Go back in time to before they became Laverne & Shirley

Penny Marshall felt paranoid. Cindy Williams felt anonymous. Then fame hit.

From the moment that the characters of Laverne DeFazio and Shirley Feeney were introduced on Happy Days, they were destined to become a hit.

Laverne & Shirley became one of the most popular spin-off shows of all time, becoming the most-watched TV show in America by its third season.

The hype for the girls had everyone reciting the hopscotch chant, "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!"

But before Laverne & Shirley became TV icons, Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams were just a couple of scrappy chicks trying to find where they fit in Hollywood.

For Marshall, it was likely easier to navigate the L.A. scene.

Her dad was a TV producer who once brought a friend to the set of The Odd Couple and when his friend commented on a guest star saying, "She’s very funny"” all Tony Marshall could tell him was, "Wait till you see Penny Marshall."

Marshall had been acting for four years before she began appearing on The Odd Couple as Oscar’s secretary Myrna. And though Marshall enjoyed finally getting time in the spotlight on the sitcom, she ultimately was scared that the role was limiting her potential to have producers see her as a true TV star.

"As Myrna, I would appear at the beginning of the show, asking Jack Klugman’s Oscar why he looked so pale and tired," Marshall told The Miami News in 1974. "I’d tell him he needed a vacation and suggest a cruise. Then the show would start and be all about the cruise. At the end of the show, I would pop up again and ask him how it all turned out. I was fast becoming the ‘Queen of the teaser and tag.’"

That’s why Marshall ultimately decided to take a risk and leave The Odd Couple for the chance to join the cast of a show called Friends and Lovers.

The move only made her more paranoid that she’d never make it, because very soon after filming started, there were rumors the network wouldn’t pick up more episodes.

"It’s really crazy," Marshall said. "Just before we went on hiatus, everyone was going around asking everyone in sight if they knew anything about the show being picked up. Just to give you an idea of how paranoid we all became, I even went so far as to ask the carpenter who builds our sets if he had any inside word."

The cast’s worst fears panned out and the show was cancelled. Marshall was disappointed, but critics knew it wouldn’t be the last they’d heard of the future Laverne.

"Penny Marshall should go on to better things," one critic wrote in 1974. "She’s got what it takes… talent… and a marvelous sense of humor."

As for Cindy Williams, critics before Laverne & Shirley aired predicted that she was "likely to remain anonymous unless she establishes herself firmly in the public mind through raw talent."

Williams had started acting in 1970, praised for youthful looks that allowed her to play parts meant for teenage girls, but unlike Marshall, who became paranoid, Williams found a way to stay positive despite any failures.

When her career didn’t seem to be picking up, she visited a psychic who told her she would soon be traveling.

At this point, Williams had auditioned a dozen times for the movie Travels With My Aunt. The day the psychic told her to pack a suitcase, she got the call that she was cast and hopped on a flight to the film location in Madrid. It would become what she considered her biggest break.

"I consider myself the luckiest girl in the world," Williams told the Galesburg Register-Mail in 1972 after getting the part.

Shortly after, Williams featured in American Graffiti, where critics said she "glittered brightly," but again, despite heavily praised performances, Williams didn’t become a major celebrity and felt unsure about her future as an actor.

In the end, Happy Days would bring the lifelong friends together, casting them as Laverne & Shirley and ensuring the actors wouldn’t fade into obscurity.

For Marshall, fame was always the aim, but that didn’t mean she loved being on camera.

The Laverne DeFazio actor told the Sunday News in 1973 that any time she saw her face onscreen, "I want to crawl into a corner and hide."

