#345 Marla Pennington’s Journey from SOAP to Small Wonder

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Jeff Dwoskin 0:27

all right, Vicky, thank you so much for that amazing introduction. You get the show going each and every week, and this week was no exception. Welcome everybody to episode 345 of classic conversations, as always, I am your host. Jeff Dwoskin, great to have you back for what sure to be a wonderful episode with my guest, Marla Pennington. You loved her and so small wonder and so much more, and that is all coming up in just a few seconds, and in these few seconds, run in slow motion to episode 344 with Nicole Eggert, such a great conversation. Do not miss our deep dive into Baywatch and so much more. But right now, it's all about Marla Pennington. We loved her on soap, small wonder, happy days and so much more. Great conversation, and that's coming up right now. All right, everyone. I'm excited to introduce my next guest. Loved her and so small wonder, happy days and so much more. Welcome to the show. Marla Pennington, hey,

Marla Pennington 1:38

hey, Jeff how are you?

Jeff Dwoskin 1:39

Great? How are you?

Marla Pennington 1:41

I'm good, awesome, fine and dandy. Yeah,

Jeff Dwoskin 1:45

I appreciate you hanging out with me and chatting show biz stuff. Oh, so we met Marcia Posner Williams, and she introduced us. You were just at the big soap reunion. I

Marla Pennington 1:58

love Marsha. I love Marcia. She's got the greatest story. She's the greatest person. Her husband, Wayne is, is super nice and down to earth. And I just had a blasting next to her for two days.

Jeff Dwoskin 2:14

Oh, you got that really sitting next to her. So that was, yeah,

Marla Pennington 2:18

I mean, I really lucked out. It was, it was Jay Johnson, who I know very well from lots of things, not just so, you know, we're friends, too, and but then Marsha, I had the luck to have Marsha right next to me too, and so that that was a blast. She's a gym.

Jeff Dwoskin 2:32

She was hilarious to talk to. She had lots of great stories.

Marla Pennington 2:36

I wonder if you got to hear all of

Jeff Dwoskin 2:41

you can, you can share some that you may think she forgot to tell me. Well,

Marla Pennington 2:46

no, no, no, no, they stay here.

Jeff Dwoskin 2:48

They stay close to the vest. Okay, yeah, all right. So, Marla, so you've had, you've been in, like almost every one of my favorite shows ever growing up, actually, sweet, couple cult classics, small wonder. And so, yeah, the Hulk. And I was gonna say General Hospital, but I never watched General Hospital.

Marla Pennington 3:10

I didn't either, and I was 7475 was a long time ago, so the people that remember it, their Die Hard, right?

Jeff Dwoskin 3:17

How did you get you were born in California. You're a California, yeah, native. When did you decide that acting and entertainment was gonna be your thing?

Marla Pennington 3:26

I had no idea. I my grandma and grandpa started a mattress business in their garage. They built box springs. Then it grew and grew, and then all of a sudden, my dad got involved, and I was supposed to take over my grandma's part, and my brother Randy was supposed to take over my dad's part, or my, yeah, I'm supposed to take over, and that we were going to be the next generation. And then I so I was taking shorthand and typing and all this really girly girl classes, you know, in high school. And I don't know if you probably hasn't experienced it. But if you're around too many girls, it just gets crazy. They're all talking, and they're all, it's just, it's just too much, you know, female energy. And so I went to my guidance counselor, and I said, get me out of this. Really, anything I'll do metal shop, I'll do auto I don't care. And he said, Really, the only thing I can get you into mid term is a drama class. And I went, Okay, fine, fine. And so I walked into that drama class at La Morata high, and I mean, changed my life. It just changed my life. And what's really cool is that as I got more and more into it, and more and more plays, and it was a very good drama department at the time, like five productions in a music hall and traveling children's show. And my grandma couldn't have been happier for me. And then, as I started getting commercial, I went into it professionally. And as I started, I mean, she took pictures of me and General Hospital because it was before the. Had VCRs or anything like that. She would take four words of it. She has scrapbooks for me. And then I just, you know, I just said, Grandma, I'm not going to be doing that. And she was just, she couldn't have been happier. The biggest champion, that's

Jeff Dwoskin 5:13

awesome. Yeah, the rest of the family was just disappointed that you didn't become the mattress queen of Burbank.

Marla Pennington 5:20

I don't think so. I don't think so. My brother has it now, he just retired, and his both of his kids are in it. He said, Molly, you had a great life, and I have, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. It wasn't, it wasn't for me. I couldn't be now with all the computers, and it's so different than when my grandma, my dad and my brother used to run it, because I don't have to take shorthand. I don't need to type everything and do doubles and carbon and all that stuff. I mean, it was just No, I was more of a creative type, so I couldn't get out of La Mirada and do what I felt I needed to do.

Jeff Dwoskin 5:57

Do you remember any specific plays that you were in?

Marla Pennington 6:00

Oh gosh, I remember all of them chalk garden. And I was in filler on the roof. I played Yentl, which is kind of crazy, and children's hour taste of honey was one of my favorites, and of the frying pan. And I just, God, I just loved it. And we were in repertory, and we would do five plays in 10 weeks during the summer. And it was, it just gets in your blood. I

Jeff Dwoskin 6:28

was just talking to Dean Butler, Little House on the Prairie, yeah, yeah. One of his early plays was Fiddler on the Roof. He was tevia, Oh, wow. And I was like, oh, because that's my Hebrew name. Oh, really, yeah. And so I was like, I had to bring it up, since it was, you know, yeah, we

Marla Pennington 6:45

shared. I still say oy vey

Jeff Dwoskin 6:46

all the time. It's the best expression ever, yeah. And, yeah, I know. And I

Marla Pennington 6:51

played against type, and I was years old, and they put all this fat suit on me, and I had to, and it was so much fun. It was so much fun,

Jeff Dwoskin 7:00

oy vey. And if you there's a few other good Yiddish words, if you know them, there you can oh

Marla Pennington 7:04

yeah, Matchmaker, matchmaker. Even though I couldn't really get up to that key to do the part of the young girl, I canceled. It's super fun.

