Erik, the Opera Ghost--Act I: [Curtain]

The head is finally done. . .


Or as done as it is going to get at this time. There is still some minor clean-up, tweaking, and detailing left to be done, but I will leave that for when I begin to work on the project in earnest.

Now it's on to Karloff and back to the Wolf Man. . .

Erik, the Opera Ghost--Libretti

In addition to the film itself (various editions and formats) and a modest selection of stills, I have turned to these published works for additional background, insight and inspiration:

Kay, Susan. Phantom. NY: Delacorte Press, 1991.

Riley, Philip J. The Making of The Phantom of the Opera (Classic Silents, vol. 1). Absecon, NJ: MagicImage Fimbooks, 1999.

Wolf, Leonard, ed. The Essential Phantom of the Opera. NY: Plume, 1996.

Erik, the Opera Ghost--Act I: The Face/Head

Erik. . . the Opera Ghost. . . the Phantom of the Opera. . . call him what you will. Though Claude Rains (Universal 1943 remake), Herbert Lom (Hammer 1962), Michael Crawford (stage), and [countless?] others have breathed life into this iconic character, Lon Chaney, Sr. undeniably made Erik his own. To paraphrase his son, the Phantom was his baby.

Or should that be babies? I have recently discovered how challenging it can be to sculpt a credible likeness of the Opera Ghost. Unlike other subjects, primary and secondary references abound: from movie stills to excellent 3-d likenesses--sculpture, masks, etc. Yet while they are all recognizable as the Phantom, they can all be noticeably, even significantly, different. So I will rephrase my original question. "Can there be a definitive likeness of Chaney's Phantom?"

The answer is, "Yes". . . and decidedly, "No!" Few will argue that Chaney was a master of his craft elevating it to an art form. But only upon researching this silent classic was the genius unveiled. Very simply put, there can be no definitive Phantom because the Phantom was not only a multitude of ad hoc expressions, but most importantly an illusion--truly an apparition!--created by variegated makeup and lighting. One can give form to what we see, but we have to accept that the image captured in putty or clay probably never truly existed!

I now present the Phase II head with the the facial reconstruction at a still [somewhat] crude, semi-finished-but-still-rough stage. While I have sculpted the lower teeth in situ, the maxillary dentition has been sculpted as a separate appliance [NOTE: the separate appliance has now been permanently attached and the upper lip slightly extended.].

I am not quite there yet, but it is gradually emerging. . .



30.05.2009

I am now well into Phase III, and I am comfortable saying that I am fast upon the home stretch. There is still some tweaking to be done, but the overall "lines" are now present, and I think that once the hair and eyes are done, it will all come together splendidly.

31.05.2009

The left eye (orb, lids, etc.) is all but done; the right eye has been modelled and awaiting the lids, etc. I should have a final--or near-final--image to show you by this time next week. Then the wretched Erik will be returned to his box to await his turn on the bench. . . The performance will in all likelihood resume with Act II sometime next year.

03.06.2009

I am so pleased with the way the headsculpt is turning out that I am considering exploring what options might be available to me to broaden its "distribution". It would certainly be an 1/8th scale bust--yes, I have a particular depiction in mind. Once the head is completely done, my next step will be to contact Chaney Entertainment: I would not pursue this without their blessing and permission. Stay tuned!

06.06.2009

The Phase III head. . .



The headsculpt is now all-but-done. Clean-up has begun in earnest, and I should have no more than an hour or two of work remaining before the face is completed. I am as of yet undecided whether to cut an intermediate mold at this point; or proceed with the hair. . .

12.06.2009

Just about there. . . There was something not quite right with the mandible and chin that, in spite of the fact that a significant degree of any Phantom likeness will be brought about by the paint job. I think I've "fixed" the problem and I'll certainly know by this time tomorrow. In any event, my goal is to have this completed--and hopefully in rubber!--by the end of the weekend.

Erik, the Opera Ghost--Divertimento?

Not hardly. . . but this may certainly mark a transition in the first Act. . .

While the project on the whole is unfolding splendidly, I have just about resigned myself to doing away with the mantle. As I've oft mentioned in previous postings, I am by no means an Aurora purist, and the one glaring weakness of any Aurora/Aurora-like release has been the drapery. The greater the volume of fabric, the greater the eyesore.

I was prepared to rework the drapery to some degree or another. In fact, a not-insignificant amount of time and effort was spent reinforcing those areas where a 'breakthrough' would be most likely to occur. However, after spending some 3 hours attempting to situate the mantle, it became clear to me that there was no way that the mantle as designed and cast could be successfully integrated with the kit. A good deal of the problem lies with the sculptor's apparent lack of familiarity with the period opera cloak/mantle--though I will hasten to concede that the limitations of the casting process most likely played a significant role in the more glaring shortcomings.

