Who is Buster Keaton and why should you care?

[lhb412]

Think back to the Hollywood’s silent comedians. You may not of watched the movies but you've seen clips. Not Charlie Chaplin and his hat and mustache. Not the guy hanging off a clock face over a busy street in that famous stunt, that’s one Harold Lloyd. You know that scene of a little man who has the front of a house fall on him only to remain unharmed because luckily he falls through the wall’s one opened window? That’s an insanely dangerous stunt and only a madman would do it. That madman in Buster Keaton.




In the past year it’s Keaton that has got me interested in silent film and what a great medium it could be. Buster Keaton wasn’t just a comedian; he was a stuntman/athlete/acrobat; a writer; a special effects technician; a director; and an actor – don’t let his famous, unchanging “stone faceâ€

[The Shadow]

Ahh, the Great Stone Face himself. I haven't checked out the latest issue of NOW PLAYING yet, I've been enjoying Summer Under The Stars and haven't taken time to check out the September issue. Has the October issue already shipped?

Nice to see Keaton get the star of the month treatment, definitely plenty of great comedy to enjoy. I wonder if TCM will run any of the AIP beach party movies Keaton was in? [EG Beach Blanket Bingo, How to Stuff a Wild Bikini]


Fatty Arbuckle is great too -- and he helped Chaplin, Keaton AND Bob Hope in their early days. It's a shame Arbuckle's career was stopped short, and unfortunate that Arbuckle died soon after signing with Warner Brothers to do the talkie two-reelers.

[lhb412]

^I first got wind of it on TCM's boards (which I check every once and a while for news about the schedule).... Ha! It seems the TCM site has changed it's schedule format yet again. Here's the first week of October. Fiddle around with the thing (it was all so straightforward before the site redesign!) and you should be able to see all the stuff.

http://www.tcm.com/schedule/weekly.html ... 2011-10-01

Keaton's movies will air on Sundays: main focus on his silent shorts an features, but with MGM films, Arbuckle co-starrings, talkie shorts, and - yes - Beach Blanket Bingo sprinkled in.

[sentaison]

[Mysterio]

[lhb412]

[Reaper G]

[Mysterio]

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