Squiggy Tells All

You expect to laugh during an interview with David Lander, who portrayed Squiggy in the “Laverne & Shirley” sitcom that still airs in syndication worldwide. You don’t expect to learn so much about multiple sclerosis, a disease he kept secret for 15 years.

Lander, who is the goodwill ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, will appear at a book signing at Borders on Wednesday to talk about his book “Falling Down Laughing: How Squiggy Caught Multiple Sclerosis and Didn’t Tell Nobody” (Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam Book; $22.95).

“I guess my biggest use now is in helping anyone with this disease by putting a face on it--and it’s a face that is still walking,” he said. “That sounds pretty painful,” he added, laughing.

In retrospect, Lander said that if he had gone public in the first few years he had the disease, he would not have known what he was talking about and would have said the wrong things.

During those secretive years, he appeared in feature films, guest starred in more than 30 television shows and was featured on “The Bold and the Beautiful,” “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” and “Mad About You.” You also might have seen him in the films “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” “1941,” “A League of Their Own” and “Scary Movie.”

“The first positive thing I heard about MS was that you are walking now, so you may never have an exacerbation again. . . . Then you go for maybe six months and suddenly you are walking down the street and you fall flat on your face,” he said.

After he went public about the disease, he made a mock public service announcement in which he wore an ascot and intoned that Andrew Squigman kept the disease a secret for 15 years until he could find out who to blame it on. He thought it was funny, but one chapter of the MS Society wanted to pull the spot because he said he caught MS from Lenny.

“I said, ‘Listen, Squiggy is a fictitious character we are using, and we are accusing a fictitious character of being a carrier of a disease that doesn’t have carriers. This is an MS benefit where people are going to see me and expect some laughs.” The commercial was finally aired as is.

After becoming familiar with his condition, Lander learned that you don’t call yourself a victim, you don’t use the word “fatal” and that “progress” is a bad word.

Basically, he is learning how to live with a disease as opposed to dwelling on it, he said.

He takes Avonex, one of the trio of new immunological therapies known as the ABC drugs--Avonex, Betaseron and Copaxone. They have not stopped the progression of MS, he said, but they are slowing it down.

Meanwhile, he lives in Agoura Hills with his wife and daughter, does voice-overs for radio, television and animation, and is letting his fans know that Squiggy is alive and well and just happens to have MS.

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If you want to learn more about Marion Jones, the super athlete who arrived at the Olympics vowing to win five gold medals, check out Ron Rapoport’s “See How She Runs--Marion Jones & the Making of a Champion” (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill; $21.95).

Rapoport, who writes a four-day-a-week column for the Chicago Sun Times, was a sportswriter in the San Fernando Valley during Jones’ high school years, first when she was a student at Rio Mesa High School in Oxnard and later at Thousand Oaks High School.

“It seemed to me that from the moment she was in high school, she was this fully formed great star,” he said in a recent telephone interview. “She just took over California high school sports when she was only a freshman, both in basketball and in track.”

Rapoport will add another quick chapter at the end of his book after the Olympics--and he and Jones plan to go to the Boston Globe Book Fair. But first, there’s the Olympics. Jones’ two relay finals will be on Sept. 30.

Rapoport said that if she does what she thinks she will do, she will be a very busy lady.

HAPPENINGS

* TODAY, 1 p.m. Dale Furutani will discuss and sign “Kill the Shogun.” Mysteries to Die For, 2940 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks, 374-0084.

* TODAY, 7 p.m. Author and anthropologist Robert R. Sands will discuss and sign “Gut-Check!: An Anthropologist’s Wild Ride into the Heart of College Football.” Ventura Barnes & Noble, 4360 E. Main St., 339-9170.

* SUNDAY, 1 p.m. The Writing Community begins a new session for all genres in Simi Valley. The first session is free. For more information and location, call Pat Craig at 522-5532.

* SUNDAY, 6 p.m. Poetry night with a group discussion followed by the featured poet at 7 p.m. and open mike at 8 p.m. Borders, 497-8159.

* MONDAY, 7 p.m. The Spiritual Book Group discusses “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle. Borders, 497-8159.

* TUESDAY, 10 a.m. Book signing and presentation by children’s poet Jack Prelutsky, celebrating his newest book, “It’s Raining Pigs and Noodles.” Teachers interested in bringing students to this meet-the-author event should call 497-9616. Thousand Oaks Barnes & Noble, 160 S. Westlake Blvd.

* TUESDAY, 4:30 p.m. People and Places features famous people in history and folklore of countries around the world. This month: folk tales of West Africa. Thousand Oaks Barnes & Noble, 446-2820.

* TUESDAY, 7 p.m. Pepperdine University professor Michael Collings facilitates a monthly poetry workshop. Borders, 497-8159.

* WEDNESDAY, 7 p.m. David Lander will discuss and sign “Fall Down Laughing: How Squiggy Got Multiple Sclerosis and Didn’t Tell Nobody.” Borders, 497-8159.

* WEDNESDAY, 8 p.m. Poetry workshop welcomes all poets. Ventura Barnes & Noble, 339-9170.

Information about book signings, writers groups and publishing events can be e-mailed to anns40@aol.com or faxed to 647-5649.