Penny Marshall
Garry Marshall, creator and then part-time writer for "Happy Days", cast Marshall and Cindy Williams to guest on an episode of the show. The installment, titled "A Date with Fonzie", aired on November 11, 1975 and introduced the characters Laverne DeFazio and Shirley Feeney (played by Marshall and Williams, respectively). In that episode, Laverne and Shirley were a pair of wisecracking brewery workers who were dates for Fonzie (Henry Winkler) and Richie (Ron Howard). The pair were such a hit with the studio audience that Garry Marshall decided to co-create and star them in a successful spinoff, "Laverne & Shirley" (1976–1983). The characters of Laverne and Shirley appeared in five more episodes of "Happy Days". In 1982 at the beginning of "Laverne & Shirley"s eighth season, Williams left the show due to her pregnancy. Marshall continued with the show, but it was canceled after the season's final episode aired in May 1983.
Shana Alexander
Alexander was born Shana Ager on October 6, 1925 in New York City, the daughter of columnist Cecelia Ager (née Rubenstein) and Tin Pan Alley composer Milton Ager, who composed the song "Happy Days Are Here Again". Her family was Jewish. Alexander graduated from Vassar College in 1945, majoring in anthropology. She fell into writing when she took a summer job as a copy clerk at the New York City newspaper "PM", where her mother worked. She worked as a freelance writer for "Junior Bazaar" and "Mademoiselle" magazines before becoming a researcher at "Life" for $65 a week in 1951. During the 1960s she wrote "The Feminine Eye" column for "Life".