Get your wigs and caftans ready, Mrs. Roper's Romp coming to Rehoboth Beach

Shannon Marvel McNaught, Delaware News Journal
Updated ·2 min read

Of all the "Three's Company" characters, it's not Jack, Chrissy or Janet that has a nationwide fan-following and their own bar crawl in 2023. It's their long-suffering, caftan-clad, curly-coiffed landlady, Mrs. Roper.

Rehoboth Beach will be the latest U.S. city to host a "Mrs. Roper Romp" on Sept. 23, four decades after the sitcom's prime. Over 10 Rehoboth Beach restaurants will offer food and drink specials to those in costume, "as well as other surprises," according to a Facebook post from organizer Rehoboth Beach Main Street.

The Mrs. Roper phenomenon began in 2013 in New Orleans and has been growing in popularity ever since. A quick perusal of upcoming Facebook events showed at least 40 (we stopped counting) September Mrs. Roper events in the U.S. and Canada.

A table of Mrs. Roper's at a romp in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
A table of Mrs. Roper's at a romp in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Her appeal is related to her disdain for her homophobic husband and her lively senior libido, both very progressive for the era, according to the New York Times' Erik Piepenburg. Played by the late Audra Lindley, Helen Roper is "a cult figure today, particularly among gay men and straight women," Piepenburg wrote.

Or, as a member of the over 11,000-member "Mrs. Roper Romp" Facebook group put it, "Mrs. Roper was accepting of all of her tenants, she had good tenets!"

Actor Norman Fell and Audra Lindley, shown here in 1979, played Stanley and Helen Roper on ABC's "Three's Company," which debuted in 1977.
Actor Norman Fell and Audra Lindley, shown here in 1979, played Stanley and Helen Roper on ABC's "Three's Company," which debuted in 1977.

The fun will run from 12:30 to 4 p.m. in Rehoboth Beach, starting with a group photo in front of the bandstand. Funds from donation boxes at participating restaurants will go to Rehoboth Beach Main Street and West Side New Beginnings.

The event is free, all you have to do is show up in your favorite muumuu and curly wig.

Shannon Marvel McNaught reports on Sussex County and beyond. Reach her at smcnaught@gannett.com or on Twitter @MarvelMcNaught.

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This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Rehoboth Beach's first Mrs. Roper's Romp set for Sept. 23