Former 'Happy Days' Writer to Speak at Wyandotte Library

While Mark Rothman said he didn't write his own Wikipedia entry which calls him "a noted television writer, playwright, screenwriter, and occasional actor," he doesn't shy away from those credits.

The Farmington Hills man helped create Laverne & Shirley and also worked as a writer on Happy Days and The Odd Couple. 

"Perhaps my biggest claim to fame is being responsible, for about six months in 1975, while head writer for the Happy Days TV series, for Americans saying to each other, 'Sit on it,'" he wrote on his blog.

And now, the former TV writer and current author will be bringing his stories to Wyandotte's Bacon Memorial District Library.

Rothman will speak at the library at 6:30 p.m. April 16 about his life in TV, as well as about the two books he has out. Both books will be available for purchase.

"I'll read a handful of essays from the essay book, talk about the novel and do an extensive Q and A, where people usually ask what it was like to work with Fonzie and Lenny and Squiggy and Oscar and Felix," he said.

Picking a favorite show or character is impossible, Rothman said.

"I’m one of the creators of Laverne & Shirley, so that one stands out more than the others," he said. "But I also worked on a bunch of flops. I call them one-season wonders." 

In addition to working on TV, Rothman also has written many screenplays and several plays.

Two of them, The Wearing of the Greens, and Who Wants Fame?, have been well received by audiences and critics from coast-to-coast, according to Wikipedia.

He also has written The Laverne and Shirley Movie. (He reads an excerpt from it in the video above.)