She’s every woman: Meet the western Mass chapter of the International Order of Mrs. Ropers

By CAROLYN BROWN
Staff Writer

A character from the 1970s/1980s sitcom “Three’s Company” is bringing people in western Mass (and beyond) together for fun and good vibes.

The sitcom, which ran on ABC from 1977 to 1984, was about three roommates (Janet, Chrissy and Jack) and their landlords, Stanley and Helen Roper. Stanley refused to let unmarried men and women live together, but he made an exception because he believed – incorrectly – that Jack was gay, a lie that Helen kept up for Jack’s benefit. In 1979, Stanley and Helen got their own spin-off sitcom (fittingly named “The Ropers”), which focused on their new life in an upscale neighborhood.

Helen Roper, played by the late Audra Lindley, had a signature look: a red perm, bubble necklaces, and colorful caftans. Those are now the mandatory costume for “Roper Romps,” parties and get-togethers organized by chapters of the International Order of Mrs. Ropers, whose Facebook group has about 24,000 members as of this writing. (Another one, “Mrs. Roper Romp,” has more than 65,000.)

The western Mass chapter has about 180 members as of this writing, but it began last year with a group of four. Founder Tanya Costigan, who grew up watching “Three’s Company,” had seen a Facebook post about members of the Boston chapter going to the Big E last year. She reached out to them, looking for more information about the get-together.

As it turned out, she said, none of the Boston members ended up going, but she did, along with three of her friends.

“Everybody at the Big E loved us,” she said, “people of all kinds, colors – they were coming up to us; we were making them laugh. It was such a wholesome, fun thing, we wanted to do it again.”

With that, the group was born.

One of those original four members, Tina Ennis, said, “I was resistant at first, but I thought, ‘Hey, why not? Buy the caftan, join the fun,’ and it’s been a blast. It has been an absolute blast.”

Beyond that, Costigan also started the group because of her then-recent breast cancer treatment: “After that,” she said, “I was like, I am going to do something wacky just because of everything I went through.”

Since then, the group has grown to about 180 members, most of whom are women who grew up watching “Three’s Company” themselves. Member Sherry Geisler said that at the group’s events, “You don’t know each other, but all dressed the same, you feel like you know each other, so there’s that vibe of friendship already.”

Naturally, the group stands out when they gather in public. Even though a lot of people recognize the Mrs. Roper outfit, not everyone does – Costigan said that sometimes people assume they’re dressed like Ms. Frizzle, the “Magic School Bus” teacher known for her novelty dresses. In any case, the attention, combined with their colorful outfits and good vibes, creates a happy vibe.

“That’s the fun part,” Costigan said. “You just show up, and people are not expecting a group of Ropers to show up!”

A common theme throughout the Mrs. Roper groups is an appreciation for Helen’s forwardness and openness about wanting sex. A New York Times article about the origin of the groups noted that the show might seem outdated by modern standards, but, at the time, “its randy suggestiveness pushed broadcast boundaries. Mrs. Roper was its progressive Pole Star: Freethinking and voluptuary, she pooh-poohed her husband’s anti-gay slights and illustrated for Janet and Chrissy how an older woman could have sexual agency.”

Still, a lot of the Ropers’ exchanges, par for the course for plenty of sitcom couples, were ball-and-chain jokes about marriage, aging bodies, and mismatched libidos. In one scene, for example, Helen tells her husband that she saw a Peeping Tom outside their bedroom, but he was yawning. In another, Stanley reminisces about a miniature golf course he used to go to.

“Boy, I really used to score pretty good in those days,” he says.

“Well, times change,” she replies tiredly.

He retorts: “Maybe I need a better course to play on!”

Her “sexual agency” might seem less than aspirational given that her husband so often shoots her down with snark. To Geisler, though, “I think it’s just the character. It seems to roll off her back, and she’s larger than life. You know in the skit it’s supposed to bother her, but there’s always that laugh track [and] it makes it come across like she’s impenetrable. She just keeps going.”

Some coverage of the Mrs. Roper groups has noted the character’s connection to the LGBTQ community – not only was the first Roper event part of a Pride event in New Orleans, but her outfit itself is suited to drag. (There’s a Mrs. Roper-themed drag brunch in Rochester tomorrow, in fact, if you’re so inclined.) Helen herself was also a gay ally, though in an ironic way: she figured out in the second episode that Jack was straight when she caught him ogling a barmaid, but she kept his secret, allowing him to stay in the apartment.

On a broader level, Helen’s status as a gay icon comes from her overall sense of confidence, both in her outfits and otherwise. As Ennis put it, “Helen, to me, just epitomizes, who cares what other people think? Who cares if they don’t like how you’re dressed? You are wearing what you want, you’re wearing what you like, regardless of what other people think. You are who you are.”

The group’s next get-together will be a karaoke night at Luthier’s Co-op in Easthampton on Thursday, March 27, at 7:30 p.m. Anyone can go – technically, Costigan said, you don’t actually have to dress up, though it’s strongly encouraged, of course.

Ennis joined the group in large part to break out of “my humdrum, everyday [routine of] work, take care of the dog, sleep. It was something fun to look forward to, and the more people went all in, I was like, ‘Okay, we’re doing this!’” Since then, the group has given her a persona she can play for fun – “Now, when I’m singing in my car,” she said, “I’m thinking, ‘Helen could do this!’” – but it’s also helped her build friendships.

“It’s so nice,” she said, “breaking out of your usual humdrum stuff with a group of people who are awesome.”

Carolyn Brown can be reached at cbrown@gazettenet.com.