A Tribute to Garry Marshall TV and Films
“Welcome to Hollywood! What’s your dream? Everybody comes here; this is Hollywood, land of dreams. Some dreams come true, some don’t; but keep on dreamin’ – this is Hollywood. Always time to dream, so keep on dreamin’.” Pretty Woman
Hollywood lost a true legend this week, Legendary Actor, Director, Writer and Producer Garry Marshall. He was truly one of my favorites and his movies would always make me want to curl up on the couch and laugh. The one thing I loved about Garry was that he used a lot of the same actors (Hector Elizondo one of my favorites) and I think that says a lot about who he was as a person. You never heard a bad word about Garry. It is said that he documented every movie he did with photo albums and he took pictures with every member of the cast and crew. Garry was good at giving advice and many actors called him a father figure. He helped launched the careers of many actors including Robin Williams, Julia Roberts, Anne Hathaway, Henry Winkler, Ron Howard, Mayim Bialik and so many others. Without Garry we may have never known the Comedic Genius that is the late Robin Williams “Nanu Nanu”.
“One of the reason’s I do movies and TV is there’s this thing called magic. You can’t really predict it, but I know it when I see it.” Garry Marshall in 1 of his last interviews with Randy Cordova of the Arizona Republic.
To honor Garry Marshall I picked some songs from some of my favorite movies, but first lets start at the beginning and how I was first introduced to his work. Garry produced two shows I grew up watching in syndication, Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley.
“Heyyy” first we have Happy Days a sitcom about the Cunningham Family from Milwaukee, WI in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Howard and Marion are the parents of Richie (Ron Howard) and Joanie and the show is mainly about Richie and his friends Ralph, Potsie and of course the resident “Bad boy” Arthur “The Fonz” Fonzarelli (Henry Winkler). Happy Days ran for 11 season and had a spinoff called Joanie Loves Chachi based on relationship of Joanie and The Fonz’s cousin Chachi (Scott Baio) as they try to make it on their own in Chicago.
Laverne & Shirley is another spin off of Happy Days as the two main characters are friends with “The Fonz”. Also set in Milwaukee we follow friends and roommates Laverne DeFazio (Penny Marshall, Garry’s sister) and Shirley (Cindy Williams) who work as bottle-cappers at a brewery. For 8 season we watched Laverne and Shirley “Make all our dreams come true. For me and you” as the song says.
Garry was an amazing director. He has directed some of my go to movies that if they are on I have to drop everything and watch. Overboard is probably the top on my list followed by Pretty Woman and The Princess Diaries. I also love what I call his “Mash-up Movies” these are the movies that have huge cast of actors and different story lines that all seem to be connected in some way, Valentine’s Day, New Years Eve and the recently released this year Mother’s Day.
To start my movie tribute my 1st pick is Beaches and probably one of the most famous songs from a movie in the 1980’s. Beaches is a story of two girls CC (Mayim Bialik) and Hillary (Marcie Leeds) who meet on the beach in Atlantic City, both from different worlds but that doesn’t stop them from becoming fast friends. They remain friends while growing up and into adulthood where CC (Bette Midler) is pursuing a career as a singer and Hillary (Barbara Hershey) is a lawyer. As friends do, they have their ups and downs, but they are always there for each other no matter what.
Next we have the movie that made Julia Roberts a Star, Pretty Woman. Pretty Woman is the movie most of us ladies (well at least I know I do) will stop everything we are doing and watch. We know what happens in the end, but there is just something about Vivian and Edward (Richard Gere). Edward a businessman who’s living is to buy companies and break them up and sell them is in L.A.; on business and comes across Vivian a prostitute while lost and looking for directions. Edward hires Vivian to be his companion while he’s in town, pays for a new wardrobe, takes her to dinners with clients, polo matches and even the opera (side-note: the scene where Edward gives Vivian the necklace BEFORE the opera, was a genius move by Marshall. After several takes that it just didn’t work, and wanted to lighten the situation, Marshall took Gere to the side and told him to close the box, for the gag-reel. Julia (Vivian) had no idea about the talk the two men had. Next scene that was shot, Edward closed the box on Vivian’s hand and the laugh and her reaction was so epic, it stuck. First take her reaction was so on point Marshall kept it in and it never made the gag-reel) . In the week that they are together feelings start to evolve, but are they ready to take the next step and overcome their obstacles?
