"The Beatnik Show," Scene A

On December 11, 1979, six weeks before "The Beatnik Show" aired, its Revised Shooting Script came in.  There would be changes....

We start in the "girl's [sic] apartment - evening."  The beginning is the same in both versions, but then after Shirley mocks Laverne for trying to see if the light goes out in the fridge, while other people are out at parties and movies, the script has this:

LAVERNE

Go on, make fun.  But I'll know and they won't.

SHIRLEY

Who cares anyway?

LAVERNE GOES BACK TO OPENING AND CLOSING THE DOOR.  CURIOSITY QUICKLY GETS THE BEST OF SHIRLEY, AND SHE JOINS LAVERNE AGAIN.  AFTER A COUPLE OF BEATS, LAVERNE LEAVES THE DOOR CLOSED.

LAVERNE

Yep, it went out.

SHIRLEY

No, it didn't.

THEY ARGUE FOR A BEAT.  FINALLY LAVERNE TUGS AT THE REFRIGERATOR.

SHIRLEY (CONT'D)

Now what are you doing?

LAVERNE

I'm gonna pull the refrigerator out and take the back off.  Then we'll know for sure.

LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY STRUGGLE TO SLIDE THE REFRIGERATOR FROM THE WALL.  A BEAT, THEN SHIRLEY STOPS LAVERNE.

SHIRLEY

Look at us.  We're wasting a Friday night hugging a major appliance.  This is pathetic.

A BEAT, THE GIRLS CONTEMPLATE THEIR ACTIONS.

SHIRLEY

Let's pull together this time.  One, two, three...

ON THREE, THE FRONT DOOR BURSTS OPEN AND FRANK RUSHES IN, FOLLOWED BY EDNA.

Frank and Edna do come in onscreen and Frank blaming Edna for missing Victory at Sea is in both versions.  But they dropped Frank saying, "And she has the nerve to say she loves me," followed by Edna's "I do love you.  Who else could love a man who yells, 'Go Navy' to a television?"

Then when Shirley talks about Betty Joe DePetrio being excited about the Buttered Cocoon, Laverne said, "Betty Joe gets excited when they call her number at the bakery," to which Shirley replied, "She's a fat girl, Laverne."

After Frank wants the girls to stay and settle the argument, Edna said, "Yeah, tell him I have the right to get taken out once in a while," and he said, "Tell her I got the right to stay home after workin' hard all day."

They added the detail that the sandwiches Shirley was making were peanut butter and Spam, I assume separately.  The aired footage ends with the girls rushing out, but there was a bit more in the script:

FRANK

C'mon Edna, let's go out and shoot some pool.

EDNA

I'm tired.  I wanna go home.

FRANK

(TONGUE IN CHEEK) You never wanna go anywhere.

EDNA GRABS A PILLOW AND CHASES FRANK OUT OF THE ROOM.

A few thoughts:

• The stuff with the fridge is cute, as is Frank and Edna's extended argument, but neither is particularly necessary.
• It's just as well they left out the gratuitous fat-shaming of an unseen character.
• Edna wanting to go home raises one of my unanswered questions about Season Five:  Where do Frank and Edna live after they get married?  I mean, his apartment over the Pizza Bowl is just at the end of the block, so I could see her still managing 730 Knapp Street from there.  Then again, he doesn't have to live over the PB to get to work.