Is this my final word? No. . . not quite. I will have to spend some time watching the original and closely examining the stills at my disposal before I make my final decision. In the meantime, I will continue working on the head, shirt and cravat. . . and begin considering sculpting a dressing gown on our tormented "ghost".

Erik, the Opera Ghost--Act I

Still not feeling quite at 100%, but well enough to venture a bit farther afield than I did yesterday. . .

All subassemblies--head, torso, legs, shoes and cloak/mantle--were assembled, and filled with PUR where applicable.



In the first image, you can see what I've done with the head and torso to date. The torso is about 80% blank. As the mantle does not fit anywhere near as snugly as it should, the torso will have to be built-out: lapels, etc. I have already begun to build out the shirt: this was largely driven by the fact that the cravat was some 4 scale inches below the neckline with no visible means of attachment. Also the shirt was collarless! You can see the roughed-in-standing collar in the image above; as well as the beginning of the right lapel. Finally, I hollowed out a neck opening which will receive the head.

I wish I had taken a photograph of the stock head. For those who would like to get a general idea of what the stock head looked like, you can go to this site. In any case, the only changes I have made to date are: ground-out the eyes and mouth; added 2-3 mm (MS) to the top of the head (if you look closely at the surviving stills, it can be clearly seen that Chaney applied a wig/skullcap that effectively extended the length of his forehead), and ground-off the hair to reshape the calvarium; and added a neck stump (MS). I have begun to tentatively reshape the head and some of the features (e.g., nose), but this is very much in the preliminary stages.

Ironically, for all the head's shortcomings, once a little bit of work is done on it, it begins to take on a startling likeness to Chaney sans makeup! This is rather exciting as now the modeller gets to play Chaney, if only for a little while. . .

And now for the infamous mantle. . . As you can see on the left half of the image, the front right panel is engineered in two pieces. All of the horror stories re: this kit revolve around benighted engineering-- and I would agree 100%. Most if not all of the build-ups I have read about have the modeller assemble the mantle in situ: my hat is off to these gentlemen as that would be a deal-breaker for me if there weren't an alternative.



The mantle can obviously be assembled as a stand alone unit. I assembled mine with liquid cement, and then reinforced all seams with superglue; allowing the entire assembly to set and cure overnight.

The trick now is how to locate the torso inside the mantle. First, one must remove the locating pegs molded on the back half of the cloak that attach this piece to the back half of the torso. Next, one must remove all the extraneous lugs, numbering "plates", etc. that populate the inner surfaces of the pieces comprising the mantle. Once that is done, one can cajole the torso past the waist of the mantle until it pops into the chest area. This is not as difficult as it sounds. Kudos to PL for providing us with a one-piece back half: the entire mantle can be gently pried apart until the torso pops into place.

I will have several options by which to secure the mantle to the torso: at this point I am still undecided as to which will work the best for me.

More to follow. . .

Erik, the Opera Ghost--Ouverture

I underwent a root canal on Thursday, and while the procedure was remarkably pain-free, the aftermath has been somewhat uncomfortable and draining; in other words, I was in no condition to engage in precision, delicate work. But as I am not one to squander an otherwise perfectly good opportunity to get some work done by laying about trying to guess when the next wave of pain would hit, I decided to break into a kit that I've had for nearly a decade.

Back in the day, Polar Lights released some remarkable kits. First and foremost, in this modeller's opinion, was their Phantom of the Opera. This wasn't a re-pop of the venerable Aurora release, but an entirely new tooling (#5027) that included the organ! This kit was a self-contained diorama the likes of which had never been seen in the styrene world!! (Perhaps a bit of an overstatement, but not by much. . . )



PLUSES:
1) Excellent styrene! Immediately responsive to liquid cement, albeit somewhat softer than I'd like. [NOTE: Care should be taken when using "hotter" putties/fillers (incl. RGP): apply and build-up using thin layers; DO NOT use liquid cement as a thinner; and let dry at least 24 hrs. before working the surface!]
2) Positive lock fit. This is as close to a snap-together kit as I have ever seen! By way of illustration, the organ has been assembled without a single drop of cement and without benefit of blue-tack.



MINUSES:
1) Engineering of the subject figure leaves much to be desired. The bane of this figure is the two-part right front panel of the "cloak".
2) Sculpting shortcuts and simply poor sculpture and design abound (e.g., the cravat, the head (horrible likeness! And not in a "good" sense!!), the shoes, the jacket, etc.).

To summarize, this figure is a modeller's figure--an advanced modeller's figure. This is not a weekend project if you want to realize all this figure has to offer. Fortunately, I'm in no hurry. . .