After seeing Foster in "The Great Victor Herbert", William Randolph Hearst flew her to his estate Wyntoon for a private recital for him and Marion Davies. The following year for Paramount she appeared in "There's Magic in Music" opposite Allan Jones and "Glamour Boy" opposite Jackie Cooper. She then signed with Universal Studios, where she portrayed the ingénue in the 1943 film version of the Gothic melodrama "Phantom of the Opera" opposite Nelson Eddy and Claude Rains. The film garnered two Academy Awards and was Universal's biggest money-maker that year. Hearst columnist Louella Parsons, who had the power and reputation to make or break stars, stated, "Susanna Foster establishes herself as one of the great stars of today." She became so popular the studio set her on a meteoric rise with back-to-back pictures during the years 1943 to 1945, including "Star Spangled Rhythm", "Top Man", "This Is the Life", "The Climax", "Bowery to Broadway", "Frisco Sal", and "That Night With You".