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88-450: According to the Damfinos, their mission is "to foster and perpetuate appreciation and understanding of the life, career and films of comedian/filmmaker Buster Keaton ; to advocate for historical accuracy about Keaton's life and work; to encourage dissemination of information about Keaton; to endorse preservation and restoration of Keaton's films and performances; and to do all of the above with

176-416: A second banana : either veteran comic Monty Collins or raucous comic dancer Elsie Ames . The insistent White directed Keaton whenever possible – to Keaton's mild annoyance – and only two Keaton shorts did without White's services because they were filmed on location, away from the studio. Those remaining two shorts were directed by Del Lord , a former director for Mack Sennett . Keaton's personal favorite

264-530: A Flat Hat," "The Fall of Buster Keaton: His Films for MGM, Educational Pictures, and Columbia" by James L. Neibaur and "Silent Echoes: discovering early Hollywood through the films of Buster Keaton" by John Bengtson . The current president of the International Buster Keaton Society is Eryn Leedale Merwart. Past presidents include Patricia Eliot Tobias (twice), Susan Buhrman, and Bob Borgen. Buster's Keaton's granddaughter, Melissa Talmadge-Cox,

352-402: A TV show wanted to simulate silent-movie comedy, Keaton answered the call and guested in such successful series as The Ken Murray Show , You Asked for It , The Garry Moore Show , and The Ed Sullivan Show . Well into his fifties, Keaton successfully recreated his old routines, including one stunt in which he propped one foot onto a table, then swung the second foot up next to it and held

440-401: A better than usual film. "Apart from its exceptional quality," writes biographer James Curtis, "the big takeaway from Parlor, Bedroom and Bath was its extraordinary commercial success. Performing better at the box office than any of Keaton's other MGM talkies, it pulled in worldwide rentals of $ 985,000 [$ 20,694,850 in 2024]. With a yield [net profit] of $ 299,000 [$ 6,281,990 in 2024], it became

528-471: A business partnership to re-release his films. Actor James Mason had bought the Keatons' house and found numerous cans of films, among which was Keaton's long-lost classic The Boat . Keaton had prints of the features Three Ages , Sherlock Jr. , Steamboat Bill, Jr. , and College (missing one reel), and the shorts "The Boat" and " My Wife's Relations ". Rohauer instructed Keaton to approach Mason for

616-706: A comedic film about the Civil War, even while noting it had a "few laughs." It was an expensive misfire (the climactic scene of a locomotive plummeting through a burning bridge was the most expensive single shot in silent-film history), and Keaton was never entrusted with total control over his films again. His distributor, United Artists , insisted on a production manager who monitored expenses and interfered with certain story elements. 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). Keaton's loss of independence as

704-501: A comedy routine about two inept stage musicians in Charlie Chaplin 's Limelight (released in 1952), recalling the vaudeville of The Playhouse . With the exception of Seeing Stars , a minor publicity film produced in 1922, Limelight was the only time in which the two would ever appear together on film. In 1949, comedian Ed Wynn invited Keaton to appear on his CBS Television comedy-variety show, The Ed Wynn Show , which

792-470: A deal with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for Keaton's services. Keaton had little to say about the details of the MGM contract; he would no longer have any financial responsibility for his films, and even his salary had been pre-negotiated, without his own input. Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd advised him against making the move, cautioning that he would lose his independence. But, given Schenck's desire to keep things "in

880-436: A drunk and a fat lady and a kid. Get 'em for me.' At my studio they would have the characters I wanted in 10 minutes. But not MGM. You had to requisition a toothpick in triplicate. I just stood there, and everybody is hassling." MGM wanted only Keaton the star, Keaton the creator was considered a waste of time and money because "in the time it took him to develop a project, he could have appeared in two or three pictures set up by

968-465: A few lines at a time and shoot immediately after. This is discussed in the TCM documentary Buster Keaton: So Funny it Hurt , with Keaton complaining about having to shoot lousy films not just once, but three times. Keaton kept trying to persuade his bosses to let him do things his way. Production head Irving Thalberg would not permit Keaton to create a script from scratch because the studio had already purchased

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1056-412: A few years Schenck was made the second president of the new United Artists . The Political Graveyard reports that he was an alternate delegate from California to the 1928 Republican National Convention . In 1933, he partnered with Darryl F. Zanuck to form Twentieth Century Pictures to produce motion pictures for United Artists , until 20th Century merged with Fox Film in 1935. As chairman of