Jeff Dwoskin 7:14

Oh man, all right, so I read a quote plays, and then commercials, and you said you were basically counter girls in commercials. Yes,

Marla Pennington 7:22

I started early, and I got my first lead in a movie when I was still in high school. They came to cast extras, and then they asked if I would be interested in the lead. And so I read for that, and I got it. And I was trying to go to college, I was trying, and then I got a commercial agent and a theatrical agent, which he had to do back then. I did so many commercials. And I started out as counter girls to foster freeze, you know, all of those kind of things. And then, then I slowly worked up. I remember cutting all my hair off, which is when, because I wanted to look older. Oh, really. And that's actually when I got so is that I was trying to make the transition into being wifey kind of material, because all I got was the young girl kind of on to Newey. Yeah, it's funny. I did so many commercials, hundreds and hundreds of them, and when I took a series or something like that, I actually lost my income, you know, it went down. But, I mean, I wasn't in it for commercials. Commercials is just a skill, you know, you have to do so much. And with the time clock, and there's all these people on your washing floors or your I mean, whatever, everything's different, and all locations are different, but it's fun. Great money, yeah, except

Jeff Dwoskin 8:36

your grandma probably went bankrupt without taking Polaroids of you and

Marla Pennington 8:39

everyone else. I know she's so sweet

Jeff Dwoskin 8:43

back then that would have cost a fortune.

Marla Pennington 8:45

I tell you, she she had, because she loved gadgets. She she had a beta when they first came out, and then she had the VCR in the other room, just in case, so she'd have the bigger beta tapes and the other VCRs. And, oh, it was she, she was amazing.

Jeff Dwoskin 9:01

That's a mattress. Money then, right? Because those weren't, those weren't cheap back then.

Marla Pennington 9:07

Well, I'll tell you, I would be so well off if I was still in the mattress that's doing gangbusters. Diamond mattress, the bass, yeah, they're making bank there.

Jeff Dwoskin 9:17

Uh oh. So as you transitioned to some of your earlier TV roles, Charlie's Angels. Yeah, that's a show I loved and watched. Yeah, who doesn't love that?

Marla Pennington 9:27

Oh, good. Oh good. Yeah. I was in. I actually read for one of the angels at with Aaron Spelling. And I'm just like, going, and Jaclyn Smith was in the room waiting, and I'm looking at her, I'm going, she's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen what am I doing here? But I guess I had a good audition. They had me back a couple times, and of course, I didn't get it Farah, my god icon and but they had me back, so I did a guest star in the first season, which was very nice of him. Very

Jeff Dwoskin 9:54

fun. I imagine John Forsythe was never on the round. Is Charlie? No.

Marla Pennington 9:58

He was just. To voiceover, if voiceover work is really good, because you don't really have to be there.

Jeff Dwoskin 10:05

So that was the classic crew. That was the OG Charlies Angels. Yeah, it

Marla Pennington 10:09

was definitely. It was the first season. Everything was new and fresh and shiny, very

Jeff Dwoskin 10:14

cool. And then let's see before. So leading up to Sophia, How the West Was one,

Marla Pennington 10:19

which was another one of my Heartbreakers, because I went in and I read for that, and Eva Marie Saint was supposed to play my mother, and I loved her, and she, for some reason, she really glommed on to me, and I auditioned and auditioned and auditioned, and then I was told I had it by the producer, Eva Marie and I were like writing each other, and it was like, this is like a dream come true. Then the studio stepped in, and they had contract players back then, and they're paying them anyway. And so the studio said, Well, why aren't we using one of our contract players to be her daughter? There's lots of blondes there. And so then there were, there was a big fight over Bruce Boxleitner, who was the son in it, and if they wanted Bruce box slider, then they had to do a con. So I was traded off for kitty Holcomb to take my job. And it was meant to be because kitty Holcomb and box Lightner ended up getting married and having a couple kids. So Right? So, I mean, you just never knew back then what was heartbreaking to you was just meant to be. And just, you know, you can't make something happen that's not meant, right?

Jeff Dwoskin 11:30

I guess there was a little true love in the universe, kind of playing. And, yeah, yeah, all right, well, at least some good came out of it. Sorry, I'm bringing up every show that you auditioned for and then didn't get the main, yeah,

Marla Pennington 11:44

right, it's what it was back then. There were lots of jobs, even though it does not as many as I guess there are now, but they were all network jobs, and they're just, everyone was so friendly and it was nice. And you just, I went on five auditions a day and changed in my car. It just what you did, put a blanket around and changed out, and then, you know, checked your makeup, and then you went in, and then you had to forget about that be off to someplace else. And it wasn't boring. I wasn't making mattresses. I wasn't making mattresses. When

Jeff Dwoskin 12:15

you're going all these auditions where they're specific, I'll say, I jokingly say Nemesis is, but like, other actresses that were always showing up for the same roles that you were, oh yeah,

Marla Pennington 12:25

yeah. And you would see them over and over again, and then to go around the other one over there, yeah, you should check with your agent there, you know, yeah. And then that's also why I cut my hair. Is, at the time, models and actresses weren't, like, really together. So if you went to a commercial and there was dialog, and it was a hair commercial, a Clairol or something like that, and then you'd have a model in, come in, and you go, Ah, well, they can't do dialog. So, you know, I know I got this one. And then you'd be in for the third audition, and that's where the hairdresser would come in and look at your hair, and then just go and then pick the beautiful model, and then they have someone else do the voiceover. And by the third one of those that I lost, that's when I went, I'm just cutting off my hair. I don't have to, I don't have to be sent to those commercials anymore. Oh,

