Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about movies and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the movie urban legends featured so far.

MOVIE URBAN LEGEND: Howard Hughes filmed an entirely different ending to Scarface (withOUT actor Paul Muni) to help appease censors.

Howard Hughes’ 1932 smash hit, Scarface, continued in Hughes’ string of screen hits that he produced that pushed the boundaries of censorship in the various states of the U.S. (this was all before the film industry decided to censor itself – back then, each state had their own censorship laws for films).

In the ending of the film (a fictionalized account of the life of Al Capone), Antonio “Tony” Camonte (played by Paul Muni), escapes police custody and is tracked down. He refuses to surrender and is instead gunned down in a blaze of gunfire.

Director Howard Hawks directs the conclusion of the film brilliantly, if violently.

Here, Tony is struck by police bullets…

See as he gets knocked around by the gunfire…

Here are the police firing on him…

Finally, his dead body lies on the ground…

And Hawks beautifully pulls up and we see a sign on a billboard, almost mocking Tony’s death…

And that is how the film ends, with a close-up of the billboard…

It’s a wonderful ending by Hawks.

The problem was, it was deemed far too violent (not to mention that it seemed to show Tony’s defiance of the police in a bit too positive of a light – almost like he was heroic to take on the police).

Hughes decided that his desire for a hit film outweighed any artistic problems he had with the censorship of the film, and since he could certainly afford the costs of doing so (being, you know, really rich and all), he re-shot a brand-new, censor-geared ending of the film, without Hawks’ presence (or permission).
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Welcome to the four hundred and eighteenth in a series of examinations of comic book legends and whether they are true or false. This week, did Marvel get Samuel L. Jackson to be Nick Fury BEFORE they used him as the basis for Ultimate Nick Fury? Plus, how did a typo (that was later edited out) give a clue to a future Spider-Man storyline? And speaking of Spider-Man and edits, how did Marvel “fix” a classic Spider-Man story in a reprint?

Click here for an archive of the previous four hundred and seventeen.

Click here to read this week’s legends.

Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about movies and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the movie urban legends featured so far.

MOVIE URBAN LEGEND: Ray Bolger occasionally set himself on fire while on set during the filming of the Wizard of Oz.

Ray Bolger was already a Broadway song and dance star by the time he took the role of the Scarecrow in 1939′s The Wizard of Oz, but let’s be honest, we know (and he knew) that he will forever be known as the Scarecrow – which is certainly a fine legacy for any actor.

The extensive costuming for the film took up a whole lot of Bolger’s time, and it had other side effects, as well, most notably the effect it had upon his smoking habit.

As you can see, the Scarecrow’s costume is filled with dry straw like an actual Scarecrow…

Well, naturally, all the adult actors on the film smoked cigarettes (who didn’t back then?), and that caused a problem with Bolger’s costume.
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Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about movies and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the movie urban legends featured so far.

MOVIE URBAN LEGEND: The sequel to Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension was re-worked into the screenplay for Big Trouble in Little China.

Reader Devin wrote in suggesting a legend that was, well, just like the one I posted – was the sequel to Adventures of Buckaroo Banzia Across the Eighth Dimension re-worked into the screenplay for Big Trouble in Little China?

Big Trouble in Little China began in 1982 as a Fantasy/Western screenplay, with the Jack Burton character a cowboy and the whole thing set at the turn of the 20th Century in San Francisco. At this time, it was written by the film’s original screenwriters, Gary Goldman and David Z. Weinstein.

The studios liked the basic idea of the screenplay (doing an adventure film mixing Western heroics with Eastern mysticism), but disliked everything else, particularly the whole “set in the past” aspect of the script.

So after purchasing the script, the insisted the screenwriters update the story to modern times. When they balked at the changes, the studio had them removed.

In stepped W. D. Richter, writer and director of Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension, a very cool, off-kilter science fiction adventure film from 1984.

Sadly, while the film has achieved the level of “cult classic” in the years since its release, at the time, it was not a particularly profitable movie.

It did so poorly that the sequel to the film that was promised during the end credits (see below) never materialized…

So since the sequel never showed up, people presumed that Buckaroo Banzai Against The World Crime League was just re-worked into Big Trouble in Little China.

True?
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Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about movies and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the movie urban legends featured so far.

MOVIE URBAN LEGEND: The negative reaction to the death of Optimus Prime in the Transformers movie saved Duke from dying in the G.I. Joe movie.

A recurring rumor in the months leading up to the release of G.I. Joe: Retaliation this past March suggested that the stated reason for the film being delayed in May of 2012 from the original release date of June 29, 2012 to the actual release date of March 28, 2013 was not just because of their stated reason, which was to convert the film into an additional 3-D version of the film (which was not originally filmed in 3-D) but also to change the original plot of the film so that Channing Tatum’s character of Duke did not die, as he was rumored to have been killed in the first version of the movie.

