This post examines Buster Keaton’s ‘failed’ rooftop leap between buildings during his first feature comedy Three Ages (1923), one of the most remarkable stunts of his career. The movie tells three tales of love, set in the Stone Age, the Roman Age, and the Present Age (i.e. 1923), where against all odds underdog Buster wins the girl played by Margaret Leahy by defeating villainous Wallace Beery.

To begin, Buster, didn’t use a stunt double leaping between the buildings, but used a body double for another scene (!) This production still shows Margaret lying on a dolly, a handle hidden in her hair, straddled by the wheels of a camera car. Keaton, directing the scene, is wearing his “working man” costume – notice the vest and the slap shoes. Next to him is a man of similar stature wearing fur shoes and a fur costume over his regular clothes. Clearly this man, and not Buster, is the person dragging Margaret by the hair in the above scene. Given Ms. Leahy’s limited acting skills, perhaps Keaton switched places to supervise the scene more closely.

The movie ends with three postscript finales – caveman Buster and wife, and their 10 caveman kids exit their cave one-by-one. Next, elegant Roman Age Buster and wife and 5 children, all wearing graceful togas, exit their formal columned home. For the final shot, Present Age Buster and wife exit their Hollywood bungalow, along with … one tiny dog! As reported in this recent post HERE, their Hollywood bungalow still stands, at 1425 El Centro near the corner of Leland Way. See below for my Kino-Lorber bonus program showing locations from the film.

Let’s look closely at Buster’s dive, filmed on long lost Court Hill above the Hill Street Tunnel, where Harold Lloyd filmed many stunt comedies.

What do you see? Buster leaping with absolute certainty he will easily grab the ledge and climb to the roof, or Buster leaping to touch the ledge so that he may deliberately fall into a net? An accident or an “accident”?

The story goes Buster accidentally missed the second building, which necessitated devising him falling through window awnings and swinging on rainspouts to salvage the failed scene.

Considering Buster’s skill and precision, I always believed his “accidental” fall was planned that way all along. Would Keaton’s brilliant technical director Fred Gabourie have failed to calibrate the correct distance for the jump in advance? To my eye the ledge was too far away for Buster to plausibly claim he was certain of success when making the leap. But Keaton scholars recount a 1956 interview where Buster reports it was a true accident, where he explains afterward “I had to go home and stay in bed for about three days.” But in the same interview he misstates where the scene was filmed (!) Knowing Buster was publicity savvy, who sometimes embellished promotional interviews, and my sense Buster really did plan for this fall, I drafted a lengthy article ‘proving’ the fall was planned all along, while dissecting Buster’s at least partially inaccurate interview describing the famous scene.

Buster swung on a hinged rainspout during The High Sign and swung from awning to awning during My Wife’s Relations. It’s easy to imagine Buster eagerly recreated these stunts on a large scale for his first feature film.

Thankfully eagle-eyed Keaton aficionado Richard Warner offered a tantalizing deeper theory: (A) the fall we see onscreen could have been planned, but (B) Buster was also telling the truth about having an accident. (A) and (B) are not mutually exclusive! Perhaps the sequence we see was truly planned, but also inspired by a true accident, the original footage of which is now presumably lost. This duality allowed me to focus on what we know and see onscreen, and leave speculation about Buster’s interview alone.

Click to enlarge – does Buster’s body language indicate the startled shock and panic of a three-days-in-bed accident victim desperately grabbing for the ledge? Or someone calmly falling into a net as planned?

We’ll likely never know the full truth, but if you care to read why I believe Buster’s ‘accidental’ fall was truly planned that way all along, with further thoughts and images, and a full transcript of his error-prone interview, please download as a 4MB PDF file below, my story appearing in the Spring 2025 issue of The Keaton Chronicle, published by The International Buster Keaton Society, the Damfinos.

Buster Keaton’s Three Ages Leap of Faith by John Bengtson

Learn learn about joining the Damfinos HERE https://busterkeaton.org/.

No accident here, Buster knew his limitations – this stunt is from Seven Chances

This post is part of the Silent-ology Buster Keaton blogathon hosted by Lea Stans. Let me know in the comments what you think about my theory.

My bonus program for the prior Kino-Lorber Blu-ray of Three Ages is now out of print, but available below on my YouTube channel. See Buster’s bathtub rock, the Garden of the Gods, the Coliseum, the Hill Street Tunnel, the Hollywood Fire/Police Station, the First Methodist Church in Glendale, and more. Please like and subscribe.