The
Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux (1910)
Forget the bloody Andrew Lloyd Webber musical! ‘The Phantom of
the Opera’ was not written by the Gnome of Shaftesbury Avenue! It was one of
forty-two novels written by the French author Gaston Leroux between 1907 and
1927.
The plot is too familiar, thanks to you know who, to reiterate
here but, rest assured, the only singing in the book is in the context of the Operatic
stage performances. Leroux uses the then popular device of an Introduction that
claims the story that follows is the truth about the Opera Ghost and is based in part on a meeting between
the author and one of the protagonists (The Persian).
Leroux was better known for ‘The Mystery of the Yellow Room’
until 1925 when the American-made silent film of the ‘The Phantom of the Opera’
starring Lon Chaney Snr. was released to great public acclaim. It has been
remade several times (including 1943 with Claude Rains as Erik and 1962 with
Herbert Lom) but none of the later versions can match Lon Chaney’s performance. and make-up.
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