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7 Fired At Nuke Plant 
Five Other Workers 
Were Disciplined Because 
A Generator Switch Was 
In The Wrong Position.

By BOB NOCEK; Times Leader Staff Writer
 Friday, August 30, 1996 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 1C 





Before "The Big Ragu" he was just Eddie Mekka, a song-and-dance guy from
Massachusetts who could sit at the bar at Sardi's with Angela Lansbury and
compete for a Tony Award with the likes of Raul Julia and Joel Grey. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 But that was more than 20 years ago, before Carmine Ragusa burst through
the door of Laverne and Shirley's basement apartment in Milwaukee, belting out
the chorus of "Rags to Riches." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; And in the years since, Eddie Mekka has fought hard to keep the story from
ending there on the set of "Laverne and Shirley," where a Broadway star
slipped into pop culture's powerful grip. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "You can't forget it, because it's shown everyday somewhere," he said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Now 44, Mekka is performing "Fiddler on the Roof" at the Pocono Playhouse
through Sunday. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Having just completed a Thursday matinee, his voice is rough from a
demanding two hours as Teyve, the leading role as a father of five daughters,
each of whom disappoint him. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "I did the role three years ago, but I didn't have a daughter then. Now I'm
a seasoned father," said Mekka, a father of 18 months. "And I can imagine what
it would feel like if my daughter broke my heart, multiplied times five." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Mekka still looks like the young man from "Laverne and Shirley," although
not quite as boyish. His sculpted face is framed by thick, curly hair the
color of coal. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 But as Teyve, any trace of Carmine disappears behind a long gray beard and
a slight paunch. Mekka lowers his voice, loses the Italian sound that normally
flavors his conversation. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "Nobody would ever cast me in it, but if you see me, you'd say it's my
role," he said. "I talk an octave lower and do a Yiddish accent. I just stick
out my stomach and walk like a proud Jewish person." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Mekka has peppered the years since "Laverne and Shirley" with motion
picture bit parts, a few failed television series, and small-town theater
productions. The highlights have been an extended run on the CBS soap "Guiding
Light," and recurring role on the ABC sitcom "Family Matters," but even roles
like that have been hard to come by. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "We made such a landmark with `Laverne and Shirley' that I have to get
through that whole thing," Mekka said. "I have to get through to the next
generation that says `Let's get on with it.' " &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 In November, Mekka will appear in the movie "Dear God" with late-night host
Greg Kinnear, directed by "Laverne and Shirley" creator Garry Marshall. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 And next year, in what appears to be surrender to the sitcom role that
still holds him captive, Mekka will likely reprise his role as Carmine Raguso
in a "Laverne and Shirley" movie still in the planning stages. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "You can't get bitter," Mekka said. "You can't do that, because then you'll
just get old." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 If Mekka is not bitter, he is frustrated. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 He has grown tired of casting people too shortsighted to give him a chance. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 He fears his daughter will grow up seeing trash television put out by
programmers driven only by ratings. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 He sees the current Broadway product and knows that the classics, like
"Fiddler on the Roof," wouldn't stand a chance as new productions today. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "Maybe I should be on the other side, but I wouldn't be a popular person,"
he said. "I look at the crap on television and I wonder how it gets there." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 As Carmine Raguso, Mekka played an innocent song-and-dance man on a show
that found great success without innuendo or double entendre. Like "Happy
Days" before it, "Laverne and Shirley" was always family fare, even if it was
just simplistic slapstick. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 For two years of its seven-year run on ABC, "Laverne and Shirley" was the
most-watched show on television, at a time when the girls of "Charlie's
Angels" jiggled their way into millions of homes and the "Three's Company"
trio found great success with suggestive comedy. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Those shows, by today's standards, are laughably tame. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "Sometimes I want to move to a mountain where my daughter can't be exposed
to that stuff," Mekka said. "As a parent, I'm voicing my opinion more. And
there's just so much crap out there." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Even Broadway, which still holds a special place in Mekka's heart, has
disappointed him lately. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "People are scared nowadays, especially the money people," Mekka said.
"They want something that is over the top, because they think that's what's
going to sell." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Mekka, a graduate of the Boston Conservatory of Music, was a 1974 Tony
nominee for Best Actor for "The Lieutenant." He has performed countless stage
classics like "Damn Yankees," and "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the
Forum," both of which are smash hits in their current revivals. But Mekka
doesn't think they'd stand a chance as new productions. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "Would `Fiddler' work today? It would be off-Broadway," Mekka said. "They'd
say, `That's nice, but let's put it off to the side, because it won't make a
big bundle of money. We've got `Rent,' `Stomp,' `Romp,' instead. They'd think
it wouldn't appeal to all those people. Or they'd say, `What can we do to it?
Let's put in a helicopter or a chandelier. That's it! We'll have a swinging
Jew on a chandelier.' But you don't really need that. Theater is about telling
a story." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 For his part, Mekka wrote his own musical, "The Right Step," which was
performed in Canada and "helped me work through my frustration." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 It's the story of a dance studio in New York City that's supposed to be
torn down, until the studio's former performers use their star power to save
it. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "It's got a lot of family values," Mekka said. "One reviewer said Hallmark
should have written it. And that was fine. That's exactly what I wanted." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

`the Big Ragu' Is Still Singing