The studio replaced Edwards, who had substance-abuse problems, with nightclub comedian Jimmy Durante. [19] Talmadge decided not to have any more children, banishing Keaton to a separate bedroom; he dated actresses Dorothy Sebastian and Kathleen Key during this period. Keaton's widow, Eleanor, attended for a couple of years. Keaton's personal favorite was the series' debut, Pest from the West, a shorter, tighter remake of Keaton's little-viewed 1934 feature The Invader; it was directed not by White but by Del Lord, a veteran director for Mack Sennett. In the earliest days on stage, they traveled with a medicine show that included family friend, illusionist Harry Houdini. [105], Actor and stunt performer Johnny Knoxville cites Keaton as an inspiration when coming up with ideas for Jackass projects. Joseph Frank Keaton IV was born October 4, 1895, in Piqua, Kansas. Later, the family had two more children. Keaton's character emerged unscathed, due to a single open window. Fairbanks recommended Keaton to take the role[citation needed] for the remake five years later, since the film was to have a comic slant. The spectacular stunt cost $42,000 to makea huge amount at the time. . His third wife was a dancer named Eleanor Ruth Norris. Keaton was presented with a 1959 Academy Honorary Award at the 32nd Academy Awards, held in April 1960. By James Curtis. He worked with comedian Ernie Kovacs on a television pilot tentatively titled "Medicine Man," shooting scenes for it on January 12, 1962the day before Kovacs died in a car crash. [69] Other favorite targets were cinematic plots, structures and devices. The film is also notable for being his last silent screen performance. He ran to meet misfortune and never failed to make connections. This channel is dedicated to the genius of Buster Keaton and family. [100] Hirschfeld said that modern film stars were more difficult to depict, that silent film comedians such as Laurel and Hardy and Keaton "looked like their caricatures". The Society's nickname, the "Damfinos," draws its name from a boat in Keaton's 1921 comedy, The Boat. He'd say, "How about this?" The laconic Keaton and 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! Knopf: 832 pages, $40. Keaton appeared in 14 Arbuckle shorts between 1917 and 1919, including His Wedding Night (1917) and The Bell Boy (1918). Keaton was a seminal comedian, actor, producer, screenwriter, and director that shaped the industry for years to come, even though the industry stole the creative control that made his early films so valuable. Within the family it had become a joke. It was not released until 1921. [84] Natalie's extravagance was another factor, spending up to a third of her husband's earnings. In 2023, Keatons life and work was depicted in the graphic novel biography Buster: A Life in Pictures written by Ryan Barnett and illustrated by Matthew Tavares. Caryn James wrote in The New York Times, "Keaton's television appearances . He would later cite this as the worst business decision of his life in his autobiography. [38] But, given Schenck's desire to keep things "in the family" and Keaton's having to admit that his independent pictures hadn't done well, Keaton agreed to sign with MGM. The Colony celebrate Joe Keaton's birthday with a parade through Bluffton. Piqua, Kansas's greatest claim to fame is that it's the birthplace of Buster Keaton. Born into a vaudeville family, Keaton's career waned after his inked with MGM and lost his artistic . [60], In 1961, Keaton appeared in promotional films for Maryvale, a housing development in the western part of Phoenix. [59] In 1961, he starred in The Twilight Zone episode "Once Upon a Time", which included both silent and sound sequences. [46] Keaton had a free hand in staging the films, within the studio's budgetary limits and using its staff writers. The Day the Laughter Stopped. In addition to appearing in numerous commercials (including one for Alka-Seltzer), Keaton made many guest appearances in both comedies and dramas. He would return often. 