Pop-Culture-Corn's examination of the life of one of television's brightest stars, Mr. Norman "Feller" Fell, continues at last. In past segments, we've covered up until the early days of Feller's reign as the king of the situation comedy in the role of Stanley Roper on ABC's smash hit Three's Company. The entire run of the show bears further examination, as does his incalculable impact on the world of comedy through his work as Mr. Roper.

STANLEY ROPER: A CRITICAL LOOK

From Comedy on Television: The Chuckle-Bringers, by Daniel Hall:

"The late seventies on television brought an endless drought of quality talent, but through this drought shot the thirst-quenching tasty milk dripping from the comical breasts of Norman Fell, whose work as Stanley Roper influenced a generation of comedians in all fields and drove a nation of sitcom viewers to hysterical seizures of laughter on a weekly basis.

"His comedy was the shot heard 'round the world for television sitcoms; all other shows aimed to reach his standard. Some succeeded, some failed, but none were Norman Fell. As the ads used to read: 'He'll Fell Ya!'"

Critics now and back then unanimously agree: Norman Fell changed comedy forever. Witness this early review from a then-green Roger Ebert, who was just starting his critical career as a television reviewer for the Chicago Daily News: "Norman Fell's comic brilliance cascades from the screen, a warm and glowing bath of funniness that inspires you to laugh--and at the same time, brings the challenges inherent in the husband-wife relationship into sharp relief."

Not only the critics have worshipped at the altar of Fell; fellow actors pay close attention as well. His tactics and tricks have been studied by budding comedic actors since their first airing. He is revered in acting classes the world over; his masters' workshops in comedic sitcom acting regularly drew standing-room-only audiences on college campuses around the world, where the name Fell has become synonymous with a level of professionalism and precision in comedy that has never been matched. He is a paradigm, a litmus strip of excellence.

Examination of his work on Three's Company must center around what has slowly become a comedic Theory of Relativity, central to all that has come since, the technique known to actors the world over as "the Fell Take." Fell himself describes its proper execution in his textbook on comedic acting, Prescribing the Best Medicine:

"My 'Fell Take,' as it has been called by my supporters and detractors alike, can be boiled down to a simple idea: involving the audience in your comedy. In terms of technique, it's an easy move; one delivers the punchline, one turns toward the camera (or audience, as the case may be), one offers a sardonic, sarcastic or gleeful look.

"But conceptually, it's not as easy; it's a tactic that has been tried in comic settings since Shakespeare's soliloquies, and doesn't often work. It involves shattering that fourth wall and letting the viewer in on the joke, making them equals in your own performance, offering what amounts to a massive nudge in the ribs with your elbow.

"If it fails, it seems cocky and inappropriate; the audience will be immediately reminded that they are watching a work of fiction, and you will ruin your work by shattering the illusion of drama completely. But if it succeeds (as it only can with hours of practice and work), it offers a level of intimacy between audience and performer that cannot be matched.

"It is orgasmic in its appeal to the comedic actor. I cannot stress enough how much joy it has brought me."

It has brought joy not only to Fell, but to the millions the world over who have watched his work on Three's Company and giggled with delight at Fell "shattering the illusion" and performing his patented take.

If there is a legacy Fell will leave, it may not be any of his supporting film work, or his Oscar-nominated role in Cleopatra Jones and the City of Gold, or even his 53 episodes of Company and 28 episodes of the spin-off series The Ropers. It will be his "Fell Take." With it, he brought the world into his comedy, and we are all the better for it.

BITTERSWEET VICTORY

Just as Fell was perfecting his "Fell Take" and doing some of the finest comedic work ever to appear on television, his vices began to destroy him. Ever since the early days of his career in showbusiness, Fell had been known as much for his sporadic temper and moods as for his comic genius and gentle demeanor in moments of peace.

It was these demons, along with a rapidly growing substance abuse problem and the disintegration of his romance with Three's Company co-star Joyce DeWitt, that led in an ironic twist to Fell gaining his own television spinoff, Three's Company's Friends--The Ropers!. One would think that such a coup would be a reward for work well done. In this case, one would be one wrong person.

"Norm just got...I think 'mean' would be the only way to describe it," says John Ritter, Fell's co-star on Three's Company for its entire run and a comedic actor par excellence in his own right. "It wasn't an overnight transformation necessarily, just a slow one. The booze and cocaine really sealed his fate. I think it made it a lot easier for that temper and moodiness to completely take over. No one could deal with him."

After production wrapped on episode 53 of Three's Company, Fell was called into the offices of the producers of the show for a meeting that, until this expose, has been buried under the detritus of Fell's fabulous career. An excerpt from Kitty Kelly's unpublished Fell bio manuscript tells the tale:

"Fell entered the producers' trailer on the Three's Company lot and took a seat across a long conference table from the exec producers. His hand shook with nervousness and withdrawl symptoms; he had stayed dry all day in preparation for this meeting. As a result, he was especially cranky as well.

