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Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends related to cuisine (chefs, dishes, etc.) and whether they are true or false. CUISINE URBAN LEGEND: Swanson’s TV Dinners were invented due to them trying to come up with a way to get rid of the large supply of Thanksgiving turkeys they got […]

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Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends related to children’s literature and whether they are true or false. CHILDREN’S LITERATURE URBAN LEGEND: The authors behind Curious George built bicycles to escape from the Nazis, along with a copy of their original manuscript for Curious George. In 1941, husband and wife […]

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Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about the world of photography and whether they are true or false. PHOTOGRAPHY URBAN LEGEND: Joe Rosenthal’s photograph, “Raising of the Flag at Iwo Jima,” was staged. As we end Memorial Day this year, I thought it would be nice to clear up […]

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Here is the first in a series of examinations into urban legends related to newspapers and whether they are true or false. NEWSPAPER URBAN LEGEND: Chicago was first dubbed “the windy city” as a reference to how much they talked. It’s not so much of an occurrence nowadays, but years ago, it was quite common […]

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Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about toys and whether they are true or false. Click here for an archive of all toy urban legends featured so far! TOY URBAN LEGEND: Mattel initially produced a friend of Barbie’s called “Wheelchair Becky.” Mattel certainly is no stranger to awkward moments […]

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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: A video game company once sued Viacom for, in effect, ruining the Star Trek franchise. As we […]

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Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about toys and whether they are true or false. TOY URBAN LEGEND: The National Security Agency banned furbies from their offices for fear of the toys recording confidential information. Back in 2015, Samsung’s Smart TV caused a bit of a stir when it […]

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Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends related to architecture and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the magazine urban legends featured so far. MAGAZINE URBAN LEGEND: Playboy canceled a nude spread for Phyllis Diller because it was “too sexy” One of the […]

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Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends related to video games and whether they are true or false. VIDEO GAME URBAN LEGEND: There was a “nude” cheat code in the original Tomb Raider video game. One of the most famous video game characters of all time is Lara Croft, the […]

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Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about theater and whether they are true or false. THEATER URBAN LEGEND: Marlon Brando urinated onstage to upstage another actor. Reader Robert S. wrote in to ask me to find the truth behind a famous theater anecdote. He wasn’t even positive WHO the […]