[3][4] Critic Roger Ebert wrote of Keaton's "extraordinary period from 1920 to 1929" when he "worked without interruption" as having made him "the greatest actor-director in the history of the movies". Because of Keaton's success, and a notorious scandal involving Arbuckle, Comique Films was renamed Buster Keaton Productions. Behind the camera, Keaton worked with a co-director, Eddie Cline, with whom he collaborated several times. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 966 Hollywood Loses Tavo Hedda Hopper, Lamar Green 217. [71] He wears a small version of Hart's campaign hat from the SpanishAmerican War and a six-shooter on each thigh, and during the scene in which he shoots the neighbor and her husband, he reacts with thick glycerin tears, a trademark of Hart's. Working with independent producer Joseph M. Schenck and filmmaker Edward F. Cline, Keaton made a series of successful two-reel comedies in the early 1920s, including One Week (1920), The Playhouse (1921), Cops (1922), and The Electric House (1922). I started so young that landing right is second nature with me. The studio replaced Edwards, who had substance-abuse problems, with nightclub comedian Jimmy Durante. When a grant that funded the program ended in 2017, the festival moved to Kansas City for a year. . TCM voice-over, October 2011, "Buster Keaton Month". A suitcase handle was sewn into Keaton's clothing to aid with the constant tossing. Keaton had a hard time capturing the promise of Sherlock Jr. over the next few years. Advertisement. But not MGM. ", "The Narrative-Machine: Buster Keaton's Cinematic Comedy, Deleuze's Recursion Function and the Operational Aesthetic", "Keaton Chose $40 in Films to $750 on Stage", Buster Keaton: Cut to the Chase: A Biography, "My Career at the Rear / Buster Keaton in World War I", "Muskegon: Buster Keaton documentary to focus on early life in Muskegon", "Reviews: The General/Steamboat Bill Jr", "Velocipede used by Buster Keaton in the film Our Hospitality", "Moving Pictures: Buster Keaton's 'General' Pulls In To PFA. She came to know his routines so well that she often participated in them in television revivals. Harry Keaton Jr., nephew of Buster Keaton, talks about how famiy members have reunited at various Keaton festivals during a panel discussion featuring Keaton family members in person and appearing virtually on a screen. In 1928 film executive Nicholas Schenck arranged a deal with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for Keaton's services. Buster Keaton. Like Arbuckle before him, Keaton began directing films that he appeared in. Buster Keaton as a child with his parents . The son of . [74][75] Critic and film historian Imogen Sara Smith stated about Keaton's style: "the coolness and subtlety of his style [is] very cinematic in terms of recognising that the camera can pick up very, very small effects".[74]. [104], Keaton's Sherlock Jr., in which he walks into the movie he is projecting, was an influence Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo, in which a character walks out of a movie and into real life. Upon Keaton's return to Hollywood in 1934, he made a screen comeback in two-reel comedies for Educational Pictures. Harry N. Abrams, 2001, pg. In 2018 filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich released The Great Buster: A Celebration, a documentary about Keaton's life, career, and legacy. It is the angle that you remember: the figure perfectly straight but tilted forward, like the Spirit of Ecstasy on the hood of a Rolls-Royce [in The Three Ages], he drives a low-grade automobile over a bump in the road, and the car just crumbles beneath him. [87], With the failure of his marriage and the loss of his independence as a filmmaker, Keaton descended into alcoholism. But it's even more pleasurable to get back to the presentwhere brooding, miserable, non-smiling Humphrey Bogart really shines. By the time he was three, Keaton had become part of his parents' act, renamed "The Three Keatons." This was witnessed by the magician Harry Houdini (or, some say, actor George Pardey), who christened the hearty boy Buster. His talent led the family to New York City and, in 1909, to an appearance in London. Keaton starred in five films for American International Pictures: Pajama Party (1964), Beach Blanket Bingo, How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, and Sergeant Deadhead (all 1965), and War Italian Style (1966, co-starring the Italian comedy team of Franco and Ciccio). The young Keaton goaded his father by disobeying him, and the elder Keaton responded by throwing him against the scenery, into the orchestra pit, or even into the audience. "It was as long as War and Peace," Keaton recalled. The medium revitalized his career. The actors would phonetically memorize the foreign-language scripts a few lines at a time and shoot immediately after. Beginning in his early twenties, he enjoyed a decade-long stretch as the director, star, stuntman, editor, and all-around mastermind of some of the greatest silent comedies . [92] The marriage lasted until his death. The film has a largely negative reputation, with renowned film historian Kevin Brownlow calling it the worst film ever made.