How did the saying "Break A Leg!!" come to use?

Answer 1

"[Q] From G A Michael: “What is the origin and meaning of the expression break a leg, said to persons who are preparing to appear in a theatrical production?”
[A] 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 that it’s bad luck to whistle in a theatre, that you should never utter the final line of a play at the dress rehearsal, or that you must never say the name of the Scottish Play in the green room. Actors have always been a superstitious bunch, as you might expect from a profession in which employment is sporadic, audiences fickle and reputations fragile.
The saying is widely used among actors and musicians in the theatre today, sometimes before every performance, but more often reserved for first night. Where it comes from has for decades been a source of dispute and I’ve collected the following speculations:
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 a stage were called the legs, so that to pass through the legs was to make it out on to 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 your performance had been good.
The saying really 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 on to the stage to escape afterward. Somehow, reminding fellow actors of this event is supposed to lead to good luck in the performance.
We may discard all of these on the grounds of varying degrees of implausibility. A key factor is that most of the stories assume that break a leg is an old expression, whereas it’s actually quite modern. The earliest known example in print refers to a show with that title in 1957. The saying must, of course, be older for it to have been borrowed for the title and there is anecdotal evidence from theatrical memoirs and personal recollection that it has been around since the 1930s, but not before.
Similar expressions are known from other languages: the French say Merde! (a term that has been 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 I."

Answer 2

ahhh a question I can answer...lol

Actor's say Break a Leg
Dancers say the most sinister word of the French language...Maird (is that spelled correct?)
And Technician's or rather alteast my techs, tell each other not to kill any one

All as a sort of good luck speech to one another to stay focussed to the matters at hand.

theater, acting, technical advice.....it all surrounds presenting an illusion to the audience and actually convincing the audience this could be a real story. It's all an art to draw in the seat sitters and entertain them. I mean really, what's better the special effects or the acting in the movie. A production can be a hit without special effects.....but without acting no one will actually sit through the whole thing. Am I right?

The idea of presenting an illusion to someone else is all about the presenter being so asured in their preformance that they do not fail or falter. To be a phenomenom of being a talented actor or actress does not begin with sheer talent without practice.

A theater is inherently superstitious, from ghost hauntings and unexplainable deaths involving whistling. An actor needed constant encouragement to stay steady onstage. Not to mention seeing all the people sitting out in the seats for the first time....that has got to be intimidating from the get go. And we all know, that if one wishes another good luck to encourage them, that good luck can easily be twisted to bring a whole new skew of pressure to the actor one word at a time.....so, in an effort to combat the ghosts and fear, the actors came up with a philosophy that actually still survives today although not necessarily taught in schools.

"Break a Leg (meaning may you break your leg)...and have the worse preformance possible." It was the only way certain people could instill a laugh and relieve the stress of an opening night audience. It was like cursing yourself before someone else did it for you, that way you have no one else to blame but your own inadiquacies....not only that but also to have a bond and "secret code word" if you will for a group of people that at that time no one really supported unless they were absolutely spot on!

Even if the actor's idea was a poor preformance, the audience may have never even noticed. But the line itsself is meant as a backwards complementing inspiration of sorts.

Okay it's probably not that involved as my explanation makes theatre geeks sound really cool and ecclectic....wait, they are cool and ecclectic.

Answer 3

The origins of the term are hotly debated, and its true origin is unknown. Breaking one's leg is certainly not a good thing to hope for - therefore perhaps by some superstition, if the "good luck" causes bad, then perhaps the perceived bad luck of breaking one's leg causes good.

However, the most commonly perceived true meaning of "break a leg" is the wish for many curtain calls. When you bow or curtsy, you are supposed to put one foot behind the other and bend at the knee, "breaking" the leg. Continuing on this line, others suggest that this phrase was said because they wished such a good performance that the actors would in fact break their legs from too much bowing! [citation needed]

Other theories suggest that the words "break" or "leg" are not used in their literal sense. For example, some have suggested that "break" refers to the act of breaking out onto the stage, or that the "leg" refers to the legs of the audience's seats.[citation needed]

Another theory suggests that the term "break a leg" is actually an abbreviation for the phrase "break a legend", which roughly means "go get yourself out there"![citation needed]

Answer 4

I like this definition: Logical in modern theatre, the phrase break a leg may refer to the term for a theatre drape. The "leg' is typically one of many curtains that make up the "wings" of a procenium stage. Some believe that one would say "Break a leg" to encourage an actor participating in a stage variety show/cabare where the director may or may not allow them to play that night. So "Breaking a leg" could refer to being able to pass the leg to the stage

Answer 5

It originated in the Theater. It was believed that if you wished someone "good luck" just before a performace some tragedy would befall them before or during the performance. So the school of thought is if you wish them bad luck "break a leg" then only good will happen.

Answer 6

I always heard it was bad luck to tell the actors 'good luck.' So they came up with 'break a leg', which means good luck, but hides the fact.

Answer 7

Way back when the understudy use to say it to the lead. It was meant for them to really break a leg so that the understudy could take their place as the lead. Now it's said for good luck.

Answer 8

Right after John Wilkes Booth shot Abe Lincoln, when he jumped from the balcony onto the stage, he broke his leg.

Answer 9

I remember hearing this years ago in school , I forgot who the actor was but he broke his leg slipping on a rug before he was to go on stage. so that is how it became a famous saying.

Answer 10

I was always under the assumption that it came from wishing someone the worst, in order to get the best :)