Thursday, February 06, 2014

Phantom of the Opera Goes To Disneyland

Disneyland vintage photo of the Phantom of the Opera in front of the Wurlitzer Shop, June 1966

This scary looking feller, whose outfit is based on Lon Chaney's title character from "Phantom of the Opera" (1925) turns out to be not so scary. On the back of the photo is the story of what occurred that day; I love the description!

Disneyland vintage photo of the Phantom of the Opera in front of the Wurlitzer Shop, June 1966

We need more characters at Disneyland, and I'm not talking about the cartoon ones. Here's a shot of the real Lon Chaney on the Universal lot inbetween takes of "Phantom":

Disneyland vintage photo of the Phantom of the Opera in front of the Main Street Cinema

An undated shot of the Phantom. Keep laughing lady...the Phantom is about to rock your world!

Disneyland vintage photo of the Phantom of the Opera in front of the Main Street Cinema

With the marquee in the background, this one is a favorite shot:

Disneyland vintage photo of the Phantom of the Opera in front of the Main Street Cinema

A "living" color FauxD© image from August 28, 1965 shows the Phantom hamming it up in front of the Cinema:

Disneyland vintage photo of the Phantom of the Opera in front of the Main Street Cinema, August 28, 1965

Poor little supermodel Twiggy looks apprehensive as she encounters the Phantom over at Universal Studios. This was part of the “Twiggy in Hollywood” 1967 TV show which showed her visiting both Disneyland and Universal.

Disneyland vintage photo of model Twiggy and Phantom of the Opera, 1967

I hope I didn't give you TOO much of a scare today!

See more vintage & current Disneyland Main Street Cinema photos on my main website.

2 comments:

K. Martinez said...

I love this and agree with you that it would be great if they had more non-cartoon characters in Disneyland today

That kid in image 4 with the popcorn box in his hands looks like he's having a great time.

For some reason, I can't see image 3 (Lon Chaney at Universal).

Anonymous said...

There has been some debate, apparently, on this character's influence on the infamous (appearing and disappearing) Hatbox Ghost in the Haunted Mansion.

Seems like a natural to me...

JG