MovieChat Forums > Laverne & Shirley (1976) Discussion > New York accents

New York accents

posted 9 years ago by pd3145
4 replies | jump to latest

What is the deal with Laverne and her family, as well as Fonzie, having a New York accent and moving to Milwaukee? You don't see many Italians in Wisconsin, lol.

[–] scott959 9 years ago

Milwaukee is in Wisconsin.

Marge: He's had a heart-attack! Quick someone do CPR!
Homer: [singing] I see a bad moon rising.

[–] happipuppi13 9 years ago

I think it's all a simple case of stereo-typing.

If a person (back in the day) was from 'the wrong side of town' , it was
an easy assumption that they all the guys sound like Tony Danza & the girls sound like Rhoda Morgenstern from The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

Rhoda was from NY and moved to (BRRRRRR!  Minneapolis. Rhoda hadtrhat NY accent too but her character was Jewish (Even though Valarie Harper is not.)

It truly is a pre-1990s thing in TV, that thankfully ended with Who's The Boss?

Don't forget, in GREASE, the film is set
in L.A. but Danny (John Travolta has that accent as well.

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

[–] jefgg 9 years ago

Laverne De Fazio grew up in Brooklyn and her grandmother still resided there. I am unsure when the De Fazios moved to Milwaukee. She went to high school with Shirley so it was when she was a teenager at the latest.

Fonz's accent may have been an affectation.

The late Al Molinaro played Al Delvecchio on "Laverne & Shirley"'s mother show "Happy Days". Molinaro was born and raised in Kenosha, Wisconsin to Italian immigrants. He was the only "Happy Days" cast member from Wisconsin. He passed away in 2015 due to complications from an infected gallbladder. Yup yup yup yup. Yup yup yup yup.

[–] joe_538 9 years ago

And the German-American crowd is curiously absent. Linda Purl's Happy Days character, "Ashley Pfister" is the closest that comes to mind, (Supposedly a relation of Charles F. Pfister https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_F._Pfister) but that's about it. The number of "Sch" names in the Milwaukee phone directory could be over 40 pages long.