Laverne & Shirley

Laverne DeFazio (Penny Marshall) and Shirley Feeney (Cindy Williams) first graced America's televisions screens as Richie and Fonzie's cheap and easy dates on an episode of HAPPY DAYS. Before long, their spinoff show LAVERNE & SHIRLEY would go on to match, and arguably surpass, its parent show's success with the winsome comic adventures of its two spunky heroines. Sharing a basement apartment in Milwaukee and working as bottlecappers at Shotz Brewery, the blue-collar girls navigated through 1950s America with the help of an endearing assortment of oddball characters: Laverne's gruff, pizza-slinging father Frank DeFazio (Phil Foster); goodhearted landlady Edna Babish (Betty Garrett); hunky dance instructor--and Shirley's sometime romantic interest--Carmine Ragusa (Eddie Mekka); and, of course, wacky greaser neighbors Lenny Kosnowksi (Michael McKean) and Andrew "Squiggy" Squiggmann (David L. Lander). But most of all, the series showcased the deep and abiding friendship between brassy Laverne and sweetnatured Shirley with warmth, hilarity, and a few helpings of milk and Pepsi. (Verleiher-Text)