Orangeville, Ontario, got even oranger Saturday as about 100 Helens in wigs and kaftans took to the streets. This second annual Roper Romp Orangeville was a sea of rusty curls and polyester.
Organizer Sofie Weber, a life-long fan of Three’s Company and The Ropers, assembled twice the number of Helens as last year’s event in front of the Town Hall building on Broadway. At the noon hour photo op, everyone burst into the “Come-a knock on my door…” theme song, singing with just enough volume to be heard over their very loud frocks. Then it was off to the Taphouse pub on Mill Street (above).
Among them was Stevie Vallance, a Canadian actress with roots in Montreal and Toronto who spent a decade or so in Hollywood working network shows such as Knots Landing before landing on The Ropers. She played Jenny, a street waif who hid in the house of Helen and Stanley (played by Audra Lindley and Norman Fell). Soon they were fussing over the character and setting her up on dates.
Never a hit, the spin-off ended 46 years ago. Fell and Lindley have long ago gone to the big sitcom in the sky. Vallance felt their spirit Saturday. She was in wonderment at this very sweet, surprising, small town Canada gathering. “Audra would have loved this,” she said more than once.
These Roper romps have been going on for years. It started in New Orleans in 2013 with a Southern Decadence dress up event. There have been raids on caftans and curly, rust-and-carrot-coloured wigs ever since. A gathering in Red Deer, Alberta last year drew 400 wannabe Helens, setting the bar for Weber and others.
Early events found Mrs. Roper’s romping from bar to bar. Weber discourages this (“too many people are shed along the way”) and based her party at the Taphouse on Mill Street. A fee was charged with money donated the next day by a select group of “Hung over Helens” to the local Alzheimer’s Society.
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If the whole thing sounds like a big, silly, waste of time, stop being such a Ralph Furley (the “ladies’ man” landlord played by Don Knotts who joined Three’s Company after Fell was moved to his own series). Never underestimate what certain TV shows mean to people, especially if they were devoted followers during their formative years.
I watched as Orangeville shop owners along the way got into the spirit. People who had never heard of The Ropers or even John Ritter seemed swept up and buoyed by it all. In an era when paranoia about everything from A.I. to attacks on sovereignty and democracy has created nothing but fear and chaos, are the Ropers our portal back to a better place?
And why the Ropers? Should people also be dressing up like The Bradys, or The Jeffersons, or Laverne & Shirley?
It does seem daft to put too much emphasis on this particular show or these specific characters, but the re-boot trend bringing back shows such as Roseanne (as The Conners), Will & Grace, and recently even Malcolm in the Middle, suggests viewers do bond with cherished characters. The older we get, the more we want to catch up with them today, to see how they are doing in 2026.
The appeal of this ever present past was further hammered home for me Sunday after a visit to the Paul McCartney “Eye of the Storm” photo exhibit running until June 7 at the AGO in Toronto. McCartney’s snap shots, some from inside a limmo in downtown Manhattan en route to The Ed Sullivan Show, captured a critical moment in time. A shocked nation needed healing after the assassination of US president John Kennedy less than four months earlier. The Beatles’ held everybody’s hand and their music worked magic.
The Ropers were never The Beatles. Some times the most encouraging signs, however, come from surprising places. Wherever you find your joy, romp on.
