Plagiarism

"¢ While attending Emerson College, Jay Leno heard about a business that sold term papers, and he decided to take advantage of this service. It worked beautifully - his teacher returned his paper with the grade of A. Unfortunately, his teacher asked him to tell the class about hotel/motel management, and Mr. Leno had to admit that he had no interest in the subject and no knowledge of it. The teacher shouted, "œYOU WROTE A TERM PAPER ABOUT IT AND RECEIVED AN A!" Mr. Leno said, "œI did? Oh, yeah - that's right." Too late. The teacher ran to his desk, grabbed his paper, and ripped it to bits, screaming, "œF! GET OUT!" Today, Mr. Leno still can't believe he turned in the term paper without reading it first.

"¢ When in grade school, future lieder singer Lotte Lehmann was insulted when one of her compositions was returned to her marked, "Judging from the accomplishments hitherto displayed in school, I doubt the authenticity of this work." In other words, her teacher thought young Lotte was plagiarizing because the quality of the composition was so good. Therefore, young Lotte demanded that she be allowed to write another composition as the teacher watched her to make sure she was not plagiarizing. Her teacher told her to write about Christmas, she did so as he watched her, and she proved that she was capable of writing good, original compositions.

"¢ Early in his career, Bob Newhart wasn't sure that he wanted to be a stand-up comedian, so he thought that he would write for other comedians. He showed a routine he had written to another comedian who said that he couldn't use it but would like to see other routines he had written. Shortly afterward, the comedian appeared on Steve Allen's late-night show - and performed Bob's routine. Bob thought, "I'm sitting at home watching my own material being done, and I'm not getting paid for it." Therefore, he decided to become a stand-up comedian and perform his own material rather than let someone else steal it.

"¢ An eighth-grade student didn't read a book for her book report, but instead made up a book and completely invented the plot and characters while telling her teacher that she had bought the book at a bookstore and had left it at home and therefore couldn't remember such things as its publisher and copyright. The student received a good grade on the book report, but the teacher wrote a note on her report, asking where he could buy a copy of the book as a present for his niece. The student was so unnerved by the teacher's note that she never cheated again.

"¢ Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner used to do a comedy routine in which Mr. Reiner interviewed Mr. Brooks, who played a 2,000-year-old man. However, they performed the routine only at private parties, not in public. Other comedians were impressed by the act. George Burns asked if the routine had been recorded on a comedy album yet. It hadn't, so Mr. Burns told them, "If you don't put it on an album, I'll steal it. I'm serious." They did, and it became famous.

"¢ Many comedians plagiarize, especially early in their careers. Early in his career, Jackie Mason introduced a comedian named Phil Foster. As he did so, he used much of Mr. Foster's own material. When Mr. Mason finished the introduction, Mr. Foster walked out on stage, said, "How do you do, ladies and gentlemen? You just heard my act, so good night." He then walked off the stage and left the building.

"¢ As a school child, Madeleine L'Engle Camp entered one of her poems in a school contest. She won first prize, only to have a teacher accuse her of plagiarizing the poem. Young Madeleine's mother successfully defended her by showing the teacher other poems and stories that Madeleine had written. As a grownup, Madeleine became famous as Madeleine L'Engle, the author of "A Wrinkle in Time."

"¢ Stand-up comedian Jerry Diner is totally against comedians ripping off the material of other comedians. When he is around a comedian who plagiarizes, he tells the comedian not to use the plagiarized material, because if the comedian does, he will heckle the comedian and ruin the comedian's act. This threat is taken seriously.

"¢ Clifford Goldsmith was the original author of "The Aldrich Family," a radio program about the troubles of teenager Henry Aldrich. Mr. Goldsmith frequently used the antics of his own children in his plots for the program, and he claimed to worry that his own children might sue him for plagiarism.

"¢ Plagiarism does not pay. A comedian made exactly one appearance on "The Tonight Show," starring Johnny Carson. During the appearance, the comedian made several jokes that he had stolen from another comedian, who it turned out had stolen them from Johnny Carson.

"¢ After listening to a premiere of a work by Johannes Brahms, a Viennese composer said, "A splendid work, your new symphony, only sometimes it reminds me of some other music." Insulted, Mr. Brahms snapped, "What other music-your next symphony?"

"¢ Corey Ford's writings were widely plagiarized - especially his short humorous piece "How to Guess Your Age." Whenever this happened, Mr. Ford would sue, winning every case. He once said about his lawsuits, "I find this a much easier way to make a living than by writing."

"¢ Comedians sometimes steal material from other comedians. Fred Allen once sent several of his photographs to Milton Berle - aka the Thief of Bad Gag - along with this note: "You're using my act. You might as well put my photographs in the lobby, too."

"¢ Gioacchino Rossini frequently reused compositions from failed productions. According to Mr. Rossini, "I had the right to remove from my fiascos those pieces which seemed best, to rescue them from shipwreck by placing them in new works."

"¢ Ollie Joe Prator, a comedian from Michigan, stole other comedians' acts and did not even hide the fact that he was stealing their acts. He would go on the road, do another comedian's act, and tell the comedian later, "Man, you killed in Cleveland!"

"¢ "If you steal from one author, it's plagiarism. If you steal from many authors, it's research."-Wilson Mizner.

"¢ According to Dorothy Parker, "The only -ism Hollywood believes in is plagiarism."