1144-411: A filmmaker coincided with the coming of sound films (although he was interested in making the transition) and mounting personal problems, and his career in the early sound era was hurt as a result. Keaton's last three features had been produced and released independently, under Keaton's control, and fell short of financial expectations at the box office. In 1928 film executive Nicholas Schenck arranged

1232-511: A four foot square plaque in honor of both Keaton and Charles Chaplin on the corner of the shared block (1021 Lillian Ave) where each had made many of their silent comedies in Hollywood. In the honor of the event, the City of Los Angeles declared the date "Buster Keaton Day." "Talking Buster Keaton," a podcast devoted to Buster Keaton, hosted by Alek Lev and Jeremy Guskin , is closely associated with

1320-552: A gag writer, supplying material for the final three Marx Brothers MGM films: At the Circus (1939), Go West (1940), and The Big Store (1941); these were not as artistically successful as the Marxes' previous MGM features. Keaton also directed three one-reel novelty shorts for the studio, but these did not result in further directorial assignments. In 1939, Columbia Pictures hired Keaton to star in two-reel comedies; he filmed two at

1408-403: A gang of rowdy kids. Keaton thought the premise was totally unsuitable, and was uncomfortable with his directors Jules White and Zion Myers, who emphasized blunt slapstick. "I went over (Weingarten's) head and appealed to Irving Thalberg to help get me out of the assignment. Irving was usually on my side, but this time he said, 'Larry likes it. Everybody else in the studio likes the story. You are

1496-617: A key role in launching her career. One of the founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , in 1952 he was given a special Academy Award in recognition of his contribution to the development of the film industry. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6757 Hollywood Blvd. Schenck retired in 1957 and shortly afterwards suffered a stroke, from which he never fully recovered. He died in Los Angeles , California, in 1961 at

1584-478: A line bearing the name Joseph Keaton) and Frank for his maternal grandfather, who disapproved of his parents' union. His father was Joseph Hallie "Joe" Keaton who had a traveling show called the Mohawk Indian Medicine Company, which performed on stage and sold patent medicine on the side. According to a frequently repeated story, which may be apocryphal, Keaton acquired the nickname Buster at

1672-435: A local college-baseball championship, where he was to be the home-team mascot. He sent his regrets to Mayer's office and kept his date at the ball game, only to receive a warning from Mayer the following Tuesday, suspending his pay until he resumed working. Keaton's behavior had become erratic by 1932, despondent over working conditions at the studio, and over his wife's antagonism toward him at home. This affected his films; he

1760-544: A print annual, The Great Stone Face and host an annual convention in Muskegon, Michigan , the weekend closest to Buster Keaton's birthday on October 4. The Damfinos also sponsor the Buster Award, for extraordinary individuals for their work done in the spirit of Buster Keaton. One of the Damfinos' ongoing projects is the awarding of the annual Porkpie Scholar Grant. On June 16, 2018, the International Buster Keaton Society laid

1848-485: A projection room can make trade press critics howl in their seats, then you can bet your mortgaged theater that it's FUNNY [emphasis theirs]." Moviegoers and exhibitors welcomed Keaton's Columbia comedies; and when Columbia began reissuing older comedies to theaters in 1948, Keaton's Pest from the West was chosen to launch the "Comedy Favorites" series ("A 1939 Buster Keaton film and one of his funniest," noted Boxoffice . "It

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1936-411: A sense of humor that includes an ongoing awareness of the surreal and absurd joy with which Keaton made his films." The International Buster Keaton Society Inc. (also known as “The Damfinos”) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the world about comedian and filmmaker Buster Keaton. Among other projects, the Damfinos publish a tri-annual digital magazine, The Keaton Chronicle ,

2024-495: 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). He then moved to feature-length films; several of them, such as Sherlock Jr. (1924), The General (1926), Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928), and The Cameraman (1928), remain highly regarded. The General is perhaps his most acclaimed work; Orson Welles considered it "the greatest comedy ever made...and perhaps

2112-607: A series premiere, noting that it was filmed without a studio audience: the "lack of studio laughter weakened the climax of several of its acts." The producers fashioned a theatrical, hourlong feature film from the series, intended for the European market: The Misadventures of Buster Keaton was released on April 29, 1953 by British Lion, and it began playing on American television in September 1953. "Roughly reproduced slapstick museum piece, it's most likely to amuse those too young to remember

