Broderick Crawford does seem a most unusual choice to play Erik in Phantom Of the Opera, which reminds me of something Margaret Mitchell said when asked whom she'd want to see cast as Rhett Butler in Gone With the Wind. Her answer: Groucho Marx. So far as I know Groucho never tested for the part, was not even considered by Selznick (obviously). Still, the thought of him, dressed like Gable, gazing up at Vivien Leigh from the bottom of the staircase is delicious indeed.

Back to Crawford, a virtual unknown in 1940, he'd have come cheap, was under contract to Universal, so that sort of makes sense. He hadn't yet evolved into the gruff big guy we all came to know and love as kids. OTOH, if U wanted a youngish character guy for the Phantom Albert Dekker would have been an excellent choice. Dekker and Crawford appeared together in Seven Sinners at Universal in 1940. I wonder if Rathbone was ever considered. Probably not. Rains had a more romantic, wistful aura.

Poor Lon. Even with his stardom and the leads in the Inner Sanctum flicks, one after the other, he was never considered for the lead in an A project by his studio. Karloff and even Lugosi got better treatment from Laemmle, at least initially, after their first big splashes, though Bela did have a way of burning his bridges.