All about Phantom of the Opera

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WHEN LEATHA ANN BETTS first sent me her packet of research with original documentation reaching back as far as 1903, I realized she'd discovered some amazing coincidences between Gaston Leroux's Phantom novel and events that had actually occurred. In addition to sending the information to me, she also sent it to Phil Riley, author of The Making of PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (The original 1925 Shooting Script) and to Leonard Wolf, editor and translator of The Essential Phantom of the Opera. Wolf wrote a letter to Betts, stating in part that: "I have to tell you how embarrassed I am that with all my work in making The Essential Phantom, I did not turn up the data that you have so brilliantly found... Don't hesitate to say in print that I blew it." I think it possible that Betts may be the first person outside the Leroux family to have collected such extensive documentation on those sources that might have inspired the author of Phantom to write the story as he did. She was kind enough to allow me to post her findings here. For more information on Betts, you can visit her family tree on-line.

Note: This section presupposes a working knowledge of the original Phantom of the Opera story, written by Gaston Leroux in 1909.

Research by Leatha Ann Betts
Text by Carrie Hernandez