We Perform
By Tom Koch

Recently I was reading the "Vocal Chord" which is the newsletter of the Pittsburgh North Hills Chapter. North Hills, and their Harmony Line Chorus, were preparing for their May 13, 2006 annual show and Editor Chuck Fuhr started the news letter off with the heading, "It's Show Time" and added the age old wish to performers, "Break A Leg." Chuck then went on to explain that he felt this was a terrible thing to wish on anyone, but assumed it was intended as some kind of good luck wish for a great perfonnance. Chuck indicated that he would be interested in knowing the origin or history of this saying, and if anyone knew, please let him know.

So, I thought I would do some "cyberspace surfing," find the answer to this, and enlighten us all. What I uncovered was an endless array of web sites on this very topic with various theories on the origin of the saying along with references to another endless array of sources.

The "Glossary of Technical Theatre Terms" concludes as follows: "As is often the way with any language, there seems to be no definitive answer as to the true derivation of this term."

However, I read several web sites and tried to find a commonality of beliefs. Here for your edification, and amusement, is part of what I found. You must start off with the understanding that theatrical performers are a superstitious lot.

"Break a leg" is sourced in superstition. It is a wish of good luck, but the words wish just the opposite. It was once common for people to believe in Sprites. Sprites were spirits or ghosts that were believed to enjoy wreaking havoc and causing trouble. If the Sprites heard you say something, they were reputed to try to make the opposite happen. Telling someone to break a leg is an attempt to outsmart the Sprites and make something good happen. Sort of a medieval reverse psychology. So "break a leg" has become a popular wish of good luck for theater performers.

Of all theatrical superstitions, this attempt to ward off the forces of darkness by wishing one's fellow performers the opposite of good luck is the one that's perhaps best known outside the profession. It belongs with other superstitions, such as it's bad luck to whistle in a theater. or that you should never utter the final line of a play at the dress rehearsal. Actors have always been a superstitious bunch, as you might expect from a profession in which employment is sporadic, audiences fickle and reputations fragile.

Here are a few more speculations to the source of the expression:

In earlier times, actors wished one another, "may you break your leg," in the hope that the performance would be so successful that the performer would be called forth to take a bow - to bend his knee.

At one time audiences showed their appreciation by throwing money on the stage; to pick the coins up, actors had to break their legs, that is, kneel or bend down.

The curtains on either side of the stage were called the legs, so that to pass through the legs was to make it out on the stage ready to give a good performance, or perhaps expressing the hope that you will need to pass through them at the end of the show to take a curtain call, implying that your performance has been good.

The saying refers to getting one's big break, that the performance will be good enough to ensure success in one's career.

The famous French actress Sarah Bernhardt had a leg amputated in 1915, which didn't stop her performing; it is considered good luck to mention her in the hope that some of her theatrical prowess will rub off by association.

John Wilkes Booth, the actor who assassinated President Lincoln, broke his leg when he jumped onto the stage to escape. Somehow, reminding fellow actors of this event is supposed to lead to good luck in a performance.

One visitor to the Theatre Crafts site claimed that the term originated in Elizabethan times and that instead of applause, the audience would stomp their chairs, and if they got carried away because they really liked a performance they would end up breaking the chair leg(s).

Similar expressions to "break a leg" are known from other languages: the French say Merde! (a term borrowed by dancers in the English and American theatre) and Germans say Hals und Beinbruch, "neck and leg break", as ways of wishing someone good luck without any fear of supernatural retaliation. It is sometimes said that the German expression is actually a corruption of a Hebrew blessing hatzlakha u-brakha, "success and blessing", which may have been borrowed via Yiddish. Whatever its source, the most plausible theory is that Hals und Beinbruch was transferred into the American theatre (in which Yiddish - or German-speaking immigrant Jews were strongly represented) sometime after World War

Well, anyway, you get the idea. We have a very old and oft repeated remark that none of us really know where or how it originated. Sorry Chuck Fuhr that I couldn't satisfy your curiosity with "just the facts man." Its just a bunch of guesses.

Getting along to our "break a leg" performances, Chorus manager Jay Garber has kept us really busy. But guys, that's what it is all about. Why do all that rehearsing and learning of new songs if we are just going to sing to the walls in a school band room? Here is a run-down of some of our recent chorus performances:

See We Perform cont. - page 10