# Origin of "The opera ain't over 'til the fat lady sings"
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-opera-aint-over-til-the-fat-lady-sings/376079
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
**Created:** [October 11, 2006, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-opera-aint-over-til-the-fat-lady-sings/376079 "2006-10-11T17:58:56Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2006, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-opera-aint-over-til-the-fat-lady-sings/376079/1 "2006-10-11T17:58:56Z")
[http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3\_243b.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_243b.html)
There was a TV show… was it “St. Elsewhere”? In the series finale, a rotund female opera singer in full Wagnerian breastplate was being treated for severe laryngitis, and didn’t burst forth into song until the final moments of the show.
Nice use of the phrase.
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### Author:  [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2006, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-opera-aint-over-til-the-fat-lady-sings/376079/2 "2006-10-11T19:28:04Z")
😕
Can’t they find the original in the _San Antonio News-Express_ archives?
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### Author:  [@Mathochist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathochist)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2006, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-opera-aint-over-til-the-fat-lady-sings/376079/3 "2006-10-11T22:58:37Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir]
[http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3\_243b.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_243b.html)
There was a TV show… was it “St. Elsewhere”? In the series finale, a rotund female opera singer in full Wagnerian breastplate was being treated for severe laryngitis, and didn’t burst forth into song until the final moments of the show.
Nice use of the phrase.
[/QUOTE]
It definitely wasn’t _St. Elsewhere_. That one’s famous for Tommy Westphall.
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### Author:  [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2006, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-opera-aint-over-til-the-fat-lady-sings/376079/4 "2006-10-11T23:05:02Z")
There was a singing fat lady in the last episode of _Cop Rock_.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2006, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-opera-aint-over-til-the-fat-lady-sings/376079/5 "2006-10-12T03:55:39Z")
[QUOTE=Mathochist]
It definitely wasn’t _St. Elsewhere_. That one’s famous for Tommy Westphall.
[/QUOTE]
I remember Tommy, of course. =Shudder= I recall that this was in the last scene or two actually showing the inside of the hospital.
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### Author:  [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2006, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-opera-aint-over-til-the-fat-lady-sings/376079/6 "2006-10-12T13:03:16Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir]
I remember Tommy, of course. =Shudder= I recall that this was in the last scene or two actually showing the inside of the hospital.
[/QUOTE]
Wasn’t that the Howie Mandel character’s signal that it was actually time to leave…