The fact that they did, in fact, shoot new scenes for the film with Tatum seemed to bear out the rumor that after they saw Tatum’s star status explode in early 2012 (with the hit films The Vow and 21 Jump Street coming out before they scrapped the 2012 release of G.I. Joe: Retaliation and the hit film Magic Mike following later in June 2012, as well) that they figured that they better change the film so that Tatum’s character, Duke, survives the film for possible use in future G.I. Joe movies. The film is new enough that I won’t spoil whether that actually happened, but it is fascinating to note that if they did do that, it would be the second time that Duke’s character had been saved from death after a G.I. Joe movie had been made! Read on to see how it happened last time and how the 1986 animated Transformers movie actually caused the reversal!
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Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about music and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the music urban legends featured so far.

MUSIC URBAN LEGEND: Frank Sinatra had to conduct an odd race against time to record “Strangers in the Night.”

The mid-60s was an interesting time for Frank Sinatra. He was now in his early 50s, but he was still competing with a new batch of younger singers with styles similar to his, like Bobby Darin. Popular music is usually a young man’s game, but Sinatra still had more clout than other artists, and by the mid-60s, he also had another thing – his own record label, Reprise!

The song that would become “Strangers in the Night” made its appearance on the film soundtrack to a minor release, A Man Could Get Killed, as an instrumental track. The song was written by the German composer Bert Kaempfert. However, English lyrics were being written as the film was coming out in March, and everyone could tell that the melody was going to be a major hit.

So suddenly there became a race to see who would be the person who released “the” version of the song, and as these things usually go, whoever gets it out first is the one who gets the most attention. The guys who wrote the English lyrics, Charles Singleton and Eddie Snyder, were sending out demos to pretty much every major singer out there.

Sinatra was worried that Bobby Darin, or more importantly, Jack Jones (who Sinatra tended to view as more of a threat at the time), would release the song before he did.

And that’s when he found out that Jones WAS going to release the song on April 13th – only three days away! So a strange race against time was under way!
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Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about music and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the music urban legends featured so far.

MUSIC URBAN LEGEND: Marvin Gaye tried out for the Detroit Lions.

By the age of 30 years old (in 1969), Marvin Gaye was already a veteran songwriter and performer for Motown Records.

However, in the late 60s, he was reeling from a tragic turn of fortune in his life. His singing partner on a number of hit duets (including “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and “Your Precious Love”), Tammi Terrell, was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 1967.

By 1970, she was dead and Gaye was reeling, questioning his whole life and career. It was in the Spring of 1970 that Gaye stated that he wanted to try out for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League!!!

Now, you have to understand, Gaye was a very famous guy in Detroit at this point in time (Detroit being Motown and all), so the Coach of the Lions, Joe Schmidt, allowed Gaye to train with Lions players that Spring and Summer.

Gaye actually got himself into pretty darn good shape practicing with actual NFL players.

It was at this point in time that Gaye sat down to record one of the most famous songs of his career, “What’s Going On?,” which upon its release did so well that Motown asked Gaye to do a whole album of similar tracks, which he gladly complied with, and the full album was released late in 1970.

But what about the Lions?
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Welcome to the four hundred and seventeenth in a series of examinations of comic book legends and whether they are true or false. This week, was there really a Batman/Pokemon crossover? Did Frank Miller and Bill Sienkiewicz have Dan Quayle as the villain of Eletkra: Assassin? And what’s the deal with DC and fixing errors in their reprints of old Superman stories?

Click here for an archive of the previous four hundred and sixteen.

Click here to read this week’s legends.

Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about TV and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the TV urban legends featured so far.

TV URBAN LEGEND: The first two Emmy Awards for Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series went to Robert Young for Father Knows Best.

Over the years, there have been some debate when it comes time for the Emmy Awards nominations as to what category various shows belong in.

For instance, was Ugly Betty a comedy or a drama with comedic elements? Was Ally McBeal a comedy or a drama with comedic elements? Same with Desperate Housewives and Glee. Those four shows all were nominated as comedy series – there really does not seem to be as much of the same problem on the drama side of things (although one could argue that Boston Legal would apply).

However, there certainly was a bit of an issue for the very first two Emmy Awards given out for Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series.

The award was given to…Robert Young?!!?
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Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about TV and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the TV urban legends featured so far.

TV URBAN LEGEND: Joanna Kerns and Sandra Kerns are sisters (in the alternative, they are related)

1984 was an odd year for television sitcoms in that it debuted not one, not two, but THREE “gender reversal” sitcoms, and more suprisingly, all three of them lasted for at least five seasons (although one of them did so in syndication).

Who’s The Boss? starred Tony Danza as a male housekeeper…

Charles in Charge starred Scott Baio as a male nanny…

and Growing Pains starred Alan Thicke as a father who stayed at home when his wife decided to go back to work….

Even more connections came about, though, when Charles in Charge returned (after two years off) as a syndicated series, with a new family that Charles was the nanny for…

This new connection came due to the fact that, as you can see, all three shows also starred blonde women in their early-to-mid 30s.

Even odder, still, is that two of them were named Kerns!

Joanna Kerns was the mother on Growing Pains…

while Sandra Kerns was the mother on Charles in Charge…

For years, then, people have thought that the two women (separated in age only by four years) were sisters (or somehow related).

True?
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