"Breaking Up and Making Up: Edna & Frank"

"Breaking Up and Making Up: Edna & Frank"
May 30, 1978
B-

Foster wrote this story with Marion Zola, who didn't do any other L & S episodes, and it's the one where Frank & Edna get ampersanded.  (It looks like he also wrote a Season Eight episode called "Councilman DeFazio," so I guess he occasionally had ideas about what would happen with his character.)  Frank is jealous when Edna has dinner with her fifth and at that point final ex-husband, Johnny Babish (Dale Robinette, who was Bart Andrews the year before), but he refuses to admit it.  He also believes that he's too old to change his ways and be romantic.  The girls, whom Edna introduces to Johnny as her best friends, do their best to get Edna and Frank to make up, from Laverne having a heart-to-heart talk with her father (including some nice memories of her mom back in Brooklyn) to Shirley borrowing a slinky green dress from Squiggy's uncle's wax museum and serenading the estranged couple on a piano.  In the end, Frank and Edna admit their love, and I think Fredna stays intact for the most part for the next three or four seasons.

The other shipping notes are some definite Shirmine (Carmine is clearly excited by the green dress) and Lenny and Squiggy of course responding to Shirley's cry, "Will someone help me out of this dress?" when Edna runs off leaving Shirley pinned in a different dress.  But, Fredna aside, I'm going to go with Shirverne as the dominant ship here.  Laverne calls Shirley beautiful in the green dress, and Shirley calls Laverne cute in the waitress outfit that, this being Season Three, shows off Laverne's legs.  Also, Laverne thinks Shirley's excruciating serenade is wonderful.  Now that's true love!

For some reason, the things I vaguely remember from the time are Shirley's list of silly endearments that Laverne starts to read to her father, and  Lenny and Squiggy's hurt reaction to Frank calling them "pickleheads," although I forgot Squiggy's proud declaration that they are "the best pickleheads in the state of Milwaukee."  But I was ten and that's what would've amused me.

Laverne & Shirley was the top-rated TV series for 1977-78, with its brother show Happy Days at #2 and the more suggestive and farcical Three's Company at #3, so Tuesday nights really were must-see television, and not just for me and my fellow fourth-graders.  Watching the season more than forty years later, it ranges from C- to B+, averaging out to a B-, like the first two seasons, but I think the roughly second half (the thirteen episodes starting with the "New Year's" episode) is stronger than the first half.  Things start clicking more, and the characters feel more in character, so the show gets funnier and sometimes more touching.  Also, arguably the musical numbers are better this season.

I don't remember anything specific about Season Four from the time, although I'm sure things will come back to me as we start that part of our journey tomorrow....

"The Dance Studio"

"The Dance Studio"
May 23, 1978
B

Nicholas DeMarco's first and only L & S story is very funny and has some surprising shipping.  (He also wrote only one What's Happening!! episode, one of the better ones, about the guys giving their teacher an empty box as a gift.)  Carmine wants to buy the title location, where he's been working I think a couple years, but the bank won't loan him money.  This plays out in ways that are predictable but still enjoyable, and ways that are very surprising.

First he tries boxing but Shirley disapproves (although she's a little turned on).  Then Carmine goes to the bank but finds out that they'd think he'd be a more stable prospect if he were married.  Men were under less pressure to marry in the '50s than women were (despite the previous episode, Mr. DeFazio is still pressuring Laverne about it), but bachelors were seen as less grounded and reliable.  Shirley agrees to pretend to be his wife, although one would think they'd have to offer proof, but just go with it because we are in Farcetown.  Laverne teases them about "practicing," and Carmine grins, but Shirley says that Laverne took the bus to Filthtown.

As soon as the next scene starts and we hear Shirley is late, we know (if we are '70s sitcom fans, and if you're not, why are you here?) that Laverne will be mistaken by the loan officer for Mrs. Ragusa and will have to play along with it.  We also know that Shirley will come in late, although I'll admit I didn't see the "Wong baby" in the carriage joke coming.  (At least the line is a throwaway, unlike the racial humor when Laverne had a Negro "cousin.")  Carmine of course doesn't get the loan.

