Garry Marshall

Garry Marshall's touchstones: Joey Bishop The comedic member of the Rat Pack and host of "The Joey Bishop Show" was Marshall's mentor "Happy Days" The nostalgic ABC comedy series that made Henry Winkler a superstar aired from 1974 to 1984. "Pretty Woman" This iconic 1990 romantic comedy resurrected the career of Richard Gere and earned Julia Roberts an Oscar nomination.

Both straight-faced and antic, Jonathan Winters could get a laugh out of Leviticus. His face had more rubber than a set of Goodyear tires. There are comics who can make you laugh, and there are comics who can make you hurt. Winters was one of those. Yep, the folksy, Ohio-born comic could be lethal with laugher and goes down as one of the funniest men of his time -- of all time -- right up there with Groucho, Mel Brooks, Sid Caesar. He may not have been the king of comedy, more like its reigning court jester.

* The actor and director's latest movie, "Runaway Bride," opens Friday. The Toluca Lake resident is also the founder and owner of the Falcon Theatre in Burbank, which is staging SummerSeries, a six-week program of new plays, comedy and music. Valley Boy: I like the Valley. Unless there's a screening or something special, I don't rush over the hill. I can find culture and food in the 818 area code. I will go over to the Hollywood Bowl, however. I go there almost every week during the summer.

When actress-director-producer Penny Marshall was a child, she wanted nothing more than to go outside and play with the neighborhood kids. A tomboy, she envisioned becoming an athlete one day. Her mother had something else in mind. With a dance school in the cellar of her Bronx apartment building, Marjorie Marshall tried to fashion young Penny into a tap dancer. It didn't take. What did stick was a little of the craziness and humor that filled their household, which included big brother, and now filmmaker, Garry Marshall ("Pretty Woman")

What a fine day. Hundreds of youngsters in new baseball jerseys and caps are stretched across the infield from third to first. Every kid should have such sweet memories of growing up. There are green and white balloons strung like a wreath above home plate, which has a new coat of white paint. They have already served almost 3,000 sausages and pancakes as part of the festivities, with not a gloomy or hungry soul in sight. A new load of brick dust has been spread across the field, which has been freshly chalked.

In his new autobiography, "My Happy Days in Hollywood," which he co-wrote with his daughter Lori, Garry Marshall recalls the time in his life when he wasn't very happy - producing the 1976-83 ABC comedy series "Laverne & Shirley. " "It was a tough show," recalled the gregarious Marshall with his trademark Bronx accent, in his memorabilia-filled office at his Falcon Theatre in Burbank. It was the opposite of the carefree set of "Happy Days," the ABC series about the Cunningham family and leather-jacket clad Fonzie (Henry Winkler)

Actor-producer Garry Marshall will serve as master of ceremonies at the 17th annual Bravo Awards--honoring excellence in arts education by both individual teachers and schools--taking place Feb. 22 at the Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel. The event is sponsored by the Music Center Education Division and Club 100. Tickets are $50 and $100. Information: (213) 202-2216.

Though now a moderately mature, important and occasionally innovative company, the Los Angeles Opera opened its 20th season with something safe and silly Saturday, a new version of a Jacques Offenbach operetta. The gala crowd at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion was Hollywood-heavy. The draw was Garry Marshall, making his opera debut with his new version of "La Grande-Duchesse de Gerolstein," now "The Grand Duchess."

Dame Julie Andrews and director Garry Marshall would, at first glance, seem to be poles apart: the English-born, Oscar-winning icon of "Mary Poppins" (1964) and "The Sound of Music" (1965) fame, the epitome of charm and grace; and the Bronx-born, wisecracking sitcom producer who built a new career in the '80s and '90s directing populist movies like "Beaches" (1988) and "Pretty Woman" (1990) They recently joined forces on Marshall's family film for Disney, "The Princess Diaries," starring Anne

SOMEWHERE on Earth, someone will probably send $999.99 through cyberspace for the red-and-black plaid shorts and white blouse Erin Moran wore as the pert Joanie Cunningham on the '70s television sitcom "Happy Days." Or $79.99 for a signed cast photo featuring Henry Winkler as the Fonz with his TV pals.

