Tales of Tomorrow

In a production of "Frankenstein," Lon Chaney Jr. played the monster. An urban legend states that Chaney was intoxicated during the live TV broadcast, due to his heavy drinking. In the broadcast (which is available on YouTube), Chaney is handed a chair - but instead of smashing it, he sets it down, and shouts "Break! Break!" while making smashing motions with his hands. However, Chaney later explained in an interview that he was not drunk. Before the broadcast, he had spent four hours in the makeup chair, having his monster makeup applied. When the performance started, Chaney assumed it was a dress rehearsal, and thus, did not break the chair when it was handed to him. Between scenes, the director informed Chaney that the broadcast was happening live, so in subsequent scenes, Chaney didn't hold back and freely broke pieces of the set. (In the YouTube video of the broadcast, he falls out a window and later smashes Dr. Frankenstein's lab equipment.)

Featured in Classic Sci-Fi TV: 150 Episodes (2009)