He decides to go to a loan shark but the girls put a stop to that by drafting Lenny and Squiggy (Lenny tells Laverne they owe the girls a favor) into a wonderfully horrible "hula" dance routine, yes, with costumes.  Penny M. is pretty sexy in this episode, with her Hawaiian dance and in her grass-skirt-less dance costume earlier.  Poor Shirley can't even woo Carmine when he's mad at the girls later.

Mekka gets more to work with on this episode than usual, and Carmine's pain at the failure of his dream is believable.  Laverne makes a comment about banks not loaning money except to people who don't need it, and later Edna says that "people like them" need to stick together, so she and Frank co-sign the loan, understanding why working-class people would want to be their own bosses.

Carmine of course forgives the girls and he gives Shirley a nice kiss, then ruffles Laverne's hair and calls her "Vernie," as he did in Season One.  She says that next time they help someone, she hopes they kiss her and ruffle Shirley's hair.  So Carmine sweeps her off her feet into a big but short kiss.  Shirley tells him to never do that again.  So we've launched Carverne, right?  I know there will be other moments later (in fact, I dimly recall there's a whole episode about Shirley finding out something her bestie and her occasional beau did in the past), but this seems like the first significant Hm moment.  Oh, and I guess I should mention Laverne offering him a banana and later her ice-cream stick to lick, because it's inverted Freudianism.

Garry Goodrow is Mr. (Euripedes) Caulley here and would years later play a nameless Bank Manager.

"2001: A Comedy Odyssey"

"2001: A Comedy Odyssey"
May 16, 1978
C+

This Sotkin & Thompson story is weird for a few reasons, so let's start with the title.  It of course plays on the 1968 film, but the year is wrong.  Squiggy, who admittedly might be bad at math as an old man (or at least in Laverne's dream) says they haven't seen Laverne and Shirley in 48 years, which makes this at least 2008.  But later on, Laverne says she's 83, which would put this in 2021.  However, Penny M. was 34 at the time, so 48 years later she'd almost be 83.  Furthermore, Shirley says something about wanting to beat up Laverne for 60 years.

Of course, nearly all of the episode is Laverne's dream, and I know, dreams aren't supposed to make sense.  Certainly the girls act a lot older than the 63 they'd be in 2001.  Marshall would indeed gain weight by then (when she was 58), but not as much as Laverne fears.  Most of the episode is wrapped up in unfunny fat jokes, which have not aged well.

The dream is brought on by Frank nagging Laverne about getting married and providing grandchildren, as he has before, but maybe it's getting to her more lately.  We see her and a very near-sighted Shirley in the same old apartment, where Laverne has started to cover even more of the inanimate objects with her L's.  Laverne thinks she's at last getting married, and will at last be able to voe-dee-oh-doe (Shirley's "good influence" lasting decades apparently), but her unseen suitor dies.  Meanwhile, Shirley gets her hopes up when Carmine returns, but he's now a priest.

Then Lenny and Squiggy show up, owning the apartment building and other real estate, and they offer a package deal on marriage, and you of course know how the pairs are going to line up.  Laverne is quite eager to marry Lenny, and I don't think it's just that she's desperate  In fact, they make out on the couch after she accepts, and she's excited that Lenny can still perform his "husbandly duties."  Shirley however resists marrying Squiggy and, even when they're about to have a double wedding performed by Father Ragusa, Shirley can't go through with it.

The men leave and the women fight.  Then they decide that they've had good lives and they don't have to marry anyone.

Laverne talks in her sleep and says she doesn't have to marry Lenny.  Frank and Edna rush in from the living room, where they've been watching television.  Again, this is weird, and not dream-like weird.  I understand why, for the purposes of the story, they're there, but they both have places of their own.  It might've worked if Laverne fell asleep on the couch, and then Frank and Edna dropped by, but going into her bedroom, especially when they know she's asleep and Shirley is in the other bed, just feels off, although we do learn that Edna thinks Laverne marrying Lenny would be a nightmare.

It also feels strange that all this fuss doesn't wake up Shirley, but it turns out that she's suppressing her laughter until Frank and Edna leave, he saying she can marry whoever she wants, as long as the groom is Italian.  Of course, Shirley doesn't find it amusing that she was going to marry Squiggy, especially when Laverne pretends Shirley was enthusiastic about it.  And the subtlest shippy note I have here is that when Laverne jokes about the names of S & S's five children, the last two are Godzilla and Rodan, which Lenny would certainly approve of.  (Rodan came out in 1956 but his [its?] next appearance wouldn't be until 1964's Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, where G & R team up with Mothra.  You're welcome.)

