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Distinguished readers, it is our pleasure to present to you a post that has been requested numerous times during the past year. Most of those requests came from one reader - but it still counts and here we are! Presenting the multi-talented, world-renowned actor-director-comedian himself....Buster Keaton.
1895 - 1966
IMDb: Buster Keaton - IMDb
Joseph Frank Keaton was born in Kansas to vaudeville performers Joseph and Myra Keaton. Before the age of 3, Buster's parents decided to include him in their comedy vaudeville act, for both his safety and their necessity. You see, as a toddler, Buster seemed to always be doing dangerous things and getting himself hurt. From getting his finger caught in a clothes wringer to being sucked out a window during a tornado, Buster kept his parents quite worried! What to do with this little bundle of curiosity and energy?? His father knew. PUT HIM IN THE ACT! Joseph began teaching young Buster how to tumble and fall without hurting himself, and incorporated this into a routine, often tossing Buster around the stage (and occasionally into the audience). Buster noticed that he got the biggest laughs when he kept his expression deadpan, instead of smiling or laughing. Many years later, he brought this into his film persona - and movie audiences loved it, too!
The Three Keatons (circa 1900)
But wait. How did he acquire the name "Buster"? Well, according to his family, the great escape artist (Buster's godfather) Harry Houdini gave him the nickname after seeing Buster slip and fall down a flight of stairs, remaining completely calm and unhurt! "What a buster your kid took!" yelled Harry to Joseph. The name stuck, and became legendary. Too bad we all can't just nickname ourselves after falling down - but somehow, "Face Plant" doesn't have the same charm...
The Three Keatons, as they were called, did very well in the vaudeville circuit, touring all over the country and even to England! Unfortunately, the Keatons were often harassed by police and the Gerry Society (a child welfare organization), due to misguided concerns about Buster's safety in their roughhouse act. They eventually decided to put Buster in school. After less than one day, Buster proved to be too much of a cut-up in class and was promptly expelled. He learned reading, writing and arithmetic from his parents and tutors from then on - and of course, received the equivalent of a Master's degree in his specialty subject: performing comedy!
From his brief time in the military during World War 1
Buster was eventually joined by a younger brother (Harry) and sister (Louise), and they too were added to the family act as soon as they were old enough. But Joseph had a drinking problem that only grew worse. By the time Buster was 21, his father had become a violent and dangerous alcoholic, and Buster had had enough. He left the act, and was signed to appear in a Broadway show. But....sometimes things just happen...
A mere 2 months later, Buster met fellow vaudevillian-turned-filmmaker Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, who had admired Buster's act and offered to put him in his newest film, "The Butcher Boy". Buster's first-ever film scene was second-nature to him: he would be hit in the face with a bag of flour! He did it so well that no retakes were necessary! Buster got permission to take one of the movie cameras home so he could study it. After taking it apart and putting it back together (?!), he was sold and devoted himself entirely to the new medium - breaking his hefty $250 a week Broadway contract and signing a new one with Roscoe's company for a only $40 a week! But Buster didn't care - he was in a whole new, wonderful world!
Buster, wearing his signature porkpie hat - and his signature facial expression.
By 1920, Buster was making his own short comedy films, and during the next 8 years, Buster would make an impressive 19 short and 12 feature-length films that all carried his unique comedic style...and in which he did all of his own stunts. And believe you me - that's an accomplishment! Needless to say, Buster suffered a number of injuries due to his high-flying antics, but somehow always managed to recover - and more importantly, to keep going! A broken nose, a broken neck, a crushed foot, nearly drowning, knocked unconscious? No problem - it went with the territory, as you can see in this clip!
In spite of his success, Buster always gave credit to others. He never failed to recognize the talent and help of his mentors (like Roscoe Arbuckle) and his associates, unlike some of the other comedic geniuses of Old Hollywood *ahem* Chaplin. In fact, one of his former writers once said that 90% of the stories that Buster filmed were his own concepts, but he never took credit for it!
It's worth noting that off-camera, Buster loved to smile, laugh and pull pranks! In fact, he and Sid Grauman once teamed up to prank Adolph Zukor! Marcus Loew was also a victim of Buster's elaborate jokes.
At the dawn of his new career in 1920, Buster also married an actress named Natalie Talmadge, whose 2 sisters were movie stars in their own right. Natalie wasn't as popular as her older sisters, and was instead known for her love of shopping - reportedly spending about 1/3 of Buster's income on clothing alone! Unsurprisingly, their marriage was quite unhappy. After 12 years (and 2 sons), Natalie officially divorced Buster, claiming his alcoholism and carousing had destroyed their marriage. This was a dark period in Buster's life, personally and professionally. He also made a costly career mistake:
“In 1928, I made the worst mistake of my career. Against my better judgment I let Joe Schenck talk me into giving up my own studio to make pictures at the booming Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lot in Culver City. ”
This mistake meant giving up creative control of his films to MGM (during the reign of Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg), and Buster's career would suffer greatly. Fellow comedy greats Harold Lloyd and Charlie Chaplin advised against it, but it was too late. The emerging studio system had changed the dynamic in Old Hollywood. Stars were expected to do as they were told, instead of being the author of their films the way many of them did in the silent movie days!
Along with this bad work situation, his alcoholism, the deaths of several close friends, an IRS lawsuit and several scandals, Buster was in crisis. And after refusing to work on the inferior films that MGM insisted on, he was out of a job! But....this is Buster Keaton. He got this.
Appearing on "Route 66" (1962)
With the help of family and his doctor, Buster managed to kick his own drinking problem (which by all accounts was extreme)! He eventually got film work again, although he never regained the creative control he once had in the 1920's. Buster also returned to the stage, performing on Broadway and in Europe, and made appearances on TV. His popularity soared once again during the 1950's and 60's, and during the last 10 years of his life, it's estimated that Buster made as much money as he did in his silent film days!
In 1966, at the age of 70, Buster passed away from lung cancer. He was survived by his third wife (to whom he was happily married for 26 years) Eleanor Norris, and his 2 sons Joseph and Robert. In spite of the difficulties, Buster's own words later in life bear repeating:
“I think I have had the happiest and luckiest of lives. Maybe this is because I never expected as much as I got . . . And when the knocks came I felt it was no surprise. I had always known life was like that, full of uppercuts for the deserving and the undeserving alike.”
Have a look at Buster's film debut in "The Butcher Boy" below!
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