"Malibu Mansion"February 10, 1981
C+
The team of David Ketchum and Tony DiMarco's first of five L & S stories doesn't feel like it really goes anywhere but it's innocuous enough. Laverne convinces Shirley to throw a beach party while they're house-sitting the title location for Cowboy Bill (Stubby Kaye, deliberately cast against type), the owner of the chain that the restaurant Frank now manages is part of.
Some things of note: Cowboy Bill uses the word "vibes," which seems a bit premature for '64 or '65. His pet bird calls Laverne a "bimbo," and Shirley says, "Well, you do have a past," so it's definitely clear that Laverne lost her virginity in the time-skip, if not sooner. And Squiggy refers to his and Lenny's departure as "several years ago," which doesn't make any sense considering they were still working there in the season premiere.
Richard Moll appears very briefly in the DVD version of this episode, and I'm guessing the scene with the bikers was cut out, especially since the run-time is now about 21 minutes. He would, however, appear that year as "Louis Armstrong," so I am tagging him.
Yep, the DVD version chops out a lot of '60s' music that was used in background scenes. I think the bikers and Laverne duet on a song and that's been cut to bits for the DVD.
ReplyDeleteAh, OK. It would've been interesting to get more of Richard Moll, but oh well. He'd be back.
DeleteHe definitely would be! I think there are uncut versions running around in local syndie packages, but you have to keep an eye out for them.
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