Jeff Dwoskin 13:14

wow. So it sounds like it's just a, an emotional roller coaster. Well, it's

Marla Pennington 13:19

a, it's a business. I mean, that's basically what you you can't take any of it personal, and you just have to want it more than anything. And you did classes at night, you know, plays, and you were just always doing something. Everyone that I found was very generous, very generous with each other. Were

Jeff Dwoskin 13:38

you also doing commercials during this time as well. Does that pay the bills? Yeah,

Marla Pennington 13:42

you do commercials, and then you would get a series job and and then you go, Oh, you have to call your commercial agent and going, Oh, my, I'm doing so. And it's like, Okay, I'm off it now. Now you know that what? And then it was fun. You never knew what each day was going to bring you.

Jeff Dwoskin 13:58

You still get checks in the mail from some of these, or they're all,

Marla Pennington 14:00

oh yeah, oh yeah. I think it's a Charlie's Angels checks and the The Incredible Hulk. And yeah, they're Oh, it's big money,

Jeff Dwoskin 14:10

but it's gotta be fun when they show up.

Marla Pennington 14:13

Yeah.

Jeff Dwoskin 14:15

So speaking of the Hulk, I'll confidently bring up the Hulk, because I'm confident you probably didn't get those two leads. Well, they weren't up for those two

Marla Pennington 14:21

leaders. No, I was not up for either one of those. No, no. It was originally

Jeff Dwoskin 14:25

gonna be Sally banner, and then they decided, right, exactly.

Marla Pennington 14:29

And then they met Bill Bixby and I was out. It was

Jeff Dwoskin 14:33

never meant to be. Never meant to be. No, no, The Incredible Hulk is one of those shows that, yeah, another one of those that was, like, a big thing that I would watch growing up, and what kind of experience was it working on the Hulk with Bill Bixby, and did you get to hang out with Lou Ferrigno in and out of the Hulk costume? No,

Marla Pennington 14:51

Lou. Lou kept himself. First of all, he's green, and he's not wearing much, and so he would be off to the side. Right, if he was getting to be coming, coming on, and since, okay, I hope it's not a spoiler for you, but Bill Bixby was Lou Ferrigno. He turned

Jeff Dwoskin 15:11

Dr banner. Wait, wait, yeah, sorry. My mind here. It just took me. It's crazy. Next thing you're gonna tell me a Santa's not real. It's like,

Marla Pennington 15:23

no, that's real. Okay,

Unknown Speaker 15:24

thank you.

Jeff Dwoskin 15:28

Okay, all right, so the Incredible Hulk, whatever the drama of the week was for that show, yeah, okay, cool. And then I actually soap was soap before that was this sort of in between, because soap

Marla Pennington 15:39

was after that, because Bill, Bill was interested in, yeah, that was one of the jobs that I got. It's always cool when you got a job, when you didn't have to interview for it, because that's just like, oh yeah. They think I can do it. And then then you, you go and you're doing it. It's great. The one, one that they weren't, they hired me because I knew one of the producers for I played a nurse and Dr jolly on different strokes. And so I had this puppet that I talked to, and so they just hired me for it. And then we were doing the reading, and they said, Oh, here's your puppet practice. And I'm like, going, Okay, well, can I take this home, like, for a day and kind of play around with it? And I did. Then it turned out really fun. That's awesome. It was a good gag, and I got really good laughs.

Jeff Dwoskin 16:25

Yeah, another class. So you were on all the big shows,

Marla Pennington 16:29

you kind of make the rounds. It's like, in general hospital, they found out I could cry on cue, so then they would have me, for the first six months, cry and all these big close ups. And then it's like, oh, now we would you smile all the time. And so that would be the, you know, it's like, oh, one or the other. Kind of nice to broaden up sitcoms and a live audience, which is what I I really liked, because it's like theater, all

Jeff Dwoskin 16:53

right. So, so, so you come in, you're in season three and four. Yeah, were you a fan of the show beforehand? I was

Marla Pennington 17:00

a huge fan. It was my favorite show. Oh, right, yeah. And I was so thrilled to be on it. And I was a fan of everybody. And what was great is, when I got on it, everyone was actor actors, and so they weren't just like TV actors, where it was like someone's doing their scene, and all the sets were set up on the same stage so you could easily go through and just, you know, swing everything about, but everyone would be back looking at the monitors, and then just, you know, when you come off stage, great job. It was just so cool. It was like theater. And then we would all had dinner together, and then they would give the notes. And Billy always used to go, Well, this is horrible. I'm eating and you're making me choke, and then write down new lines. And it was like, this is not relaxing, and then we'd have to go out and do another show.

Jeff Dwoskin 17:49

These were in front of audiences, and both of them were in front of audiences, yeah, all right, so you felt you filmed it? No, it's filmed it again,

Marla Pennington 17:57

yeah. And they could cut, both of them pick and choose what they wanted. And I do remember seeing Richard Mulligan, and he he went up to one of the camera operators, and he said, Follow me. Okay. And I saw him practicing with ketchup bottles and mustard bottles. And he said, you know, after just don't, don't take the camera off me. And so this was in the dinner after dinner thing, and it made it in the show is that all of a sudden he he got all and then he squeezed both of them, and the catch from the mustard went flying up in the air, and all over Ted was and him. And it was, it was hysterical, and we were all cracking up backstage. And he was, he was brilliant. Richard

Jeff Dwoskin 18:35

Mulligan is so funny. It's just, you watch him, he's just like, it's like, an effortlessly funny, yeah,

Marla Pennington 18:40

but he took it really seriously. I mean, he really took it seriously. And he wasn't like, one of those actors that's like, funny all the time. I mean, we had some really serious conversations because we had some friends in common, and one was not doing well. I mean, he was serious about his comedy. He really was. No,

Jeff Dwoskin 18:58

I understand that. I think a lot of a lot of comedians are very kind of focused, and when they be they turn it on, they turn it on

Marla Pennington 19:05

right. And then there's other ones, like personal friend of mine was Tim Conway, who I met through my husband. He's funny. Tim was funny all the time. He was just always doing something that was just Tim. He just loved to make people laugh. It was crumble.

