"Laverne's Arranged Marriage"

Some nice physical comedy as Laverne takes
off layer after layer of L-embroidered sweaters

"Laverne's Arranged Marriage"
November 1, 1977
B-

Emily Purdum Marshall (whom I'm assuming is some relation to Penny and Garry) didn't write any other L & S episodes, but she offers some insights into Laverne's relationship with her father.  Laverne is afraid to stand up to him when he arranges a marriage for her, but when, at Shirley's encouragement, she does, he gives her the silent treatment, which hurts even more than if he hit her.  Shirley has to talk to Frank and make him see that Laverne can't marry a man she doesn't love.  (Another of the odd things that come back to me after all these years is that the unseen prospective husband has hair on his thumbs.)  We learn that Laverne's parents had an arranged marriage, which seems old-fashioned even for the '30s, but Who's the Boss? would do an arranged-marriage plot in the '80s.

Which brings us to the issue of ethnicity on '70s sitcoms.  On a show like Welcome Back, Kotter, someone's ethnicity is part of their personality and their shtick, taken to ridiculous heights with Juan Epstein, the Puerto-Rican Jew.  On L & S, ethnicity is usually just in the background, although we never forget that Mr. DeFazio is a pizzeria owner with a temper.  (And several episodes reference Laverne's unseen Uncle Fungy [sp?].)  Here on this episode, ethnicity is front and center, from the first moment that an Italian man walks in and looks like he stepped out of The Godfather.  Lenny and Squiggy assume he's a mobster, and being Lenny & Squiggy they jump to the conclusion that what Frank has arranged is their murder (on the grounds that he must hate them more than anyone he knows).  They later pretend to be Italian, although Mr. DeFazio points out that Lenny's last name is Kosnowski.  (Ironically, Andrew Squiggman was supposed to be Italian, as in McKean & Lander's college comedy routine, but then someone decided that there were already too many Italian characters on the show.)  And when Laverne and Shirley enter, Lenny embraces her as his "sister," while Squiggy rejects Shirley for being Irish.

Which of course brings us back to shipping.  Lenny and Squiggy decide in their middle scene to spoil Laverne in order to get her to tell her father not to have them rubbed out.  Lenny does more of the spoiling and even calls Laverne "our little princess."  (That he's got a maid's cap and apron just adds to the humor.)  But the episode is more notable for the revival of Shirmine.  They (offscreen) share some Chinese food and agree to start dating again.  They don't know whether to kiss goodnight but eventually do and we can tell by the fact that they separately burst into song that it's a good kiss.  I'm not sure why that ship is back on, but maybe the producers decided there wasn't enough for Carmine to do as a platonic friend.

Which brings us to the opening credits.  I only noticed this on the previous episode and this one, but the Season Three credits are very similar to the ones for Season Two, except for three brief scenes that have been inserted.  One has Fredna kissing as he throws pizza dough and it lands on them, the show's usual blend of humor into romance.  The others have Lenny & Squiggy, first bursting in after watching a fire in that one episode where Laverne & Shirley were getting ready to go on dates; and Lenny & Squiggy ogling girls in their usual manner.  There is no new Carmine scene, and I think he's just in the clip where he crashes into the girls during a dance lesson.  I'm curious to see if he'll be built up more, in the episodes and in the credits, but it's fair to say he didn't have the following of Lenny & Squiggy, then or now.  (Nothing against Carmine or Mekka of course.)