[50]. Still, he continued to find new situations in which to put his long-suffering face. 4.47. Image via United Artists. He stated that he learned to read and write late, and was taught by his mother. A two-day pass to the festival will cost $40, or a one-day pass for $25. In this film, he broke his neck, but did not discover it until ten years later. . Critic Roger Ebert wrote of Keaton's "extraordinary period from 1920 to 1929" when he "worked . Educational Pictures, also known as Educational Film Exchanges, Inc. or Educational Films Corporation of America, was an American film production and film distribution company founded in 1916 by Earle (E. W.) Hammons (1882-1962). The only time he ever laughed on screen was in an Arbuckle movie, Fatty at Coney Island (1917). Afterward, I only gradually realized what kind of family I was inheriting. Their routine had relied on physical prowess and exact timing, and required reliable performers. Filmmaker Mel Brooks has credited Keaton as a major influence, saying: "I owe (Buster) a lot on two levels: One for being such a great teacher for me as a filmmaker myself, and the other just as a human being watching this gifted person doing these amazing things. Most of these parodies targeted acts with which Keaton had shared the bill. Brother of Harry Stanley Keaton and Louise J. Keaton. ", In 1954, Keaton and Eleanor met film programmer Raymond Rohauer, with whom they developed a business partnership to re-release his films. In 1939, Columbia Pictures hired Keaton to star in 10 two-reel comedies; the series ran for two years, and comprise his last series as a starring comedian. I just stood there, and everybody is hassling. He appeared on screen simultaneously nine times. Late in his career, Keaton made cameos in Wilder's Sunset Boulevard, Chaplin's Limelight, Samuel Beckett's Film and the Twilight Zone episode "Once Upon a Time". It was too dramatic for some filmgoers expecting a lightweight comedy, and reviewers questioned Keaton's judgment in making a comedic film about the Civil War, even while noting it had a "few laughs. By 1923, Keaton was making full-length features. Keaton endured this treatment for two more feature films, and then exchanged his independent setup for employment at Hollywood's biggest studio, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Then, the facade of a two-story building toppled forward on top of Keaton. [42] MGM refused, because the film was more valuable in silent form; it could be shown around the world in theaters that had not converted to sound. Man Humor. Keaton, Eleanor, and Vance, Jeffrey (2001). In Seven Chances (1925), he faces a rockslide. MGM also forced Keaton to use a stunt double during some of the more dangerous scenes, something he had never done in his heyday, as MGM wanted badly to protect its investment. Keaton's contract with MGM was ended in 1933. In 1965 he appeared on the CBS television special A Salute to Stan Laurel, a tribute to the comedian and friend of Keaton who had died earlier that year. Now that many women are having their first child in their 30s, many men in their 70s are spending time with toddlers or pre-school kids. He had cameos in such films as In the Good Old Summertime (1949), Sunset Boulevard (1950), and Around the World in 80 Days (1956). He was a motion picture comic actor, writer, producer, and director of the 1910s thru 1960s. [45] In another telling, Keaton was fired after MGM studio chief Louis B. Mayer "raided" Keaton's dressing room during a wild party with Keaton's "cronies and their girlfriends" and Keaton "angrily ordered Mayer to get out." Free shipping for many products! in Woodland Hills, California, USA, This form allows you to report an error or to submit additional information about this family tree: Buster KEATON (1895), Copyright Wikipdia authors - This article is under licence CC BY-SA 3.0. Keaton was one of silent film's most famous comedians; his popularity waned in the 1930s, but he made a nostalgic flurry of films before his 1966 death. Keaton also appeared in a comedy routine about two inept stage musicians in Charlie Chaplin's Limelight (released in 1952), recalling the vaudeville of The Playhouse. As usual, Keaton performed all of his own stunts. Keaton suffered from several personal crises as well. In In the Good Old Summertime, Keaton personally directed the stars Judy Garland and Van Johnson in their first scene together, where they bump into each other on the street. His life quickly spiraled downward. Other significant film appearances included Around the World in 80 Days (1956), It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966), and War Italian Style (1966). Keaton soon discovered that his brand of comedy, especially his deadpan facial expressions, worked very well on film. With The Frozen North and The Playhouse. Aerial stuntmen and daredevils from around 1920s - 1940s. He returned to the program in 1965 in the episode "Now You See It, Now You Don't". Rami Malek and Buster Keaton Samir Hussein/WireImage/John Kobal Foundation/Getty Images. "[12] In 2018, Peter Bogdanovich released The Great Buster: A Celebration, a tribute to Keaton featuring Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Werner Herzog and Quentin Tarantino, among others. Many people today don't know that the great silent comedy star Buster Keaton (whose birthday is today) started out as part of a family act with his parents, Joe and Myra. One of the best of this era was Grand Slam Opera. The General, set during the American Civil War, combined physical comedy with Keaton's love of trains,[33] including an epic locomotive chase. [23], The act ran up against laws banning child performers in vaudeville. While his films were technically and creatively interesting, they were either critical or box office failures. He lost creative control of his pictures, and, like his father before him, developed a nasty drinking problem. After Robert's birth, the marriage began to suffer. Later, Keaton changed his middle name to "Francis". She filed for divorce in 1935 after finding him with Leah Clampitt Sewell, the wife of millionaire Barton Sewell,[88] in a hotel in Santa Barbara. Plus two cats, a dog, and a St. Bernard. Throughout the story, a simple good-guys-versus-bad-guys schema is applied to the Civil War, with the Confederates being the good guys, and Johnnie's hometown of Marietta depicted as a sort of bland, folksy utopia. 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