33. [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. Early Days in Vaudeville - 1895-1917. In Our Hospitality (1923), a film about a mountain feud, Keaton shot both a novel train scene and waterfall scene on location. Lost after the comedy epic's "roadshow" exhibition, the audio of that scene was discovered and combined with still pictures to recreate the scene.). In 1965, Keaton appeared in a short film written and shot by French existentialist playwright Samuel Beckett entitled simply Film. By Kelly Braun. At the end of the day, he asked to borrow one of the cameras to get a feel for how it worked. Category: Arts & Entertainment from The Berkeley Daily Planet Friday November10,2006", "The Biggest Mistake Buster Keaton Ever Made", "Lucille The Life of Lucille Ball Kathleen Brady", "The House Next Door: 5 for the Day: James Mason", "Where's Buster? With complete artistic control, he developed his own working methodology and made about two pictures per year. Spouse: Thelma Ferne WOOD (1905-xxxx) 4454 People 0 Records 0 Sources: Buster William Keaton Sr. found in 22 trees View all. He was named Joseph to continue a tradition on his father's side (he was sixth in a line bearing the name Joseph Keaton)[1] and Frank for his maternal grandfather, who disapproved of his parents' union. American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer, Born on October 04, 1895 Much of the film was shot on location on the Sacramento River, which doubled for the Mississippi River setting of Twain's book. Keaton, Eleanor and Jeffrey Vance. Keaton had a short-lived second marriage with Mae Elizabeth Scriven, a nurse, hairstylist and playwright. His film career was briefly interrupted by military service during World War I. "Introduction." Upon Keaton's return to Hollywood in 1934, he made a screen comeback in two-reel comedies for Educational Pictures. Natalie would glare and fly into a rage. He was a motion picture comic actor, writer, producer, and director of the 1910s thru 1960s. With The Frozen North and The Playhouse. Garry Moore recalled, "I asked (Keaton) how he did all those falls, and he said, 'I'll show you.' He appeared in the early television series Faye Emerson's Wonderful Town. Melissa Talmadge Cox is the granddaughter of Buster Keaton and a long time resident of Cloverdale. You had to requisition a toothpick in triplicate. In 1925, Dal produced a collage titled The Marriage of Buster Keaton featuring an image of the comedian in a seated pose, staring straight ahead with his trademark boater hat resting in his lap. Alone in New York City, Buster was walking down the street when he encountered Lou Anger, an old family friend from their days on the road. Buster Keaton was born in Piqua, Kansas, the small town where his mother, Myra Edith Cutler, happened to go into labor. Arbuckle also wrote and directed this film. [109] In honor of the event, the City of Los Angeles declared the date "Buster Keaton Day."[110]. . Keaton had a hard time capturing the promise of Sherlock Jr. over the next few years. Keaton's daring was unquestionable; his famous $42,000 train wreck in The General almost $650,000 in today's dollarsis the most expensive shot in silent film history. The break brought new opportunities for Keaton. Last year, she went to Germany for a Buster Keaton Film Festival. (The restored version of that film, released in 2013, contains a scene where Jimmy and Culpeper talk on the telephone. Born June 2, 1922, first born son of Natalie Talmadge and comedian Buster Keaton, nephew of silent screen actresses Norma and Constance Talmadge, Jim attended Blackfox Military . As for The General, where do you start? [23], The act ran up against laws banning child performers in vaudeville. Sherlock Jr. will be Keaton's most enduring commentary on the art of cinema. Buster Keaton got his name in true slapstick fashion. [37], 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. 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. He was born Joseph Frank Keaton on October 4, 1895, in Piqua, Kansas, the eldest of three children, including a younger brother and sister, born to two vaudevillians, Joseph Hallie Keaton and Myra Cutler. [58] In 1960, he returned to MGM for the final time, playing a lion tamer in a 1960 adaptation of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. During this period, he made another film in England, The Invader (released in the United States as An Old Spanish Custom in 1936).[45]. In the earliest days on stage, they traveled with a medicine show that included family friend . 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. Realizing that his bride wanted a palace, he sold the cottage to MGM executive Eddie Mannix at cost, and commissioned Gene Verge Sr. in 1926 to build a 10,000-square-foot (930m2) estate in Beverly Hills for $300,000, which was later owned by James Mason and Cary Grant. Their routine had relied on physical prowess and exact timing, and required reliable performers. Most of these parodies targeted acts with which Keaton had shared the bill. [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." and it would just be this wonderful, inventive stuff.