According to Charles Van Enger, the film's cameraman, he himself had a very strong reaction as Lon Chaney's unsuspecting "guinea pig". Chaney had summoned Van Enger to his dressing room, but without telling him why. When he got there and was standing about a foot behind the actor, Chaney suddenly spun around in full Phantom makeup! "I almost wet my pants. I fell back over a stool and landed flat on my back!" Chaney laughed so hard and Van Enger, who by then was "mad as hell" yelled, "Are you NUTS?" Unable to clearly talk with his fake teeth in, he spit them out: "Never mind Charlie, you already told me what I wanted to know."