The sheer thoroughness and passion with which that site researches their stories astounds me. They're not only good for disproving (or proving) modern myths and legends, they're also pretty good for browsing for something to read.
But still... it's almost a shame no one actually said that. You just know there's at least one kids show host who thinks that to himself on a regular basis!
I wonder if that story started out as a warning to treat the microphone as being 'live' at all times. It has the worst-case elements: A live audience (standard for early radio, of course), a famous and well off personality with plenty to lose, and a nasty slip in front on thousands, if not millions, of kids and their parents - the most sensitive audience, or at least the one which would cause the biggest public reaction. It's the perfect parable for "watch yourself."
And it doesn't take too much of a leap for it to go from an example or warning, to an urban legend. Many beginning announcers might get told the tale, names changing with the telling ("Be careful. You don't want to end up like old Charlie...") and somewhere someone doesn't start it out with "What if..." but just tells it like it's true. And it can always happen to someone else, at some other station or network. Then it spreads. One guy tells it to another. He tells it his buddies. One tells his wife. A kid overhears it and tells it at school. And so it goes. It's too juicy to leave alone, as evidenced that the tale has survived to this day.
All guns are loaded. All wires are live. All microphones are open. All cameras are on.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2003-11-25 11:39 am (UTC)But still... it's almost a shame no one actually said that. You just know there's at least one kids show host who thinks that to himself on a regular basis!
-Welah
Strange, but true-isms...
Date: 2003-11-25 11:51 am (UTC)"Treat all guns as loaded."
Date: 2003-11-25 12:20 pm (UTC)I wonder if that story started out as a warning to treat the microphone as being 'live' at all times. It has the worst-case elements: A live audience (standard for early radio, of course), a famous and well off personality with plenty to lose, and a nasty slip in front on thousands, if not millions, of kids and their parents - the most sensitive audience, or at least the one which would cause the biggest public reaction. It's the perfect parable for "watch yourself."
And it doesn't take too much of a leap for it to go from an example or warning, to an urban legend. Many beginning announcers might get told the tale, names changing with the telling ("Be careful. You don't want to end up like old Charlie...") and somewhere someone doesn't start it out with "What if..." but just tells it like it's true. And it can always happen to someone else, at some other station or network. Then it spreads. One guy tells it to another. He tells it his buddies. One tells his wife. A kid overhears it and tells it at school. And so it goes. It's too juicy to leave alone, as evidenced that the tale has survived to this day.
All guns are loaded.
All wires are live.
All microphones are open.
All cameras are on.