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175 Comments

eddiecantorfan 19 months ago
The cops on Car 54 Where Are
You? And Barney Miller can't hold a candle to that funny cop
Officer Kirk(Ed Peck) on Happy Days.Watching Officer Kirk trying
To run Fonzie out of town and
Richie and his friends Minus
BAG and MOOSE all in leather jackets was hilarious.
Later Al said Sit on it Kirk!!
Also Marsha Simms (Beatrice Colen) on Happy Days was even funnier than
the waitresses on Alice.
After all Marsha hot scared
TWICE by a MANEQUIN .
eddiecantorfan 19 months ago
RIP
KATHY O 'DARE
Mary Lou Mulligan
Happy Days
Season one
Episode one
All The Way
Richies first girlfriend .
eddiecantorfan 19 months ago
Riddle Theater
What goes up but never comes
back down? 1
2 What is Jack Webb's Favorite
Day of the Week?
3 What is Rod SERLING s favorite gallery to visit?
4 What is black and white and red all over?
5 What is Gilligan's First Name?
6 Barry Greenberg played Moose on Happy Days on season one.
But Moose was a nickname so what was Moose's teal first name?
6 What was Spikes real first name on Happy Days?
7 Was BAG a nickname for the
Character of Bag Zombroski on
Happy Days?If Bag was a nickname then what was
Bags real first name?
8 What nickname did Luke
McCoy have for his wife Kate
On The REAL McCoys?
9 What was Howard Cunningham s nickname in
The army?
10 How many actors played
Chuck Cunningham on Happy Days?
11 What were the first names of
Cpl Cuccinelli and Cpl Boyle on
Gomer Pyle USMC?
12 What was the middle name of Ernest T Bass on TAGS?
13 Who played a different character named Moose on
Happy Days in Bringing Up Spike episode of Happy Days?
14 What was the Professor s
Name on Gilligan's island?
15 Did Perry Mason ever lose a case to Hamilton Burger?
16 Did Rod SERLING ever talk to
Any of the characters in the stories of The Twilight Zone?
17 What is Fonzie's middle name?
18 Who chased KC Cunningham Crystal Bernard through the Cunningham home on Happy Days?
19 On The Andy Griffith Show
what was Mayor Stoners first
Name?
20 What was the name of the
Actress who played Aunt Bessie
On Happy Days?
eddiecantorfan 20 months ago
Happy Days Characters Who
Had CHUCK CUNNINGHAM
SYNDROME :
1 Chuck Cunningham
2 Moose
3 Bag Zombroski
4 Marsha Simms
5 Wendy
6 Trudy
7 Gloria
8 Spike
9 Flip Phillips
10 Eugene Belvin
11 Melvin Belvin
KC Cunningham
Did I leave Anyone Else Out ??
Chuck Cunningham Syndrome
Daphne
Sticks Downey Jr.
eddiecantorfan 20 months ago
Happy Days OUTTAKE
Is there any way to pull up an
OUTTAKE from the Last Episode
Of Happy Days where Howard
Cunningham Tom Bosley is at
the wedding of Joanie and
Chachi and. and Howard says:
WAIT ! WHERE'S CHUCK !!
Deleted 20 months ago
This comment has been removed.
LoveMETV22 20 months ago
Here is the clip from the Final Scene of Happy Days
eddiecantorfan 20 months ago
EDDIE CANTOR FAN IS BACK!
I still have Bag and Wally Fan as a USER NAME but I had to get a new cellphone and when I got
the new cellphone my old e mail address didn't work on the new cellphone so I went back to
EDDIE CANTOR FAN.
JOKE THEATER
WHAT DID THE BOY CELLPHONE SAY TO THE
GIRL CELLPHONE?
BABY YOU TURN ME ON!!!!
Joke THEATER
Chuck Cunningham 1
Gavan O'HERLIHY WENT
UPSTAIRS AT THE CUNNINGHAM HOME ONE
SUMMER DAY AND WHEN
HE CAME BACK DOWNSTAIRS HE WAS
CHUCK CUNNINGHAM 2
RANDOLPH ROBERTS !!!!!
How about METV BLOCK
PARTIES of:
Happy Days
The Adventures of OZZIE and HARRIET
ALICE
The Lone Ranger
The Adventures of Superman
bagandwallyfan52 20 months ago
https://youtu.be/vJfoalJ9Tgg
Let's take a JUNGLE BREAK
WITH GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE
bagandwallyfan52 20 months ago
RELATIVELY SPEAKING A NEW
BAG & WALLY FEATURE IS WHERE
I AND OTHER METV Comment LINE
Persons Ask if Actors and Other
Well Known Persons Are RELATED
1 Is Janice Kent who played Mary Ellen on The New Leave It To Beaver
Related to David Kent who played
Bill Scott on Leave It To Beaver?
2 Is Cindy Williams (Shirley Feeney)
Of Laverne and Shirley Related To:
CAROL WILLIAMS who played
MARALEE on one episode Only of Happy Days called FONZIEs New Friend or Carey Williams the actress
who danced with Moose Barry Greenberg in the season one episode of Happy Days called Guess Who's Coming To Visit?
3 Is Neil J Schwartz who played
BAG ZOMBROSKI on Happy Days
Related to Producer Sherwood Schwartz (Gilligan's Island and
Brady Bunch) and Sherwood's son Lloyd J Schwartz?
Load previous comments
Separated At Birth
Actors Pat Cranshaw (Andy on
Alice) and Emmett Lynn .
Clayton Moore and John Hart??
Separated At Birth?
Actors Roy Stuart Cpl Boyle
And Kay Kuter Newt Kiley.
Separated At Birth?
FONZIE and SPIKE .
bagandwallyfan52 20 months ago
TRIVIA CHALLENGE A New Bag and Wally Feature
On Happy Days Moose was played by BARRY GREENBERG for Season
One ONLY . However Moose continued to be seen on Happy Days all the way to the end of season 2 of Happy Days even though Moose appeared on season one
ONLY.How is this possible??
Load previous comments
Here's a friendly hint B&GF52 😊