Jeff Dwoskin 19:22

I can only imagine just hanging out.

Marla Pennington 19:24

And also Don Rickles was funny all the time. And Bob Newhart, they would come over for dinner, and Richard krena and Mike Connors, who I loved, and all their wives and stuff, and I would have a big Sunday dinner here and cook for everybody. And that whole group, and Dick Van Dyke was one of them who we all lived in the same kind of city, or close to it, or whatever. They laughed all the time. All they wanted to do to make each other laugh and tell old stories. The funniest of them all was Tim Conway, where he just. Was, I swear, always funny. He thought funny. His mind was funny.

Jeff Dwoskin 20:04

I'm just trying to imagine, like, the dinner at your house, being surrounded by all those people you just mentioned. It sounds amazing.

Marla Pennington 20:12

It was incredible. I mean, if the walls could talk, sometimes I thought that the roof would come off just from laughter, just the best and Dick Martin, which is who I met from Dick and Dolly, everyone, all of their friends. And I like to cook

Jeff Dwoskin 20:28

any like stories that you can share like any particular so many

Marla Pennington 20:33

Steve and Edie. Steve and Edie, when my kids were small, they would all come over, and I would have a swear jar. And so the kids, after a while, because if someone swore, they had to put $1 in the swear jar. And after a while, Dick Martin would just throw a 20, and then say, Danny, give me the change at the end of the night. And Danny, would he be like this, and he's falling asleep. And then he'd go, oh, wait, wait, wait, did you got change, and he would run and give him change at the end of the evening to stay up, and Steve Lawrence just threw a credit card at him once.

Jeff Dwoskin 21:08

Oh my God,

Marla Pennington 21:09

it was the best of times. Lucy, that's my dog. She's keeping me safe. That's

Jeff Dwoskin 21:17

what dogs do.

Marla Pennington 21:18

That's what they do.

Jeff Dwoskin 21:19

Our dog doesn't let anybody walk by the house.

Marla Pennington 21:22

How dare they? How dare they? How dare they and the Amazon and the UPS and FedEx, ah, horrible. I'll

Jeff Dwoskin 21:30

tell you, just randomly for a second, is okay? I to that I once, Oh, such a cute dog. I once went on next door. I don't know if you guys have, like, the next door app, yeah,

Marla Pennington 21:39

we have a next door. They're all kind of crazy, aren't they crazy

Jeff Dwoskin 21:45

as a joke I wrote, If you could please not walk your dog in front of my house, I'd appreciate it. It barks and it causes quite a conundrum. If you could just maybe not walk in front of your house because I was writing it as a joke. But a lot of those things on there aren't jokes, but that's how they're written.

Marla Pennington 22:02

No people take it so seriously. When I tell

Jeff Dwoskin 22:05

you, my wife got mad at me for doing it because it consumed me for the next six hours. I think while you had the people that understood I was joking, and

Marla Pennington 22:14

they did the laughy faces and all that stuff, and the other people were irate. The other

Jeff Dwoskin 22:18

people, look, I I've spent a lot of time on Twitter in my heyday, and I was political at one point, so I was used to dealing with horrible people next door. Wow, a whole different level.

Marla Pennington 22:30

It's crazy. Mention a coyote. A coyote did something. The Coyotes were here first. What do you talk they go nuts. Your Dog was asking for it. Yeah,

Jeff Dwoskin 22:41

my wife always loved pointing out was like, something, what's this? They post a picture of their deck and it's like, it's like a bird went on your deck. What do you mean? What is this like? They've never seen these things before. It's like, so I just, I have, I still sometimes call it up and we'll read it at parties, like the responses that people gave me, oh, telling me off like beyond. But this is what I did during that whole period of time, was I never got mad if they said something. I acted like they said it rationally, and so I responded in that world rationally, like, Well, maybe you should teach your dog to shut up. And I'd be like, Look, I tried, I tried to teach it. We had

Marla Pennington 23:22

lessons every Wednesday and Thursday.

Jeff Dwoskin 23:26

Oh, man, it's just like, All right, good that she's keeping you safe. I guess that was my point. And then, okay, all right, so you're on. So any trepidation, I know you love the show, but as an actress, knowing this was the most controversial thing of its day. We still talk about controversy, and now you watch it, and you're like, Yeah, but like, at the time, was it like, Oh, if stepping into that, was there any or, like, no, I got to be a part.

Marla Pennington 23:51

No. Funny is funny. Funny is funny, yeah. I mean, no, no, I know it's television. You still make your own choices. You don't have to watch it if you don't want to, I don't under everyone's an adult. I mean, you're hopefully you're not having your two year old watch that said Sesame Street. I mean, that wouldn't be good, but that's kind of on you, isn't it? Yeah, I was like, No, it's adult TV. It's not at a certain time at night. I think there was even a disclaimer at some point. I mean, it was just also tongue in cheek. I just funny. Is funny.

Jeff Dwoskin 24:24

Oh yeah, it's hilarious. People just get it. No, no, I

Marla Pennington 24:28

wasn't. I wasn't. No, I didn't easily get offended by stuff like that. I think lots of people have lots of different points of views, and it's, I wouldn't want everyone to be the same, and it makes life interesting. I kind of wish it wasn't as interesting right now, but that's just me. Yeah, everyone has a point of view, and everyone, you know, it's fine,

Jeff Dwoskin 24:49

yeah, I'm just curious if, like your agents, the many agents you had, are they're like, Well, you know, this is what you know, but it sounds like it was just an opportunity.

