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"I've fallen, and I can't get up!" is a line spoken in television commercials for LifeCall, a now defunct medical alarm and protection company. [1] It is remembered as a catchphrase throughout the 1990's.
The line was spoken by actress Dorothy McHugh in a 1987 LifeCall television commercial. [1] LifeCall subscribers, mostly seniors and 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 a telephone.
In 1989, [2] LifeCall began running commercials that 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. [3]
Edith Fore (née Edith Americus DeVirgilis; 1916–1997) portrayed Mrs. Fletcher. [4] [5] Although a stuntperson performed the fall itself, Fore said that she created the "I've fallen" line while discussing the accident with LifeCall. [4]
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. [4] Samples have been used in songs such as "I can't watch this" in 1992 by "Weird Al" Yankovic, [6] and "Silent Inferno" by the Flower Kings on the 2002 album Unfold the Future . The phrase was parodied in several television shows including Family Matters which became one of Steve Urkel's catchphrases, The Golden Girls , Roseanne and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air . [7]
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 (LifeCall went out of business in 1993). [8] 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. The registration was cancelled in May 2013. [9] A new registration was granted in May 2014. [10] Life Alert had filed for the phrase "Help, I've fallen & can't get up!" in March 2001, but the application was abandoned in November 2001. [11] In June 2007, the phrase "I've fallen, and I can't get up!" also became a registered trademark of Life Alert. [12] Both phrases are currently used on their website as well as in their commercials. [13]