So what do we learn from Laverne's dream?  That is, what does her subconscious fear/expect about her future?

1. Laverne expects to be fat and unwed, although it's difficult to say which, if either, is cause and which is effect.
2. She thinks that she will be still be living with Shirley, who will be extremely near-sighted and unwed, although these may not be related.
3. She thinks that fashion and technology (like the phone) will not be significantly different, which makes the sci-fi title a waste in that sense as well.
4. She thinks that she would be willing to marry Lenny for sex, and not procreative sex, although obviously it's too late to give her father grandkids.  (Squiggy hasn't given up hope of kids after twelve childless marriages!)
5. She thinks that Lenny, who literally "lost his wife," would be eager to marry her.  
6. She thinks that Squiggy would want to marry Shirley, who wouldn't want to marry him.
7. She thinks that the guys would be a package deal.
8. She thinks that she'll still end up unwed and living with Shirley.

So, although there are better and funnier episodes, including that season, this is definitely a must-see for anyone who ships Lavenny.

"The Debutante Ball"

"The Debutante Ball"
May 9, 1978
B+

Heavy Lavenny, cannibalistic Squiggy, and a major class clash?  Let's break this bad boy down....

So, after a hiatus of over two months (I don't remember why, maybe ABC was trying out midseason replacements, maybe the cast beheaded half the writing staff, who knows?), L & S came back with this episode written by Ervin & Roth.  I wouldn't necessarily say that the reason it manages to contain a princess fantasy, rich bitches, and sisterhood solidarity is that two women wrote it, but I wouldn't rule that out either.

Laverne and Shirley are eating Chinese food in their kitchen when they find out that Laverne got an invitation to a debutante ball thrown by The Society of Exiled Royalty.  Laverne assumes it's a joke, but it turns out that Lenny is the Count of Kulakowski, and thus 89th in line for the Polish throne.  (As Squiggy puts it, "One good plague, and the kid is practically a queen.")

Laverne says she can't go because she has nothing to wear, so Squiggy says that his Uncle Elliot's Wax Museum will provide costumes.  For once, Shirley encourages Laverne to go out with Lenny, not because she ships them (I don't think she ever does, quite the opposite), but because it's a debutante ball.  Laverne says that she and rich people don't get along, which we've seen examples of in previous episodes, including the first episode.  And Laverne says there are a million girls who'd want to go out with a count like Lenny.

He replies, "Of course a million girls would like to go with me, but I want to go with you!  I mean, you're pretty and you're smart and you happen to be the classiest girl I know."  Shirley nods eagerly, the audience awws, and Lenny more humbly says, "Please, Laverne."

Laverne smiles and accepts, then curtsies (or "crusties" as Lenny would say) and thanks him.  He says that the simple peasant joy on her face is thanks enough.  But his squire Squiggy says with a wink before they exit, "But if you, uh, want to throw in a little royal voe-dee-oh-doe after the ball, it won't break his heart."  Lenny snickers and then bites his wrist.  (Thanks, Judy and Paula, for keeping it real.)

The actual Lizzie Borden

The next scene takes us immediately to the ball, although presumably a longer episode would've had Shirley helping Laverne learn etiquette.  Lenny is wearing a magician's suit and looks surprisingly elegant, despite the pigeon in his pocket.  (Suit pocket, so please hold back your Mae West quotes.)  Laverne looks like something out of Gone with the Wind but it's actually supposed to be a Lizzie Borden gown.

Lenny gets them champagne by reaching behind the server and taking two glasses.  They share a little giggle together and then toast.  But then he "accosts" a woman who throws a drink in his face and says, "Here, Bumpkin!", so he reciprocates, thinking it's like "cheers."  Laverne knows he's been rude, but she tries to dry off his tuxedo, until she realizes that his handkerchief is actually the magician's long scarf.  She sends him to the restroom.