2200-516: A spacey determination that nears philosophical grandeur." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him as the 21st-greatest male star of classic Hollywood cinema. Keaton was born into a vaudeville family in Piqua, Kansas , the small town that his mother, Myra Keaton (née Cutler), was visiting at the time. He was named Joseph to continue a tradition on his father's side (he was sixth in

2288-456: A stage property dating from 1917, Parlor, Bedroom and Bath , at the suggestion of Lawrence Weingarten , who was Thalberg's brother-in-law and Keaton's producer. ("We were desperate. We didn't know what to do," recalled Weingarten. ) However, Thalberg did allow Keaton to stage the gags, including long stretches of pantomime, and agreed to send a crew to Keaton's own mansion for exterior shots. Keaton's relative freedom during this project resulted in

2376-521: A stunt double during some of the more dangerous scenes to protect its investment, something he had never done in his heyday: "Stuntmen don't get you laughs," Keaton had said. In the first Keaton pictures with sound, he and his fellow actors would shoot each scene three times: once in English, once in Spanish, and once in either French or German . The actors would phonetically memorize the foreign-language scripts

2464-541: A successful play, The New Henrietta , which had already been filmed once, under the title The Lamb , with Douglas Fairbanks playing the lead. After Keaton's successful work with Arbuckle, Schenck gave him his own production unit, Buster Keaton Productions. He made a series of 19 two-reel comedies, including One Week (1920), The Playhouse (1921), Cops (1922), and The Electric House (1922). Keaton then moved to full-length features. Keaton's writers included Clyde Bruckman , Joseph Mitchell, and Jean Havez , but

2552-619: A television pilot tentatively titled "Medicine Man", shooting scenes for it on January 12, 1962—the day before Kovacs died in a car crash. "Medicine Man" was completed but not aired. Buster Keaton found steady work as an actor in TV commercials for Colgate, Alka-Seltzer, U.S. Steel, 7-Up, RCA Victor, Phillips 66, Milky Way, Ford Motors, Minit-Rub, and Budweiser, among others. In a series of pantomime television commercials for Simon Pure Beer made in 1962 by Jim Mohr in Buffalo, New York , Keaton revisited some of

2640-429: A time over two years. These 10 films comprise his last series as a starring comedian. Columbia's short-subject comedians were generally paid a flat fee of $ 500 per film. Keaton, considered exceptional, was hired at double the usual rate. The director was usually Jules White , whose emphasis on slapstick and farce made most of these films resemble White's famous Three Stooges shorts. White sometimes paired Keaton with

2728-455: A variety of television programs. He earned an Academy Honorary Award in 1959. 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". In 1996, Entertainment Weekly recognized Keaton as the seventh-greatest film director, stating that "his films offer belly laughs of mind-boggling physical invention and

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2816-464: Is a member of the group's board of directors. The Damfinos' convention is held annually in Muskegon, Michigan . The group has also led a campaign to save Buster's childhood baseball field in Muskegon, Michigan. Buster Keaton Joseph Frank " Buster " Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent films during

2904-458: Is good to see Buster back.") Keaton's Columbia shorts came back to theaters from 1948 to 1952, and again from 1962 to 1964. Author John McElwee reports the boxoffice figures: " Pest from the West , the first series entry in 1939, brought back domestic rentals of $ 23,000, and subsequent ones tended to hover around that approximate figure ( Nothing But Pleasure did $ 24,000, General Nuisance got $ 26,000). Columbia also realized profits from reissues of

2992-432: Is in landing limp and breaking the fall with a foot or a hand. It's a knack. I started so young that landing right is second nature with me. Several times I'd have been killed if I hadn't been able to land like a cat. Imitators of our act don't last long, because they can't stand the treatment." Keaton said he had so much fun that he sometimes began laughing as his father threw him across the stage. Noticing that this caused

3080-510: The American Civil War , combined physical comedy with Keaton's love of trains, including an epic locomotive chase. Employing picturesque locations, the film's storyline reenacted an actual wartime incident . Though it would come to be regarded as Keaton's greatest achievement, the film received mixed reviews at the time. It was too dramatic for some filmgoers expecting a lightweight comedy, and reviewers questioned Keaton's judgment in making

