"With Time Off for Bad Behavior," Chapters Fourteen to Sixteen

"The once-hilarious network flagship was now a run-of-the-mill sitcom populated with forced jokes and canned laughter."  Not unlike this book.  (Sorry not sorry.)

Rhonda and Donna sell a pilot to NBC called Little Doggies, "about two girls who leave their home in Seattle to become rodeo stars in New Mexico."  Barry wants to leave the show, too, but can't since Bobby refuses to let Tommy leave.

They start working on an episode about Uncle Sal coming to work for Billy & Patti.  Billy repeatedly puts Uncle Sal down.  Ben Fisher is so unhappy about "doing crap like this," he pulls a gun out!  Luckily, he's a bad shot.  Bobby manages to take the gun away, but he's unhappy because Bobby Mitchell shows should be fun.

Billy realizes that they'll all get paid for the whole season, even if it's not finished.

In the next chapter, Barry has a chance to do a cable show about "two girls from Missouri who move to the south of France to become lifeguards."

In Chapter Sixteen, he does the new show and it's not funny but it does have topless women, so it's a hit.  Barry gets back with his ex-wife.  And I'm grateful I didn't pay for this novel.

"With Time Off for Bad Behavior," Chapter Thirteen

John Bracca, the 37-year-old Executive Vice President of Paragon, is mad at Barry because Lorraine has quit to "direct a fucking movie."  (No, not porn.)  Bobby is also mad.

Mimi wants to wrap up the season by January because she's acting in a different "fucking movie."

Barry suggests they write the Connie character out for a few episodes, and then they can marry her off or kill her.

Mimi gives the writers a pep talk but they laugh in her face because of her voice.  She tells them she's now executive producer.  She gets both her and Lorraine's salaries and her husband, Larry Brogan, is now a consultant.

Mimi suggests they do an episode where she wears big hats.  After she leaves, the writers fight with Larry.  They get John Bracca on their side.  Larry tells them, "You people are going to rue the day you crossed Larry Brogan," through "clenched teeth" no less.  Barry calls him Snidely Whiplash and helpfully explains to the reader that he is "comparing Larry to Dudley Dooright's [sic] arch enemy."

Rhonda Silverman, the plain writer who isn't so plain now that she's getting laid regularly (don't ask), suggests that Mimi do a fashion show where she has to wear big hats, "like an Eiffel Tower hat for France."

The episodes get worse, especially since Mimi wants her character to do nice things, so "America would love her."  However, "America wanted to laugh at her.  They wouldn't care if she killed babies as long as it was funny."

The show isn't as good without Lorraine, and guest stars don't help, not even "JoAnn Worley, the best of the lot."  

It is now 1980 by the way.

Barry starts seeing a shrink, which helps somewhat, but the show is still a headache.  And then....

Even Donna can't come up with a good solution, but luckily the writer from the Wrestle a Nude Woman club has an inspiration:

They do some more Billy & Patti stories, and then Mimi breaks out in hives.

I'm sure MMK would love creating a comedy classic like Spinal Tap being equated to playing a cocaine dealer.  As for the rest, sheesh!  Wait till we get to Chapter Fourteen....

"With Time Off for Bad Behavior," Chapter Twelve

So it's a new season and all the other writers have made life changes, including Tommy finding Jesus.  The two writing partners/co-producers meet with The Ladies and ask them for story ideas.  Mimi suggests the following, which Barry surprisingly likes:

1. "I think we should be hypnotized and act like chickens."
2. Patti and Connie should be in a Murphy bed.
3. They should go skiing.

Lorraine comes up with:

1. "What if we went somewhere and we were really bored?"
2. "Well, what if we were buried in sand on the beach?"

The chicken show goes into production, but Lorraine is unhappy.  She hates the rest of the cast and she wants to direct feature films.  Barry encourages her to do what makes her happy.

The Ladies fight after the chicken show, even though it goes well.  Lorraine calls Mimi a bitch for getting in her shot.  Howie (I don't remember who Howie is and I don't care) tries to intervene but his bird dies.  Lorraine is unsympathetic, so Mimi calls her "the coldest cunt."  Lorraine "stomps off" to her dressing room.

Plus there's a lot of stuff in this chapter about Barry buying a new car, which makes a nice change from him whining about his love life.

