Penny Marshall's new memoir is pretty great.

I had no idea she was such a druggy.

• Nothing? No interest? I loved the book. Anyone dealt with her?

• Will wait for Fred Arminsen to read it live.

• What drugs? When? I've heard nothing and I can't read.

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• Did she talk about LAVERNE & SHIRLEY much? Any good dish? What did she say about the various movies she directed?

• It was pretty dishy. Cindy had herself surrounded with nuts whispering in her ear. First her manager, then Bill Hudson. Cindy's memory of what happened is pretty much the opposite of Penny's. She says a lot about her movies. There's some real dish there about the way things get done and don't get done. She's very loyal to those who help her though. The only person besides Bill Hudson that she has shitty things to say about is Drew Barrymore, which I found surprising.

• WHAT exactly is supposed to be so bad about Bill Hudson? I know he and Goldie Hawn had a very acrimonious divorce, and she basically shut him out of their children's lives, but why? And Penny Marshall has bad things to say about him? What exactly is so bad about him?

• He's the type to whisper in people's ear that others are out to get them while he robs them blind. He also cuts people off from their friends.

• [quote]What exactly is so bad about him? Well, he did father Kate Hudson.

• Was her drug use ever to the point where it was troublesome to her career? Was she using during the Laverne & Shirley years? I've become a little curious since seeing her on talk shows doing the book promo tour. Previously I never thought I'd be interested enough in her life story to check out an autobiography, but there is more to her life than I knew. And I like how she talks about stuff as though she doesn't give a shit what people think of it.

• Love you, R8. A friend worked on Awakenings. She said Marshall had a thing for De Niro. Is there anything about that in the book, OP?

• What came between herself and Meathead?

• r5, what did she say about Drew?

• Did she say anything about Whoopi Goldberg and "Jumpin' Jack Flash"? It's one of my guilty pleasure movies but I know it wasn't well-received when it first came out. It was Marshall's first time directing a movie and I think it was Whoopi's first feature so I can imagine filming might have been difficult.

• Why doesn't Penny like Drew Barrymore? I thought Drew had a very decent reputation in the biz?

• She talks a lot about Jumping Jack Flash b/c it was her first directing job. Whoopi could be difficult. I think Drew pissed her off b/c she wanted Marisa Tomei for Riding in Cars with Boys but the producer told her that he'd already promised it to Drew who proceeded to get Penny's good friend and confidant fired for "Lighting her wrong." Then, to promote the movie, Penny got Drew a gig on SNL and that was when the anthrax scare happened. She did say Drew was nice but I think she was also a pain in the ass.

• So pleased to find this thread. I finished the book last week. Of course, I had to haul out my DVD of L&S and watch a couple of episodes. It was such an important show in my childhood. Her book reminded me that one aspect of the show that was new at the time: the girls were poor and I always thought outcast/losers. I really identified with them as a lonely junior high kid at the time. Fun book and worth the read. I am off to watch "A League of Their Own."

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• Has a sitcom besides "Laverne and Shirley" ever made as colossal mistake as they did by changing the show's setting when it was still at its height?

• It was the same cast, the same freaking soundtage probably but the show just went out the window. And then the final season sans Shirley...

• She wanted Robert DeNiro for "Big." I think that would've been neat to see. She's also been best friends with Carrie Fischer for years. I had no idea Penny dated Art Garfunkle for years. It sounds like Meathead suffered from terrible depression.

• Does she say anything about Rosie? Are they still friends?

• Does she talk about her failed attempt as Valerie Harper's replacement on The Mary Tyler Moore Show?

• She mentions she and Mary Kay Place playing Mary's neighbors for a few episodes and that it was briefly floated as a spinoff possibility, but said there was no chemistry there.

• It is pretty amazing that she survived the lung and brain cancer....

• There goes that "amazing" word again.

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• She was always a nice EYE-talian girl.

• Just finished her brothers book. Said "Happy Days" was a trouble free wonderful set, the entire run and "Laverne & Shirley" so problematic from day one that he refused to let his kids go over and visit Aunt Penny when they were on the lot. Constant fighting and he included Lenny and Squiggy in the mess.

• R24, it actually is pretty amazing. She was wobbly one day and grudgingly went to the hospital where she was diagnosed with late stage cancer of the brain and lungs. That she's still alive and in remission is damn near miraculous.

• Does she talk about Carrie Fisher with whom she has been rumored to have been is a relationship?

• She talks highly of Carrie (says due to her high school drop out status she never felt as smart as Paul Simon when she was clearly his intellectual equal and sometimes better) which prompted me to read Carrie's book and I'm halfway thro and no mention of Penny yet. Their "Joint Birthday Parties" sound damn fun though.

• Jesus Christ, some of you need to pry open your wallets and buy the fucking book already!

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• Did catch a couple of factual errors: Jack Nicholson won the SUPPORTING actor OScar for Terms of Endearment, not lead actor, and Debra Winger was nominated for Lead Actress, not supporting.

• At one point she finds herself pregnant and isn't sure who the father is, but assumes it was Art Garfunkel.

• [quote]It is pretty amazing that she survived the lung and brain cancer.... I don't think she did, and I don't think you can beat those. This book was reportedly the last thing she wanted to do before she kicked the bucket.

• I thought the DL consensus was that Penny liked to make lez-lez? I take it there's no mention of it in the book?

• Erm, what is "lez-lez," R34? You sound like some stupid suburban housewife. Look around. Any awareness at all as to where you are?

• I just finished this book and it was a great, fun read. I always thought she was a lesbian but I think she would have written about it in the book. It came across as pretty honest and not like she was holding back. She was a bit of a slut. It sounded like some really fun times. I did wonder about her daughter Tracy - doesn't seem to be a particularly close relationship there. She left her with her first husband to raise until she was about 10 years old, then Tracy took Reiner as her last name even though she still had a relationship with her dad. I guess she figured it would open doors for her.

• WEHT Tracy? I thought she was decent in "League," and fairly attractive. [quote]At one point she finds herself pregnant and isn't sure who the father is, but assumes it was Art Garfunkel. If the baby popped out with a full Jew-fro, there'd be no need for DNA testing.