Laverne & Shirley is an American television sitcom that ran for eight seasons on ABC from January 27, 1976, to May 10, 1983. A spin-off of Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley stars Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams as Laverne DeFazio and Shirley Feeney, two friends and roommates who work as bottle-cappers in the fictitious Shotz Brewery in late 1950s to early 1960s Milwaukee, Wisconsin. From the sixth season onwards, the series' setting changed to mid-1960s Burbank, California.
Michael McKean and David Lander co-star as their friends and neighbors Lenny Kosnowski and Andrew "Squiggy" Squiggman, respectively; along with Eddie Mekka as Carmine Ragusa, Phil Foster as Laverne's father Frank DeFazio, and Betty Garrett as the girls' landlady Edna Babish.
Featuring regular physical comedy, Laverne & Shirley became the most-watched American television program by its third and fourth season. It received six Golden Globe nominations and one Emmy nomination.
History The series is a spin-off of 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. 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. 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 produced 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 Paramount president 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.Michael Eisner on casting Cindy Williams on "Laverne & Shirley" , interview with EmmyTvLegends.org (posted to YouTube on Nov 8, 2011)
Plot
Seasons 1–5 The opening credits begin with Laverne and Shirley reciting a Yiddish-American hopscotch chant from Penny Marshall’s childhood: “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!” The chant 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.
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.YouTube video: "Squiggy on Marijuana ." Lander told an interviewer in 2006 that they created the characters while high on marijuana. 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).
Seasons 6–8
For the sixth season in 1980, Laverne and Shirley and their friends all moved from Milwaukee to Burbank, California, after the girls lost their brewery jobs due to new automated bottlecapping machinery. 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 (Ed Marinaro), a stunt man, landlord of the Burbank apartment building and love interest for Laverne; as well as Rhonda Lee (Leslie Easterbrook), 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.
The series' final season continued with two episodes of Williams still playing Shirley; then it was just Marshall as Laverne, who now worked for an aerospace company. With her new employment, it was explained that she was doing well financially to where she could afford to live alone. 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 condition 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.
Characters Main
Character Portrayed by Season 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Laverne DeFazio Penny Marshall colspan="8" Shirley Feeney Cindy Williams colspan="7" colspan="1" Leonard "Lenny" Kosnowski Michael McKean colspan="6" Andrew "Squiggy" Squiggman David Lander colspan="6" colspan="2" Carmine Ragusa Eddie Mekka colspan="8" Fabrizio "Frank" DeFazio Phil Foster colspan="8" Edna DeFazio Betty Garrett colspan="5" colspan="2" Rhonda Lee Leslie Easterbrook colspan="5" colspan="3" Sonny St. Jacques Ed Marinaro colspan="5" colspan="2"
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. She is the only character to appear in all 178 episodes of the series. In the first episode of Mork & Mindy (September 14, 1978), in a flash back to untold/new events from the time of Happy Days, Fonzi and Laverne are friends, who share several passionate kisses, so they are friends with benefits. 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. 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 appeared in only five episodes, credited as a guest star. As of 2025, 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. 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. 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.