You know I dream of being that wisecracking smart-ass waiter that we all see on television. I have written before about the vision of loveliness that is Flo "Kiss My Grits" Castlebury from Alice, but there is another waitress that I aspire to be and it is none other than Shirley Wilson from What's Happening! The part was brilliantly played by the amazing actress Shirley Hemphill and the show had a brief run on ABC from August 5, 1976 to April 28, 1979. Now some of you may be wondering how on earth I can remember the show since I wasn't even born yet. Well, I caught it during it's syndication because I repeat, I was not even born in the 70's. Shirley was the waitress at Rob's Place which is where the leads of the show, Raj, Rerun and Dwayne would hang out. She would dispense words of wisdom with a side of fries and she was always quick with a comment. She loved to make fun of the character Rerun because he was rather large, but what made it so funny was she was rather large too. Oh, who am I kidding, they were both enormously fat. They would insult each other about how fat they were and that was good fucking television. Now that I think about it, the restaurant never had anyone in it except those three kids so I don' know how she made any fucking money, because we know teenagers don't tip. But I loved her. She was a total bitchy waitress, she was lazy and all she did was complain about her job. What's not to love?
Please don't tell me I am the only one who remembers her. She died On December 10, 1999 of kidney failure at her home in suburban Los Angeles, California and she was found by her gardener. I'm thinking if she had a gardener, she was doing alright. Don't only rich people have gardeners? Rest in Peace, Shirley. You were one bitchy ass waitress and I loved you.
2 comments:
I was compelled to watch this show as a result of my hatred for the character Dee. I wanted to crush her skull.
damn..i am old-er. i watched this show when it first ran..not just the re-runs. Ah the 70s.
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