She accidentally flashes her bloomers when she sits down in the hoop skirt.  Then she has to deal with snobbish women, one of whom refers to "dreadful riffraff, rubbing elbows with the rich."  Laverne says she doesn't want to rub their "crummy elbows," and she's there as a debutante being presented by her friend Lenny, the Count of Kulakowski, and points out the tall man who's wolfing down a sandwich.  She proudly says, "Quite a guy, isn't he?"  The two women are aghast and then amused, deciding he's an impostor.

Then it turns out that newcomers have to present their papers that prove their nobility, but Lenny left his in the Pizza Bowl safe.  So we switch to the basement of the Pizza Bowl, where Squiggy tries to frighten Shirley with tales of "the mummy's tomb."  Mr. DeFazio finds "Lenny's royal papers," and a bottle of 100-year-old wine that he's saving for Laverne's wedding.  Shirley hopes that they can all "take a slug" out of it real soon.

Squiggy comes over to look at the bottle, and the door slams behind him, locking the three of them in.  Now, if Squiggy were trapped in a basement with Shirley and a bottle of wine but without Frank, his thoughts might turn to seduction, but instead they turn to, yes, cannibalism.  Or as he puts it, "devouring their comrades."  She gets comically violent with him.  Mr. DeFazio says they'll just have to sit and wait, but for who?  Mary the waitress?  Big Rosie?  Lenny and Laverne after they get kicked out of the ball?

Back at the ball, Laverne waits impatiently for Shirley, while Lenny has lost his "friend," the pigeon.  When he asks Laverne to cover for him while he looks under a couch, she takes him literally and squats over him so that her hoop skirt covers him while he lies face down on the floor.

We return to the Pizza Bowl basement, where the men are sipping wine and Shirley is desperately trying to escape.  Finally, after some more of Squiggy being scary, Shirley makes it out the barred window, although she later reveals that she is not in fact the perfect Size Five she's been telling us she is for three seasons, but from the waist down she's a Seven or an Eight!

Some time later at the ball, the presentations have apparently been going on long enough for Lenny to have started yawning, while Laverne nervously waits to be presented.  Unfortunately, they don't have Lenny's papers and the guards are called.  Shirley bursts in with the papers and Laverne gets them and hands them over.

One of the snobbish women has the guards release L & L, curtsies, and says, "Oh, my apologies, Your Excellency!"

Lenny chuckles and says, "Well, I'm good, but excellent?", which is a variation on a Groucho line from Duck Soup.  Laverne grins and playfully hits his arm.

Then the snobbiest woman says in disbelief, "They're legitimate?", to which Laverne replies, "Yeah, are you?"  Lenny guffaws and pats her arm.

It's now time for Lenny to present Laverne, so after coming onstage without her, he goes back and leads her by the arm.  He tells her, "You're gonna be fine.  I'm really proud to be here with you, Laverne."  He kisses her cheek and whispers, "Go get 'em!"  She's been rehearsing what she'll say to their host, the duke, but she gives Lenny a look of affectionate surprise.

Unfortunately, she trips going down the ramp, knocks over two or three men, and gets a punch bowl spilled on her.  Lenny comes over and suggests she keep going, "maybe nobody noticed."  He helps her to her feet, but the rich crowd is already laughing heartily.  She tearfully says, "I'm sorry, Len," and exits, to the restroom we discover in the next scene.

Shirley scolds the crowd and then goes to tell Laverne that she "put those people in their place."  She tries to make Laverne laugh, including singing lyrics to "the Blue Danube Waltz by Strauss, the louse," which is the main thing I remember about this episode from the time.  Then more seriously, she gives Laverne a talk about true dignity and class, and makes her see that the people at the ball aren't any better than the gang at the Pizza Bowl.  She gives Laverne the courage and support to go out there and face the snobs again.

While Laverne is looking for Lenny, he comes in with the pigeon perched on his hand, but she doesn't see him.  Then the duke invites her to dance with him for the Duke's Dance.  The snobbiest woman looks shocked, while Lenny looks proud and Shirley looks like one of her fairytale dreams has come true.  Now, note that the duke is an older if distinguished gentleman, and he's not presented as a Prince Charming.  It is the honor of dancing with a duke, and one who admires Laverne's courage and true class, that matters, not a potential romance with a stranger.  Shirley starts crying, so Lenny offers her the magician's long scarf, to her confusion.  Laverne beams at her friends: her roommate who saved the day and her pride, and her neighbor that she seems to appreciate in a fresh way.

