This is the fifth in a series of examinations of legends about television and the people involved in TV and whether they are true or false.

Let’s begin!

TV LEGEND: Good Times was not originally a spin-off of Maude.

STATUS: True

The television sitcom, Good Times, which initially starred Esther Rolle and John Amos as black parents raising their three children in a housing project in Chicago (with their oldest child being played by Jimmie Walker, who became famous for the role), is well known to be a spin-off of the TV series, Maude, where Esther Rolle’s character, Florida Evans, was the housekeeper for Bea Arthur’s Maude.

Maude, of course, was itself a spin-off of All in The Family (all three shows were produced by Norman Lear).

However, as originally conceived by show co-creators Eric Monte and Michael Evans (the show was based on Eric Monte’s memories of growing up in the infamous Cabrini-Green housing project in Chicago), the show was not tied to any other show.

Then it was determined that the show would be built around Florida Evans and her husband James and their kids.

To do so, though, suddenly Florida, instead of living in Tuckahoe, New York, where she was the housekeeper for Maude, they lived in Chicago (and appeared to have been living there for quite some time). In addition, Florida’s husband on Maude was a firefighter named Henry. Now he is an out of work laborer named James. On top of that, Maude is never actually mentioned on the show.

So it’s a wonder if it really counts as a spin-off at all.

One of the amusing side effects of changing the main characters into established characters was that the characters all had to have their last names changed to fit Florida’s last name on Maude, which was Evans. As a result, then, the youngest of Florida’s three kids became Michael Evans, which happens to be the name of one of the creators of the show!

So while the show sure appeared like it was created as a spin-off of Maude based on the life of Mike Evans, neither of those are the case.

TV LEGEND: Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz divorced twice.

STATUS: False

Often, it is difficult to figure out exactly where a particular legend got started. When it comes to the supposed two divorces of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, however, it is quite simple how one might think that the couple had been married and divorced twice.

The pair met in 1940 during the filming of the movie version of the Broadway musical, Too Many Girls (which was a Rodgers and Hart musical)…

The pair eloped in November of 1940.

Here is where the legend begins – their marriage was not a smooth one from the start. Ball wanted children, but suffered a miscarriage in 1942. Almost from the get go, Arnaz began having affairs, something that was only exacerbated when Arnaz was drafted in 1942 (he was classified for limited duty due to an earlier knee injury). So in 1944, Lucille Ball filed for a divorce from Arnaz.

Clearly, that’s mostly where the idea began that they were divorced – she did, in fact, file for a divorce. However, the day before the divorce would become finalized, Desi met with Lucy and the pair kissed and made up. Lucy dropped the suit. In fact, at the time, most folks in the media figured it was just a publicity stunt.

The second part of the legend comes from 1949, where the pair, in a sign of their re-commitment to each other, and also to make up for the fact that they did not have a proper wedding the first time around, had a large wedding – also, in 1949, Ball was just coming off a popular radio situation comedy that led directly to the pair developing for television the show that ultimately became I Love Lucy.

So taken from afar, you have Ball filing for divorce and the pair having a wedding in 1949 – sure looks at a glance like they divorced then re-married, doesn’t it?

But that was not the case.

After two more miscarriages, Ball and Arnaz had their first child in 1951, the same year that a certain show called I Love Lucy began (a second child would follow two years later).

Years after I Love Lucy was off the air, though, the couple DID divorce in 1960. Again, the stress from running their production company, Desilu, had led Arnaz to drinking, drugs and womanizing again.

The pair did stay good friends the rest of their lives, even as they both re-married (Arnaz was married to his second wife longer than he was married to Lucille Ball!), and in fact, Lucille Ball was the last person to speak to Arnaz before he died in 1986 (Ball would pass on in 1989).

TV LEGEND: An actor was fired from a TV movie where he played John Lennon because it was revealed that his name was Mark Chapman.

STATUS: True

John & Yoke: A Love Story aired on NBC in late 1985.

The film told the story of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, from their first meeting until Lennon’s tragic death in 1980 when he was assassinated by a crazed fan named Mark David Chapman.

Mark McGann played John Lennon and Kim Miyori played Yoko Ono.

Originally, though, actor Mark Lindsay was cast as John Lennon.

Linday would go on to have roles on a number of TV series, most notably over seventy episodes of the Swamp Thing TV series as the villainous Dr. Arcane.

He just recently appeared on a couple of soap operas. In 1985, though, Lindsay was fairly unknown. He actually used the fact that he WAS so little known to his advantage, because after being cast as Lennon in the movie, it was revealed that Mark Lindsay was just the name he was using at that time. His real name was Mark Lindsay Chapman, or Mark Chapman – the same name as the guy who assassinated John Lennon!

It’s unclear what happened next, exactly.

Lindsay Chapman was removed from the project, but it is a bit unclear exactly why. I mean, it is clear that it is because of his name, but specifically, was it Ono (who was a producer on the project) who objected? Was it the network, fearing that the news media would make a big deal out of the coincidence?

Whatever the reason, Lindsay Chapman was replaced by McGann.

Years later, in 2006, in the motion picture Chapter 27, a film that explored Mark David Chapman in great detail (actor Jared Leto gained a lot of weight to play Chapman), Lindsay Chapman finally got the opportunity to portray John Lennon.

Here is the infamous picture of Lennon and Chapman taken together earlier in the day in which Chapman would kill Lennon…

And here is Lindsay Chapman and Leto re-enacting it…

Pretty weird stuff.

Okay, that’s it for this week!

Feel free (heck, I implore you!) to write in with your suggestions for future installments! My e-mail address is bcronin@legendsrevealed.com