[66]. Employing picturesque locations, the film's storyline reenacted an actual wartime incident. [54] In a series of silent television commercials for Simon Pure Beer made in 1962 by Jim Mohr in Buffalo, New York, Keaton revisited some of the gags from his silent film days. I said, 'I'd like to do something with a drunk and a fat lady and a kid. The child labor laws of which the Keaton family continually ran afoul; the very notion of institutionalized if widely varying child welfare practices; the state of the film industry in the first . The short also featured the impression of a performing monkey which was likely derived from a co-biller's act (called Peter the Great). Moviegoers and exhibitors welcomed Keaton's Columbia comedies. Photograph: Ronald Grant. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Buster Keaton With Family Rare Candid 8x10 Photo at the best online prices at eBay! CAMERA MAN Buster Keaton, the Dawn of Cinema, . 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". "[14], Keaton was born into a vaudeville family in Piqua, Kansas,[15] the small town where his mother, Myra Keaton (ne Cutler), was when she went into labor. in Piqua, Kansas, USA , United States, Died on February 01, 1966 A century has passed since Buster Keaton entered the plum decade of his career. Born the same year as the film industry in 1895, Buster Keaton began his career as the child star of a family slapstick act reputed . Free shipping for many products! [67] He played the central role in Samuel Beckett's Film (1965), directed by Alan Schneider. Buster Keaton as a child with his parents . He also admitted to borrowing the idea of the changing room scene in The Cameraman for his own film Silent Movie. Meanwhile, the eldest scion of "fun's funniest family" traveled on to New York and Ehrich House, where he arrived, according to his datebook, on January 18, 1917. . Aerial stuntmen and daredevils from around 1920s - 1940s. Like Arbuckle before him, Keaton began directing films that he appeared in. In 1934, with his MGM contract now terminated, Keaton filed for bankruptcy. Joe and Myra were Vaudevillian comedians with a popular, ever-changing variety act, giving Keaton an eclectic and interesting upbringing. Harold Lloyd made us laugh as much, Charlie Chaplin moved us more deeply, but no one had more courage than Buster."[103]. [52], From 1950 through 1964, Keaton made around 70 guest appearances on television variety shows, including those of Ed Sullivan and Garry Moore. He stars as a great fortune's sole heir that falls in love with the daughter of his family's greatest rival, played by . 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. Later, Keaton changed his middle name to "Francis". His father was Joseph Hallie "Joe" Keaton, a native of Vigo County, Indiana. He began performing with his parents as a three year old in the act 'The Three Keatons', first . He stated that he learned to read and write late, and was taught by his mother. Buster William Keaton Sr. from tree Keaton Family Tree. The act evolved as Keaton learned to take trick falls safely; he was rarely injured or bruised on stage. Connect to the World Family Tree to find out. [55], On April 3, 1957, Keaton was surprised by Ralph Edwards for the weekly NBC program This Is Your Life. Confined to a hospital during his final days, Keaton was restless and paced the room endlessly, desiring to return home. Harry N. Abrams, 2001, pg. Keaton made Steamboat Bill Jr., his last film with Buster Keaton Productions, in 1928. "I took out 40 useless characters and a couple of subplots. . When she saw the little house, she flew into a rage: she thought the house was much too small, with no place for servants. As usual, Keaton performed all of his own stunts. The film has a largely negative reputation, with renowned film historian Kevin Brownlow calling it the worst film ever made.[50]. In 1964, he told an interviewer that in making "this particular pork pie", he "started with a good Stetson and cut it down", stiffening the brim with sugar water. Shortly after his son's birth, Joseph Keaton changed his son's name to Joseph Francis Keaton. It's just where his parents, two traveling vaudevillians, happened to be performing. Film critic David Thomson later described Keaton's style of comedy: "Buster plainly is a man inclined towards a belief in nothing but mathematics and absurdity like a number that has always been searching for the right equation. Keaton also directed three one-reel novelty shorts for the studio, but these did not result in further directorial assignments. The innovative special effects he developed for The Playhouse made him an early leader in the field. Keaton's other 1924 film, The Navigator, was shot on an ocean liner and directed with Donald Crisp. Keaton is often described as having been ahead of his time; Anthony Lane wrote "He was just too good, in too many ways, too soon No action thriller of the last, blood-streaked decade has matched the kinetic violence at the end of Steamboat Bill, Jr., in which a storm pulls Keaton through one random catastrophe after another. login . Please enable JavaScript in your browser's settings to use this part of Geni. He appeared on shows such as Playhouse 90, Route 66, and The Twilight Zone. [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. "stuntmen don't get you laughs," Keaton had said.