Marla Pennington 24:57

I had the same agent my the. Magical agent I got when I was 17, and she was with me. She actually gave me my baby shower because she said, you know, you've forgotten something. You're almost not having kids. I was in my mid 30s, and I went, Oh yeah, Diane, you're right. She goes, what not want to think about it, yeah,

Jeff Dwoskin 25:15

yeah. But that's flash forward, like there's life, yeah, right. Eventually, eventually you laughed after small one. We'll get to that part. Yeah, spoiler, that's what's coming. Sorry to interrupt. Have to take a quick break. I do want to thank everyone for their support of the sponsors. When you support the sponsors, you're supporting us here at Classic conversations, and that's how we keep the lights on. And now back to my conversation with Marla Pennington, you were Leslie Walker, and your contribution to the show as being the teacher that sleeps with the has a relationship with the student. Jimmy bayo, cousin, right of Scott Baio, Yes, Billy Tate, I have to ask you. So I was watching some of the episodes, I almost lost it in one, because it was so funny, where he he breaks up with you and you face plant until a pasta dish and, like, not once, like, multiple times. It has one of the funniest lines in it, too, when he pulls you up and the waiter says something like, you know, what's going on? You know, he's like, can someone get her a fork? Or is that only?

Marla Pennington 26:20

But I she lost her contact.

Jeff Dwoskin 26:22

It was amazing how you just face planted into that, how it just, it seemed like such a crazy, funny scene. It just caught me off guard. I was just like, I just wanted to ask you about planting passing out into food as much as you, because then you did that twice. Actually,

Marla Pennington 26:34

Marsha and I talked about it at the convention. I said that Stu Silver, who wrote the scene, came up to me and he said, I just wrote you the best scene. It's like, Lucille Ball, I can't wait for you to read it. I can't wait for you to read it. And then when we did the table read, I'm just like, going, Oh my God, how fun. And I mean, with anything that you do in acting, you just gotta commit. You just commit and believe it in your own head. I mean, you make it all work for the cameras, make it work for the director, make it work for every make it work for you and and all that. And it was so much fun. And just letting myself drop into it was the biggest laugh that so had had for such I mean, they finally had to kind of stop and let the audience get some control. And I didn't. I didn't get up until the audience stopped laughing. So I was there a while. I was there in the finacini that had mayonnaise on top of it to make it even more gooky. Yeah, it was fun.

Jeff Dwoskin 27:34

It was master class, Lucille Ball. It was, I mean, it was, it

Marla Pennington 27:37

was, and then trying to do the dinner show, and then getting in the shower and trying to wash off the marinara sauce with the olive oil and all the extra stuff. I'm going I don't think it's coming out. They're having to dry my hair again, reset for the the the second show. It was hysterical, and I just did. I never realized how hard olive oil is to get off your skin until then, and it's also red, and you're just like, going, oh no. Do you guys have anything else that I could use? Yeah, it was fun.

Jeff Dwoskin 28:12

Was something like that harder to do the second show. I don't mean harder. I mean because, like, I actually, I don't know, I could have been watching the second show that you did? Did they go all in on that?

Marla Pennington 28:22

No, it's the fun thing is that you know you're going to get that laugh, and you're wondering, and then you also, in the back of my mind, I knew there were certain people that I said, you know, if you can come see a show, this would be a really fun one to see, not telling them a thing, and I could hear their specific laugh in the audience, and that was fun. And then I just knew that it was going to because it was a well written scene, and Jimmy and I just played it. I could have done it 100 times. It was, I wish it was, you know, stage, and you can do it over and over again for different reactions. And, I mean, it was so much fun. Was

Jeff Dwoskin 28:57

the fettuccine any good? Like, did you like trying to eat someone you were facing? No,

Marla Pennington 29:01

we know, because, like I said, they put mayonnaise over it, and so then it's like, so was it? Yeah, instead of cheating with mayonnaise, it wasn't really Alfredo. Was

Jeff Dwoskin 29:10

there any low back to the teacher? I mean, at some point they made Billy's character 18, oh, right, you know. I mean, so right, or he was 18, at least, and then, before you committed to it. So there was a little bit of that. But like anything, like, I asked Lynn moody, anything about the interracial relationship, she said, they got one postcard.

Marla Pennington 29:30

I love Lynn, by the way, too. But did they get one they got one

Jeff Dwoskin 29:33

postcard, yeah. And like, a postcard. I thought that was funny postcard. Think about it. Was there anything with you,

Marla Pennington 29:40

not that I was aware of, I mean, but the Moral Majority was having their little, you know, hissy fit at the time, and so it was like we were all kind of together in it. I don't remember mine being any worse. I went on some shows to promote it, Regis and La show here. And. And bunch of other stuff. I mean, everyone wasn't bad, really. I mean, I mean, instead, you know what it was, it was a lot of fantasies for young kids. So I got more of those kind of letters, like, I have the biggest crush on you.

