The Big Raccoon, Or Why This Isn't an Eddie Mekka Tribute

Three regulars in less than three years.  I began this blog several months after Penny Marshall's death, trying to figure out what Laverne and her show meant to me all these years later.  I'm still figuring that out.  Last December, I wrote, "I didn't want to still be doing this blog when we lost another member of the cast."  But here I am, again.

This isn't a tribute to Eddie Mekka (1952-2021).  He deserves many, but as I thought about his death on and off today, I realized that, while I recognize all the warmth, talent, and humor he brought to the character of Carmine Ragusa, that's not what I'm thinking about exactly.  I'm thinking about how Eddie and Carmine were overshadowed at the time and since, and why.  I'm thinking about the quickie obits that mistakenly but understandably call him "The Big Ragu."*  I'm thinking about my reviews of episodes a couple years ago in which I said I never really understood Carmine, especially his relationship with Shirley.  I'm thinking about how I know people in the fandom who "hate" Carmine but blame the writers rather than Eddie.

I grew up a child of '70s sitcoms.  I used to have an encyclopedic knowledge of characters on those sitcoms, and definitely more minor characters than Carmine.  The Big Ragoo was just always, I don't know, there.  He was pleasant and cute and sometimes entertaining.  But in a time of vivid television characters he would've made no one's Top Forty.  He did what he was supposed to do and he seemed to enjoy it, even when he had to wear silly costumes.

Lenny & Squiggy were always more rock & roll, verging on punk, and not just musically.  Carmine was a showman, a people-pleaser.  This trickled into cheesiness at times, like when he danced at Fonzie's funeral.  And the MST3K version of Catalina Caper plays with this, as does, oddly enough, the porn parody version of his character.  But even in the stagier numbers, his talent, especially when paired with Laverne as a dancer, was undeniable.

There are episodes, especially during Eddie's Blansky's Beauties days (where he gave his all to far inferior material, even if it meant doing acrobatic flips in a courtroom), where Carmine isn't around Knapp Street and we don't miss him, "Hi Neighbor, Book 2" being probably the best example.  There are great episodes where his role is small but important, like "Look Before You Leap."  Yet there was something about him, even if he was just grinning at the nuttiness around him.  He made that world more complete.

I still don't understand Shirley & Carmine's relationship though.

*"The Big Raccoon" is of course a Squiggism.