MovieChat Forums > Laverne & Shirley (1976) Discussion > Was This Realistic?

Was This Realistic?

posted 9 years ago by horizonbeach
11 replies | jump to latest

I just recently purchased the boxed DVD set of the entire series. I hadn't seen any of the episodes since at least the '80s so I had forgotten a lot of the story lines.

The thing I keep noticing over and over in the earlier seasons (and maybe the later seasons, since I haven't gotten to them yet) is that whenever Laverne and Shirley meet any "classy" guys, med students, detectives, etc., etc., the guys automatically assume that Laverne and Shirley are cheap and easy and head for the hills as soon as they find out they're not going to be getting any "vo-de-oh-doh-doh" from them. A really good example of this is the season 3 episode, "Bus Stop" where Laverne and Shirley take the bus to Oshkosh to meet a couple of medical students who, once they find out that Laverne and Shirley are not going to put out, ditch them at the bus station ASAP.

Now seriously, these girls do not look easy or trashy, especially Shirley who tends to look like a prom queen most of the time. They have no air of promiscuity about them at all, they just look like typical working class girls of the late '50s/early '60s.

I realize that the series depended on neither of the girls getting married and moving out, since it was about two working class girls who roomed together and the various scrapes that they got into, but honestly, was there that big of a class distinction in 1950s Milwaukee, that men with a little money or education always automatically assumed that just because a girl didn't have post-high school education or money they were loose and easy? Do you think that Laverne and/or Shirley gave off this type of vibe? I sure don't. I hate those episodes. It's like the girls are being penalized when they've been nothing but good and virtuous. I find it annoying and sexist.

[–] crypticanomaly73 9 years ago

I wasn't alive during the 50's but I think the way they behaved, especially Laverne was a bit rough at times and that could be taken the wrong way by some guys who were wealthy or successful. They may have thought that as these girls are poor and they are such great catches that it would just all be really easy.

Same thing still happens now, people make assumptions about the way people dress or speak and they think it equals poor morals.

From a TV show perspective I think these stories just made the girls look like heroes for getting the attention and then declining it.

Sometimes a movie or tv show plot is so stupid that only the stupid can understand it.

[–] horizonbeach 9 years ago

From a TV show perspective I think these stories just made the girls look like heroes for getting the attention and then declining it.

Well said. I find Laverne and Shirley's self respect and steadfast personal moral code especially refreshing in the context of the cesspool that is modern day network TV. It makes me sad to see how rotten things in our culture have become and the destruction that it has wreaked, especially on young people looking for role models.

[–] crypticanomaly73 9 years ago

Well said. I find Laverne and Shirley's self respect and steadfast personal moral code especially refreshing in the context of the cesspool that is modern day network TV. It makes me sad to see how rotten things in our culture have become and the destruction that it has wreaked, especially on young people looking for role models.

It was a very different time, in real life people were obviously going further but in TV land "making out" was virtually home base, it was all censorship but it left a lot more to the imagination, a show like L&S now would have the girls happily going to bed with all these guys and using them for their cash and gifts as much as possible.

L&S would be Sugar Babies if it was made now! And both actresses would be a lot younger.

Same goes for Happy Days, except for the early darker episodes, it was all about making out, even the Fonz was never portrayed as having sex with anyone.

The only 2 who were open about sex were Mr and Mrs C when they would get "frisky" but that was ok because they were married lol!

Sometimes a movie or tv show plot is so stupid that only the stupid can understand it.

[–] happipuppi13 9 years ago

If L & S weren't friends, I have no doubt that if Shirley got a date with
a 'great guy' , he wouldn't be so quick to assume she's from 'the other side of
Miluakee.'

She was good girl and any guy, not matter what side
of town, likes that. (Except those guys who want a party girl like Laverne.0

Go for it or just be a gopher!
(MR.) happipuppi13 🐕 *arf,man!*

[–] crypticanomaly73 9 years ago

Shirley was a lot nicer personality wise and prettier.

Laverne is a turn off to me in every way. But if the guy just wants to vo-de-voh or whatever they called it Laverne would be the one that most would focus on as you say.

Sometimes a movie or tv show plot is so stupid that only the stupid can understand it.

[–] sjbradford 9 years ago

I find it strange that Shirley didn't go to college or further her education. She was pretty and polished and seemed like the type who would marry and move to the suburbs.

[–] crypticanomaly73 9 years ago

She could have done a lot better for herself for sure.

Sometimes a movie or tv show plot is so stupid that only the stupid can understand it.

[–] horizonbeach 9 years ago

Shirley was pretty and polished and smart and I agree, she could have moved on and done much better for herself. Back in the late '50s/early '60s your average female high school grad still had just a handful of choices, or at least this is what most of them seemed to choose: marry and be a housewife, teacher, nurse, or secretary. I could see Shirley in any of those roles, especially as a cute '60s nurse with cap, white hose, etc. She had a very tender, caring heart and was cute as a button. That would have been the best way to get the doctor husband she was always dreaming about.

I don't get why she didn't at least marry Carmine and settle down to be a respectable housewife with kids. The whole idea that they wanted to date other people so that they didn't settle down too young and regret it later in life was more of a post-'60s mindset, and, I suspect, only used as a crutch to extend Shirley's singleness and therefore, the show, since the whole thing revolved around her and Laverne as two single, working class girls.

In the real 1950s, if a young, attractive couple in which the male had some earning power and made a decent income felt about each other as Shirley and Carmine claimed to, they would not still be dancing around it after several years together, they would have gotten married in their early 20s, started having kids, and probably stayed married for the rest of their lives, assuming that they remained the nice, loving people that they were on the show and there was no abuse or adultery.

This is for another thread, but the more of these old episodes I watch, the more I think it's a shame that Carmine and Shirley did not get married and settle down together, although, as we all know, it would have meant the eventual death of the show. Laverne and Shirley single and struggling together = funny. Laverne single and struggling alone = depressing and not funny.

[–] crypticanomaly73 9 years ago

This is for another thread, but the more of these old episodes I watch, the more I think it's a shame that Carmine and Shirley did not get married and settle down together, although, as we all know, it would have meant the eventual death of the show. Laverne and Shirley single and struggling together = funny. Laverne single and struggling alone = depressing and not funny.

I think that would have extended the show for at least 1 more season or at the very least replaced the terrible final season, it's a bit of an irony that Laverne ended up on her own anyway as Cindy Williams got pregnant and was forced to leave. If her and Carmine had of married they could have written the pregnancy into the story and came up with some kind of idea so that Laverne wouldn't have looked like too much of an old maid.

The show was coming to an end regardless but it would have been a much nicer send off than a season with Laverne on her own.

Sometimes a movie or tv show plot is so stupid that only the stupid can understand it.

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] bookman7772000 8 years ago

I always said that to work around Shirley's pregnancy, have her and Carmine finally decide that they should be together, get them married, and while Cindy was off on maternity leave (just say Shirley and Carmine were on their honeymoon), bring on a decent male TV comic actor to meet Laverne, court her in the non-Shirley episodes, and eventually him and Laverne also get married. It becomes a married couples next door type thing for the remainder of the series.