"With Time Off for Bad Behavior," Chapters Seven to Eleven

There's almost nothing about the cast and you can skip these five chapters, unless you want to see Sotkin's racism, fat-shaming, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia coalesce as he goes to a club to "Wrestle a Nude Woman."  (And somehow recruits another writer.)

OK, there is Lorraine LaBarbara hanging out with Penny Marshall and Terry [sic] Garr on p. 189, but she understandably doesn't introduce Barry to her "celebrity friends."

"With Time Off for Bad Behavior," Chapters Five and Six

We can skip over Chapter Five, which is more about Barry, his wife, and her guru, and move on to the chapter "Casting the Monkey."  They've been wanting to have an episode with a monkey for awhile, and now finally they can, thanks to Donna Morris, who's written "a terrific script":

Everyone loves the script, even Willy and Billy, who usually improvise and throw off everyone else's timing in the read-through.  Well, everyone loves it except for Ben, who resists kissing the monkey but gives in as long as he doesn't have to call the monkey his best friend, because Uncle Sal's best friend has already been established as "Frank from the bowling alley."  Barry resolves the conflict and then it's on to casting monkeys, with the help of the very stereotypically gay casting director.  

Also of note (yes, I've gotten tired of transcribing longer passages):

And the chapter of course ends with Barry feeling conflicted about possibly having an affair with his not-yet-in-this-extended-flashback mistress.

Getting back to the fictionalized version of LAS, I don't know how literally we're meant to take this version of how the "Short on Time" episode, which was written by Jack Lukes, came to be.  By the way, I looked, and Sotkin actually isn't credited with having a consistent writing partner for LAS, and he in fact wrote many episodes by himself.  I suppose there was some collaboration going on, but maybe "Tommy" is a composite character.

And, yep, there's a reference to "A Visit to the Cemetery" and sort of to the "Festival" two-parter.

Note that Sotkin thinks the home audience as well as the studio audience was composed of morons.

"With Time Off for Bad Behavior," Chapter Four

At this point in the story, Barry and his cokehead partner (OK, the name is Tommy) are still waiting to officially be made producers.  There's some stuff about the warm-up, but let's cut right to the goods:

Needless to say, this is the highlight of the chapter.  Bobby doesn't show up, allegedly because of colon trouble but Barry assumes it's because Bobby doesn't want to admit that he hasn't made a decision about the producer credits.  And then there's some stuff about Tommy and his mother and I doubt you care, because I don't.

The writing partners have to tell The Ladies that Bobby won't be there that night.  Lorraine is cool about it but she does expose her "lovely left breast" to them in her dressing room.  Mimi on the other hand throws things and yells, until it all ends in a sing-along?

Ben goes into a rage but they don't stick around to deal with it.  They pass Larry Brogan hitting on an uncomfortable Donna Morris, so Barry rescues her by claiming Lorraine wants to talk to her.

Willy and Billy are stoned.  They hate Bobby because they were promised equal billing and now they're "very funny second bananas."

Barry does the warm-up.  W & B recite the poem "Baby Land."  "The Ladies are their usual dull selves" when introduced to the audience, who love them anyway.

The show goes very smoothly, but Barry has to praise Mimi afterwards.  "When you guys got on the roof and did that thing like you were skiing...I peed."

The rest of the chapter is about Barry's love life.  And the next chapter is about going to see his wife's guru.

So it turns out Sotkin hates the audience as well as the cast?  Good to know.  But I'd rather be an abnormal female fan I guess.  And I'm sure the late Penny Marshall would appreciate the shoutout to her chest.

"With Time Off for Bad Behavior," Chapters Two and Three

Chapter Two flashes back to the early days of Barry's relationship with his wife, so we'll just skip over it.

Chapter Three opens with them arriving in Hollywood.  I'm going to also skip over pages 41 to 49, and then he's finally back to In the Swim on p. 50.