Jeff Dwoskin 30:15

Going, oh so cast reflections, because even if you weren't in scenes with everyone, like, at least you would watch them. You guys all watched, well,

Marla Pennington 30:24

yeah, we all watched each other. I think everyone would have say that they knew that Billy Crystal was going to do a lot more, that he was in between when we'd be in, like, the cast lounge. He just talked to him, and he was really funny, and he had a lot of drive, and he had a lot of ideas, and you just knew, you know, was so sweet. Was Catherine Hillman, yeah, and I saw her when she was at one of these celebrity signings in Burbank too, right before she passed. And I went down and she said, Oh, I loved you so much. And she said they had a hard time writing for you for a while, and, and, but we just had, we had the sweetest conversation. So support. Everyone was supportive. And I also loved Jay sandrich, who was the director. He was just amazing. Everyone was and Susan Harris was, I mean, just brilliant. And she

Jeff Dwoskin 31:14

wrote, like, every episode, crazy, one of your episodes, one of the ones you were on. Robert Mandan goulier, oh, Benson, he came back the one where, because Jessica Tate Catherine's character dies, spoiler, isn't dead in the next episode. Yeah, I think enough times gone by, yeah. And then that was nice. That was a touching scene between them, where they're talking about being close friends. And then Jay Johnson, you mentioned you're friends with him, and, yeah, he's incredible. I mean, I was like, watching that with Chuck and, like, basically, like another character in the show. I mean, that's how it's

Marla Pennington 31:46

without a doubt. I mean, Jay was only supposed to be on for a few episodes, and he became a regular, deservedly so. I mean, he's a really nice guy. He He wanted Tony on Broadway for his one man show, the one and only, yeah, he's great. His wife, Sandy is terrific. They're a great couple. He's considered

Jeff Dwoskin 32:05

one of the greatest ventriloquists ever, hands down. And Jimmy bayo,

Marla Pennington 32:10

well, Jimmy was sweet. He was so young. He really was young. And they had written a scene before, my fettuccine scene. And, I mean, like after we we had the divorce scene, and they did a scene that didn't make it in. It just didn't work because he was too young. It just wasn't jelly. So then they had to take Leslie and his relationship in a different relationship, which meant that all the suicide attempts and the blowing up, they had to turn it around and make it something else, but they tried to make it something more long term. And I just think back, he was just such a baby. He really was.

Jeff Dwoskin 32:48

It was such, such a great show his time.

Marla Pennington 32:50

He was impeccable, and he was so, so dear and sweet and professional, super professional. Everyone was. He was

Jeff Dwoskin 32:58

super hilarious. The whole cast, I mean, the whole the whole show, and re watching a lot of it. It's just like, so good.

Marla Pennington 33:05

It is so good. It holds up, which is I'm really proud of. Yeah, you

Jeff Dwoskin 33:09

shoot at Billy, and he missed it. You hit Saunders the butler. And then there's another scene, right? I'm remembering this, right? And then, like, he's with Jessica. He says, oh, Sanders got shot in the temple and and then she says, I don't know he was Jewish. Just so funny. It's

Marla Pennington 33:29

great. It's great. It's great humor.

Jeff Dwoskin 33:31

Guess, well, from one bayo to another, I guess then you went Happy Days. Had a couple episodes of the happy days. And then, yeah, I was, I

Marla Pennington 33:39

was, actually, I walked through fire on that one. Now, don't, don't be worried about me. I'm fine. But I mean, I auditioned so many times because I was supposed to marry the fonts. That's what Henry wanted. He wanted to transition into that so I met Gary Marshall so many times and and it was down to three of us, and then we went back twice, and it was just finally. Gary said, it was like, which one Henry did you not want to see walk out of the room you wanted to see stay longer? And it was me, thankfully. And so I ended up doing two episodes, and it was great fun. It was a cast that knew each other, and I was coming in brand new and but everyone was very gracious, and Henry and I had lots of fun together. So then they couldn't make up the mind ABC about signing me for the spin off. And so they kept on. And then, in the meantime, I'm going, I can't be waiting for them to make up their mind. You know, I know what happens. They're either going to use me or they're not. And so in the meantime, I got offered another series of pilot and then I got offered a movie for ABC, class reunion, national ambulance class reunion. And so I ended up doing that, and spent three months in Pasadena in a chiropractic college that they had cleared out. To do it, the movie. And, you know, Linda Pearl ended up doing it. It only lasted a year. I mean, once again, it just wasn't meant to be. And so you just can't, you can't get heart break, you know, broken or over things that you want so much, but they weren't meant to be. You had, you had another path,

Jeff Dwoskin 35:16

yeah, so, but one of the episodes you were in, did you get to meet John Hart, the Lone Ranger.

Marla Pennington 35:21

I did get to meet him. He came in, and Henry was very excited to see him. He was like, one of those people that was like, hanging out in the back. And so when he came in and did that, and everyone was like, Wait, it's a real guy. It's the real guy. And going, Really, no, no, I didn't actually get to meet him, but I was in the same room. Very

Jeff Dwoskin 35:43

cool, but it's so cool. Yeah, Linda Pearl, was there an actual fans spin off of Happy Days that I have no recollection. They didn't

Marla Pennington 35:50

do a spin off, but the last season Linda Pearl played, they didn't play Cynthia Bran again, and I didn't really watch it, but they they added a girlfriend for Fauci. And you know what? It just didn't work. Nobody wanted a girlfriend for Fauci. That

Jeff Dwoskin 36:05

would have been like season 10, because you were like, in season nine. So it's like, yeah, it was,

Marla Pennington 36:09

it was, and so I was, I was actually quite happy. I didn't, but Henry was really sweet. He still did. He would invite me to certain like, he would do fundraisers and things like that. And, and they would do busses to McLaren hall or whatever, and they'd all meet at Stacy in his house. It's just a nice man. It was a good experience.

Jeff Dwoskin 36:30

That's awesome, yeah? And then class reunion was written by John Hughes, yeah. That was cool.