3168-879: The Greta Garbo role, Polly Moran in the Joan Crawford role, Henry Armetta in the Jean Hersholt role, Edward Everett Horton in the Lewis Stone role, and Laurel and Hardy sharing the Wallace Beery role. Edward Sedgwick would be directing. Keaton called his version Grand Mills Hotel (after the Mills Hotel, a Bowery flophouse). Thalberg was hesitant about burlesquing the dignified studio's own work but, seeing Keaton's obvious disappointment, said he'd think about it. After Louis B. Mayer had fired Keaton, Thalberg returned to

3256-485: The Mississippi River setting of Twain's book. In 1962 he signed on for a Canadian musical comedy feature, Ten Girls Ago , starring teen idol Dion and featuring Keaton, Bert Lahr , and Eddie Foy, Jr. Keaton filmed his scenes as arranged, but the film endured a host of production problems and was never released. Keaton had a cameo in the all-star comedy It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), appearing near

3344-442: The "Damfinos." Patricia Eliot Tobias, Melody Bunting and Wendy Merckel co–founded The International Buster Keaton Society on October 4, 1992 – Buster's birthday. Dedicated to bringing greater public attention to Keaton's life and work, the membership includes many individuals from the world of entertainment and the arts: actors, producers, authors, artists, graphic novelists, musicians, and designers, as well as those who simply admire

3432-433: The 1920s, in which he performed physical comedy and inventive stunts . He frequently maintained a stoic, deadpan facial expression that became his trademark and earned him the nickname "The Great Stone Face". Keaton was a child vaudeville star, performing as part of his family's traveling act. As an adult, he began working with independent producer Joseph M. Schenck and filmmaker Edward F. Cline , with whom he made

3520-572: The Good Old Summertime (1949), Sunset Boulevard (1950), and Around the World in 80 Days (1956). 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. Keaton invented comedy bits where Johnson keeps trying to apologize to a seething Garland, but winds up messing up her hairdo and tearing her dress. Keaton also appeared in

3608-706: The Keatons after the war. The Spook Speaks was back for the 1949-50 season, and picked up $ 24,200, this in addition to the $ 28,500 it had realized on its initial run." Keaton's personal life had stabilized with his 1940 marriage to MGM dancer Eleanor Norris , and now he was taking life a little easier, abandoning Columbia for the less strenuous field of feature films. Resuming his daily job as an MGM gag writer, he provided material for Red Skelton and gave help and advice to Lucille Ball . Keaton accepted various character roles in both "A" and "B" features. He made his last starring feature, El Moderno Barba Azul (1946), in Mexico;

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3696-456: The Schenck brothers purchased Palisades Amusement Park and afterward became participants in the fledgling motion picture industry in partnership with Marcus Loew , operating a chain of movie theaters. In 1916, through his involvement in the film business, Joseph Schenck met and married Norma Talmadge , a top young star with Vitagraph Studios . He would be the first of her three husbands, but she

3784-452: The age of 18 months. After the child fell down a long flight of stairs without injury, an actor friend named George Pardey remarked, "Gee whiz, he's a regular buster!" After this, Keaton's father began to use the nickname to refer to the youngster. Keaton retold the anecdote over the years, including in a 1964 interview with the CBC 's Telescope . In Keaton's retelling, he was six months old when

3872-486: The audience to laugh less, he adopted his famous deadpan expression when performing. The act ran up against laws banning child performers in vaudeville. According to one biographer, Keaton was made to go to school while performing in New York, but only attended for part of one day. Despite tangles with the law, Keaton was a rising and relatively well-paid star in the theater. He stated that he learned to read and write late, and

3960-732: The autumn of 1964 Keaton was in Canada, starring in the color featurette The Railrodder for the National Film Board of Canada . He traveled from one end of Canada to the other on a motorized handcar , wearing his traditional pork pie hat and performing gags similar to those in films that he made 50 years before. A black-and-white companion film, Buster Keaton Rides Again (1965), documented Keaton at work during The Railrodder , staging, improving, and rejecting gags on location. Joseph M. Schenck Joseph Michael Schenck ( / ˈ s k ɛ ŋ k / ; December 25, 1876 – October 22, 1961)

