I've fallen, and I can't get up!

"I've fallen, and I can't get up!" is a famous catchphrase of the late 1980s and early 1990s popular culture based upon a line from a United States-based television commercial.

Origins

This line was spoken in a television commercial for a medical alarm and protection company called LifeCall. The motivation behind the systems is that subscribers, mostly senior citizens as well as disabled people, would receive a pendant which, when activated, would allow the user to speak into an audio receiving device and talk directly with a dispatch service, without the need to reach a telephone. The service was designed to appeal particularly to seniors who lived alone and who might experience a medical emergency, such as a fall, which would leave them alert but immobile and unable to reach the telephone.

In 1989, LifeCall began running commercials which contained a scene wherein an elderly woman, identified by a dispatcher as "Mrs. Fletcher", uses the medical alert pendant after having fallen in the bathroom. After falling, Mrs. Fletcher speaks the phrase "I've fallen, and I can't get up!", after which the dispatcher informs her that he is sending help.

Taken at its face value, the commercial portrays a dangerous situation for a senior, with perhaps dire consequences: an elderly person suddenly incapacitated at home, unable to get help, perhaps for hours or even days.

By 1990, the Phoenix New Times reported that "From coast to coast, from playground to barroom, an enfeebled whine rings out across the land. All together now: 'I've fallen . . . and I can't get up!'" The catchphrase appeared on t-shirts, novelty records, and in standup comedy. Even employees of TV stations enjoyed repeating the line when their employers broadcast the commercial.[1] The "I've fallen, and I can't get up" ad had the double misfortune of being unintentionally campy and appearing often on cable and daytime television. The fact that the commercial was a dramatization (as clearly stated in the beginning of the commercial) using bad acting also contributed to the humor. The combination made "I've fallen... and I can't get up!" a recognized, universal punchline that applied to many comedic situations. All of these factors made the ad memorable, ensuring the line's place in pop culture history.

According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, after first applying in October 1990, LifeCall registered the phrase "I've fallen, and I can't get up" as a trademark in September 1992 until its status was cancelled in 1999.[2] In October 2002, the similar phrase "Help! I've fallen, and I can't get up!" became a registered trademark of Life Alert Emergency Response, Inc.[2] In June 2007, the phrase "I've fallen, and I can't get up!" also became a registered trademark of Life Alert. Both phrases are currently used on their website as well as in their commercials.[3] The phrase is made out, however, to be much less campy. It is now usually followed by a narrator who talks about the reason behind why such a situation would be serious, giving the impression that the people behind the infamous commercial never intended it to have any humor behind it and didn't want the phrase to be used in any humorous manner.

Another catchphrase which was also used by an elderly man named Mr. Miller in the same LifeCall commercial, and also humorously popularized, was "I'm having chest pains!"

Actors

Three women have been credited with playing Mrs. Fletcher:

It is possible different actresses were used in different markets.

The dispatcher was portrayed by actor Bob Snead ("We're sending help immediately, Mrs. Fletcher."), who had small roles in several films and television episodes between 1983 and 1989.[7]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 CATCH A "FALLEN" STAR, Phoenix New Times, December 19, 1990
  2. 1 2 Latest Status Info
  3. ↑ Life Alert Medical Emergency Response
  4. ↑ Celebrity news for the week of August 15, 1997, Entertainment Weekly
  5. ↑ Dorothy McHugh, IMDb
  6. ↑ Bea Marcus, IMDb
  7. ↑ Bob Snead at Internet Movie Database
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