Saving ‘The Beast’ : Fullerton Woman Leads Nationwide Charge to Keep ‘Beauty and Beast’ on TV

Kimberly Hartman knows what it’s like to be an outcast.

During her junior high school years--that ungainly stage in human development when mortals are at their most conformist and least compassionate--classmates tagged her “The Cripple.” Even the people she considered her friends avoided her in the hallway.

“I had several secret friends,” Hartman recalled. “They were so desperate to fit in that they either ignored me or made fun of me when they were with the in crowd.”

Hartman has a mild form of cerebral palsy. Her right hand is paralyzed, and she walks with a slight limp--physical imperfections that adolescents often perceive as reason enough to snub a person.

About 20 years later, Hartman, now 33 and a Fullerton housewife, still remembers the pain of a rejection based solely on external appearances. That, in part, is why she embraces the television fantasy “Beauty and the Beast.”

“It’s about the soul coming to the ability to love truly--not just superficially,” she said. “It teaches the kinds of things I would like to teach if I had 15 million people as my audience.”

With the passion that moves some people to organize on behalf of saving the whales, Hartman rallies to the defense of another endangered creature: Vincent, the show’s hero, who is part Renaissance man and part lion.

Like a number of “quality” television series before it--such as “Hill Street Blues” and “St. Elsewhere”--”Beauty and the Beast” has not attracted viewership percentages to match its critical acclaim. Rumors that CBS might cancel the program persist, although 12 episodes have been scheduled for this season, the program’s third.

A year and a half ago, Hartman--now famous in “B&B;” circles--founded Helper’s Network, the show’s most comprehensive fan club worldwide. Ah, but it is not a fan club , she is quick to correct. It doesn’t hold meetings; it doesn’t charge dues.

Helper’s Network acts as an information center for the 46 B&B; fan groups throughout the United States. A telephone hot line ((714) 447-3377) keeps devotees up to date on “Beauty and the Beast” conventions, merchandise and save-the-lion efforts.

The hot-line message machine clicked constantly on a recent afternoon as Hartman sat beneath the portrait of Vincent that dominates her living room wall. Her small apartment is cluttered with “Beauty and the Beast” paraphernalia. From her cramped office, Hartman publishes a quarterly newsletter to which 3,000 followers subscribe.

All this effort for a mere television show ?

She had heard the question before. “Perhaps saving a show that could reach millions of people with a humanitarian message is not quite so frivolous.”

To devotees, “Beauty and the Beast” is not a mere television show. It is an epic fable with a heart of gold.

For its first two years of existence, the program focused on the platonic romance between beautiful Catherine and beastly Vincent. A hulking half man, half lion who speaks like a Shakespearean hero, Vincent (played by Ron Perlman) lives inside the tunnels of New York City with a community of other castaways. Attorney Catherine (Linda Hamilton), 100% woman, resides above ground.

Rather, Catherine resided above ground. The real-life beauty recently had a baby and decided to break from the show for motherhood. So in the season premiere, which aired last month, Catherine met a tragic end--leaving admirers to wonder how her departure will affect the show’s essence. “People are actually grieving over the loss of Catherine as they would over a loved one’s death,” Hartman noted.

Those complications aside, the moral of “Beauty and the Beast” is that true beauty comes from within.

“A lot of people trade on their physical beauty and their superficial charm,” she said. “They are so used to adulation that they don’t learn how to give of themselves.”

Hartman, by her own admission, does not possess the sort of attractiveness one could “trade on.” But her 3-year-old daughter, Vivi, looks as if she stepped from the pages of a fairy tale.

First you notice the child’s brunette tresses that fall to her waist in loose curls. Then you notice her cobalt-blue eyes, framed by startlingly long eyelashes.

What will happen when Vivi realizes that beauty alone can win her attention? How will her parents instill in her the principle of “Beauty and the Beast”?

“It’s already an issue. Every day of her life, at least twice a day, she hears, ‘You’re so beautiful,’ ” Hartman said. “It’s gotten to the point where she will say, ‘Yes, I know.’ ”

Hartman met her husband, Mark, now a computer consultant for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, at a science fiction convention 10 years ago. “He is one of those treasures of men--sensitive, attentive to my feelings,” she said. “I see in Vincent someone a lot like my husband.”

A devout Catholic, Hartman lists her life priorities: “First, God. Then my husband, then my daughter, then myself, then ‘Beauty and the Beast.’ ”

“Dark Shadows,” “Star Trek,” “Beauty and the Beast.” They’re only television shows. So why do they command such faithful disciples?

George R.R. Martin, writer and supervising producer for “Beauty and the Beast,” pointed out a common link in those three “cult” series: the element of fantasy. “Science fiction and fantasy shows generally have been the ones to generate this kind of following,” he said. “For some reason, even the most popular cop shows and sitcoms don’t seem to inspire such intensity.”

Martin, a respected science fiction novelist years before adding “Beauty and the Beast” to his repertoire, noted: “Written science fiction has a long tradition of developing fan followings, and that carried over into television. Dating all the way back to the ‘30s, there have been science fiction conventions and fan letters.”

Many “Beauty and the Beast” fans are former Trekkies, Martin said. “They were already adept at organized fan activity, such as letter-writing campaigns. There is an us-against-the-world theme in both the shows--the tunnel community in ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ the spaceship in ‘Star Trek.’ That may appeal to a lot of people out there in a world that is often alienating and isolating.”

