November 15, 1925: "The Phantom of the Opera" Premieres

November 15, 1925: A film version of Gaston Leroux's 1910 novel The Phantom of the Opera premieres, director by Rupert Julian. Lon Chaney, already known as "The Man of a Thousand Faces," having starred in The Hunchback of Notre Dame 2 years earlier, stars as Erik, a hideously deformed escapee from the French prison on Devil's Island, who uses fear to dictate what happens at the Palais Garnier, the Paris opera house.

Chaney died of lung cancer in 1930, only 47 years old. His son, Creighton Tull Chaney, billed as Lon Chaney Jr., also became an actor specializing in monsters: Just from 1941 to 1944, he starred in the title role in The Wolf Man, reprising it in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man and House of Frankenstein, as the mummy Kharis in The Mummy's Tomb, The Mummy's Ghost and The Mummy's Curse; as the Monster in The Ghost of Frankenstein, and Count Dracula in Son of Dracula.

Mary Philbin played his intended star, Christine Daaé. She was later cast opposite Conrad Veidt as the similarly disfigured, but much more sympathetic, protagonist of The Man Who Laughs, rendering her typecast. She never made the adjustment to talking pictures, and became a recluse. One of her rare public appearances was at the Los Angeles premiere of the 1986 Andrew Lloyd Webber musical version of The Phantom of the Opera. She died in 1993.

There have been many adaptations. The 1st sound, and the 1st color, version was in 1943, with Claude Rains. The 1962 version starred Herbert Lom, and is the version that has permanently linked Johann Sebastian Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor with the character of the Phantom. (Although both Chaney and Rains were shown playing the organ, neither played that piece.)

In 1974, Brian De Palma directed a rock musical version, Phantom of the Paradise, starring William Finley. Maximilian Schell starred in a 1983 NBC TV version. Robert Englund, famed as Freddy Krueger in the Nightmare On Elm Street films, starred in a 1989 version. Charles Dance, later Twyin Lannister on Game of Thrones, starred in another NBC version, in 1990. 

A musical version, by Andrew Lloyd Webber, opened at Broadway's Majestic Theatre on January 26, 1988, with Michael Crawford as Erik and Sarah Brightman, then married Lloyd Webber, as Christine. It is the longest-running show in Broadway history, and is scheduled to close on February 18, 2023. Having debuted in London's West End in 1986, it is their 3rd-longest-running show, and their 2nd-longest-running musical. A film version was made in 2004, with Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum.

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November 15, 1925 was a Sunday. The only North American sport in operation that day was pro football:

* The New York Giants, in their 1st season of play, beat the Providence Steam Roller, 13-12 at the Polo Grounds.

* The Pottsville Maroons beat the Rochester Jeffersons, 14-6 at Minersville Park in Pottsville, Pennsylvania.

* The Chicago Cardinals beat the Buffalo Bisons, 23-6 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

* The Chicago Bears beat the Detroit Panthers, 14-0 at Cubs Park in Chicago. It was renamed Wrigley Field the next year.

* The Green Bay Packers beat the Dayton Triangles, 7-0 at Green Bay City Stadium, which had just opened. A new City Stadium was built next-door in 1957, and was renamed Lambeau Field in 1965, after team founder Earl "Curly" Lambeau died.

* The Rock Island Independents beat the Kansas City Cowboys, 35-12 at Douglas Park in Rock Island, Illinois.

* The Frankford Yellow Jackets were forbidden by Pennsylvania law from playing on Sundays. So they played the day before, beating the Maroons, 20-0 at Frankford Stadium in Northeast Philadelphia. And yet, the Maroons played the next day. I can't find an explanation for why they got away with it. They were fools to schedule games on back-to-back days, possibly resting their better players on the Saturday. But since they controversially finished 2nd, 10-2 to the Cardinals' 11-2-1, this bit of scheduling may have cost them the NFL Championship. Had they only played 1 game that weekend, they might have finished 10-1, and the controversy that followed, giving the Cardinals the title, might not have happened.

* The Akron Pros, the Canton Bulldogs, the Cleveland Bulldogs, the Columbus Tigers, the Hammond Pros and the Milwaukee Badgers had a bye week.

* And the Duluth Kelleys had dropped out of the league after just 3 games. They would be replaced the next season by the Duluth Eskimos.