In one of the opening credits sequences (can't remember if it was the original or the one after the move to California) Laverne and Shirley are walking together, stop, then bob up and down and say something. Then the theme song starts up.
What are they saying? If I didn't know any better, I'd swear there was a reference to Li'l Abner in there (two references, actually).
Can anyone help?
In the beginning, Laverne and Shirley are seen skipping down the street, arm in arm, reciting a popular Yiddish-American hopscotch chant: "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight! Schlemiel! Schlemazl! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!" The theme song is entitled "Making Our Dreams Come True" and is performed by Cyndi Grecco.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laverne_and_Shirley
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You can't ever be too rich or too thin.
In the beginning, Laverne and Shirley are seen skipping down the street, arm in arm, reciting a popular Yiddish-American hopscotch chant: "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight! Schlemiel! Schlemazl!
Here's the deal: In Yiddish there are two kinds of losers: the schlemiel and the schlemazel. The schlemiel is the guy who is the innocent person who gets *whatever* spilled, poured etc on him. He's the sucker- i.e. Moe of the Three Stooges. The schlemazel is the one who always spills the food, drops the bricks etc on the schlemiel... In other words, Stan Laurel, was the Schlemazel, and Oliver Hardy was the schlemiel. Bud Abbot was the Schlemiel, and Lou Costello was the schlemazel. Shirley Feeney was the Schlemiel, and Laverne was the Schlemazel. Lenny was the schlemiel, and Squiggy was the schlemazel.
shareI get all that but someone explain to me what the hell Hasenpfeffer Incorporated is?
shareAlso from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasenpfeffer
Hasenpfeffer (also spelled hasenfeffer) is a traditional German stew made from marinated rabbit. Pfeffer is not only the name of a spice, but also for a dish where the animal's blood is used as a gelling agent for the sauce. Wine or vinegar is also a prominent ingredient, to lend a sourness to the recipe.
In the USA and perhaps elsewhere, squirrel is frequently substituted for rabbit. This substitution is accepted as authentic by the families of German immigrants. The substitution of chicken, although common, is not considered authentic.
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It doesnt exactly make sense.....but sometimes things just dont. LOL
I believe Garry Marshall was interviewed and asked that question a long time ago and his answer was that he recalled it as a childhood rhyme he heard when he grew up in the Bronx.
"...truth against the world..."
UN Jefferson: "I get all that but someone explain to me what the hell Hasenpfeffer Incorporated is?"
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I always recognized hasenpfeffer as it was mentioned in several Bugs Bunny cartoons.
I used to wonder about these words too, but just too it as something these ladies would know, no harm done.
I think in one episode Squiggy does quote the lyrics, but either I am recalling what HE SAID incorrectly, or he just badgered up the lyrics.
I always recalled Squiggy as saying something like 'shimaza, shimaza" which of course doesn't sound a thing like what Laverne and Shirley are singing at the beginning, plus even if it was difficult to understand what they were saying, it was obviously not the same word repeated twice.
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At the start of each episode, we see Laverne and Shirley skipping down the street, arm in arm, reciting a Yiddish-American hopscotch chant: "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated," which then leads into the series' theme song entitled "Making Our Dreams Come True," sung by Cyndi Grecco. In the sixth and seventh seasons which were set in Hollywood, the intro featured Laverne and Shirley coming out of an apartment building, but still singing their original chant, and then a re-recorded version of the original theme song. During the final season after Cindy Williams left the show, the show opened with Laverne watching a group of school children perform the chant before the theme song began.