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.
The Happy Gang
In 1937, CBC Regional Program Director George Taggart was given the assignment to come up with a Monday-through-Friday half-hour variety program that would fill the period 1:00 to 1:30 p.m. E.S.T. His tight budget permitted only four musicians. To “lead the band”, and as Master of Ceremonies, Taggart’s choice was Bert Pearl, whose real name was Bert Shapira. Credited with coming up with the concept that became the Happy Gang, Pearl's on-air persona was "that slap-happy chappy, the Happy Gang's Own Pappy." His fellow musicians were trumpeter Robert (Bob) Farnon, violinist Blain Mathé and organist Kathleen (Kay) Stokes. Stokes was already a popular entertainer; she had been the staff organist at CFRB in Toronto, and was also known in vaudeville and on the air as "Canada's Sweetheart of the Theatre Organ." She was the only female member of the Happy Gang, and she remained with them throughout their 22 years on the air. The fact that Stokes was the Happy Gang's only female member was mentioned in the show's signature song: they would sing "It’s the Happy Gang with the boys and Kay Stokes. We hope you’ll like our music and our songs and our jokes..."