why
break a leg ?

What's the history of the phrase
" break a leg ! " in the world of theater ?

Picture this: I'm waiting backstage with a guest who is not in show business. Then another entertainer passes by and wishes me to "break a leg!" just before I go on. If any of my guests has never heard this before then, ...well, sometimes the looks they give off can be pretty funny.

Stage performers routinely say this to each other before a show. It’s a show biz way of saying “have a good show” or “good luck”. The phrase has been around backstage for generations. Admittedly, it sounds peculiar if you've never heard it before. Where did “break a leg!” actually come from? How old is it? I’ve always been a tiny bit curious about this.

After 30 years of not-a-lot-of-devoted research, my curiosity has led me to three different explanations of how that phrase originated. I'm going to leave it up to you, the reader, to decide for yourself which, if any, is true.



VERSION 1  /  VERSION 2  / VERSION 3

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