Marla Pennington 36:36

It was cool. It was probably his only failure. I mean, after, but at, I remember at the rap party, he was saying, Yeah, I want to bring the whole group back, and we're going to do a European vacation, and we're going to and all the things that he did later, he already had in his mind and but he was trying to make class, yeah, he was, he was young, and, I mean, who knew how brilliant, yeah, that was. That was. I made a lot of friends on that that I kept, kept my life. Yeah,

Jeff Dwoskin 37:04

I should have wore my other Detroit hat, the one that is the one that Tom Selleck wears. But I'm like, Oh, actually, when is mag? You were on an episode Magnum PI. I actually went as Magnum PI once for Halloween, because, you know, you had a mustache. Well, I actually ended up looking like a porn star. It's hard to it's hard to put on a mustache, like it's one thing to grow. It should always have the 70 vibe. But you put a one on your full on 70s porn actor, not Yeah, in a like, Tom Selleck kind of vibe thing,

Marla Pennington 37:34

yeah. And Hawaiian shirt, yeah.

Jeff Dwoskin 37:36

Look back, and you're like, Wow, that is not what I was when I was going for it. So the other show that you were on that, I think it's fair to say, cult status, small wonder. Yeah, four seasons, 96 episodes. So it was, it was a good run. This was one of the early syndicated shows.

Marla Pennington 37:54

Yes, it was the first, first run syndicated show, and my agent pitched it to me, and they were down to the end, and they had everyone else cast. And so I'm like, going, Well, Diane, what does first run syndication mean? No, it's the future, and they're really trying. Five studios have gotten together, and they're all going to own this show, and then they're going to send, you know, and so, I mean, that's what they do all the time now, but it was like a test baby for it all I went in when they were just, I think I read, but then all of a sudden that day, as I remember, I had a screen test, and Angela Cartwright was there, and Don from Gilligan's Island, And Tony Tenille and me like going,

Jeff Dwoskin 38:43

you beat out penny from lots of space, and Mary Ann from Gilligan's Island. Yeah, impressive. How

Marla Pennington 38:48

is that possible? How is that possible? Yeah. So, yeah, it was fun. I knew Dick Christie from seeing him on auditions for commercials and things like that, and I always thought he was funny. And I accepted the job and went on from there, like, I guess I just collect friends as I go. I mean, I still have, I just left my dog, Lucy, with the woman who did my hair on the show for years. Oh, really, Mary Guerrero, yeah, her dog's name's Betty White. She did Betty White forever that she bought her dog with a bonus that Betty gave her. And so Betty White and Lucy had a play date yesterday, and then one of the PAs on it is like my best male friend, and then Dick introduced me to my husband. And, I mean, that was another thing that you just have to go, Well, that was just Kismet that show, and it was just, and then this made so many people so happy. I mean, it just was such a kitschy kind of sitcom of of its time. But, I mean, a lot of friends, lifetime friends, small

Jeff Dwoskin 39:44

wonder was one of those things that would show up in my feed every now and then. And it was always like, Oh, really. Well, you know, like, you know, on tick tock, if you go, if you type in small wonder, on tick tock, you could spend a long time. I'm saying you could spend a long time on it. And it's like, it goes, Oh, really. It goes between one or two things. One is people. Quoting the one guy that said it's one of the worst shows ever, and everyone else, I hate to say that, but, like, in it, but, like, but, I mean, it's but I only say that because, on the other side, it's like, the fan base was huge. People loved the show, and most of the people are talking about it with reverence, like it was just one of those shows you grew up with it was a weird show, meaning, like, it was weird, yeah, yeah, yeah. And people still talk about Vicky, the robot girl, and like, and they're like, it's usually something like, and so I was explaining to someone that it's about a family in the 80s, and the daughter is a robot that the dad built. And it's like, and everyone's like, is this real? Is this a real show? And it was like, and it probably has a little bit of that allure, because it was in syndication, so it wasn't right. You had to watch it on a particular channel. And whenever they put it on, it wasn't one of the right,

Marla Pennington 40:50

right, a local show. And then once it went into syndication, it was on all the time. It was on all the time. I see you just re watch it. The kids would come home from school, and yeah, so I Yeah. And apparently, from what I understand in India, is still on prime time illegally. I don't get, I don't see any residuals from those.

Jeff Dwoskin 41:09

I think that was another thing, right? Other countries devoured this show.

Marla Pennington 41:13

Oh, it's dubbed in so many of So Howard the Howard leads, the producer, was so proud that was in all these different languages, and he would, you know, show us outtakes of who was doing our voices. And, yeah, it was funny. Speaking

Jeff Dwoskin 41:27

of someone who just strikes me as, like, always funny. And I'm basing this only on our characters. That was your next door neighbor on the show Edie McClurg, was she just hilarious? I mean, the one thing I always remember from her is Ferris Bueller's Day Off, when she pulls the pencil out of her hair. And like, yeah, yeah. I saw you guys were together on a reunion that you guys did. Like, yeah.

Marla Pennington 41:46

We used to go the Hollywood Bowl together, and we just enjoyed each other. And then she come to some of my parties and stuff. She, I can't say she was funny all the time. She was super talented, and came alive through the whole No, no, no, no, no. That was hers, and that's what got her the job on the show. And she just was really good at catch phrases, and I think she was in the Groundlings and very good with improv. She wasn't just like a crack up all, but Dick Christy was a crack up all the time. He was, I think, sort of certifiably crazy. Yeah, he was in a nice, funny way, but he was pretty crazy.

Jeff Dwoskin 42:26

And talking about, like, just a fan video that I found, somebody went and found, you know, the opening where he sits down in front of the robot, yeah, somebody found that. And there's like, a whole 10 minute video of just this guy going, here's that. And this is where they shot this scene. I was like, So, I mean, there's fans, you know. I mean, it's like, I think, you know, yeah, kind of knock the show. It's because I have one guy on one list. And it was like, that, you know, it's like, but, you know, like, I watched a couple episodes, and it's exactly what I think an 80s would have been. It was like, I gotta say. And then Tiffany, as Vicky, the robot was hilarious, talking. And robot talked the whole time. I can't think of a better gig than just talk robot,

Marla Pennington 43:06

right? Except she was so talented that she wanted to do so many other things. She went to sing and dance, and she went to wear different outfits, and she wanted, you know, she was a little girl, and she had a crazy childhood, you know, people around her and stuff. And, I mean, she became so famous and so associated with the part that she just kind of gave up. And she's a nurse in Boulder, Colorado, although someone just told me that they think she moved back to LA. But I just, I just wanted to be happy. She was always a very sweet, talented girl, awesome.