"The show's producers announced that they had come to a decision regarding his work on the show, that he would be given a spinoff series effective immediately as a mid-season replacement series on ABC. Fell was thrilled. Then he asked a question that would spawn years of Hollywood bickering, the likes of which this town without pity had never seen:

"'Who's replacing me?'

"The producers glanced at each other with apprehension, reluctant to share with Fell news that he would definitely not enjoy hearing. Suddenly, like a fifty-pound gorilla crashing through the ceiling, one of them slipped up and spoke his name.

"'Don Knotts. He'll be playing a new character...'

"'NOOOOOOOO!' screamed Fell, picking up a chair and hurling it into the head of the producer, shattering his skull in an injury that caused permanent brain damage. 'You bastards...you've betrayed me! You can't! You WON'T! I crap bigger than Knotts! He's a derivative bastard! I HATE him! Aw, geez...'

"Then Fell, in a moment of withdrawl-induced dementia, looked oddly toward the wall of the trailer in a hallucinogenic parody of his famous 'Fell take.' He smiled sardonically, began to weep, and left the room."

EATING THE BRASS RING

After the explosive meeting with his producers, Fell immediately tried to quit the new show, but was held tight to a minimum of 28 episodes by a clause in his original Three's Company contract. The rigid enforcement of this clause is widely cited as the motivation behind Fell's perfunctory work on the show, and it is telling that this show is rarely discussed in most examinations of his career. Unfortunately, his behavior on the set of the show was hardly any better than the nasty hijinks he engaged in on the Three's Company set.

"I was so excited to have the chance to work with Norm," explains Ropers supporting cast member Jeffrey Tambor. "But from the first day on the set, he was cold and distant, always high or drunk, always abrasive, rarely gentle and nice. He was so difficult. But I've heard what they did to him, and if I were him, I'd be difficult too."

It was during production on the one and only full season of The Ropers that Fell was arrested for indecent exposure after flashing his genitalia at aging screen goddess Mae West while leaving a Hollywood party in the posh home of former Tinseltown superstar Sylvester Stallone.

"Yeah, he was like really rude, ya know?" comments Stallone. "Like he was drunk, and...and...um, can I go now?"

It was also during this period that Fell hit the absolute low of his vices and addictions. His co-star on both shows, Helen Thomas, tells a poignant tale in her autobiography, One's A Crowd:

"I have gained so much from working with Norm over our long history together, but I've also seen the darkest side of anyone that I have ever viewed," writes Thomas. "I will never forget the binges I was witness to on the sets of both shows, the gallons of alcohol consumed, the tons of cocaine and marijuana. It was staggering. The final straw broke my camel's back when I entered his trailer one day to see him urinating the word 'Help' into the carpet. I gingerly placed his penis back into his pants and helped him to his bed. I laid there with him for hours while he cried and laughed intermittently. Even now it gives me the chills."

A far more public straw would break the back of the ABC network during that same season, as one of Fell's frequent slip-ups on the set of The Ropers would simultaneously ignite his most vocal cry for help and seal the lid shut on his streak of television stardom. The incident took place during a live taping of a Ropers episode, "Odd Couples," in which Stanley accidentally sets their kitchen on fire and forces his unenthusiastic landlord to invite the Ropers to stay with them while repairs on their apartment are made. Thomas recalls the tragic scene:

"I saw the bloodshot eyes, the desperate gaze, the hints of white powder encircling Feller's nostrils," writes Thomas in her book. "I would never have let him perform that shot. But the stuntmen were insistent--they were Union, after all--and they rushed Fell through a perfunctory rehearsal before announcing a take. Remember, this was a Friday taping with an audience. Right before the kitchen ignited, Fell looked at me, and I swear his eyes were dead, as though the Reaper had already arrived and snatched this magic man's soul straight away. The fires ignited, Fell made a clumsy attempt at faking a trip into the flames--and fell straight into the blaze.

"Only immediately, the pain was too much, so Fell began dancing around the set, screaming in agony in some bizzare parody of pain. The crowd was so into his character and his aura that they laughed uproariously, even as Jeff [Tambor] snatched a set of curtains and snuffed out the flames. As the flames went out, Fell himself started cackling, screaming 'What's the matter with you, Satan? Am I too hot for you? You can't snatch me from this wicked orb just yet?!'

"Of course, that following week all the papers ran with the now-infamous headlines: 'Feller Falls to Drugs,' 'Suicide In Fell's Cards,' 'The Fell Take Is Dead.' It was simply a tragic end to a brilliant run on television, and his charm as Stanley Roper will be forever missed."

Next time: the post-seventies Feller, a full examination of the "Five Years' War" between Fell and Knotts, and Fell's romantic failures.