With sudden fame at a young age comes egos. Cindy Williams, apparently, was known to explode from time to time. On one occasion, the actress we know as the sweet-and-even-tempered Shirley drove her car through the wooden arm at the Paramount gate because the guard didn’t recognize her.
She backed her car up and then stepped on it, bulldozing through the gate. Another temper fit on the set of “American Graffiti” found Harrison Ford getting a beating when Cindy’s fists flew in a rage.
Comedy Connections
Penny Marshall was well connected. Beyond her brother Garry writing and producing "Laverne & Shirley," she was also married to Rob Reiner, aka Meathead. The couple, pictured here, starred in rival sitcoms with Reiner playing Archie Bunker’s favorite whipping boy on "All in the Family." "Laverne & Shirley" soared to number one in 1976, its debut year, beating out "Archie Bunker & CO."
However, by the end of the year, "All in the Family" clinched the top spot. More comedy connections would arise later with Reiner and Spinal Tap. Additionally, Penny and Garry’s sister Ronny Hallin was casting director, and their father, Anthony Marshall, produced.
More Comedy Connections
Just before "Laverne & Shirley" aired, Penny Marshall threw a party at her house and invited the "Lenny and Squiggy act." She knew them from "The Credibility Gap" and hoped to get these characters on the show. The two performed their zany routine while guests, including everyone from the newly forming show, watched on.
Garry Marshall was there, of course, as well as co-creators Mark Rothman and Lowell Ganz. It was Garry who pointed out that the boys would make the girls look classier.
Bloated Egos vs. the Writing Staff
Cindy and Penny were a pair backstage as well. Their show hit a record 63 million views just two months after the “Happy Days” episode that launched it. The stars possessed egos to match. According to Garry Marshall, the girls thought they treated the writing staff poorly. “Penny and Cindy were mean,” he said, as well as “bossy” and “narcissistic.”
David Lander (Squiggy) dished that the show plowed through writers. None were good enough. A toxic power struggle between the cast and writers caused production to go through 12 writing staff, according to Lander. Twelve entire staff. “That’s about 144 people,” Lander said.
Backstage Bickering
Garry Marshall revealed in interviews just how to mean the new superstars were. He said that the actresses were immature during the show’s production and didn’t handle their new fame well.
According to Garry, his sister and Cindy constantly bickered about who got the most lines. They were like a couple of TV divas. At one point, Cindy walked off the show for two days claiming that Penny got all the good lines. He also revealed that the pair mistreated costars.