Model Airplanes

As a salute to the late Penny Marshall and her iconic character Laverne, the Garry Marshall Theatre opens its doors and invites all ages to share in a 12-hour “Laverne Shirley” marathon on Sunday, January 27, 2019 from 10:00 am-10:00 pm. Information can be found by visiting www.garrymarshalltheatre.org.

The open-house marathon celebrates Marshall, Cindy Williams, its all-star cast and the hilarious sitcom that still has families laughing around the world. Ms. Williams will appear in person as a special guest during the marathon.

Penny Marshall, sister to Garry Marshall, will forever be remembered as the lovable tomboy ‘Laverne DeFazio’ playing opposite Williams’ ‘Shirley Feeney’ in one of the most popular and memorable series in television history — about two blue collar friends in Milwaukee in the late 1950s.

It was 43 years ago on January 27, 1976 that “Laverne Shirley” first aired and took America and the world by storm. The Pepsi Milk-drinking duo began their on-screen antics as guest-stars on “Happy Days” before ABC ordered the infamous spin-off. “Laverne Shirley” was created by Garry Marshall, Lowell Ganz and Mark Rothman, and premiered in 1976 running for eight seasons, becoming the most-watched TV series by 1977, surpassing “Happy Days.”

“There were no blue-collar girls on television” when ‘Laverne Shirley’ debuted,” executive producer Garry Marshall said in an interview for the Archive of American Television. Viewers “were dying for somebody that didn’t look like Mary Tyler Moore or all the pretty girls on TV. They wanted somebody who looked

Article source: https://www.broadwayworld.com/los-angeles/article/Garry-Marshall-Theatre-Hosts-A-12-Hour-Laverne-Shirley-Marathon-In-Memory-Of-Penny-Marshall-20190111

Robert Stevens Thorne attributed the timing of his birth to the Armistice of 1918 and the death of his uncle Charlie from the Spanish Flu. The surge of emotions that accompanied these events, he wrote in a private memoir, sent his mother into labor. By then the hospitals were full of flu patients. It was no place for a baby. Thus, on November 15, 1918, Robert came into the world in the home of his grandparents in Plainfield, New Jersey.

Robert’s father worked in a factory making airplane parts from Sitka spruce. Sometimes he took Robert to watch the planes leaping aloft from the small airfield nearby. The neighborhood was full of friends and relations, forever in and out of one another’s houses, and the clop of hooves from the vendors’ horse-drawn carts.

Robert loved horses. After high school he served two years in the National Guard cavalry while commuting weekdays to a job at Chase National Bank in New York. Then he traveled to Pullman, Washington, to study veterinary medicine at Washington State College (today Washington State University).

One summer day in Walla Walla, where he was working between semesters at a cannery, he met Dorothy Cox, a local girl and fellow WSC student, outside the Copper Kettle café. As he pulled up to her house the next day, the engine of his Model A Ford died; she came bounding down the steps to set the spark, choke, and throttle while he cranked it back to life. Soon they were an item.

Article source: https://www.bainbridgereview.com/obituaries/robert-stevens-thorne/

Before the fiery crash that left two people dead and dozens displaced, the pilot who crashed his helicopter into Bristol Commons in July had his medical certificate to fly revoked by the Federal Aviation Administration.

In a letter to homeowners denying an insurance payout for the destruction at the Williamsburg complex, pilot Henry “Hank” Schwarz’s insurance company said Schwarz flew illegally.

“Based on our investigation … that insurance coverage … including all claims for injuries damages, and losses related thereto that are or may be asserted by your client and/or by any third parties, is hereby denied,” the letter obtained by The Virginia Gazette said.

Schwarz’s caretaker said he had health problems, including Parkinson’s Disease, which would have required the FAA to decide whether he was fit to fly.