• Lorraine and Mimi object to a string of producers.  "The Ladies," as they are sarcastically known, "love firing producers."
• "Fortunately, the writing staff was usually left in tact [sic] so that production of the show could continue."
• Lorraine's friends tell her the show is funny but not hip, so she hires her crazy friend Erica to produce it and make it more hip.
• Mimi objects to Erica, so Lorraine promises her that they can do four "Patti shows" in a row.
• Barry and his cokehead partner (well, he might be a pothead at this point in the story, I'm skimming) start producing the show.
• "In truth, Bobby had little to do with the everyday running of In the Swim.  He hated the bickering that went on so he avoided the show as much as possible."
• Despite the premise of In the Swim, Mimi hates her hair getting wet because she looks like a stork.
• There's some more backstage drama, mostly about the writers and producers, who I don't know well enough to know who they were in real life, so I'll gloss over that.
• I forgot to mention last time that this is set at "Paragon Studios."
• Some backstory on Barry's mistress ensues, although Barry is non-sexually in love with his fellow writer Donna Morris, who is tall and married.
• An explanation of rewrites, including when Lorraine and Mimi hate the scripts.
• More about Donna.  I don't know if this is meant to be Judy Ervin Pioli, but if so, she should probably sue, too.
• Barry has his neighbor write an episode and it's about "Connie and Patti going to the White House and hiding under the president's bed."  If this is based on an actual spec script, I desperately want to read it now.  ("Shirl, Kennedy slept here!")
• Donna patiently listens to Barry's marital woes and offers him drugs.  She also suggests he have an affair, but not with her.  Luckily, Barry has a hot secretary who's always showing off her legs

"With Time Off for Bad Behavior," Chapter One

Marc Sotkin, one of the writers and producers of Laverne & Shirley, has written a novel loosely based on his experiences in Hollywood.  It is free to download and so I will review at least some of it.  However, I will probably not judge the quality of it but rather pass on the fictionalized tidbits:

• I'm not going to go into the whole thing of narrator Barry Klein, a Jewish television writer-producer, cheating on his wife, unless this has some bearing on his scripts.
• I will note, however, that Barry's writing partner is a cokehead.
• It's 1979 and Barry works on a show called In the Swim, about "two girls, Connie and Patti, who leave their homes in Chicago to become lifeguards in L.A."
• The executive producer and creator of the show is Bobby Mitchell, "at forty-four, the hottest guy in all of TV."
• Most of Bobby's shows are variations on two girls from Place No. 1 moving to Place No. 2 to pursue some career, and they do very well in the ratings.  One of these shows is called Doing It Our Way.
• The one exception to Bobby's success is We Want It All, which is "mired at number sixty-six" and "is the story of eight girls from all over the place who live together and want to be dancers in Vegas."  (Sotkin co-wrote the episode "Blansky for the Defense.")
• This can't possibly be a satire of Garry Marshall, because Sotkin name-checks Norman Lear and Garry Marshall.  Also, Bobby is only 5'3" and has a 47-inch waist.
• "Ben Fisher plays Connie's crusty Uncle Sal on In the Swim.  Sal owns the bait shop on the show, above which Connie and Patti live, and right next door to Willy and Billy, two wacky morons who cut up chum for a living."
• Ben is a show-biz veteran with "mediocre" material, but in 1956 Bobby Mitchell became his joke writer.  And Bobby is very loyal.
• In the Swim is "probably the most emotionally taxing show being produced on network television."
• Its stars, Lorraine LaBarbara and Mimi Simms, are complete opposites.  Lorraine is "a big, busty blonde," and "not technically pretty, but with an earthy beauty that suggests a joy of life not that different from everyone's favorite waitress at the local diner." Mimi is "petite" and "manic."
• They hate each other because Lorraine, who plays Connie, is thought to be Bobby's favorite.  When Lorraine was three, Bobby cast her in a neighborhood production as Hitler's daughter, and she's been like a little sister ever since.  (Later in the chapter, we'll find out that Bobby is from Brooklyn.)
• Mimi is paranoid and counts her lines, so Bobby makes sure Lorraine has more lines, "just to piss Mimi off."
• Mimi has a voice like "the queen of the Munchkins" and "Chip 'n' Dale."
• "For no apparent reason, [the leads] both hate the writers.  Everyone hates Ben.  And nobody particularly likes Willy and Billy, the actual names of the actors who play Willy and Billy."
• And that's about it for backstage gossip for the next six or seven pages, unless you care about Barry's boring love life.
• Then on pp. 19-20 we learn that Mimi recently married Larry Brogan, a 32-year-old "drunk" and "womanizer" on his fourth marriage.  Mimi thinks she can keep him from "straying," although she's "a plain girl without much sex appeal."
• There's some more about how untalented bushy-eyebrowed Ben is, and how poor Barry has to choose between his wife and girlfriend.