Nine Years down the road Garry decided that he wanted to get Julia and Richard back together in another film and no it isn’t Pretty Woman Part 2 though I am sure we all want to know what happened with Vivian and Edward. Runaway Bride brought Julia and Richard back together in this funny romantic comedy. Maggie has left 3 fiancées at the alter and is she about to make it #4? Ike is a reporter from New York City who 1 night at a bar hears the story of The Runaway Bride from 1 of her former fiancées, but after reporting some not so truthful things he gets fired. In an attempt to get his job back he travels to Maggie’s hometown to try and get the truth. Maggie at 1st doesn’t want to really deal with Ike, she feels he isn’t getting the whole story since he talking to family and friends and not talking to her. Wanting Ike to publish the truth, they start working on the story together. The more time they spend together the closer they become. Ike realizes that Maggie adjusts to her fiancés, liking the things that they like, not necessarily what she likes. Feeling start to grow between Maggie and Ike and they come full circle at the wedding rehearsal for Maggie and Bob (Fiancée #4) who then punches Ike in a fit of rage. Ike then proposes to Maggie and since the wedding is all set to take place it sounds like an ideal plan. Maggie once again gets cold feet and runs away leaving Ike at the alter as she hops a ride on a Fed-Ex truck. After leaving Fiancée #5 at the alter Maggie takes the time to discover herself. Ike is the only person she hasn’t changed herself for, he has seen her for who she is not what she created for the other guys. Will Maggie and Ike find their way back to each other and will Maggie finally take the leap and make it down the aisle?
Be sure you are on the look out for Garry who makes a cameo in Ready to Run by the Dixie Chicks:
The last movie I’m going to pick is the story of a girl who just wants to get through the day without hurting herself or someone else. Anne Hathaway makes her film debut as Mia Thermopolis, a shy high school girl whose life is about to change forever in The Princess Diaries. Mia lives in San Francisco with her artist mother and cat Fat Louie in a refurbished fire house. Mia would much rather live her life being invisible than in the spot light. Mia is constantly made fun of by the “Popular Kids” in school and she has a crush on the most popular boy. Her best friend is Lilly and Michael who is Lilly’s brother who has a crush on Mia. Right before Mia’s 16th Birthday her Grandmother Clarisse (Julie Andrews) comes to visit, Mia has never met her Grandmother is a a little hesitant to go and meet her. Eventually her mother convinces Mia to go meet her Grandmother where she learns her Grandmother is Queen of a little European country called Genovia. Queen Clarisse then explains that Mia’s late father was the Crown Prince of Genovia and that Mia is the heir to the Genovian Throne. Mia is a Princess, the last thing she wants in her life. Upset Mia confronts her mother who was planning on telling Mia about her family upon her 18th Birthday, but because of her father’s death those plans have changed and Mia needs to decide if she wants to take the throne that she is heir too. Mia agrees to go to “Princess Lessons” and gets a makeover. Lilly becomes suspicious of the changing Mia and eventually Mia cracks and tells Lilly what is really going on. Mia is trying to keep it all a secret, but eventually the press finds out and starts following her everywhere she goes. The once Invisible Mia is now all the sudden popular and she isn’t adjusting to it the way she would like. With the Genovian Independence Day Ball approaching Mia needs to make her decision if she wants to take the throne or not. The day of the ball Mia is ready to say no to the throne and runaway with Fat Louie when she finds a letter from her father, who’s words convince Mia to change her mind. Heading to the ball in her not so reliable mustang she breaks down with the top down in a rain storm. She is found by Joe (Hector Elizondo) the Queen’s bodyguard and brought to the ball where she announces she will be the Princess of Genovia. The ball is a big night for Mia, not only does she become the Princess of Genovia but she also confesses her feelings for Michael and finally gets her real 1st kiss.
So I leave you with some Fun Facts about The Great Garry Marshall and his movies
- Hector Elizondo has been in 17 of Garry’s films. That is ALL the movies Garry has Directed. Now that is friendship.
- His daughter Kathleen has also been in a lot of the TV shows and Movies Garry has either directed or produced. To me she is best known as Charlotte, Queen Clarisse’s assistant in the Princess Diaries movies.
- Garry was in one of my all time favorite movies A League of Their Own. He portrayed Walter Harvey the owner of the Chicago Cubs who convinces other owners to fund the Women’s Baseball League. His sister Penny Marshall directed the film.
- He loved Basketball and had a basketball net on every film he worked on.
Garry your legacy will live on in all the movies you left us, and we will cherish those films and you forever. You will be missed by all dearly.