4048-399: The awkward position in midair for a moment before crashing to the stage floor. Garry Moore recalled, "I asked (Keaton) how he did all those falls, and he said, 'I'll show you.' He opened his jacket and he was all bruised. So that's how he did it—it hurt —but you had to care enough not to care." In 1954, Buster and Eleanor met movie-theater manager Raymond Rohauer , with whom they developed

4136-429: The camera back to his hotel room where he dismantled and reassembled it by morning. Keaton later said that he was soon Arbuckle's second director and his entire gag department. He appeared in a total of 14 Arbuckle shorts , running into 1920. They were popular, and contrary to Keaton's later reputation as "The Great Stone Face", he often smiled and even laughed in them. Keaton and Arbuckle became close friends, and Keaton

4224-514: The consumptive Kringelein taken by Lionel Barrymore . As What! No Beer? was nearing completion, Keaton—"sober, shaved, and calm" as Keaton told his biographer Rudi Blesh —pitched an idea to Irving Thalberg. He wanted to make a feature-length parody of Grand Hotel with an all-comedy cast: himself in the Lionel Barrymore role, Jimmy Durante in the John Barrymore role, Marie Dressler in

4312-414: The elder Keaton responded by throwing him against the scenery, into the orchestra pit, or even into the audience. A suitcase handle was sewn into Keaton's clothing to aid with the constant tossing. The act evolved as Keaton learned to take trick falls safely; he was rarely injured or bruised on stage. This knockabout style of comedy led to accusations of child abuse and, occasionally, arrest. However, Keaton

4400-424: The end of the film as Jimmy. He assists Spencer Tracy 's character, Captain C. G. Culpepper, by readying Culpepper's ultimately unused boat for his abortive escape. (The restored version of that film, released in 2013, contains a scene where Jimmy and Culpepper talk on the telephone. Lost after the comedy epic's " roadshow " exhibition, the audio of that scene was discovered and combined with still pictures to recreate

4488-447: The family" and Keaton's having to admit that his independent pictures hadn't done well, Keaton agreed to sign with MGM. He would later cite this as the worst business decision of his life in his autobiography. Welcomed to the studio by Irving Thalberg , with whom he initially had a relationship of mutual admiration, Keaton realized too late that the studio system MGM represented would severely limit his creative input. The giant studio

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4576-597: The film was a low-budget production, and it may not have been seen in the United States until its release on VHS videotape in 1986, under the title Boom in the Moon . The film has a largely negative reputation, with renowned film historian Kevin Brownlow calling it the worst film ever made. Critics rediscovered Keaton in 1949 and producers occasionally hired him for bigger "prestige" pictures. He had cameos in such films as In

4664-542: The films, but Mason decided to donate them to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . Rohauer then formed a new legal entity, Buster Keaton Productions, which gave Rohauer legal access to the old films at the Academy. On April 3, 1957, Keaton was surprised by Ralph Edwards for the weekly NBC program This Is Your Life . The program also promoted the release of the fictionalized film biography The Buster Keaton Story with Donald O'Connor . In December 1958, Keaton

4752-458: The gags from his silent-film days. In 1961, Keaton appeared in promotional films for Maryvale , a housing development in the western part of Phoenix . In 1960, Keaton returned to MGM for the final time, playing a lion tamer in a 1960 adaptation of Mark Twain 's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn . Much of the film was shot on location on the Sacramento River , which doubled for

4840-561: The gags supplied by Keaton himself, often recycling ideas from his family vaudeville act and his earlier films. Keaton had a free hand in staging the films, within the studio's budgetary limits and using its staff writers. The Educational two-reelers have far more pantomime than his earlier talkies, and Keaton is in good form throughout. The high point in the Educational series is Grand Slam Opera (1936), featuring Keaton in his own screenplay as an amateur-hour contestant. The Educational series

4928-638: The greatest film ever made". Keaton's career declined after 1928, when he signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and lost his artistic independence. His first wife divorced him, and he descended into alcoholism. He was fired from MGM in 1933, ending his career as a leading man in feature films. He recovered in the 1940s, marrying Eleanor Norris and working as an honored comic performer until the end of his life. During this period, he made cameos in Billy Wilder 's Sunset Boulevard (1950), Charlie Chaplin 's Limelight (1952), Samuel Beckett 's Film (1965) and

