Phantom of the Opera -- The Silent Movie and how Lon Chaney saved the story. Episode 5 (part 2 of 3).

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It’s the fall of 1923, and Lon Chaney Sr. has just starred in a smash hit based on Victor Hugo’s Hunchback of Notre Dame.  There is going to be a follow-up show, and it is going to be a hit.  But who’s idea was it?  And why will that matter to the critical reception of a musical that won’t come out for another 80 years?

Flash forward two years, and now It’s the summer of 1925.  Universal Pictures has invested a pile of money in a new movie, but there’s a war council that’s been called because the production is going so poorly that it’s on the edge of collapse, and had so much been invested in the show it might simply have been dropped.

I’m sure you’ve guessed the title by now.  But if this movie isn’t made, the Phantom story will languish, and it’s very likely the Andrew Lloyd-Webber musical mega-hit will never come to be.

What happened?  Why was the show in such dire straights, and what was done to save it?

How many endings were considered, scripted, and shot?  And after the brush with disaster, what finally made the movie work?

And….where ARE THE GHOSTS?  If one Hollywood production should have some really juicy ghost stories surrounding the set and the performers, it’s this one.  If there’s a good ghost story out there, by god, I’m going to find it.

We’ll try to find them in this episode, part 2 of a 3-part series on the Phantom.  Season 1, ep 4 we looked at the book.  Today the movie, and next time the musical.  But the themes here will make a difference to understanding what may be the most profitable musical of all time.

(References in Episode 4)

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