This Day in Pop Culture for January 27

1976: They Made Their Dreams Come True

Having originally appeared as “The Fonz’s” girlfriends in an episode or two of Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley got their own show which debuted on this day. It was created by Garry Marshall, Lowell Ganz and Mark Rothman. Set in Milwaukee during the late 1950’s, the show ran for eight seasons on ABC ending on May 10, 1983.

Penny Marshall played milk-and-Pepsi tomboy Laverne DeFazio and Cindy Williams played perky Shirley Feeney. The pair shared an apartment together and worked as bottle cappers at Shotz Brewery. Leonard “Lenny” Kosnowski (Michael McKean) and Andrew “Squiggy” Squiggman (David Lander) lived above them and wound routinely show up at the girls’ apartment uninvited with a joyful “Hel-lo!” The cast was rounded out with Shirley’s on-again-off-again love interest, Carmine Ragusa (Eddie Mekka), Laverne’s father Frank DeFazio (Phil Foster) and the girls’ landlord Edna (Betty Garrett).

The opening credits began with Laverne and Shirley chanting, “1,2,3,4 – 5,6,7,8, Schlemiel, Schlemazel, Hasenfeffer Incorporated” at their doorstep. As it turns out, the chant was something Marshall had said with her sister when they were little. She didn’t know how it originated.

In season 6 of the series, it was decided to have the cast move to Burbank, California where Laverne and Shirley got jobs together at Bardwell’s Department Store working as gift wrappers. Frank and Edna opened and Texas barbecue, Carmine looked for his big break in Hollywood and Lenny and Squiggy opened a talent agency. Two new characters were added to the series – Ditzy Rhonda Lee (Leslie Easterbrook) who also wanted to make it big in Hollywood and stuntman Sonny St. Jacques (Ed Marinaro) who also served as Laverne’s love interest.

During the last season of the show, Williams was clearly very pregnant with her first child and quit the show after appearing in just two episodes, however, the show continued to be called Laverne & Shirley. Not surprisingly, the ratings for the show went down, but not as far as you’d think. ABC opted for another season and Marshall would agree only if production of the show would have been moved to New York. ABC refused and the show ended.

1880: Thomas Edison Gets a Bright Idea

Electric lamps had already been around for some time before Thomas Edison received a patent for his version of the “electric-lamp). But unlike the other lamps, Edison’s incandescent lamp was safer and more reliable.

2021: Alan Tudyk Becomes a Resident Alien

Debuting on this day on Syfy, Resident Alien is based on a comic book of the same name. Created by Chris Sheridan, Alan Tudyk plays an alien who crash-lands in Patience, Colorado and immediately goes on a killing spree including the town’s doctor, Harry Vanderspeigle.

Taking on the form of Harry, the alien continued killing thinking that by doing so, it would be good for planet Earth. But then, he was overcome with human emotions and started questioning the morality of it all.

Harry strikes up an unlikely friendship with Max Hawthorne (Judah Prehn), the mayor’s son. Max is the first human to literally see through the human disguise. The cast also includes Levi Fiehler (Ben Hawthorne: Max’s dad), Sara Tomko (Asta Twelvetrees: the doctor’s assistant), Corey Reynolds (Sheriff Mike Thompson and Alice Wetterlund (Darcy Bloom: a bartender). The show got some extra star power with some recurring guest stars like Linda Hamilton, Nathan Fillion, Terry O’Quinn, George Takei and Peter Hogan (co-creator of the comic book).

1984: Michael Jackson Gets Burned Filming a Commercial for Pepsi.

It happened on this day in 1984 that singer Michael Jackson, was rushed to the hospital due to an accident on the set of television commercial for Pepsi-Cola for which he had signed a $5 million endorsement deal. Jackson suffered from burns to his face and scalp. It is believed that it was during this time that Jackson first began alterations to his nose which would continue to change many years later. (Image: Wikimedia)