5016-622: The incident occurred, and Harry Houdini gave him the nickname (though the family did not get to know Houdini until later). At the age of 3, Keaton began performing with his parents in The Three Keatons. He first appeared on stage in 1899 in Wilmington, Delaware . The act was mainly a comedy sketch. Myra played the saxophone to one side, while Joe and Keaton performed center stage, both wearing slapsoles, bald-headed wigs and "Irish" beards. The young Keaton goaded his father by disobeying him, and

5104-803: The magic of Buster Keaton. The Society's nickname, the “Damfinos,” is named after the boats in two of Keaton films: the 1921 comedy The Boat , and the 1927 feature film College . The Damfinos have been profiled periodically in media outlets, such as the Seven Chances (1925) "Bridal Run"—where Keaton is chased by a mob of angry brides was recreated in the streets of Muskegon—in 2010, Michigan Live in 2011, and The Muskegon Tribune in 2013. The Damfinos are listed online at Turner Classic Movies. The group has also been referenced in several Keaton related books, including Imogen Sara Smith's "Buster Keaton: The Persistence of Comedy," Kevin W. Sweeney's "Buster Keaton: Interviews," Edward McPherson's "Buster Keaton: Tempest in

5192-428: The most ingenious gags were generally conceived by Keaton himself. Comedy director Leo McCarey , recalling the freewheeling days of making slapstick comedies, said, "All of us tried to steal each other's gagmen. But we had no luck with Keaton because he thought up his best gags himself and we couldn't steal him! " The more adventurous ideas called for dangerous stunts, performed by Keaton at great physical risk. During

5280-407: The most profitable of all of Buster Keaton's features, silent or sound." Curtis notes that it was also the only one of his MGM features that came in under budget and ahead of schedule. The next project confirmed Keaton's fears about studio interference. He was handed a script titled Sidewalks of New York (1931), in which he played a millionaire becoming involved with a slum-neighborhood girl and

5368-414: The new 20th Century Fox , he was one of the most powerful and influential people in the film business. Caught in a payoff scheme to buy peace with the militant unions , he was convicted of income tax evasion and spent time in prison before being granted a presidential pardon . Following his release, he returned to 20th Century Fox where he became infatuated with the then unknown Marilyn Monroe , and played

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5456-690: The only one who doesn't.' In the end, I gave up like a fool and said 'what the hell?' Who was I to say I was right and everyone was wrong?" The film's emphasis on obvious slapstick made it unsuitable for the usual, prestigious Broadway premiere -- it opened simultaneously in two New York side-street theaters -- but the less discriminating audiences in small towns across America flocked to the film, resulting in an ultimate success. MGM had been featuring comical musician Cliff Edwards in Keaton's films. The studio replaced Edwards, who had substance-abuse problems, with nightclub comedian Jimmy Durante . The laconic Keaton and

5544-457: The outcome: "Buster ordered him out of the trailer, and Mayer ordered him out of the studio." Mayer couldn't oust him immediately, because Keaton's latest picture wasn't yet finished. Immediately after Keaton completed retakes on What! No Beer? , he was fired "for good and sufficient cause" in a letter signed by Mayer on February 2, 1933. Keaton had been considered to appear in the studio's all-star success Grand Hotel , only to have his role of

5632-483: The prop house weighed two tons, and the window only offered a few inches of clearance around Keaton's body. The sequence furnished one of the most memorable images of his career. Aside from Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928), Keaton's most enduring feature-length films include Three Ages (1923), Our Hospitality (1923), The Navigator (1924), Sherlock Jr. (1924), Seven Chances (1925), The Cameraman (1928), and The General (1926). The General , set during

5720-500: The railroad water-tank scene in Sherlock Jr. , Keaton broke his neck when a torrent of water fell on him from a water tower, but he did not realize it until years afterwards. A scene from Steamboat Bill, Jr. required Keaton to stand still on a particular spot. Then, the facade of a two-story building toppled forward on top of Keaton. Keaton's character emerged unscathed, due to a single open window. The stunt required precision, because

5808-458: The rambunctious Durante offered enough contrast to function as a team, resulting in three very successful films: Speak Easily (1932), The Passionate Plumber (1932), and What! No Beer? (1933). Behind the scenes there was trouble. In March 1932 studio chief Louis B. Mayer 's office requested Keaton to report for work on a Saturday afternoon, to go through the motions of filming a scene for studio visitors. Keaton already had plans to attend