Jeff Dwoskin 43:37

Yeah, she was, it was, it was just hilarious. Like, I wonder how many people made that outfit, and just When is her? Because they want to be like, an hilarious Halloween costume, right? I mean, oh yeah, actually,

Marla Pennington 43:48

I had someone on a cameo ask me how to make it. And I'm like, what? I don't know. I mean, they we had wardrobe, and they made us when all of us were in a dream sequence, and Ted, which, by the way, Dick loved wearing that dress. She was walking through all the offices and flashing everybody, and it's just like, oh my god, Dick, stop it. And me and Tiffany were all in the closet. They made and and there are costumes you can go on Pinterest, and you can see you can go on Amazon, believe me, that's not my but I got, and it was a little Pinafores. And, I mean, it's very recognizable. That's

Jeff Dwoskin 44:24

so funny. The creator of this show is he created, he wrote for The Brady Bunch, and he created, like, the facts of life and silver spoons, like different strokes. Yeah. Howard leads.

Marla Pennington 44:35

Howard leads. He was a very sweet he was also a very nice man. And we would sometimes after a show, because we all wanted to go to the Columbia Bar and Grill afterwards and glass of wine. And I'd always had the swordfish, and we'd have Howard go with this, because he always picked

Jeff Dwoskin 44:49

up the check. Those are the best people to always invite. I tell

Marla Pennington 44:52

you, it's so great any of the crush of Mary Guerrero, my friend who did hair, she was in charge all the hair. And also did hair for dancing with the stars all of those seasons. And she was head hair on that. She has so many enemies, but he had kind of a crush on her. So we're going, Mary, Mary and I are going to go and some of the other group. And oh, Mary's going, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, come

Jeff Dwoskin 45:14

on, Howard, awesome. And then small wonder where that was your the last acting role you had. And then you went on to make hot ones videos with your daughter,

Marla Pennington 45:24

my son, because I turned them on to the show. Do you watch it? It was

Jeff Dwoskin 45:29

funny. I was just telling someone about it because I was watching the Conan O'Brien one. And yeah, now he was wild. It was like he was drinking that stuff. Like, I have a low tolerance, very low. Oh,

Marla Pennington 45:41

then, yeah, it was, it's not easy. Well, I glommed onto this show early, so I saw it when he was basically having rappers on. And I go, Oh, man. Then I watch it, and I go, Oh, I really like that guy. He was really nice. And then I was like, it was like, so then I watch it, and then just the way it developed. And then they got bigger and bigger stars on it, and then I turned everyone I knew onto it, and I'd have my whole family if I went over to my brothers, and I would make chicken wings, and I'd have make them really crispy and have them all over the place, and and everyone we'd sit for hours watching episode after episode.

Jeff Dwoskin 46:19

One of my favorite Saturday Night Live skits is Maya Rudolph as beyon Say yes,

Marla Pennington 46:24

Beyonce on hot ones. Oh, funny, yeah, yeah, yeah, no. It's a classic. And I really like Sean Evans. He's a he's such a good interviewer, and just the way that he gets his guests through it and leads them, and it's such a good way to do a press junket and just take it off the rails. Because, I mean, I gotta tell you, even with my kids and my husband was over there, they surprised me with this Mother's Day thing. It was not easy, and they had a whole dinner for me afterwards for Mother's Day. And I couldn't really eat it, because my stomach was just like, oh Lord. And I like spicy food, but,

Jeff Dwoskin 47:01

oh no, yeah, yeah, the Conan one was giving me, like, I was like, having a nervous because he's, like, downing this stuff. And was like, and it wasn't impacting him at all.

Marla Pennington 47:09

Oh no. And he was in a lot of pain Afters apparently got underneath his wedding ring and hadn't thought about washing underneath that. And I forget, oh, then he rubbed it on his nipples. Yeah, and I apparently get the aftermath was not that good for him. The

Jeff Dwoskin 47:26

after video would probably be better. I have to hunt that.

Marla Pennington 47:29

Oh yeah, yeah, there's no, I love that show, awesome. And the kids knew that, and that's why they did that. They're the best.

Jeff Dwoskin 47:35

Kids are the best. You're the best. I appreciate you hanging out with me.

Marla Pennington 47:39

Oh, you're so sweet, Jeff, thank you.

Jeff Dwoskin 47:42

This was a lot of fun. I appreciate it good sharing all your stories. Thanks. I think I'm gonna go eat some chicken wings right now. I'm starving.

Marla Pennington 47:52

Do really crispy 350 for like an hour 15 and you don't even really have to turn them in. Oh, it's really good.

Jeff Dwoskin 47:59

I appreciate the tip. You're

Marla Pennington 48:02

welcome. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Jeff, nice. Chat,

Jeff Dwoskin 48:06

great chat. One for the record books. Thank you all right, how amazing was Marla Pennington, so much fun to talk to so many great stories from soap and small wonder and ah, happy. So much, so much just flew by. Can't believe we're at the end of the episode. Another episode has come and gone. You can see we're building up a whole soap series of episodes. We got Marsha's, we got Lynn's, and now Marla's, and we got one more coming up, one more, but for right now, a huge thank you again to Marla Bennington, thank you so much. It was great hanging out with you. And of course, a huge thank you to all of you for coming back week after week. It means the world to me, and I'll see you next time.

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