AND THEY ALL LIVE HAPPILY AFTER.

The Duke and most of the guest stars aren't credited.  Carmine and Edna are both absent, because they eloped.  Kidding!  (Maybe.)

"The Obstacle Course"

"The Obstacle Course"
February 28, 1978
B-

This Arthur-Silver-written episode starts out with a very-Three's-Company-like situation, as first the audience and then Laverne and her date, Officer Norman (Bo Kaprall in his last appearance), are led to believe that Carmine is apologizing for deflowering Shirley, who's nonchalant about it.  Of course, it's all just a Big Misunderstanding (TM), and he split his pants while they were dancing.  (I'm not sure if that explains why she's in her bathrobe, but just go with it.)

Then we find out the plot, which is that Norman has asked Laverne to try out for the LAMP (Ladies' Auxiliary Milwaukee Police), and Shirley, who never got good at athletics because her family didn't approve of scabs, wants to apply, too.  She bungles it and Norman's superior makes some sexist comments, including that women should be "barefoot and pregnant."  Laverne kicks butt at the obstacle course and the chauvinist falls in the water.  (As a Three's Company fan, there's an extra satisfaction in seeing Laverne triumph over Capt. Schmidt, as Mickey Deems played five different creeps on 3'sC.)

Laverne also literally kicks Lenny's butt when he suggests she "show some skin" for the movie that he and Squiggy are shooting.  It's another odd episode for shipping, with Edna trying to get Frank to yell less and failing.  I do think it's interesting that Laverne agrees to meet Norman's mother, and then we never see him again.  That might've been a good episode in itself, and I like Norman, although I don't think he and Laverne (Lavorman?) make a great ship.

"The Driving Test"

"The Driving Test"
February 21, 1978
B+

This Chris-Thompson-written episode is a lot of fun, although it uses only six of the regulars (no Mrs. Babish) and only three basic sets: the Shotz lunch room, the girls' living room, and the boys' apartment.  We find out that Squiggy failed the written part of his truck-driver's license six months ago and has to take it again or be fired.  Lenny offers to help but Squiggy wants to go it alone.  Of course, as soon as Lenny points out that if Squiggy gets fired, Lenny might have to move in with the girls (rather than with his family or whoever), they insist that Lenny help Squiggy, and they get drafted into helping, too.

The girls quickly get frustrated with Squiggy and the scene of first Laverne and then Shirley getting comically violent with him works, although comic violence doesn't always (and not just on this show).  Even better is the tragic accident with Squiggy on a tricycle and Laverne on what looks like a homemade crate-scooter (I'm sure there's a name for it, but it seems like something kids would make from the '30s through '50s), and Boo Boo Kitty as the innocent victim.

But my favorite part is Lenny's pep talk/ hero-worship speech to a drunk Squiggy, who hugs him and exclaims, "How selfish can you be?"  I love the reversal of cliches, and the underlying sincerity of their friendship, as Lander and McKean gleefully yet straight-facedly overact.  Even Laverne Twisting in the living room to mop the floor is fun, as is Lenny's predictable but nonetheless satisfying slip, helped to his feet by Laverne.

The shipping notes are odd here.  Shirley convinces Carmine to offer Squiggy a job, but she just talks sweetly and doesn't kiss him or anything.  And it turns out that both Laverne and Shirley are in Squiggy's little black book, Laverne because her father paid Squiggy to never try to ask her out, and Shirley with a warning that she wants to marry Squiggy and have his babies!  And when the boys want to go to a truckstop to celebrate Squiggy passing his test, they have to tell the girls it's just for truckers, and they wonder aloud why the girls always want to tag along with them.

"Bus Stop"

"Bus Stop"
February 14, 1978
B+

I found this Barry-Rubinowitz-written episode delightful, from Harry Shearer as Interviewer asking Laverne and his future fellow Spinal-Tapper Christopher Guest about whether they prefer Kennedy or Nixon, to the other Spinal-Tapper, McKean, contributing the song "Milwaukee Moon" that the regulars sing in the tag.  It's a hot couple days, possibly shortly after the famous Nixon-Kennedy television debate, on Sept. 26, 1960.  (And, yes, we just had St. Patrick's Day three episodes ago, but no one ever said these all happen in order.) The girls appear on a pre-recorded person-on-the-street interview, and two cute medical students prefer Nixon, while the girls prefer Kennedy.  That right there is a tip-off that the young men are not the Mr. Rights that Shirley will later daydream of.