5896-502: The real thing," reported Josh Billings in London's Kinematograph Weekly . American television syndicators agreed, and marketed Life with Buster Keaton as a children's show. It continued to play for years afterward on small, low-budget stations. Keaton's periodic television appearances during the 1950s and 1960s helped to revive interest in his silent films. He appeared in the early television series Faye Emerson's Wonderful Town . Whenever

5984-826: The scene.) In 1964, Keaton was featured in his first theatrical film series since 1941. American International Pictures hired him to furnish comedy scenes for its successful Beach Party pictures. Keaton appeared in four: Pajama Party (1964), Beach Blanket Bingo , How to Stuff a Wild Bikini , and Sergeant Deadhead (all 1965). Director William Asher recalled: I always loved Buster Keaton.... He would bring me bits and routines. He'd say, "How about this?" and it would just be this wonderful, inventive stuff. Keaton's new popularity in movies prompted Columbia Pictures to re-release some of his vintage-1940 two-reel comedies to theaters. Columbia's home-movie division also sold two shorts, Pardon My Berth Marks and So You Won't Squawk , in abridged form on silent 8mm film. During

6072-578: The studio and persuaded Mayer that Keaton was still valuable to the company. Thalberg tried to resurrect Keaton's MGM career by offering to go ahead with the Grand Hotel satire, now retitled Gland Hotel . Keaton, still furious at Mayer, refused to return to the studio and Mayer was not about to apologize. So ended Buster Keaton's starring career in feature films. In 1934, Keaton accepted an offer to make an independent film in Paris, Le Roi des Champs-Élysées ; it

6160-462: The studio's production staff." When the studio began making talking films, Keaton was enthused about the new technology and wanted to make his next film, Spite Marriage , with sound. 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. Also, soundstages were then at a premium, and MGM usually reserved them for dramatic productions. MGM also forced Keaton to use

6248-465: Was a Russian-born American film studio executive. Schenck was born to a Jewish family in Rybinsk , Yaroslavl Oblast , Russian Empire . He emigrated to New York City on July 19, 1892, under the name Ossip Schenker ; and with his younger brother Nicholas eventually got into the entertainment business, operating concessions at New York's Fort George Amusement Park . Recognizing the potential, in 1909

6336-641: Was a guest star in the episode "A Very Merry Christmas" of The Donna Reed Show on ABC. He returned to the program in 1965 in the episode "Now You See It, Now You Don't". In August 1960, Keaton played mute King Sextimus the Silent in the national touring company of the Broadway musical Once Upon A Mattress . In 1961, he starred in The Twilight Zone episode " Once Upon a Time ", which included both silent and sound sequences. He worked with comedian Ernie Kovacs on

6424-563: Was acquired by film importer J. H. Hoffberg in October 1935, and he retitled it An Old Spanish Custom . Hoffberg released the film in America on the "states-rights" market, where independent exchanges bought regional rights to the film and offered it to local theaters in their territories. In 1934, Buster Keaton made a screen comeback in two-reel comedies for Educational Pictures . Most of these 20-minute shorts are simple visual comedies, with many of

6512-582: Was always able to show the authorities that he had no bruises or broken bones. He was eventually billed as "The Little Boy Who Can't Be Damaged", and the overall act as "The Roughest Act That Was Ever in the History of the Stage". Decades later, Keaton said that he was never hurt by his father and that the falls and physical comedy were a matter of proper technical execution. In 1914, he told the Detroit News : "The secret

6600-402: Was an attempt to recreate the first series on film, allowing the program to be broadcast nationwide. The series benefited from a company of veteran actors, including Marcia Mae Jones as the ingenue, Iris Adrian , Dick Wessel , Fuzzy Knight , Dub Taylor , Philip Van Zandt , and his silent-era contemporaries Harold Goodwin , Hank Mann , and stuntman Harvey Parry . Keaton's wife Eleanor also

6688-606: Was his only wife. Schenck supervised, controlled and nurtured her career in alliance with her mother. In 1917, the couple formed the Norma Talmadge Film Corporation, which became a lucrative enterprise. They divorced in 1934; Schenck then built a home in Palm Springs, California . After parting ways with his brother, Joseph Schenck moved to the West Coast where the future of the film industry seemed to lie. Within

6776-619: Was not broken up to provide replacements, as happened to some other late-arriving divisions. During his time in uniform, he developed an ear infection that permanently impaired his hearing. Keaton spent the summers of 1908–1916 "at the 'Actor's Colony' in the Bluffton neighborhood of Muskegon , along with other famous vaudevillians." In February 1917, he met Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle at the Talmadge Studios in New York City, where Arbuckle