So the big question here is, why hasn't Cindy Williams sued?  Not that anyone comes off well, but I can't imagine the late Penny Marshall minding too much how "Lorraine" is described, while Sotkin is truly vicious about "Mimi."  For that matter, I can't imagine Michael McKean being thrilled by the novel, although I'll reserve judgment on that until I can find out more about "Willy and Billy."  (I assume they are named after their characters because MMK and DLL had created "the boys" before LAS.)

Also, notice the clever way that Sotkin reversed the P & C initials.  No one will ever see through that!

"Penny Marshall & Cindy Williams" book, Chapter 12

"When the 'Laverne & Shirley' series ends, which won't happen for many seasons, it will only be the beginning for Penny and Cindy."  Well, yes and no.  The final chapter of the book predicts that Cindy would likely get more dramatic film roles, while Penny might be a Broadway star, or both women might write more.  But they were both just pleased with their unexpected success.

The very last page has both actresses' "vital statistics," with Penny's birth year in 1942.  Penny's hobbies were "needlepoint, jigsaw puzzles, antique shopping," while Cindy (who I think in one chapter said she had no hobbies) listed "Yoga, reading, fencing, card games, collecting and caring for animals, Egyptology, collecting hats (she buys a new one as a memento from every town she visits)."

This book is an interesting if wholesome look at the two actresses at the beginning of their fame.  It is a product of its time but still worth reading once or twice if you come across it.  And it helped to launch me on this strange, apparently never ending journey into a part of the past that still resonates.

"Penny Marshall & Cindy Williams" book, Chapter Eleven

This chapter mainly focuses on the male co-stars.  (Perhaps the book was mostly written before Betty Garrett joined the cast.)

• Phil Foster
• "The place, which [Frank] DeFazio owns, is frequented by hardhats--real Archie Bunker types--and servicemen, along with its share of bimbos and greasers."
• "I play a typical Italian father of the 1950s.  The Italian fathers were the last to lose the kids in those days.  They had a pretty strong hold on the family."
• Phil helping Garry's career fifteen years earlier is mentioned.
• Phil got into show biz as a kid in Brooklyn, and he was a comic in the 1930s.  He moved on to television in the '40s.
• He didn't even know what his L & S salary was his first three weeks.
• He said of Penny and Cindy, "On this show, I find myself working with two kids who were never exposed to comedy the way I was, but they do things that make great teams.  I watch them with my mouth hanging open."
• Michael McKean
• His basic biography, born in Manhattan but raised in Sea Cliff, account executive father and librarian mother.  
• He was "bitten by the acting bug at fifteen."
• When he "came out to Hollywood in 1970, he immediately got in touch with his close friend David Lander."  He joined the Credibility Gap.
• "Michael is quite a handsome-looking blond and blue-eyed six-footer when he's not in that leather jacket and greased-back hair."
• "He and his wife Susan have a son, Colin Russell, born on February 16, 1976."
• "Besides acting, Michael is an accomplished songwriter and guitarist."
• He had many pets, including turtles and dogs.
• His favorite reading matter was science fiction.
• David L. Lander
• He grew up in Brooklyn and his brother Robert became an opera singer.
• He went to the High School of Performing Arts in Manhattan and met Michael at Carnegie Tech.
• Before finding success as an actor, he was a sportswriter and worked for an answering service, the latter indirectly leading to work on the radio.
• He lived in Hollywood with his wife Thea.
• He was a devoted fan of the Pittsburgh Pirates (as we would see in "Lenny's Crush").
• Michael and David
• They "make a perfect Mutt and Jeff pair..., as Mike's six feet tower considerably over David's five-feet six."  Actually, I think David is 5'3".  Also, who calls Michael McKean "Mike"?
• Lenny and Squiggy were already very popular at this point and there was talk of a spin-off, but with the boys still living in the apartment building.  (Bizarrely described as "actually a run-down house, broken up into flats.")
• Cindy was glad they wouldn't be spun-off any time soon, since she felt it would result in two weak shows, "because we depend upon each other," although she did feel that the guys deserved their own show.
• Eddie Mekka
• Poor Eddie only gets one paragraph, and there's no information about him as a person, just a brief description of Carmine.  "Their romance is a lukewarm one," well, yes, for the first season and a half, I guess that's true.

