Susanna Foster

When Gaston Leroux published THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA back in 1911, little did he realize the numerous chandeliers that would come crashing down through the decades, and I've witnessed a good number of them. First, in 1925, there was 'the Man of a Thousand Faces,' Lon Chaney, Sr., who frightened poor Mary Philbin (a well-done version, even IF the film was silent); then, for Universal in 1941, Claude Rains (Bette Davis' favorite co-star) was a more subdued vocal coach for soprano Susanna Foster (a wooden Nelson Eddy, alas, is a greater impending horror as 'Raoul'). I could go on - even Herbert Lom, the actor who was the harried police superior to Peter Sellers' 'Inspector Clousseau,' took a swing on the old light fixture. (And let us not forget diminutive Paul Williams in the slightly askew PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE.) All of these pale, of course, in comparison to the legendary interpretation by Michael Crawford in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, which first brought the audience to its feet in 1986.

Skip E. Lowe, the comic, raconteur and perennial TV host whose weekly public access cable program has been airing in Los Angeles, New York and other major markets for more than 35 years--the longest in television history--and is generally credited as the inspiration for the Martin Short character “Jiminy Glick,” died in his home at Kingsley Manor Apartments in Hollywood on Monday, Sept. 22. He was 85 and had been suffering from emphysema and other respiratory ailments, though he never smoked, but blamed years of working as a comic in smoke-infested nightclubs. Lowe had conducted more than 6,000 interviews, often two a week, with guests that included Orson Welles and Bette Davis.

El Complejo Teatral de Buenos Aires y la Fundacion Cinemateca Argentina han organizado un ciclo denominadoMonstruos de la Universal, que se llevara a cabo del martes 26 de noviembre al viernes 13 de diciembre en la Sala Leopoldo Lugones del Teatro San Martin (Avenida Corrientes 1530).

El Complejo Teatral de Buenos Aires y la Fundacion Cinemateca Argentina han organizado un ciclo denominadoMonstruos de la Universal, que se llevara a cabo del martes 26 de noviembre al viernes 13 de diciembre en la Sala Leopoldo Lugones del Teatro San Martin (Avenida Corrientes 1530).

The Cabaret Downtown Theatre has announced upcoming movies in its Cabaret Movie Nights Series. Included are the classics The Breakfast Club and The Phantom of the Opera.

The Cabaret Downtown Theatre has announced upcoming movies in its Cabaret Movie Nights Series. Included are the classics The Breakfast Club and The Phantom of the Opera.

The Cabaret Downtown Theatre has announced upcoming movies in its Cabaret Movie Nights Series. Included are the classics The Breakfast Club and The Phantom of the Opera.

Tickets go on sale to the Miami Valley and Good Samaritan Hospitals Broadway Series presentation of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA with a festival of three classic Phantom films, August 28-30, 2009 at the historic Victoria Theatre.

Tickets go on sale to the Miami Valley and Good Samaritan Hospitals Broadway Series presentation of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA with a festival of three classic Phantom films, August 28-30, 2009 at the historic Victoria Theatre.

Tickets go on sale to the Miami Valley and Good Samaritan Hospitals Broadway Series presentation of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA with a festival of three classic Phantom films, August 28-30, 2009 at the historic Victoria Theatre.

Tickets go on sale to the Miami Valley and Good Samaritan Hospitals Broadway Series presentation of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA with a festival of three classic Phantom films, August 28-30, 2009 at the historic Victoria Theatre.

Susanna Foster, who starred opposite Claude Rains as 'Christine' in the 1943 version of 'Phantom of the Opera,' has passed away. She was 84. Foster died Saturday at the Lillian Booth Actors Home in Englewood, N.J., publicist Dale Olson said. Foster made only a dozen movies but she was extremely popular in the early 1940s. A child prodigy, she got a contract with MGM at age 12 on the strength of her singing, then moved to Paramount, where at the age of 14 she made her movie debut in 1939's 'The Great Victor Herbert.' She moved to Universal, where she was 19 when she played the leading lady in 'Phantom' but she abruptly quit the film business in 1945 and a few years later married baritone Wilbur Evans. They divorced in 1956.