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Originally Posted by MolsonExport
Reminds me of Laverne from "Laverne & Shirley"
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Laverne DeFazio. I was going to say that it was interesting that you made the comparison but I thought Penny Marshall was a Jew playing an Italian.
But she wasn't Jewish, her father, Anthony "Tony" Masciarelli was of Italian descent, his family having come from San Martino sulla Marrucina, Chieti, Abruzzo. He changed his last name to Marshall before his son Garry was born.
Trivia time: Yeah, the earliest episodes of Happy Days are rather different from the rest when you revisit them, especially when it comes to Fonzie. But the Fonz was almost far, far different. He almost wasn't "The Fonz."
Series creator Garry Marshall had another name in mind when he first whipped up the show — his family's.
Before Marshall was born, his father, Arthur (sic) Masciarelli had changed his Italian surname to something more American sounding. As a tribute to the creator's roots, the character of Fonzie was originally named Arthur Masciarelli. The obvious shortener nickname for the guy? "The Mash."
There was just one problem. A ranked-number-four-on-TV problem: M*A*S*H.