Garry Marshall's touchstones: Joey Bishop The comedic member of the Rat Pack and host of "The Joey Bishop Show" was Marshall's mentor "Happy Days" The nostalgic ABC comedy series that made Henry Winkler a superstar aired from 1974 to 1984. "Pretty Woman" This iconic 1990 romantic comedy resurrected the career of Richard Gere and earned Julia Roberts an Oscar nomination.

In his new autobiography, "My Happy Days in Hollywood," which he co-wrote with his daughter Lori, Garry Marshall recalls the time in his life when he wasn't very happy - producing the 1976-83 ABC comedy series "Laverne & Shirley. " "It was a tough show," recalled the gregarious Marshall with his trademark Bronx accent, in his memorabilia-filled office at his Falcon Theatre in Burbank. It was the opposite of the carefree set of "Happy Days," the ABC series about the Cunningham family and leather-jacket clad Fonzie (Henry Winkler)

What a fine day. Hundreds of youngsters in new baseball jerseys and caps are stretched across the infield from third to first. Every kid should have such sweet memories of growing up. There are green and white balloons strung like a wreath above home plate, which has a new coat of white paint. They have already served almost 3,000 sausages and pancakes as part of the festivities, with not a gloomy or hungry soul in sight. A new load of brick dust has been spread across the field, which has been freshly chalked.

There was little to celebrate at the box office this weekend, as poor ticket sales resulted in the slowest period of the year for moviegoing. Despite the arrival of two new films, the star-studded romantic comedy "New Year's Eve" and the Jonah Hill raunch-fest "The Sitter," ticket sales amounted to only $77.4 million. That marked the worst weekend for the business not only in 2011 but since September 2008. "New Year's Eve," the Garry Marshall-directed film starring nearly two dozen big-name stars, had a far softer-than-projected debut.

It's a little disconcerting to hear Anne Hathaway talk dirty. Huddled in an office cubicle on the set of the new romantic comedy, "Valentine's Day," Hathaway, she of the pearly white skin, the doe-like eyes, the fantasy pedigree in the "Princess Diaries" movies, is purring lasciviously and furtively into the phone, lines like "I'm going to show you the wildest ride," and "I don't mind the fetishists." Puckishly presiding over the tweaking of her wholesome image is "Valentine's Day" director Garry Marshall, who a decade ago put the tiara on Hathaway's head by casting her in the first "Princess" film.

Shirley MacLaine and Hector Elizondo are discussing ways of coping with the loss of a loved one -- the four-legged kind. Elizondo still gets choked up when he talks about his late cats, especially Ninja, a pure black Burmese he and his wife once owned. "There was a long period of tangible loss," he tells MacLaine. "I wouldn't for days vacuum her fur. . . . I couldn't let her go that way." The Oscar-winning MacLaine ("Terms of Endearment") is besotted with Terry, her rat terrier who was the subject of her book "Out on a Leash" and is featured prominently on her website.

The classic series "Hill Street Blues," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "Maude" will be saluted at the annual festival of the Museum of Television & Radio March 4-21, with cast members and creators taking part, it was announced Tuesday. Other sessions will be devoted to "Roots" and such current series as "Brooklyn Bridge," "I'll Fly Away," "Beverly Hills, 90210," "Star Trek: The Next Generation," "Seinfeld," "A Different World" and "Civil Wars."

Written in the late 1960s and first produced in 1978, "Everybody Say 'Cheese!' " was rewritten in 2008 by its playwright, Garry Marshall. This retooled version, now at Marshall's own Falcon Theatre in Burbank, is intended as a sort of tribute to his mother, Marjorie, as Marshall makes clear in a charming program note.

A playwright's work is never finished -- at least not for Garry Marshall. Marshall, 74, began working on "Everybody Say 'Cheese!' " some 43 years ago. Four decades later, he's still futzing with it. Just last week, the creator of "Happy Days," co-creator of "Laverne & Shirley" and director of the hit films "Pretty Woman" and "Beaches" added new dialogue for the second preview performance of the comedy, which is having its West Coast premiere at his Falcon Theatre in Burbank.