Also of note in the chapter is the description of how Penny and Cindy redecorated the apartment set to better reflect the girls' financial struggles, rather than, as Penny put it, "the China lamps, wall-to-wall carpeting, beautiful drapes, paper flowers, exquisite little ornaments on the tables, embossed wallpaper, a large, luxurious sofa."

And there are three Season One episodes mentioned: "Dog Day Blind Dates," "A Nun's Story," and whatever episode it is with the "You vo-dee-oh" exchange.

"Penny Marshall & Cindy Williams" book, Photo Group No. 3

A group of photos of the "girls" with a bit of the "boys":

Berman's caption: "Cindy has always been popular in Hollywood, because of her perky sense of humor.  Here she makes friend and co-star David Lander break up easily with her witty jokes."

My caption:  "David L. Lander puts his arm around Cindy and tries not to think about all the hate mail this'll get him."

Berman's caption: "The actors and actresses who play Lenny and Squiggy and Laverne and Shirley are good friends both on and off the TV screen.  The smiling foursome attended the 1976 Emmy together.  From left are Michael McKean, Penny, David Lander and Cindy."

My caption: "Penny, David, and Cindy share their amusement at Michael McKean's remark that they need to pair off by height."

Berman's caption: "The duo that plays together, stays together.  Penny and Cindy were an enthusiastic part of the show's softball team.  What they lacked in batting expertise, they made up for in loud cheers."

My caption: "Penny and Cindy are accomplished stuntwomen but we're including a picture of them in softball uniforms because that's cuter."

Berman's caption: "Cindy's a pushover for any homeless animal—"

Squiggy: Hello.

"Penny Marshall & Cindy Williams" book, Chapter Ten

This chapter talks about Cindy's stress, which led to an ulcer and a spastic colon.  It does mention the "arguments on the set, the inevitable differences of interpretation, [and] the sometimes heated discussions," but sees them as "natural for any creative crew."  And yet, she didn't really see herself as a star and remained (at that time) down to Earth.

She had a weakness for junk food and had to watch her weight.  She couldn't cook, however, or "sew, knit, or do anything else that requires skill with her hands."

She was raised Catholic but at the time of this book "seemed to be inspired by the Eastern faiths."

She claimed not to have hobbies, and yet she was interested in serious literature, and Egyptology and all kinds of music, "from classical to rock to jazz."  Her love of animals, especially strays, is of course mentioned.  And she also liked fencing and card games.

She related more to the '60s than the '50s.  And she was very close to her mother and younger sister.

She enjoyed signing autographs for fans.  (Which I've heard she still does.)  And she used to treasure a napkin signed by John Lennon, until it was stolen.

Like Penny, she had a set of very close friends, some of them less successful actors and actresses who were happy for her.

The chapter concludes, "...Someone who loves animals and people and life as dearly as Cindy Williams certainly deserves all the good things, like friendship and success, that the world can give her."

"Penny Marshall & Cindy Williams" book, Chapter Nine

In this chapter, we learn that neither Penny nor Cindy liked beer, but they did resemble their characters in some ways.  Penny saw herself as a realist like Laverne, although "not as full of wise cracks."  We again hear how insecure she was about her looks.  For some reason, Berman here says Penny had a "five-foot-three, 123-pound frame," while the stats in the back are more accurately 5' 6 1/2", with the same weight.  And again, we read that Penny mistrusted her success.

Here's a quote from her father-in-law, Carl Reiner: "Rob always told me she was funny and talented, but I never saw it because she's so quiet.  I think success will be good for her.  She's becoming more outgoing."

Berman helpfully informs us, "In real life, Penny is not a squawking bimbo."  But, yes, she did like milk & Pepsi.  Penny smoked and Rob didn't, so he tried to get her to quit, but "it was the worst thing she ever did."  She gained "over ten pounds" and became "almost impossibly irritable."

She loved jigsaw puzzles and needlepoint, but Rob did all the cooking.

"She is a demonstrative person, eager to show her affection....When she wants to combat on-the-set friction, she suggests that everybody embrace everybody."

She was a naturally funny person, amusing everyone who met her.  And she was a good friend, happy to listen and sympathize.

"She's a devoted, caring, and loving mother who hates to spend so much time away from her only child.  She has streaks of contradictions, but Penny Marshall is unique and she is wonderful, as unforgettable and endearing as Laverne."

