I was never a huge fan of Laverne & Shirley, but growing up in the fabulous 1970’s, I’m sure there were numerous occasions where it was on the television in front of me and I was watching. And who at that time hadn’t heard of greasers and weirdos Lenny and Squiggy? So it was neat to see David Lander (that is, Andrew “Squiggy” Squiggmann) make a rare appearance at the February 2007 Hollywood Collectors Show. Lander also happens to be the son-in-law of Edith Fellows, one of the former Our Gang members who Bob knows and I have met a few times over the years.
Not being a true fan of the show, I was hoping to get off scot-free and just pose for a picture with him. But as he was there raising money for multiple sclerosis (which he has had since 1984), I succumbed to passing him ten bucks as he was getting ready to leave the show in order to get a photo with him.
UPDATE: Apparently in the intervening five years since the original posting above, my attitude toward sitcom stars and celebrities in general has changed. There was absolutely no question that I had made a bad call in not getting a signed photo of David Lander during our first encounter, so I rectified that when I saw him again at the Hollywood Show on February 11, 2012.
Still a very cordial guy, he also posed for a free picture with me, and I was honored to update our photo together. Now if only I could run into Michael McKean…
Autographs and celebs from the February 2007 HCS will continue…
Celebrities of the Winter 2012 Hollywood Show will continue…
I’ve never been a fan of the show, either, but I had a very nice chat with Cindy Williams–it was at Los Angeles City College, of which she’s a graduate. They had an evening of old-time radio re-creations starring LACC alums, another one being Paul Winfield, who was also very nice. Speaking of Cindy Williams, Doodles Weaver in his last years was fixated on her, which became uncomfortably obvious when Jordan Young and I interviewed him in 1981 and tried to get him to talk about anything else for a few minutes.
I’ve also had several nice meetings with Betty Garrett, including a memorable dinner in Long Beach in which she regaled us with some of her self-penned ribald limericks. She was the landlady on the “L&S” show. Guess I need to see some of those, as I know her from MGM musicals and from playing “Irene Lorenzo” on “All in the Family.”
I’m glad to know that David Lander is doing as well as he is; I hope they find a cure for MS.
Randy Skretvedt
August 16th, 2007
Betty Garrett is also the widow of actor/singer Larry Parks, whose career skyrocketed with the Jolson Story and crashed with his connection of being a Communist Party member. He was made to reveal names of Communist affliations in order to escape a jail term.
Mike Newton
January 5th, 2012