"Two of Our Weirdos Are Missing"

"Two of Our Weirdos Are Missing"
December 7, 1976
B-

This episode is somewhat off but it is admittedly funnier than most of the other episodes so far this season, especially Squiggy's lines.  (My favorite is the one that goes something like, "Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Children of All Religions.")

Both Rosie Greenbaum and Officer Norman Hughes appear, she of course flaunting her wealth and insulting the girls, while Laverne uses kisses and a whispered promise to get Norman to stay behind and answer the phone in case Shirley's new boyfriend the golf pro calls.  (He presumably does, since we see her smooching him in the tag.)  In fact, Bo Kaprall, who plays Norman, co-wrote this episode, his first of two; Bob Sand is his co-writer both times.

When Lenny and Squiggy invite the girls to the circus, Shirley would rather ride in Rosie's Cadillac, but Laverne seems up for it.  And she's the one who wants to stay and listen to the guys' problems but Shirley insists on going.  Then the next morning, Shirley wakes up Laverne with the news that Lenny and Squiggy "have runned away."  (It sounds like a blooper that slipped through, with Marshall teasing Williams about it, so Williams corrects herself, but then she says "runned" away again when announcing it to the others.)  It turns out that they've runned away to the circus, which means funny costumes of course.  The girls go after them, offering their help if the guys return.  And then Laverne and Shirley get attacked offscreen by a half dozen midgets!  (Frank Delfino, who spent the earlier part of the decade at Paramount as a stand-in to the Brady kids, leading to an onscreen role as a Kaplutian, plays Charlie, the midget who invites them into his trailer.)