Blansky's Beauties

Infobox Television
show_name = Blansky's Beauties


caption =
genre = Sitcom
director = Garry Marshall
Jerry Paris
starring = Nancy Walker Caren Kaye Lynda Goodfriend
theme_music_composer =
opentheme = "I Want It All" by Cyndi Grecco
endtheme =
composer = Charles Fox
country = USA
language = English
num_seasons = 1
num_episodes = 13
list_episodes =
executive_producer = Garry Marshall
Edward K. Milkis
Thomas L. Miller
producer = Nick Abdo
Bruce Johnson
Garry Marshall
runtime = 30 mins.
network = ABC
first_aired = February 12, 1977
last_aired = June 27, 1977
related = "Laverne & Shirley" "Mork & Mindy" "Out of the Blue" "Joanie Loves Chachi" "The New Love, American Style"

"Blansky's Beauties" is an American sitcom which aired on the ABC network in 1977. The series was a spin-off of "Happy Days".

ynopsis

To provide exposition, Nancy Walker had played Howard Cunningham's visiting cousin Nancy Blansky from Las Vegas on a February 4, 1977 "Happy Days" episode, and "Blansky's Beauties" premiered the following week, on February 12, 1977 .

Nancy Blansky (Walker) was den mother to a bevy of beautiful Las Vegas showgirls. In addition to keeping order in the chaotic apartment complex where they all lived, Nancy staged the girls' big numbers at the Oasis Hotel.

Emilio (Johnny Desmond), the maître d', was Nancy's boyfriend. To help Nancy defray costs of her apartment, Sunshine (Lynda Goodfriend) and Bambi (Caren Kaye) shared it with her, along with her nephews Joey DeLuca (Eddie Mekka), a choreographer, and leering, 12-year-old ("going on 28"), Anthony DeLuca (Scott Baio). Anthony was forever trying to impress Bambi, who much to his chagrin treated him like a kid brother, as did almost all of Nancy's girls. Also sharing Nancy's apartment was a huge Great Dane named Blackjack who was shown in the opening credits playing blackjack.

Links to parent show and other spin-offs

The show also implied a link to then-ongoing show "Laverne & Shirley"; in the episode "Nancy Remembers Laverne," Nancy recalls working with a clumsy girl named Laverne DeFazio (Penny Marshall's character on "Laverne & Shirley") back around 1967. She discovered that, despite her clumsiness, Laverne was a great dancer and Nancy offered her a job on the spot, which Laverne declined.

Eddie Mekka's character Joey announced in another episode that he was going to visit his cousin Carmine (Mekka's character's name on "Laverne & Shirley").

Pat Morita, after the failure of his series "Mr. T and Tina", was added to the cast as Arnold, the same name (and possibly the same character) he had in the similar supporting role on "Happy Days". There he had run a drive-in restaurant, whereas he ran the coffee shop at the Oasis on this show. Morita would re-join the cast of "Happy Days" while Al Molinaro ("Al") joined another spin-off "Joanie Loves Chachi".

After the end of "Blansky's Beauties", Lynda Goodfriend and Scott Baio would later join the cast of "Happy Days". Kaye, Goodfriend, and Baio would appear in a similarly-plotted pilot, "Legs," for NBC in 1978, using different character names. This project would be revised further and appear on the network as "Who's Watching the Kids" in the fall of that year, lasting half a season.

Cast

* Nancy Walker as Nancy Blansky
* Caren Kaye as Bambi Benton
* Lynda Goodfriend as Ethel "Sunshine" Akalino
* Johnny Desmond as Emilio
* Eddie Mekka as Joey DeLuca
* Scott Baio as Anthony DeLuca
* George Pentecost as Horace "Stubbs" Wilmington
* Taaffe O'Connell as Hillary S. Prentiss
* Rhonda Bates as Arkansas
* Bond Gideon as Lovely Carson
* Gerri Reddick as Jackie Outlaw
* Shirley Kirkes as Gladys "Cochise" Littlefeather
* Antoinette Yuskis as Sylvia Silver
* Jill Owens as Misty Karamazov
* Elaine Bolton as Bridget Muldoon
* Pat Morita as Arnold
* Garry Marshall as "Mr. Big"

Episode List

Trivia

* The theme song, "I Want It All", was performed by Cyndi Grecco, who also performed the theme song for the series "Laverne & Shirley".

* A running gag had Nancy's boss, Mr. Big (Gary Marshall), never speaking. He would have his assistant speak for him, or sometimes would lean down, as if to whisper something to Nancy, open his mouth, then pass her a note with his instructions written on it. Eventually, he did speak: a ladder slips, leaving him hanging from a stage light. Nancy says she will help him; all he needs to do is "say the word". After a long pause, he squeaks the word, "Help!"

* Several members of the cast went on to better fortune on the originating series, "Happy Days". For example, Scott Baio played Fonzie's cousin Charles "Chachi" Arcola, and Lynda Goodfriend played Richie's girlfriend (and later, wife) Lori Beth.

External links

*
*