first episode?

Too many Italians in the show already was the producers' worry, given the DeFazios and Carmine, so the character created as Anthony Squiggliano became the German-sounding Squiggman.

Shirley eventually marries a man with which rhyming surname?

Meeney was the surname of Walter, the army medic Shirley married at his hospital bedside, making her Shirley Feeney-Meeney just before she vanished from the show.

Which long-running series was Laverne & Shirley scheduled against when it moved to Thursdays in 1979?

The Waltons, a Thursday-night fixture, was the opposition when the sitcom was moved there in 1979; its ratings fell sharply and it was back on Tuesdays within months.

What is Squiggy's given first name?

Andrew is Squiggy's given name; his con-man father, Helmut, walked out when the boy was nine and turned up again twenty years later.