"Penny Marshall & Cindy Williams" book, Photo Group No. 2

Pages 104 and 105 show Cindy on her own and with a couple of her boyfriends:

The captions read, "Cindy has always looked younger than her years, which is why she has many teenage roles to her credit.  She played a high school senior in American Graffiti when she was twenty-five," "Not content to confine her talents to acting, Cindy also hopes to get into writing.  She was working on a screenplay about the bicentennial when she landed the part of Shirley Feeney," "One of the great loves of Cindy's life was none other than Henry Winkler, the actor who plays the famous Fonzie.  Although they no longer date, Cindy says they still have a 'very special relationship,' " and "In between steadies at this time in her life, Cindy's enjoying playing the field with handsome escorts like Rob Louwine."

My favorite picture here is the first one, of her in the big hat.

"Penny Marshall & Cindy Williams" book, Chapter Eight

"About the only thing that could be a better match for enthusiastic TV fans than the marriage between Michael Stivik [sic] and Laverne DeFazio must be a romance between Fonzie and Shirley Feeney."  Well, I'd put a romance between Squiggy and Shirley Feeney above that, but Berman wasn't clued in.  (More on that later.)

"...Although Cindy and Henry no longer date, she still speaks of him with a lilt in her voice, and her eyes dance when she mentions his name."  He was still her best friend at the time of this book.  She correctly predicted that when he married, it would be for keeps.  (Henry is still with his wife Stacey, since 1978!)

She incorrectly predicted that she herself would marry for keeps.  She also vowed never to marry an actor, although she had dated several, including Richard Dreyfuss.  Amusingly, she thought she might marry a dentist, because "they always smell very good.  Their hands are fabulous."  Mostly she was playing the field at that time, mainly because she was trying to focus on her career.  And after a long, stressful day on the set, she'd rather be by herself, unlike Penny, who "looks forward to running home to Rob to help her ease away her traumas and get her from jitters to giggles."

But Cindy was sure that marriage and children would come along when it was meant to happen, yes, a contrast to Shirley's worries.

"Penny Marshall & Cindy Williams" book, Photo Group No. 1

Pages 89-91 offer pictures of Penny, with others and by herself:

 

Penny looks lovely in all of these pictures (especially her eyes in the third picture), and it's just too bad she wasn't able to see it.  But she brought that insecurity to the brassy character of Laverne, making it a subtler portrait than it might've been with other actresses.

"Penny Marshall & Cindy Williams" book, Chapter Seven

This chapter focuses on Penny's relationship with second husband, Rob Reiner, including how their insecurities meshed, in his case because he was in the shadow of his famous father, Carl.  Rob worked things out somewhat in therapy, while Penny was even insecure about liking Rob more than he liked her.  It's interesting that Rob "yelled and screamed a lot," while Penny "hated noise," in contrast to Laverne.

They lived together before marriage and put off the wedding until after the first season of All in the Family.  The ceremony was in his parents' backyard, with a speech by Martin Landau.  The couple improvised their vows, with Rob promising to be her best friend and her pledging, "I'll try not to make you nervous."  Then everyone ate Chinese take-out.

They bought a modest ranch house that they decorated in a style they called "early funk."  They got a dog they named Barney after the restaurant where they had their first date.  Their cat was called The Ghost of Harry Rubin.  "(The ways of Penny and Rob are not always readily comprehensible.)"

Rob did the cooking and seems to have been a good stepfather to Tracy, who he adopted.

Amusingly, AitF "is said to be in its last season," but Reiner would hang on for another couple years, and Archie Bunker's Place would stay on the air until 1983, the same year Laverne & Shirley would bow out.  (But Rob and Penny would be divorced by then.)

Without irony, Berman says that Penny feared ending up "penniless," thinking she had hit her peak of fame.  Penny didn't yet think of pursuing anything but acting, although Rob did want to write, direct, and produce.  Both feared being accused of benefiting from nepotism, but they also used humor to deal with stress.

Rob was proud of Penny's success and said, "I love it.  I'd like my family to be in control of the airwaves as long as possible!"

Neither of them was into fashion, or even just shopping for clothes.  In Penny's case, it was related to her insecurity about her looks, although Berman writes that Penny "looks lovely when she's in a fancy dress."

Penny was very happy with Rob and the chapter closes out with this quote, "He's a totally non-chauvinistic male.  Sure, it's been great.  Funny how things go.  When we were kids, I was older than he was.  But not now.  I wonder how that happened!"

