Organist provides soundtrack to 1925 movie 'Phantom of the Opera' - Oct. 18

photo Lon Chaney starred in the 1925 film classic "The Phantom of the Opera."

Did you know?Actor Lon Chaney was given the freedom to create his own makeup as the Phantom in the 1925 movie. Chaney painted his eye sockets black to give them a skull-like impression. He pulled the tip of his nose up and pinned it in place with wire, enlarged his nostrils with black paint and wore a set of jagged false teeth to complete the deformed look of the Phantom. When audiences first saw the Phantom, they were said to have screamed or fainted at the scene in which Christine pulls his mask away, revealing his skull-like features.Source: WikipediaIf you go• What: "The Phantom of the Opera" by Chattanooga Music Club and Atlanta chapter of American Theatre Organ Society• When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18• Where: Tivoli Theatre, 709 Broad St.• Admission: $10 adults, $6 children 12 and younger• Phone: 423-642-TIXS• Website: www.chattanoogaonstage.com

When Chattanoogans had the rare chance in August to hear the Tivoli Theatre's Mighty Wurlitzer organ played as the accompaniment to a silent movie, the response was wilder than organizers expected.

"At the showing of 'The General,' people were lined up down the sidewalk at the Tivoli and around the corner to buy tickets until starting time. We had to hold the start of the show for them," says Evelyn Gibbs, Chattanooga Music Club member.

That success has prompted a second movie night - a true classic film of the Halloween genre.

The Chattanooga Music Club is partnering with the Atlanta chapter of the American Theatre Organ Society to present "The Phantom of the Opera" at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18, in the Tivoli.

This is the original 1925 film classic starring Lon Chaney as the masked man who commits murder and mayhem in the Paris opera house.

Chaney plays the grotesquely deformed Phantom who falls in love with Christine, an understudy he plans to make the opera house's star. He threatens the opera house management with dire consequences if this doesn't happen.

But Christine is the love of Vicomte Raoul de Chagny, who ultimately faces off with the Phantom in the catacombs of the opera house while attempting to rescue his beloved from the Phantom's spell.

Ken Double of Atlanta, president of the American Theatre Organ Society, who accompanied "The General," is returning to play for "Phantom."

Theatergoers should remember that although this is the story that inspired Andrew Lloyd Webber's hit musical, it will not be the same music.

Artisti Affamati will be singing in the lobby of the Tivoli before the movie and again during intermission, according to Gibbs. Their appearance will be a preview of the Music Club's upcoming Holiday Spectacular on Nov. 21 when the singers will perform dressed as Victorian carolers.

Contact Susan Pierce at spierce@timesfree press.com or 423-757-6284.

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