Valerie Harper.

I was very fortunate to meet Valerie Harper about five years ago.
This was after I'd seen her on Broadway in her play, "Looped", in which she portrayed
Tallulah Bankhead.  She was brilliant, and rightfully won a Tony Award for her performance.
I wrote a glowing review of it and her on my blog at the time.
My wife and I were I Greenwich Connecticut, where my wife was working, and I was tagging along
so I could take the train into the city to see some Broadway shows on matinees and evenings.
We were in our favorite Chinese restaurant, when she came in and was seated right next to us.
She was accompanied by a woman who, along with her, was in the original chorus of "The Music Man" with Robert Preston on Broadway, about 35 years before.
It was odd that we hadn't ever met before, since in 1988, we were both on the Lorimar lot.
I was Exec Producing "She's The Sheriff", and right next door, she was shooting "Valerie's Family", until she quit, and sued Lorimar for violating her contract.
And she was replaced by Sandy Duncan.
These were the kind of lawsuits that usually got settled out of court, but she hung in there and won a
two million dollar judgment.
But we were complete strangers that night and  I told her how happy I was when I heard that she won that lawsuit, and that I wasn't alone.  Just about everyone who worked on that lot had a gripe working there.
And were rooting for her.
They treated everyone like shit.
She was not aware of the support she had.
And loved hearing about it.
And she was in full cancer remission from the scare she had about a year before.
The afternoon I saw "Looped", Mary Tyler  Moore was led into the audience by her husband.
It was quite apparent to me that by this time she was totally blind.
But she came, basically to listen to her do the play.
I was sure she went backstage after the performance to congratulate Valerie on her performance.
Valerie confirmed this.
They had remained very good friends.
We spent the next couple of hours chatting, and exchanging war stories, and enjoying each others company.
So I now had experiences with about half the "Mary Tyler Moore Show" cast, having done a series with Ted Knight, and having spent a couple of days with Ed Asner at a book signing in Chicago, where he couldn't have been nicer.
It's nice to have a story to tell where I wasn't taking a crap on somebody.
I wish I had more of them.

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My books, "Show Runner" and "Show Runner 2" can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store,

along with newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".

They are all compilations of blog entries have since been removed from the blog.

So this is the only way you can find them.,

You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.

Check them out.

You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.

Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.

The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not e-books.

But they are available for people without Kindle.

I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one.

If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@aol.com.

And now, there's my reading of my screenplay of my unmade "Laverne and Shirley" movie on "YouTube".

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