I unintentionally took the week off on my Italian goal so I have some serious catching up to do! Bear with me as I will probably have to shorten these entries yet I will not have any doubling up count as two…I set that precedent through the Magliozzi brothers.
Garry and Penny are the well-known sibling directors although they’ve never co-directed as far as I’ve seen. Their original surname was Masciarelli, the family changed it to something more Anglo, probably to assimilate or in my case, make it easier to pronounce due to American-English speakers inability to learn the basics of any other language. Plus they’re only half Italian.
I’ll start with Garry who has a much longer career with sitcoms and movies. Eventually I will get around to reading his book Wake Me When It’s Funny which was highly recommended during his commentary appearance on The Simpsons, he was the zookeeper exploiting Apu’s children. This will give more insight on what he did before he broke into show business as a writer for the Joey Bishop Show. Garry went on to other hits you may recognize: The Dick van Dyke Show, The Lucy Show, Gomer Pyle and I, Spy. I learned he did the screenplay to a favorite James Garner movie I loved as a kid, How Sweet It Is, Paul Lynde’s scenes were unforgettable. As the Seventies rolled around he moved up to executive producer to the TV version of The Odd Couple. Despite the clout he had from Odd‘s popularity, ABC rejected his proposed pilot about the Fifties so it was made into a Love American Style episode starring Ron Howard. After the success of American Graffiti three years later, also starring Ron; the network changed its mind and bought Happy Days. Thus began Garry’s run with Aaron Spelling into pulling ABC out of its rut as the number three network. Some shows succeeded spectacularly: Laverne & Shirley, Mork & Mindy; others are best forgotten: Joanie Loves Chachi, Blansky’s Beauties.
Garry shifted more into directing movies by the Eighties with Young Doctors in Love, Overboard, Beaches and Nothing in Common. He continued to helm larger successes during the Nineties, namely the flick Pretty Woman which gave Julia Roberts the career she didn’t deserve.
His best movie is The Flamingo Kid, a semi-biographical story starring Matt Dillon. It wasn’t a roaring success at the box office but I think cable gave it a second life. I know my friends and I watched Kid several times during my senior year in Beulah. We also went through a brief phase of playing gin-rummy to pass the days, saying the catchphrase “sweet Georgia brown” as an announcement to a victory. How I wish it were on Netflix streaming, I guess I will hunt it down in a discount DVD bin. Then I can loan it out to demonstrate to peers how everything Garry does isn’t schmaltz.
We can also thank or curse him for discovering Robin Williams, a last-minute replacement for an alien on Happy Days and giving Michael McKean and David Landers a writing gig which morphed into the iconic second bananas Lenny & Squiggy.
According to imdb.com, the man shows no signs of slowing down. He still has projects on the horizon.
I recently learned two amazing things about Garry, one through my research, the other due to the death of Dr. Grams. The first was him being an alumnus of Northwestern. With all these great writers having the Chicago university in common, I would’ve attended this place instead of Marquette if I could do it all over again. Maybe I can help make this possible for my brother’s kids. As for number two, according to one of Grams’ obituaries, Grams and Marshall were friends. During the three courses I took, Dr. Grams never mentioned this. It was probably for the best. I would’ve badgered him to tell some stories regarding Garry and like all my classmates, begged for a recommendation to get a chance to work for the already legendary writer/director. Before Dr. Grams passed away, Garry interrupted his busy schedule to have a final phone conversation this Spring.
Younger sister Penny is no slouch. She started off as an actress often appearing in various things Garry ran or not. The big break of course was the co-lead in Laverne & Shirley. My brother loved this show, I found it irritating initially yet it grew on me too. Neither program inspired me to live in Milwaukee.
The directing bug bit Penny too. Her resume isn’t as long as Garry’s but she has several very memorable movies: Big, A League of Their Own and Riding in Cars with Boys. The former two titles gave her the distinction of being the first woman to direct movies that earned $100 million. She moved more into the background as an executive producer as the Nineties waned.
This sibling’s affinity to direct poses one major question regarding Penny’s ex-husband, Rob Reiner, another director responsible for well-loved movies (The Princess Bride, This is Spinal Tap, When Harry Met Sally). Did Rob get infected by Penny or the other way around or a latent result from working on three things Garry Marshall was involved with he appeared in. I’m only kidding. My silly theory can be debunked from two angles: Rob’s father is the equally famous director/writer Carl Reiner and Ron Howard learned his directing skills from Roger Corman.
Now to put The Flamingo Kid on my Amazon wishlist.