Your Trivia challenge is going to be a lot of fun for readers and viewers! The only thing is working on the format of your Quiz.

Put Happy Days stuff in one box. Maybe a line for each question.

1. About Moose
2. About Jenny Piccolo
3. etc.
4. etc.

Keep in mind the difference between natural breaks in your sentences which happen depending on width of your box (device used). And the lines you can force with a CTL+break (or Enter).

Hope this helps you have an even more enjoyable challenge for your fans!
I pulled up Quora on the Internet and Quora said that
the producers were considering bringing back Chiuck Cunningham to Happy Days
After Ron Howard left Happy Days.Chuck Cunningham was supposed to be newly graduated from college and
Chuck Cunningham was going to be the new basketball coach at Jefferson High School.
For reasons unknown to me
the producers of Happy Days changed their minds about bringing back Chiuck Cunningham Gavan O Herlihy
OR Randolph Roberts and created the new character of Roger Phillips played by Ted McGinley.Xhuck Cunningham would have been just as good of a basketball coach as Roger Phillips.The producers of Happy Days could have had Chuck Cunningham 2 Randolph Roberts on Happy Days and
Roger Phillips Ted McGinley
On Happy Days AT THE SAME TIME because Chuck Cunningham 2 Randolph Roberts could have been the
Assistant Basketball Coach to head Coach Roger Phillips Ted McGinley. Also Happy Days could have made BAG ZOMBROSKI played by Neil J Schwartz the Resident Drummer on Richie's band because Sticks Downey Jr John Anthony Bailey Disappeared from Happy Days with no explanation.
Have you ever seen the 2 Movies CLUE and TEN LITTLE
INDIANS ? It seems to me that
the movie CLUE is Very Similar to the movie called 10 Little Indians it's almost the same plot. Also on the cult TV show
called Twin Peaks actress
KIMMY ROBERTSON plays a
Character with the name of
Lucy Moran .I was wondering if
Kimmy Robertson from Twin Peaks RESEMBLES actress
Elizabeth Daily who played
Dottie in the movie called
Pee Wees Big Adventure.
Re: Have you ever seen the 2 Movies CLUE and TEN LITTLE INDIANS?

