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Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about plays and playwrights and whether they are true or false.

THEATER URBAN LEGEND: Henrik Ibsen wrote an alternate happy ending to A Doll’s House.

A Doll’s House was published by Henrik Ibsen in 1879.

Here is a portrait of Ibsen…

The play was the first of Ibsen’s works to be a massive hit, and it is likely still his most famous work.

The play centers around Nora, a wife and mother who slowly realizes that, all throughout her life, she has been treated as almost like possession – first by her father and now by her husband.

She dramatically, and quite controversially for 1879, leaves her husband and children at the end of the play, responding to her husband’s pleas that the only chance to save their marriage would be if they could completely change their the way they approach their life and marriage, which she says would take “the greatest miracle of them all.”

As she leaves, her husband takes some solace in the hope that said miracle could take place and the play ends with her slamming the door, punctuating her exit.

It was definitely a controversial ending for the time – a woman leaving her family?

It was SO controversial that when it was going to be staged in Berlin, the famous actress Hedwig Niemann-Raabe said she would only play the part of Nora if the ending was changed. Having an actress of Raabe’s stature take the part was a major coup for Ibsen, but he, of course, did not approve of the idea of changing the ending of the play.
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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: In Singin’ in the Rain, there was a bizarre series of voice dubbings.

Singin’ in the Rain is a classic musical film starring Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor, Debbie Reynolds and Jean Hagen that is about the production of one of the first “talkies,” a film where people’s voices were heard.

One of the major issues in the film is that Hagen, a former major silent film star, is having trouble making the transition to “talkies,” because of her shrill, uncouth voice.
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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: Filming of Cheyenne Autumn was halted due to the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Cheyenne Autumn was John Ford’s last western, released in 1964.

It told the story of a tribe of 300 or so Cheyenne who travel from their Oklahoma reservation to Wyoming, and the United States Government’s response to the situation. It was Ford’s tribute of sorts to the native peoples of America.

On the same day in November 1963 that Ford was shooting the climactic conflict between Little Wolf (Ricardo Monteblan) and Red Shirt (Sal Mineo),

President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas.

The legend goes that John Ford, a big Irish Catholic, was so distraught over the news that production of the film was halted.
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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: Nia Vardalos worked on the film Sorority Sluts 3.

Many stars toiled for years doing embarrassing jobs before they hit it big.

Nia Vardalos got her biggest break a little later in life that most actors, as she was forty years old when her film, My Big Fat Greek Wedding (which she wrote and starred in) was, well, a big fat blockbuster in 2002.

That led to a fairly short-lived television series spin-off from the film.

Vardalos has kept busy in various projects since then.

However, what she was keeping busy on BEFORE My Big Fat Greek Wedding might raise people’s eyebrows if they flip through a list of her credits.
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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: Penelope Pitstop had a vibrator among the various gadgets in her Compact Pussycat

Reader Kerry wrote in to ask:

Remember Penelope Pitstop from Wacky Races? A friend of mine says that in one of the episodes, Penelope uses a device called a vibrator! That can’t really be true, can it?

To quickly answer your questions, Kerry – yes and yes!

But let’s give some more detail…

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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: Polka was created in Poland.

For almost two centuries now, the dance and the music style known as the Polka have been associated with Poland.

But did either the dance or the music style actually originate in Poland?

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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: Mike Oldfield used morse code to express his displeasure with his record company.

Mike Oldfield is one of the most successful composers in the “instrumental music” genre of music in the 20th Century, although he is quite a good songwriter for songs with vocals, as well.

Still, while he has had a diverse career in music, he is most famous for his work with instrumental albums, in particular, his debut album, Tubular Bells (which, to be fair, did contain SOME vocal work on it).

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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: Kiss got into trouble for the Kiss logo appearing to contain the logo for the Nazi S.S.

The band Kiss was formed when guitarist Ace Frehley joined the group Wicked Lester, which consisted of Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley and (just before Frehley) Peter Criss. A few weeks after he joined, the band changed their name to Kiss (Stanley coined the name).

After joining the group, Frehley created the now iconic Kiss logo. Which brought them some trouble in the future. Read on to find out how!

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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: Janitor was written in the first season and a half of Scrubs as though he was a figment of J.D.’s imagination.

Scrubs was on the air for nine seasons and it even survived a move from NBC (where it was for Seasons 1-7) to ABC (Season 8-9), but when it began, creator Bill Lawrence did not expect his quirky comedy to last past a season (and early on, it was not clear that it WOULD).

Due to this knowledge that the show might be canceled at any given time, Lawrence wrote the entire first season a certain way so that, if the show was canceled, he would be able to give it a nice twist ending.

Read on to see what it would have been!

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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 British candid hidden camera show accidentally aired a man masturbating to a porno tape in his house live.

As the story goes, a candid hidden camera show for the BBC had a bit where they would place hidden cameras in various people’s homes (with permission of someone in the family, of course), and then, in a cued bit, the host would suddenly appear on their television and the audience would see their live reaction. In one instance, while the camera was on, a local man was home when his wife and kids went off to the store. To the horror of the BBC crew, the man proceeded to take out a porno tape, play it into his VCR and and masturbate to it on live television. The show supposedly quickly turned the feed off.

Is it true?

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