Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux

(1868-1927)

"The Opera Ghost really existed. He was not, as was longed believed, a creature of the imagination of the artists, the superstition of the managers, or a product of the absurd and impressionable brains of the young ladies of the ballet, their mothers, the box-keepers, the cloak room attendants or the concierge. Yes, he existed in flesh and blood, although he assumed the complete appearance of a real phantom; that is to say, of a spectral shade."

-Gaston Leroux in the opening of the Phantom of the Opera.

The man behind the story is Monsieur Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux. He was born in Paris, France on May 6, 1868 and grew up in St. Valery-en Caux, a coastal village where he developed a love for sailing, swimming and deep sea fishing. Gaston Leroux was a highly intelligent and very inquisitive child; while in school, he was drawn to literature and wrote many works, emulating Alexandre Dumas and Victor Hugo. Gaston Leroux's dream was to become a writer, but to please his father he studied law instead and received his degree in 1889. That same year, his father died and although Gaston Leroux inherited a sizable sum, he managed to spend it all in less than a year.

Gaston Leroux started working as a freelance writer, first publishing poetry in several of the local newspapers and eventually won the position of dramatic critic for the publication L'Echo de Paris. Later, he became a courtroom reporter and eventually a correspondent writing for the international paper Le Matin, while traveling worldwide to cover events on location. During his time as correspondent, Gaston Leroux traveled to Sweden, Finland, England, Egypt and once to Korea. In Morocco he disguised himself as an Arab in Fez and Larache to report on the crisis of 1905 and in Russia, he covered the first stages of the revolution. Even so, he managed to return often enough to Paris to marry, divorce, remarry and have children. He also had time to write four novels which were published as serials in miscellaneous Paris newspapers.

In 1907, while on vacation, Gaston Leroux wrote his fifth novel which became his first literary success: The Mystery of the Yellow Room. In addition to the detective novel, Leroux produced several novels of horror including La Double Vie de Theophraste Longuet and La Reine du Sabbat. By 1909, Gaston Leroux was able to resign from the newspaper business and devote himself entirely to his writing.

Gaston Leroux was apparently fascinated by the Paris opera house. A great aficionado of opera himself, he doubtless attended many performances there, climbed the grand escalier, looked upon the 6160-kilogram chandelier which hung over the orchestra seats in the auditorium and in short was surrounded by the romantic, eclectic atmosphere of Charles Garnier's extravagant architecture.

Apparently, Gaston Leroux's fascination with the Opera went beyond the areas reserved specifically for its patrons. In his inimitable reporter's style, he managed to secure permission to wander the back passages and cellars of the opera house as well. From his narrative it is clear that he explored a number of the "hidden" passages as well as the subterranean lake found in the basement. He became acquainted with the many cellars which still showed signs of having once been used as dungeons.

Then there was an occurance in 1896 which sparked Gaston Leroux's imagination and became a pivotal point in his story of the Opera and it's phantom - the accident during which one of the chandelier's 770-kilogram counterweights fell from the ceiling, landing upon and instantly killing one of the Opera patrons. Gaston Leroux reworked the incident into his novel as if the entire chandelier had fallen. His journalistic style, combined with his copious and detailed use of verifiable background information and the names of well-known people of the time, gave his work an uncanny truthfulness. This combined with his statement in the introduction, that the story was a true one, has convinced many people even today that his novel must have been based on actual facts and that the Phantom of the Opera really existed. As an investigative reporter who loved mysteries and who had many nightmares about the rumours that the chandelier's fall was caused by some ghost, Gaston Leroux put together the images and the stories and behold - Le Fantôme de l'Opéra was created!

From 1908 to 1911, Gaston Leroux wrote one book per year as well as many plays. His first stage play was performed in 1902 and from then on, he continued to sporadically write works for theater although the vast portion of these were adaptation of his own novels. In addition to theatrical adaptations, his novels were also occasionally used as the basis for silent films. The Phantom of the Opera of course, the classic motion picture with Lon Chaney in the title role, is one of the more memorable films. Even so, many are surprised to learn that in addition to his Phantom, Gaston Leroux's Chéri-Bibi was adapted to the silent screen no less than four times, as was his novel The Mystery of the Yellow Room. At one point, Gaston Leroux even tried his hand at writing a screenplay, using his novel L'Homme qui Revient de Loin, as its basis. In 1918, he scripted a screen serial for the René Navarre Production Company and in 1919, formed his own production company called Cinéromans. Gaston Leroux's own daughter Madeleine Leroux, performed in some of Cinéromans' productions.

As a result of his many works and enterprises, Gaston Leroux knew a moderate amount of fame towards the end of his life. His final home was the "Palace of the North Star" which was fittingly sumptuous. By the time the first film of Monsier Leroux's "Phantom" was released, he was ill - due partly to his obesity. On April 15, 1927 Monsieur Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux died at the age of 59, from an acute urinary infection and was buried in the Nice Castle Cemetery.

NOTE: References are listed here.

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