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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: Aaron Spelling paid Luke Perry’s salary himself for the first two seasons of 90210.

Beverly Hills 90210 was a big hit as soon as it debuted in October 1990, and it was practically a cultural zeitgeist of its own, leading in a wave of shows aimed at “Generation X” viewers.

It was yet another hit for famed TV producer Aaron Spelling.

One cast member missing in the first episode, though, was Luke Perry, whose portrayal of “bad boy” Dylan McKay soon became perhaps the most famous character on the show.

Spelling was quite taken with the actor, who he thought had a lot of appeal, but the network was less enthused.

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

NOVEL URBAN LEGEND: Robert B. Parker created a popular series of novels just so an actress could have a good role – a role she never ended up playing.

Robert B. Parker (1932-2010) began writing novels in 1971.

His most famous series of novels starred the Boston private eye known as Spenser.

Spenser was so popular that he received his own TV series called Spenser for Hire, starring Robert Urich and Avery Brooks (whose character, Hawk, had a spin-off series after Spenser for Hire).

The show lasted three seasons from 1985-1988, and also had a series of TV movies in the 1990s.

One of Parker’s most recent lead characters was the female detective Sunny Randall, also a Boston P.I.

The character appeared in seven novels since her debut in 1999’s Family Honor (most recently, 2007’s Spare Change).

Randall had an odd genesis, though.

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

NOVEL URBAN LEGEND: Pamela began originally as basically a self-help book.

What we now know as “self-help” books really have their root in the middle ages in what was called a “conduct book.”

Conduct books were books that were written in various forms (sermons, manuals, devotional writings). One of the more popular form were epistolary letters, that is, an instruction manual written in the form of familiar letters. Something along the lines of, “Dear Reader, you should always floss before you go to bed” – only with some more flowery speech and without any reference to modern oral hygiene.

So when Samuel Richardson sat down to come up with a work where he could instill in young ladies the virtues of remaining chaste, he began to do the work as a conduct book in the form of letters. However, after beginning the work, the idea came upon him – in doing a series of letters, he effectively was creating a character, was he not? Then why not use this character to tell a STORY, while still getting across the whole “Keep your pants on and you will go far in this world” message? The idea of novels were still fairly new when Richardson began his work in 1740 (well, 1740 was when it was published – he may have begun working on it a year earlier), so the idea behind turning the work into a novel was, well, novel.

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

NOVEL URBAN LEGEND: Miguel de Cervantes wrote Don Quixote while in prison.

Don Quixote, or as it was originally titled, The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha, is likely the most famous novel in the history of Spanish literature.

The story follows a man in the latter part of his life who has become obsessed with the ideas of chivalry and knighthood, even when said ideas seem to contradict reality itself. Along with his faithful “squire,” Sancho Panza, Don Quixote goes on a series of “quests” that proceed from the farcical to the tragic as the book goes along.

Written in two volumes over a ten year period (1605 for the first release, 1615 for volume two – the book is now typically read as one volume with two parts), Miguel de Cervantes’ novel is considered an absolute masterpiece of Western literature. WHEN the novel was written is an interesting story in and of itself.

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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.

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MOVIE URBAN LEGEND: The actor who played Alfalfa in the Little Rascals films is buried with a drawing of his dog from the films.

Carl Switzer is best known for his role as Alfalfa in the various Little Rascals films.

In the movies, Switzer has a pet dog named Petey.

Switzer died young, at the age of 31, and on his grave, there is a drawing of a dog…
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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: Kirk Cameron will not kiss any woman other than his wife, not even for an acting role.

Kirk Cameron is a curiosity in the film world, as the former Growing Pains star pursues a career still as an actor (mostly in films) but at the same time, he also has his own Christian evangelical ministry – The Way of the Master.

Cameron’s identity as a Christian evangelist naturally impacts the roles he takes as an actor, as he chooses to concentrate on films having to do with his faith.
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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: Tony Curtis said that kissing Marilyn Monroe was “like kissing Hitler.”

Stories in Hollywood often seem to go on a real interesting journey on the way to “fact,” and they usually go through many pitstops on the way there, including stops in “denial” and “elaboration” until we finally get an approximation of the truth.

Such is the case with what Tony Curtis said about Marilyn Monroe when they filmed the classic Billy Wilder film Some Like It Hot together in the summer of 1958.
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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: “Softly as I Leave You” was written by a dying man as his wife slept at his bed side.

The song, “Softly as I Leave You,” was a pretty big hit for a number of singers, most particularly Matt Monro and Frank Sinatra (both during the early 60s). A lot of other people have recorded it over the years, including Elvis Presley, who is actually quite important for this story.

In any event, as the story goes, “Softly As I Leave You” was written by a dying man while his wife slept next to him.

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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: Graham Nash once wrote a hit song on a limo ride on the way to the airport on a dare from the driver.

Crosby, Stills and Nash was a popular folk rock “super group” consisting of David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash, all of whom were earlier in other popular bands (The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and the Hollies, respectively).

They had broken up after some success in the late 60s and early 70s (they also had a fourth member, of sorts, in Neil Young, making the group Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young sometimes), but were back together in the late 70s and came out with a hit album titled CSN (only Fleetwood Mac’s insanely popular album, Rumours, kept CSN out of the top spot on the charts).

The biggest hit off of the album was called “Just A Song Before I Go.”

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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: A musician was sued for infringing on the copyright of a silent song.

Mike Batt has had a long and storied career as a composer and music producer beginning in the late 60s

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