Harold, Buster, and Harold – sites from Never Weaken, a newly discovered scene from My Wife’s Relations, and Safety Last! that we’ll visit on the Cinecon 2016 walking tour.
The block of Cahuenga south of Hollywood Boulevard was the setting for more silent movie filming than any other spot in town. I’ll be leading walking tours of this historic site at the upcoming Cinecon 52 Classic Film Festival during the Saturday and Sunday lunch breaks, September 3 and 4. You can meet us at the Egyptian Theater, 6712 Hollywood Boulevard, on Saturday at about 12:05, and on Sunday at about 12:40, or join us when the tour kicks in to high gear at 6410 Hollywood Boulevard near the SW corner of Cahuenga, at about 12:15 on Saturday, and about 12:50 on Sunday. The tours are free. For those walking from the theater the round trip will be about 1.2 miles. A highlight of the tour will be visiting the site of a newly discovered scene from Buster Keaton’s 1922 comedy My Wife’s Relations (center above), discussed in my prior post HERE.
Visit where Harry Houdini filmed The Grim Game (1919) and Buster Keaton filmed Cops (1922).
You can download a comprehensive PDF tour of Hollywood silent movie filming locations at this link. Hollywood’s Silent Echoes Tour – Cinecon 2016 – John Bengtson.
A newly discovered scene! Buster at the Hollywood alley.
You can read other posts highlighting some of the locations we’ll see HERE and HERE.
Click to enlarge. The corner of Hollywood and Cahuenga. Clockwise from the bottom, Harold Lloyd in Why Worry?; Mabel Normand, Charlie Chaplin, and Marie Dressler in Tillie’s Punctured Romance; Buster Keaton in Cops; Douglas Fairbanks in Flirting With Fate; and Mary Pickford in 100% American.
Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd film locations (and more) 
Looking forward to this!
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Thanks Nicole – me too. Bring some water – it may be hot!
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blockquote, div.yahoo_quoted { margin-left: 0 !important; border-left:1px #715FFA solid !important; padding-left:1ex !important; background-color:white !important; } Hi John!! Will try to make one of these walking tours as I’ve always wanted to check out the Hollywood locations… I don’t do well at all in extreme heat ,so Im afraid it’ll be weather permitting!!! Heres hoping for no heatwaves that weekend!! Cheers!Bronwen
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Hi Bronwen – I hope you can make it. It may be warm, but the essential part of the tour is walking one block south down Cahuenga, and returning one block north up Cosmo. There are plenty of restaurants and shops all around to grab a cold drink, and we’ll try to stand in the shade. Keeping my fingers crossed for cool weather – John
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Thanks, John!
Well, the Damfino have gone home, and things are winding down for me in Cottage Grove after our big Buster weekend. The film program in our Bohemia Park amphitheater was an unqualified success. Mark Orton’s new score is wonderfully written and his ensemble orchestra was extraordinary! An absolutely wonderful experience. Ten months in the planning but well worth every minute. The Hollywood Theatre in Portland sold out for the second time and is scheduling a third showing, which they are sure will sell out quickly. When all the statistics come in, Cottage Grove will likely have the largest total audience to see The General of all the venue’s, owing to the size of our outdoor park. But the Hollywood can beat us if they have three showings and our attendance is determined to be less than estimates. (I believe we had in excess of 1,000 people.) That is a lot of people for our little town. I wanted to thank you again for your help and encouragement with all the favors I was asking of you last week. I appreciate everything.
Lloyd
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Hi Lloyd – that’s great news to hear about how successful your event was. Congratulations on all of your hard work. Maybe I’ll be able to make it up in 2026 for the 100th anniversary celebration! Best wishes, John
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