Hate to disappoint, but I have no trivia knowledge of movies.
bagandwallyfan52 20 months ago
Joke Theater a New Bag and Wally
Featurel
What goes UP and NEVER COMES
BACK DOWN?
Answer:Chuck Cunningham and
The Invisible Man taking a
ONE WAY TRIP on an Airplane
To The Twilight Zone!!!!!!
And Rod SERLING is the
AIRPLANE PILOT!!!!!
bagandwallyfan52 20 months ago
METV:
Are there any plans to add Laverne And Shirley to the Regular Schedule
Of METV in September?
Here's Some TV Shows That I
Would Like To See on METV:
Seinfeld
The Drew Carey Show
The Bob Newhart Show
Get Smart
Mr Ed
Mayberry RFD
Pee Wees Playhouse
Ellery Queen Mysteries
Murder She Wrote
The Lone Ranger
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
The Adventures of Superman
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Sledgehammer
Freakazoid
Rocky and Bullwinkle
Johnny Bravo
The Real McCoys
The Donna Reed Show
Father Knows Best
Blondie (Both Versions)
Bat Masterson
The Life And Times of Wyatt Earp
Black Saddle
Bewitched
I Dream of Jeanne
Alice
My Favorite Martian
The Rockford Files
Hunter
Tennessee Tuxedo
Betty Boop Cartoons
Shirley Temple Movies
Ernest P Worrell Jim VARNEY
Movies
Eddie Cantor Movies
Joe Penner Movies
Pee Wee Herman Movies
Bowery Boys Movies
Laurel And Hardy
The Little Rascals
James Bond Movies
I Married Joan
The Life Of Riley
Sanford and Son
Welcome Back Kotter
I Love Lucy
The Lucy Show
Would anyone out there like
to see the British TV Show
Called The Avengers with
Diana RIGG as Emma Peel and
Patrick MacNee as John Steed
And the cult classic Twin Peaks.
Lucy Moran played by Kimmy
Robertson does she resemble
Elizabeth Daily who played Dottie on Pee Wees Big Adventure?
Lucy Moran (Kimmy Robertson)
Was a TV character on Twin Peaks.
Sledgehammer was a great show! Unfortunately it was on Friday night at 9:00, the same time as Dallas and Miami Vice.
bagandwallyfan52 20 months ago
HAPPY BIRTHDAY To EUGENE BELVIN
DENIS MANDEL
HAPPY DAYS
(1980 -1982)
July 28 1954

bagandwallyfan52 20 months ago
https://youtu.be/XOLkRsRnI1A
This is a Mickey Mouse Birthday
Song Dedicated To
Denis Mandel who has a Birthday on July 28 th.
Born on July 28 1954
Denis Mandel played Eugene
Belvin on Happy Days from
1980-1982.
bagandwallyfan52 20 months ago
https://youtu.be/D7f9hsFrKUY
I would like to Dedicate The song The Little Old Lady From
Pasedena by Jan and Dean
To Ron Howard and Henry Winkler of Happy Days.
In the season one episode of Happy Days called Guess Who's Coming To Visit FONZIE Henry Winkler almost had a drag race with Skizzy (Alan Abelew)and I The season Two episode of Happy Days called CRUISIN'
Richie Cunningham Ron Howard did have a Drag Race with Dooley Michael Lembeck.
bagandwallyfan52 20 months ago
I wonder if Carol Williams who played Marilee on the Happy Days episode called Fonzie's New Friend
And actress Carey Williams who danced with Moose Barry Greenberg on the Happy Days episode called Guess Who's Coming To Visit are related to Cindy Williams.
bagandwallyfan52 20 months ago
METV
You haven't had an article on Happy Days for a LONG TIME.
Plt write ARTICLES on The Major Characters on Happy Days and The
Minor Characters on Happy Days and The actors and actresses who played these roles.
Also is HAPPY DAYS going to RETURN to METV??
Happy Birthday To
DENIS MANDEL
EUGENE BELVIN
HAPPY DAYS
1980-1982
July 28 1954
Denis Mandel and Barry Greenberg
(MOOSE) were both born in 1954.
bagandwallyfan52 20 months ago
METV
Please have a GIANT HAPPY DAYS
QUIZ just like you did with Gilligan's Island Giant Quiz.
Or a fan based Happy Days Quiz
From THE NUMBER ONE HAPPY
DAYS FAN of ALL TIME!
I wonder who that is??
Load previous comments
Randolph Roberts
Chuck Cunningham 2 Forever
Ric Carrot
Chuck Cunningham
Love American Style
Love And The Happy Days
Neil J Schwartz
Bag Zombroski
Happy Days
1974-1977
BAG was An Excellent
PRACTICAL JOKER on
Happy Days
Skip Young
Wally Plumstead
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
1958-1966
Born 1930
Passed Away 1993
Wally Plumstead Skip Young was a friend of Rick Nelson
And David Nelson and Wally Plumstead was An Excellent
Practical Joker on Ozzie and Harriet
CoreyC 20 months ago
Only Cindy Williams and Michael McKean are the lone living cast members.
rodney 20 months ago
Cindy Williams was wonderful in Francis Ford Coppola's film "the conversation" it's one of the best films of the 70s!
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