an 8,000 kilogram chandelier
hangs from the ceiling of the Paris Opéra. In 1896 two of the 360 kg. counterweights, which
were attached to the bronze reflector, above the chandelier, fell during a performance of the
opera Helle, killing one spectator (Mme. Chomette) and injuring many others. A French author
(Gaston Leroux) drew inspiration, from the accident, for his 1911 novel Phantom of the Opera,
in which the “Phantom” dislodges a chandelier, from an opera house ceiling, in order to create
a diversion so that he could kidnap “Christine” and drag her to his underground home, below.

C U on the email, keith 