6864-484: Was not released in the United States. During this period, he made another film in England, The Invader . MGM, which needed a certain number of British-made films to comply with a legal quota (see quota quickies ), distributed the Keaton film in England but declined to release it in the United States, because the studio had already terminated Keaton's employment and was no longer promoting him as one of its stars. The Invader

6952-399: Was one of few people, along with Charlie Chaplin , to defend Arbuckle's character during accusations that he was responsible for the death of actress Virginia Rappe . (Arbuckle was eventually acquitted, with an apology from the jury for the ordeal he underwent. ) In 1920, The Saphead was released, in which Keaton had his first starring role in a full-length feature film. It was based on

7040-449: Was run along strict factory lines, with everything planned and budgeted in advance. The first of MGM's Keaton films was The Cameraman (1928), and Keaton sensed trouble immediately when he saw the script. "It was as long as War and Peace ," Keaton recalled. "I took out 40 useless characters and a couple of subplots. These guys didn't realize—they still don't realize—that the best comedies are simple. I said, 'I'd like to do something with

7128-401: Was seen in the series (notably as Juliet to Keaton's Romeo in a little-theater vignette). Despite the hardworking cast and crew, the series was unsuccessful and only 13 half-hour episodes were filmed. Producer Hittleman audaciously reissued these same episodes in 1952 as though they were entirely new, with the series now titled Life with Buster Keaton . Variety reporter Fred Hift reviewed it as

7216-440: Was sometimes visibly intoxicated on- and off-camera. "I got to the stage where I didn't give a darn whether school kept or not, and then I started drinking too much," Keaton told interviewer Tony Thomas. "When I found out that they could write stories and material better than I could anyway, what was the use of my fighting with them?" The demoralized Keaton couldn't turn to production chief Irving Thalberg for support, because Thalberg

7304-585: Was taught by his mother. By the time he was 21, his father's alcoholism threatened the reputation of the family act, so Keaton and his mother, Myra, left for New York, where Keaton's career quickly moved from vaudeville to film. Keaton served in the American Expeditionary Forces in France with the United States Army 's 40th Infantry Division during World War I . His unit remained intact and

7392-508: Was televised live on the West Coast. Kinescope film prints were made for distribution of the programs to other parts of the country, since there was no transcontinental coaxial cable until September 1951. Reaction was strong enough for a local Los Angeles station to offer Keaton his own show, also broadcast live ( The Buster Keaton Show , 1950). Producer Carl Hittleman mounted a new series, again titled The Buster Keaton Show , in 1951. This

7480-401: Was the series' debut, Pest from the West , directed by Lord; it was a shorter, tighter remake of Keaton's little-viewed 1935 feature The Invader . Trade critics loved it. Film Daily raved: "One of the funniest shorts of the season. In fact, of any season. It just goes to prove that this Buster Keaton feller is a natural boxoffice gold mine that is not being mined. When a comedy shown cold in

7568-416: Was then on a medical leave that lasted eight months. This left Louis B. Mayer temporarily in sole charge of the studio, which made Keaton's standing at MGM even more fragile. Keaton's absences were costing the company $ 3,000 a day ($ 63,030 in 2024). The last straw came when Mayer "raided" Keaton's dressing room during a wild party with Keaton's "cronies and their girlfriends". MGM staffer Sam Marx remembered

7656-402: Was under contract to Joseph M. Schenck . Joe Keaton disapproved of films, and Keaton also had reservations about the medium. During his first meeting with Arbuckle, he was asked to jump in and start acting. Keaton was such a natural in his first film, The Butcher Boy , he was hired on the spot. At the end of the day, he asked to borrow one of the cameras to get a feel for how it worked. He took

7744-584: Was very well received by theater owners and movie audiences, and Keaton was the studio's most important comedian. He was also its most expensive comedian (earning $ 2,500 per film, equal to $ 54,776 in 2024), and when Educational was forced to economize in 1937, the company could no longer afford to maintain two studios. Educational closed its Hollywood studio, thus forfeiting Keaton's services, and kept its cheaper New York studio going. The company replaced Keaton with New York-based stage star Willie Howard . After Keaton's Educational series lapsed, he returned to MGM as

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