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Importance of the iconic show 'Laverne & Shirley' set in Milwaukee

The late Cindy Wiliams was best known for her role as Shirley Feeney in the iconic show set in the City of Milwaukee.
Posted at 6:21 PM, Jan 31, 2023
and last updated 2023-02-01 17:41:22-05

MILWAUKEE — The late Cindy Wiliams was best known for her role as Shirley Feeney in the iconic show set in the City of Milwaukee.

"Laverne & Shirley" followed the lives of two roommates who worked at a Milwaukee brewery. The show captured the attention of millions of viewers around the world.

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Professor and TV Scholar Elana Levine said the show gave viewers a glimpse into life in the Midwest for women.

"It presented Milwaukee as a primarily kind of working-class, middle-class city," Levine stated.

In a lighthearted way, the two women gave viewers a positive feeling of Milwaukee through their adventures and work at the fictional Shotz Brewery.

Levine believes the show put Milwaukee on the map.

Over at Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee, the Laverne & Shirley theme song "remains an elemental part" of their tour experience.

"For us, it was brewing in Milwaukee we had a portion of the line and it just made sense," said Dylan Mazurkiewicz, Lakefront Brewery On-site Business Development.

You can see in these photos taken during the Lakefront Brewery. This part of the tour is a hit.

Mazurkiewicz said towards the end of the tour, the theme song plays, and the conveyer belt would be moving the beer bottles around just like in the show. The tour guide would ask two people to be "Laverne & Shirley" and put a glove on the bottle.

Although Lakefront has transitioned to cans instead of bottles and sold the bottling line, they don't plan on stopping the homage to Laverne & Shirley.

"It feels right to us to continue to pay respects to ladies that brought our Midwest culture to so many people," Mazurkiewicz said.

Tuesday afternoon, the recognition continued as the original Milwaukee City Hall letters seen in the show are lit in honor of Williams at the Historical Society Building. Letters spell out "Cindy" on the Pere Marquette Park Side.

To learn more about the Lakefront tours, visit the brewery's website.

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