(Lenny somehow has never heard of Kennedy, while Squiggy says that Nixon reminds him of his dad, which is disturbing on several levels in the post-Watergate era, especially since Squiggy's father is dead.)

The med school guys invite Laverne and Shirley to visit them in Oshkosh, which, in a line that made me laugh out loud, Shirley says, is "everything she imagined," even though all they see of it is the bus station.  She thinks that if they act classy, they can marry future doctors, but the Nixon fans are only interested in a little vo-dee-oh-doe.  (I think there's an implication that this is partly an economic class thing, that the med students would only want working-class girls for one thing, although I might just be reading that into the show.)  Laverne is tempted but listens to Shirley, so the guys sneak out and abandon them in Oshkosh with only bus fare home, not enough to stay in a hotel.

There's some good physical comedy, as when Laverne realizes that the Station Master (actor-writer Carl Gottleib) is not just benevolently offering hotel money, and Marshall has to react to Williams's innocence.  But there's also something poignant in Shirley trying not to be such a dreamer and Laverne telling her to keep dreaming for both of them.  This is one of the episodes that really spotlights their bond and their differences.

Laverne leaves a message with "Mary the waitress," whom we've seen on several episodes and who has been referred to, although she is definitely a background character.  Mr. DeFazio gives Lenny and Squiggy $25 to go get Laverne and Shirley in their truck.  The guys decide to wake the two "Sleeping Beauties" with kisses, but the twist here is that Squiggy kisses Laverne, and Lenny kisses Shirley!  So this is definitely not a show with fixed ships.  (And I sort of ship Carmine/Edna-- Edmine? Carna?-- at least when they dance, as they do during "Milwaukee Moon.")

For once, Peter Elbling doesn't play a character with a foreign accent on the show, since he has no lines as the Bum.

McKean singing "Milwaukee Moon" solo in 2016:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1a0gIoLYMA

"The Dentist"

"The Dentist"
February 7, 1978
B-

The title character in this Babaloo Mandel story is Shirley's cousin, Mikey Feeney (I assume the twin of Mickey, mentioned on other episodes), an aspiring dentist who Shirley wants to fix Laverne's broken tooth.  Shirley is of course proud of almost having a doctor in the family, and we find out that the Feeneys are "late bloomers."  (Shirley in a swimsuit at 15 looked 8.)

There are some funny bits, like the girls' laughing-gas-induced shootout and of course the stuff with Lenny and Squiggy wanting to play dentist with Laverne.  And it is, in that twisted Lenny way, pretty shippy that he's going to "sacrifice" one of his baby teeth for Laverne, with Squiggy exclaiming, "He loved those baby teeth!  As if they was his own!"  (Does Lenny collect teeth, like Squiggy collects moths?  As with the unseen Jello-skating in their apartment, perhaps it's better not to ask.)

Strangely, not only the actor playing Mikey but the one for the older doctor are uncredited, both on the episode and at IMDB.  Perhaps they were screenwriters for the show, or had other reasons for being uncredited.  Not only is Foster absent, but there are lines about Mr. DeFazio being out of town.

"The Second Almost Annual Shotz Talent Show"

"The Second Almost Annual Shotz Talent Show"
January 31, 1978
B

This aired about twenty months after the previous Shotz Talent Show episode ("From Suds to Stardom"), hence the "almost annual," and is definitely superior.  There were moments when I considered a B+, but it feels a bit choppy, which may be due to the Paula A. Roth story not having much of a plot or may be the fault of syndication and other editing.  This time around, the girls are running the talent show, and recruiting friends from the neighborhood, which is how Carmine, Frank, Edna, and other friends and acquaintances happen to audition.*

Their boss, Mr. Shotz, expects them to include his talentless son, or he'll fire them.  Laverne is predictably defiant, even squirting ketchup on his portrait in the break room, while Shirley of course tries to be more diplomatic.  They end up including Junior in their rendition of "Abba Dabba Honeymoon," on skates, which is what I most remember from the time.

