Rest In Peace, Cindy Williams

I was very saddened to hear of the recent passing of Cindy Williams.  I had been a fan ever since her TV show, Laverne & Shirley, first debuted.  I was in sixth grade at the time, and I can still remember classmates talking about the show, the following day at school.

Cindy Williams ended up appearing on the cover of TV Guide (along with her co-star from the series, Penny Marshall), five times.  I saved those issues, and have kept them all these years.

1976:

1977 (artwork by Jack Davis):

1978:

1979 (artwork by Richard Amsel):

1982:

The 1977 issue featured an interview with Cindy Williams.

I was so much a fan of Laverne & Shirley, that I desperately wanted to see the show in-person.  After all, at the beginning of every episode, a voice-over would state, "Laverne and Shirley is filmed before a studio audience."  But I never knew how people got to be in the audience.  Then one day, my mom gave me something she had clipped out of the newspaper.  Someone had written in to the paper, and asked that very question.  The response included a list of addresses, one for each of the television networks.  I wrote to the address listed for ABC, and after not too long, received my tickets.

The show was filmed at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, in a sound stage that had previously been a part of the Desilu Studios, and prior to that, the RKO Studios.  This aerial view of Paramount Studios is from the book, Above Los Angeles.  I've circled (in red) the doorway through which the audience entered.

Over the years, we ended up going back to see the show three more times.  During one of my visits, I took this pic of the sign above the audience entrance.

And I saved the tickets from two of the four shows we saw.

My mom knew how big of a Laverne and Shirley fan I was.  She pulled these pages out of one of her Good Housekeeping magazines.  Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams had both been given "makeovers," courtesy of Good Housekeeping.

This Laverne & Shirley jigsaw puzzle was purchased from our local Alpha Beta grocery store:

And this TV Favorites "fan" magazine came from our local Lucky's grocery store.

The magazine included articles about the show, both of it's main stars, and also one on Phil Foster, who played Laverne's father.  Below, is the article on Cindy Williams.  Unfortunately, the magazine was made with a cheap paper, almost like the kind they would use for comic books.  But I guess it's held up pretty well, considering it's 45 years old.

 This color photo was from the inside cover:

 Rest in peace, Cindy Williams!

In Memoriam: Barbara Walters (1929 - 2022)

Following Barbara Walters' passing just two weeks ago, I remembered that I had this December 1, 1979 issue of TV Guide, featuring her on the cover.  The issue also included an article written by Miss Walters, herself.  I scanned the article, as well as a few other pages, and thought I would share them here.

One her famous "Barbara Walters Specials" was airing that week.

For this special, she was interviewing Suzanne Somers, Sylvester Stallone, and Stevie Wonder.

In her article, she wrote about the various people she had sat down with in past interviews.

Here are just a few of the other TV listings from that week.  Since it was December, there were a lot of Christmas shows and specials airing.

The Hollywood Christmas Parade (formerly the Santa Claus Lane Parade) was continuing it's annual tradition, which started in 1928.  The grand marshals this year were husband and wife, Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood.  Two years later (almost to the day), Natalie Wood would die tragically, at the age of 43.

John Denver and the Muppets were hosting their own Christmas special.  The very first Muppet film, The Muppet Movie, had been released earlier that year.

RCA Records released a soundtrack album, featuring songs from the television special.

Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer was continuing it's tradition of airing annually, since making it's television debut in 1964.  And Johnny Cash was hosting his own Christmas special, "A Johnny Cash Christmas."

Two early "pay television" companies were "ON TV" and "SelecTV."  Later they merged and became "ON/SelecTV."  This week, both companies were pushing the film, Saturday Night Fever, in their TV ads.

Sears was advertising stereos, calculators and typewriters.....electronic devices that would make good Christmas gifts.

Just a few years later, my mom would purchase an electronic typewriter from Sears.  The model was "The Scholar" (seen below), instead of "The Graduate" shown in the ad above.  The models are almost identical.  My mom made the purchase, after she decided to go back to school and earn her masters degree.  And I ended up typing many college papers on it, myself.  I recently donated the typewriter to my local Goodwill store, but I took a picture of it before saying "goodbye."

Michael Landon was the current spokesperson for Kodak and was advertising another perfect Christmas gift, the Kodak EKTRA camera.

And last up, is this Pepsi-Cola sweepstakes ad, to win a trip for four to Walt Disney World.  There was only one Disney park in Orlando at this time.  The entry form on the next page had been torn out, but I don't really remember sending it in.  If it was, we didn't win.

Barbara Walters did many of her famous Barbara Walters Specials over the years, beginning in 1976.  As I find more TV guide ads for her specials, I will add them to this post.

Rest in peace, Barbara Walters!