Furthermore, “Beauty and the Beast” has an extra dimension--romance, which hooks addicts on yet another level. “It has encouraged people to develop vicarious relationships with the characters,” Martin said.

Whatever the reason that “Beauty and the Beast” stirs such fervor, Martin is just glad for the recognition. “It’s very gratifying for the work that you do to get so much attention and appreciation,” he said. “Fans make the process a lot more fun; they inspire us to do the best we can.”

Cal State Fullerton sociologist Troy Zimmer, who teaches a media course entitled “The Sociology of Communications,” said “Beauty and the Beast” has all the ingredients of a habit-forming program. “The audience has to see some basic good and evil characters,” he explained. “And the good characters are not just sitting around in a monastery; they are intervening in real world situations.

“Another audience draw is the Romeo and Juliet romance in the show,” Zimmer continued. Vincent and Catherine “have to overcome incredible odds and outside resistance to be together.

“And perhaps the most important factor is that people can identify with the characters. Vincent is stigmatized even though he is a fine creature; he is on the periphery just because he doesn’t look right. Many people do not feel like they are part of the mainstream, nor do they want to be part of the mainstream.”

Vincent, Zimmer speculated, strikes a chord with women because he is the perfect blend of machismo and sensitivity.

“Women want a warm, caring man, but they don’t want a wimp,” he said. “Vincent is the ideal hero--kind, intelligent, tender. But at the same time, he’s not someone you mess around with--he’ll wipe the floor with you. Yet he never abuses his strength. He uses it for one purpose: to do the right thing.”

The move to rescue Vincent may seem like a strange brand of zealotry, but Zimmer said TV activists are just like those in other organized movements--they join for the camaraderie.

“I did a study on the anti-war protests of the ‘60s,” he said. “I asked these kids, do you really think this is going to put an end to the war? And they would say no.

“Now, that may seem irrational to some people. Why do something if there’s no payoff? But participating in the activity itself is the payoff; bonding together with like-minded people is the reward. Activism is an important form of self-expression.

“So as silly as it might seem to the rest of us, that’s what (‘Beauty and the Beast’ fans) are experiencing--a very meaningful way of getting in touch with their identity. And if someone comes along and says, ‘We’re not going to let you have this anymore, we’re going to take this show off the air’--it will be a real loss to them.”

If you had happened upon the scene unwittingly, you might have thought it a seance.

Fourteen people formed a circle inside an Anaheim mobile home. The only light was a television set’s beam; the only voice was Vincent’s. “Even the greatest darkness is nothing so long as we share the light . . . ,” said the furry sage. One by one, he and fellow tunnel dwellers lit each other’s candles.

Simultaneously, Vincent’s nonfictional cohorts took his lead, their flames gradually brightening the room. Their ring of fire complete, they stood and lifted their candles in unison.

After the opening rite, Kerene Barnard--president of Orange County’s “Beauty and the Beast” fan club--announced that she had prepared a eulogy for Catherine. “I know that this has been a difficult time for all of us,” she said, referring to the character’s demise.

“We have marveled at your strength and courage these past two years. We mourn your death, but you will live on forever in our hearts. . . .”

A brief discussion ensued, with participants venting their sorrow. “She was like a part of our family,” one commented. “What I loved about Catherine was that she had everything in the world she could want and sacrificed it to help others,” said another.

As the group broke for a potluck dinner, Don Hilliard explained his motivation. “I guess I’m somewhat unique as far as active fans,” said the Orange Coast College student.

Except for Hilliard, the few males in local chapter are secondary fans--reeled into the “B&B;” frenzy by their wives. A lanky, mild-mannered young man with large round glasses, Hilliard reflected on his days as the designated “brain” in high school.

“I was not terribly popular,” he said. “The theme of aloneness runs through ‘Beauty and the Beast.’ I can identify with that; I think a lot of people can.”

Lisa Shellenbaum, 23, who works at a day-care center in Trabuco Canyon, echoed the sentiment: “For whatever reason, I’ve always felt a little different on the inside from everyone else. This show conveys to me that it’s OK to be different--in fact, the more unique you are, the more valuable you are because you’ll leave a mark on this world unlike anyone else’s.”

Barnard, 35, founded the Orange County fan chapter just four months ago. “I had been in limbo, not knowing how to get in touch with other fans,” said the Huntington Beach X-ray technician. “Then I read a magazine article that mentioned Kimberly (Hartman). I contacted her, and she gave me a lot of names from her data bank.”

(On this particular evening, Hartman was in Orlando, Fla., attending a “Beauty and the Beast” convention and--as has become her specialty--appearing on television talk shows.)

The fledgling Orange County club harbors 22 B&B; groupies--still a fraction of the 88 county residents on Hartman’s mailing list. Members’ ages span 50 years: The oldest is Shirlea Hatcher, 70, a widow who lives at Leisure World in Laguna Hills.

“Back when I was a teen-ager,” Hatcher said, “there wasn’t any such thing as a fan club. By the time Frank Sinatra came along, I was well into adulthood. And here I am, an inveterate ‘Beauty and the Beast’ fan. I guess it gives me a chance to experience what I missed in my adolescence.”

The fan club provides a refuge where members understand one another’s commitment to the series, Hilliard said. “It gives you a chance to talk about the program and not be met with blank stares.”

“One of the best things that has happened to me as a result of the show is that I’ve made some wonderful friends,” he said.

“It’s like church in that way.”