USA TODAY International Edition
Garry Marshall gave us comfort and odd couples
‘ Happy Days’ to ‘ Mother’s Day’ and all days in between
Few people have ever been better at making Americans laugh than Garry Marshall.
His biggest TV hits, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, Mork & Mindy and The Odd Couple, rank among the most- watched — and most fondly remembered — series of all time. His most successful films, including Pretty Woman, Runaway Bride and The Princess Diaries, have moved from theaters to VHS to DVD to Netflix queues with ease. The characters he helped create — Richie, Fonzie, Laverne, Shirley, Lenny, Squiggy, Mork and Mindy to name a few — can induce a smile at the mere mention of their names.
Granted, outside of The Odd Couple, his string of 1970s sitcom hits were never critical darlings: Critics were fonder of All in the Family, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and their various spinoffs. Nor did they reach the highest ranks with his peers: None of his series ever won the Emmy for best comedy series, and among the stars, the only major wins came for The Odd Couple’s Jack Klugman and Tony Randall.
But goodness, were those shows popular. For two years straight in the mid-’ 70s, Marshall had the two highest- rated series on TV with Laverne & Shirley and Happy Days. Throw in Mork & Mindy and Angie, and in one season ( 1978- 79) Marshall produced four of TV’s top five shows.
Nor was their popularity un- earned. These were well- constructed series that knew what they were and what they needed to do, from their opening credits and theme songs on. ( Most anyone who watches TV can sing along with Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley, and odds are there are some who have forgotten Angie but can still hum its Different Worlds theme.) For a nation under the stress of the decade’s social strains, Marshall’s comedies offered an escape to a simpler time — a pull many people still feel.
They were broad, often silly shows. But they weren’t stupid; they weren’t crude; and they were often very funny. ( Laverne, in par- ticular, was underappreciated on that score.) The humor was affectionate, the insults were mild, and the characters were meant to be loved. And by and large, people loved them.
It helped, of course, that Marshall had a remarkable eye for talent. It started with his own family ( his sister, Laverne’s Penny Marshall) and stretched to include a wide range of stars — from Julia Roberts on film to TV stars such as Klugman, Randall, Ron Howard, Henry Winkler, Robin Williams and Cindy Williams. And don’t overlook Laverne’s Michael McKean and David L. Lander, whose Lenny and Squiggy were the anarchic inspiration for much of the absurdist humor you see in TV comedy today.
For much of the ’ 70s, Marshall dominated the medium that had given him his start as a writer on such classics as Make Room for Daddy and The Dick Van Dyke Show. And when the prime- time soaps temporarily killed sitcoms in the ’ 80s, he moved seamlessly to film, where he worked as a producer, director and actor until his death Tuesday at age 81.
So go ahead. Rewatch one of his movies; sing one of his theme songs; recall one of his best bits and laugh.
That’s what he always wanted — and that’s what he leaves us as his gift.