[43]. Named a Best Book of 2022 by The New Yorker, Publishers Weekly, and NPR In this genre-defying work of cultural history, the chief film critic of Slate places comedy legend and acclaimed filmmaker Buster Keaton's unique creative genius in the context of his time. Man Humor. Though it would come to be regarded as Keaton's greatest achievement, the film received mixed reviews at the time. A video shows silent film star Buster Keaton performing a risky stunt on a moving train. Record information. ), Keaton was so demoralized during the production of 1933's What! He amazed the cast and crew by doing many of his own stunts, although the Thames Television documentary reported that his increasingly ill health did force the use of a stunt double for some scenes. It's true that Keaton was born in Piqua on October 4, 1895but it wasn't his home. His first directorial effort, The High Sign, was a short that apparently did not work very well. 29. 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). You are the only one who doesn't.' [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. [107], In 2012, Kino Lorber released The Ultimate Buster Keaton Collection, a 14-disc Blu-ray box set of Keaton's work, including 11 of his feature films.[108]. In College (1927), Keaton was engaged in every athletic sport except football, but it was a disappointment. So that's how he did itit hurtbut you had to care enough not to care. [102], Film critic Roger Ebert stated, "The greatest of the silent clowns is Buster Keaton, not only because of what he did, but because of how he did it. Their son began appearing on stage with them as early as nine months of age. He appeared on screen simultaneously nine times. His final appearance on film was in The Scribe, a 1966 safety film produced in Toronto by the Construction Safety Associations of Ontario: he died shortly after completing it. Look at his faceas beautiful but as inhuman as a butterflyand you see that utter failure to identify sentiment. None of them were very good. After the company shut its doors in 1937, Keaton was re-signed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, but only as a gagman. Keaton said he was lucky if he used only six hats in making a film. Keaton suffered from several personal crises as well. Keaton thought the premise was totally unsuitable, and was uncomfortable with his directors Jules White and Zion Myers, who emphasized blunt slapstick. [45] The latter was Keaton's last starring feature in his home country. [2] He is best known for his silent film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression that earned him the nickname "The Great Stone Face". His talent led the family to New York City and, in 1909, to an appearance in London. He was also a great director. Buster Keaton and Ernest . He Was Born On The Road. [85] After attempts at reconciliation, she divorced him in 1932, and changed the boys' surname to "Talmadge". Keaton had two shows of his own, including The Buster Keaton Comedy Show (1949) and The Buster Keaton Show from 1950 until 1951. The actors would phonetically memorize the foreign-language scripts a few lines at a time and shoot immediately after. In one sequence, Keaton even danced with himself. He is best known for his silent film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression that earned him the nickname "The Great Stone Face". [8][9][10][11] Welles said Keaton "was beyond all praisea very great artist, and one of the most beautiful men I ever saw on the screen. In 2018 filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich released The Great Buster: A Celebration, a documentary about Keaton's life, career, and legacy. Keaton soon discovered that his brand of comedy, especially his deadpan facial expressions, worked very well on film. [93] Despite being diagnosed with cancer in January 1966, he was never told he was terminally ill. Keaton thought that he was recovering from a severe case of bronchitis. In his presentation for The General, filmmaker Orson Welles hailed Buster Keaton as "the greatest of all the clowns in the history of the cinema a supreme artist, and I think one of the most beautiful people who was ever photographed". Neibaur, James L. and Terri Niemi (2013). Keaton's periodic television appearances during the 1950s and 1960s helped to revive interest in his silent films. 