Who Is Little Lotte? Discovering the Mystery Character in The Phantom of The Opera
One of the more inexplicable details in the movie version of The Phantom of the Opera consists of Christine confessing to her friend Meg that when she and Raoul were children, he nicknamed her Little Lotte. Lotte was a common diminutive nickname for Charlotte, not Christine. It seems that the dialogue was added simply to explain to the audience why they then sing a duet about Little Lotte.
So why does Andrew Lloyd Webber have a duet about Little Lotte in his musical, then? Simple. It’s in the original story by Gaston Leroux.
Now we get to the crux of the issue. In the 1980′s, when Phantom first debuted, no one knew who Little Lotte was. The offhand reference in the lyrics made no sense to most theatre-goers. But at the time when Leroux was writing his book, readers would have known exactly what he was referring to.
Little Lotte is a parlor game, similar to Twenty Questions, where one person knows the answer, and other people try to guess it. But in this case, the person lists three items, and the others must guess which of the three Little Lotte prefers. The secret is hinted at by the name of the game — Little Lotte prefers items with double consonents in their names.
So now, we have the lyrics: Little Lotte thought am I fonder of dolls or of goblins or shoes?
The correct answer should be dolls because it has the double-L. Since they both know the answer, they don’t bother answering, merely posing the next set.
Or of riddles or frocks? Or of chocolates?
Again, Lotte would prefer riddles, because of the double-D.
You can see why the game quickly fell out of favor. Once you know the secret, there’s no challenge. And that’s why modern theatre-goers needed an explanation for who Little Lotte was.
Leader Of The Laundromat Lyrics Beautiful Lyrics
Artists: The Detergents (peak Billboard position # 19 in 1964)
(parody of the Shangri-las’ “Leader Of the Pack)
The Detergents included the ubiquitous Ron Dante who, on his own, used multi-
track solos to create the Archies (“Sugar, Sugar”) and the Cuff Links (“Tracy”)
Words and Music by Lee Pockriss and Paul Vance
= sound effect
[ ]= spoken
( )= sung by backup group
(humming)
[Is he really goin' out with 'er? I don't know. Look, here he comes now. Let's ask
'im. Hey, Murray, is it true Betty's wearin' your ring? Uh-huh.
Who's that bangin' on the piano? I don't know. You goin' out with
her tonight? You bet yer fur. By the way, where'd ya meet her? ]
I met her one day at the Laundromat.
[She turned around and smiled at me, ya get the picture? Yes, we see.]
And that’s when I fell in love with the Leader Of the Laundromat
My folks were always putting her down (down, down)
Because her laundry came back brown (brown, brown)
I don’t care if they think she’s bad
I fell in love cuz she looked so sad
I got a date tonight with the Leader Of the Laundromat
[Dang it!!]
My dad said “Find a laundry that’s new” (find a laundry that’s new)
How can I tell my baby we’re through (tell my baby we’re through)
Gotta drive right into town
I don’t care if my shirts are brown
I got a date tonight with the Leader Of the Laundromat
[Dang it!!]
[When I finally got there, I told her it was all over between us. I'll never forget the
hurt and the funny look in her eye. She grabbed my laundry and ran into the street,
directly into the path of a runaway garbage truck. I yelled "watch out !, watch out !,
watch out !, watch out !, watch ou-u-t ! "
[Dang it!!]
I felt so messy standing there (messy standing there)
My daddy’s shorts were everywhere (daddy’s shorts were everywhere)
Tenderly I kissed her goodbye
Picked up my clothes, they were finally dry
But I won’t forget you, oh Leader Of the Laundromat
(oh-oh-oh-oh)
(ooh–ooh–ooh–ooh)
[Who's that bangin' on the piano?
I don't know.]
Transcribed by Ronald E. Hontz
ronhontz@worldnet.att.net