(Rob was three years and a few months younger than Penny, not two years as Berman claims, although oddly enough, this book has Penny's birth year as '42 rather than '43.)

"Penny Marshall & Cindy Williams" book, Chapter Six

Instead of going back to Penny, Berman goes into more detail on Cindy's film roles.  There's something a bit poignant in her getting such cinematic acclaim but hoping that her fears about being typecast as a wholesome '50s girl would not come true, only to have people offended by her role in (not named in this chapter) The First Nudie Musical, described as "a bawdy musical spoof parodying both the old Busby-Berkeley musicals and the modern movies of the seventies."  Indeed, it would be harder for Cindy get good film roles after Laverne & Shirley, but no one knew that in '77.

The discussion of American Graffiti of course leads to the greenlighting of Happy Days, and a brief mention of when she went out with Henry Winkler, which I think comes up again later in the book.  I also have to note that Cindy says, "There's a real feeling of spontaneity.  We'll just do anything they'll tell us to do.  Last week, for instance, Penny and I stood on our heads and sang 'I Believe.' "  That dates that interview at least to the filming of "From Suds to Stardom," which aired on May 11, 1976 and presumably was filmed in April at the latest.  So Berman must've started working on this book in Season One, when the show was only starting to be a hit.

"Penny Marshall & Cindy Williams" book, Chapter Five

"When Cindy Williams was offered the part of Shirley Feeney on ABC's new spin-off of 'Happy Days,' she wasn't exactly thrilled.  Actually, she was plainly annoyed by the whole thing."  But she did it for the money and name recognition.  She expected the show to be cancelled after thirteen weeks.  And it beat working at IHOP.

Re her weight loss, she says, "It was like God just took it away."

The chapter quickly describes her roles in movies, TV, and commercials.  Cindy didn't like doing commercials, especially the one for milk, since she has "something called calcium lactate intolerance."  (I guess that's one reason why Shirley never drank milk & Pepsi.)

Re American Graffiti, she almost turned down the role because of "her qualms about playing the girlfriend of an actor six years younger than she," ironic in light of the Richie & Shirley pairing a few years later.  She "quips," "I have the market cornered as far as teen-age ingenues go."

As with Penny, she did the "bimbo role" as a favor to Garry, and by the time of this book she had no more qualms about the role of Shirley.

Overall, this chapter doesn't tell us much we don't know now, although I'm sure at the time it was news to a lot of people.

"Penny Marshall & Cindy Williams" book, Chapter Four

"In 1967, a brunette actress with a wide toothy grin was pounding the pavements of Hollywood hoping to find fame and fortune."  Yes, it's back to Penny.  And she was "plain looking," so she decided to become a comedienne.  Her brother Garry, who she didn't know that well because of the age difference, arranged a small dramatic part for her.  She was "terrible."

So she became a stunt woman.  She "achieved notoriety of a sort in grade-Z movies like Free Grass and The Pink Garter Gang.  These were really bimbo roles!"



She lost some speaking roles because she looked "too Jewish."

And then came Myrna Turner on The Odd Couple, thanks to Garry of course.  She was up for the part of Gloria on All in the Family, the only one to audition who looked more like Edith's daughter than Archie's.  They said she was too old to play Rob Reiner's wife.  (She was about five years older than Rob.)  She was disappointed but decided it was for the best, since "If we had been in the same show all these years, by now we would've killed each other!"

With all her insecurities, she thought she had the role of Myrna just because she was Garry's sister, although he reassured her.  After she quit The Odd Couple, she was "the sharp-tongued sister-in-law on The Paul Sand Show."  (Ironically, Sand would play one of Laverne's Californian boyfriends years later.)  She did a bunch of guest shots on other sitcoms.

And then came the favor to Garry on Happy Days.  I don't know if Berman is going by an earlier draft of the script or what, but she says that Laverne and Shirley "become embroiled in a clawing and kicking fight with two motorcycle molls at Arnold's Drive-In."  (Sounds like a scene from one of Penny's grade-Z flicks.)

She had her choice of the roles but figured she'd "look like Ron Howard's mother" (an age difference of a dozen years).  The rapid success of the characters definitely surprised her, but she remained insecure (of course).  The chapter ends with the wisecrack, "...Maybe it's an advantage that Garry and I sound alike.  He can read my part anytime!"