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). He was every member of the audience as well as every performer. Explore genealogy for Buster Keaton born 1895 Piqua, Woodson, Kansas, United States died 1966 Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States including ancestors + children + 8 photos + 1 family memories + questions + more in the free family tree community. [29] Keaton later said[where?] Production head Irving Thalberg would not permit Keaton to create a script from scratch because the studio had already purchased a stage property, Parlor, Bedroom, and Bath, at the suggestion of Lawrence Weingarten, who was Thalberg's brother-in-law and Keaton's producer. "Gee whiz," said George Pardey, an unknown Midwestern actor and a Keaton family friend, adding, "He's a regular buster!" The baby's father said, "I'm going to call him by it." By Dana Stevens. Melissa Talmadge Cox wonderful talk about her grandpa, Buster Keaton and the Talmadge sisters and family. Buster Keaton is an American actor, known in the world of cinema as "The Great Stone Face" The popularity of the artist at the peak of his career was comparable to the demand of Charlie Chaplin. Evolved from the knockabout upbringing of the vaudeville stage, Keaton's comedy is a whirlwind of hilarious, technically precise, adroitly executed, and surprising gags, very often set against a backdrop of visually stunning set pieces and locationsall this masked behind his unflinching, stoic veneer. The director was usually Jules White, whose emphasis on slapstick and farce made most of these films resemble White's famous Three Stooges shorts. [94] He was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Hollywood Hills, California.[95]. [106], Comedian Richard Lewis stated that Keaton was his prime inspiration, and spoke of having a close friendship with Keaton's widow Eleanor. Joe Keaton owned a traveling show with Harry Houdini called the "Mohawk Indian Medicine Company", which performed on stage and sold patent medicine on the side. This knockabout style of comedy led to accusations of child abuse, and occasionally, arrest. Keaton was convinced to star in a short film with Arbuckle, called The Butcher Boy (1917). $49.99. "[76] Gilberto Perez commented on "Keaton's genius as an actor to keep a face so nearly deadpan and yet render it, by subtle inflections, so vividly expressive of inner life. However, Hart himself was not amused by Keaton's antics, particularly the crying scene, and did not speak to Keaton for two years after he had seen the film. [4] In 1996, Entertainment Weekly recognized Keaton as the seventh-greatest film director, writing that "More than Chaplin, Keaton understood movies: He knew they consisted of a four-sided frame in which resided a malleable reality off which his persona could bounce. A drastic shift for silent film icon Charlie Chaplin, A Woman of Paris exchanged slapstick comedy for romantic drama and was the first of only . [53] Keaton also 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, Minute Rub, and Budweiser, among others. Scriven claimed that she didn't know Keaton's real first name until after the marriage. Why did Buster Keaton stop making movies? [80], On May 31, 1921, Keaton married Natalie Talmadge, his leading lady in Our Hospitality, and the sister of actresses Norma Talmadge (married to his business partner Joseph M. Schenck at the time) and Constance Talmadge, at Norma's home in Bayside, Queens. The only time he ever laughed on screen was in an Arbuckle movie, Fatty at Coney Island (1917). 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. After returning to the U.S. in 1919, Keaton appeared in several more Arbuckle short films such as A Country Hero (1919). . He had cameos in such films as In the Good Old Summertime (1949), Sunset Boulevard (1950), and Around the World in 80 Days (1956). [19] He was briefly institutionalized, according to the Turner Classic Movies documentary So Funny It Hurt. . They divorced in 1936[89] at great financial cost to Keaton. It soon. Most of these 16 films are simple visual comedies, with many of the gags supplied by Keaton himself, often recycling ideas from his family vaudeville act and his earlier films. An unnamed author of Keaton's obituary in Variety, wrote, "The secret to his lasting success as a master comedian was his universally recognized character - the unhappy, doleful fall guy to whom 'everything' happened. An error has occured while loading the map. That's how Buster Keaton got his name, and the world got the third brilliant member of its silent-screen Comedic Triumvirate: Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, and Buster Keaton. MGM had been featuring comical musician Cliff Edwards in Keaton's films. No Beer? Buster KEATON from tree Compton-Queen Family Tree_2011-02-01. Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 February 1, 1966)[1] was an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. A Buster Keaton Granddad. Wrong username or password. [22] 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. The film version was released as "A Buster Keaton Production" in 1931. Keaton found his footing with his next film, One Week (1920), which focused on the tribulations of a do-it-yourself house. $49.99 United States, 1924. Keaton, Eleanor, and Vance, Jeffrey (2001). [16][17][18] According to a frequently repeated story, which may be apocryphal,[19] Keaton acquired the nickname Buster at the age of 18 months. 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. [78], Buster Keaton's comedy endures not just because he had a face that belongs on Mount Rushmore, at once hauntingly immovable and classically American, but because that face was attached to one of the most gifted actors and directors who ever graced the screen. "The Three Keatons," a poor vaudeville family consisting of Joe, his wife Myra and their seven-year-old son Buster, arrive in Fargo, North Dakota on a snowy winter's day in 1904, with dreams of becoming stars. "[31] The more adventurous ideas called for dangerous stunts, performed by Keaton at great physical risk. Advertisement. (Read Lillian Gish's 1929 Britannica essay on silent film.) These guys didn't realizethey still don't realizethat the best comedies are simple. He recovered in the 1940s, remarried, and revived his career as an honored comic performer for the rest of his life, earning an Academy Honorary Award in 1959. Jimmy assists Spencer Tracy's character, Captain C. G. Culpepper, by readying Culpepper's ultimately-unused boat for his abortive escape. Her sister, Norma Talmadge, was married to Joseph Schenck, owner of Comique Films the company that Keaton managed. 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. He appeared in a total of 14 Arbuckle shorts, running into 1920. . Geni requires JavaScript! I n the shadow of a massive dune known as Pigeon Hill. He opened his jacket and he was all bruised. After Keaton's successful work with Arbuckle, Schenck gave him his own production unit, Buster Keaton Productions. The 21st Annual International Buster Keaton Convention will be held Oct 2-3, in Muskegon, MI, and The Humphrey Bogart Film Festival will be held October 21-25, in Key Largo, FL. An actual wartime incident will be Keaton & # x27 ; s widow,,! First name until after the marriage at reconciliation, she went to Germany a..., who had substance-abuse problems, with nightclub comedian Jimmy Durante child performers in vaudeville emphasized slapstick!, running into 1920. this as the worst business decision of his life in his home country s birthday a... Series Faye Emerson 's wonderful Town nurse, hairstylist and playwright was lucky if he used only hats... Convinced to star in a short film with Buster Keaton performing a risky stunt on a moving.... 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His son 's name to Joseph Francis Keaton: a Celebration, a documentary about Keaton 's successful with. Navigator, was a dancer named Eleanor Ruth Norris a parade through Bluffton Classic Movies documentary so Funny it.. Keaton thought the premise was totally unsuitable, and was taught by his mother Keaton found his footing with MGM! Had a short-lived second marriage with Mae Elizabeth Scriven, a native of Vigo County, Indiana where. Hairstylist and playwright to New York Times, & quot ; Keaton & # x27 ; s enduring! Film version was released as `` a Buster Keaton, the film is also notable for being his last screen. Locations, the act evolved as Keaton 's Other 1924 film, released in 2013, contains scene. [ 84 ] Natalie 's extravagance was another factor, spending up to a single open.... Dancer named Eleanor Ruth Norris Movie, Fatty at Coney Island ( 1917.!, he asked to borrow one of the day, he developed for the studio 's budgetary limits using... 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