Had I been a few years older, I might've gravitated towards the Lenny & the Squigtones classic "Night After Night," which Squiggy helpfully explains is "about two nights in a row."  It's a gorgeous '50s pastiche, with subject matter as cynical as but more mundane than "Starcrossed."  I would've had to have been a lot older than nine to get that the song is about the age of consent:
BOTH: Night after night
SQUIGGY: I'll treat you like a queen
LENNY: (deep-voiced) Darlin'!
SQUIGGY: Night after night, 'cause you were seventeen.
LENNY: Night after night, wa-ooh!
SQUIGGY: Then your birthday rolled around.
LENNY: (overlapping) Wa-ooh!
SQUIGGY: So you let me go to town...

(A relatively more explicit and more punk version would later be available on their album, with Lenny asking, "Who wants to sleep with the same broad?" rather than "look at":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUwTa8G1B6g)

No shipping notes on this episode, unless you want to count Laverne seeming to enjoy "Night After Night" more than Shirley does.

Fish Trainer Joie Magidow would be on the "Blue Team" in a couple of the "Army episodes" the next year.  Marvin Braverman is Marvin here but would later be an Emcee.  Both Penny and Cindy's moms appear in the episode, Marjorie Marshall as Mrs. Ward, and Frances E. Willliams as Mrs. Bellini.  Ed Greenberg, who's Max Shotz, Jr., not only was in the Committee comedy troupe, but he was Kip in American Graffiti, which starred Cindy Williams, Ron Howard, etc., etc.  And, yep, that's Harry Shearer doing voiceover again, this time as Max Shotz, Sr.


*The geography of Knapp Street and vicinity is always a bit fuzzy on the show.  My impression is that the Pizza Bowl is on the same block or at least very close to Mrs. Babish's apartment building, and there's a downtown where the Pfister Hotel and other classy buildings are located.  Where Shotz Brewery fits into this is unclear, since if it's the same neighborhood as where the girls live, why do they drive into work or take the bus rather than walk?  Yes, it seems to snow on half of these episodes, but still.

"The Slow Child"

"The Slow Child"
January 24, 1978
B

Dan E. Weisburd, who has very few IMDB credits overall, wrote this episode that plays off of and subverts the predatory!Lenny that we've seen so much of in Season Three.  Mrs. Babish's 18-year-old daughter Amy visits from the "special school" she attends.  In the terms of the time (early '60s, although late '70s, too), she is "retarded," although she's described as being at an 8th-grade level, even if her overprotective mother treats her like she's six.  Both Amy and Mrs. Babish grow up in this episode, and Garrett does some fine acting, including when she's angry with the girls for recognizing that Amy is a young woman, not a little girl.

Lenny, who had to take Remedial Reading a few times in school, is drawn to Amy, not just because she's pretty but because she's nice and playful.  When Squiggy calls her a "retard" and a "dummy," Lenny gets genuinely angry, although the boys make up later, ironically calling each other "stupid" as they shake hands.  It's implied that Mrs. Babish is afraid that Lenny will rape Amy if he's alone with her, although Laverne says you just have to tell him no.  He's actually very sweet with Amy, and she kisses him, following the instructions the girls gave her (on one of Shirley's spare autographed pictures of Fabian).  He even loans her his Lone Wolf jacket, and says that he's never let anyone else wear it before.

Meanwhile, it's St. Patrick's Day, despite the January airdate.  The girls have a party, where they do an Irish dance with Carmine.  And he serenades Shirley with "Danny Boy."  This puts the audience in a sentimental mood, and then Mrs. Babish encourages Lenny to dance with Amy.  So it's understandable that I teared up watching the scene today.

Surprisingly, Linda Gillin, who plays Amy, would come back only nine months later as a completely different character, Denise.  Of course, I can't remember if Amy (or any of Mrs. Babish's other four kids) is ever mentioned again, although they would be Laverne's step-siblings for a few years.

Note that Jake the Snake, who was mentioned on a previous episode, here appears with his gang, the Purple Fiends, but none of those performers are credited.  (Jake the Snake was also the name of one of Angela's high school crushes on Who's the Boss?, but I doubt that was an homage.)