Books by John Bengtson
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Top Posts & Pages
- Silent Comedy's Bridges of Hollenbeck Park
- How Harold Lloyd Filmed Safety Last!
- Green Acres, Pickfair, Chaplin's Breakaway Home, and Keaton's Italian Villa
- How Laurel & Hardy Filmed Perfect Day - New Discoveries
- Buster Keaton's Go West Desert - "Frozen" in Time
- Hiding in plain sight - more cinematic magic from Buster Keaton's Go West
- Silent Star Mabel Normand – the Game Girl’s Trio of Triumphs
- How Laurel and Hardy Filmed Duck Soup
- Harold Lloyd - Film Noir - Criss Cross and the Hill Street Tunnel
- How Chaplin Filmed The Champion - on Location in Niles
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Author Interviews – Reviews
- Academy Interview July 2011
- AMPAS Lecture on The General
- City Brights SF Gate Review
- Publishers Weekly Review
- KPCC Interview
- Interview on Movie Mom
- Philadelphina Inquirer
- Los Angeles Times interview
- Los Angeles Magazine Review
- MOMI article on New York and Speedy
- New York Times (see page 5)
- Author’s Modern Times Program
- Wall Street Journal
- Associated Press
- Examiner – Best 2011 Silent Film Books
- The Commentary Track
- Leonard Maltin Movie Crazy
- LA Observed
- Film Forum New York
- New York Times – Keaton Review
- 2013 Club TCM in Hollywood
- LA Times 2013
- John Bengtson on IMDB
- Talking Buster Keaton – Neighbors @ 24:30
- Talking Buster Keaton – The Blacksmith @ 11:30
- Nitrateville Radio Interview
- Laurel & Hardy Blogcast Ep. 26 Interview at 22:12
- SFSFF Amazing Tales: Silent Footsteps
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Recent Posts
- Silent Comedy’s Bridges of Hollenbeck Park
- Colleen Moore and Buster Keaton Reveal a “Lost” Hollywood Intersection
- Harold Lloyd, Dorothy Devore, Movie Pilot Frank Clarke – Stunt Birds of a Feather
- Historic Hollywood Relics Found In “Lost” Films
- Solved! – Buster Keaton’s 100 Year Old Three Ages Bungalow
- Buster Keaton’s San Francisco footsteps
- Stan Laurel and W.C. Fields Crossed Paths Near the Keaton and Metro Studios
- Keaton and W.C. Fields Cross Paths Again Near Buster’s Studio
- Chaplin, Keaton, and Coogan on Sanchez Street – Three Films Revealed in a Brief Glimpse during The Kid
- How Laurel & Hardy Filmed Duck Soup – Flicker Alley Year One Blu-ray Release
- How Charlie Chaplin and Jackie Coogan Made The Kid at the Plaza de Los Angeles
- The Keaton-Fairbanks Hollywood Fire Station
- Rooftop Vistas from Silent Film – Hal Roach’s “Radio Mad”
- The Ghosts of Trolleys Past – Harold Lloyd’s Haunted Spooks
- Silk Hat Raymond Griffith at Swanky Fremont Place
- Wonderful Wanda Wiley … Who? Part Two – lost on Beaudry
- The Little Tramp’s Screen Debut – Charlie Chaplin’s Kid Autos – They Were What ?!?
- Silent Star Mabel Normand – the Game Girl’s Trio of Triumphs
- Santa Monica’s Slapstick Comedy Cliffs – How Did They Do It?
- Wonderful Wanda Wiley … Who?
- Hiding in plain sight – more cinematic magic from Buster Keaton’s Go West
- Buster Keaton’s “Electric House” Home
- New revelations about Safety Last! and The Kid
- The Kid, Cops, Intolerance revealed in a 125 year old photo
- Harold Lloyd’s “Hot Water” Sherlock turkey troubles
- Flying “Lizzies of the Field” – Part 2
- Jackie Coogan’s Charlie Chaplin’s Lost LA Alley – The Rag Man
- Harold Lloyd’s “Hot Water” “Happy Days” Home
- Charlie Chaplin’s “Modern Times” Sanitarium Solved
- Billy Bevan’s “Lizzies of the Field” before Griffith Observatory
- What? Buster Keaton’s Studio Appears in Seven Chances!
- Case Closed! How Buster Keaton filmed Sherlock Jr.
- Soft Shoes – Crossing Paths with Chaplin, Laurel, and Lloyd
- Charlie Chaplin’s One A.M. Mystery
- Keaton Sherlock Jr. – Valentino Blood and Sand – at Avalon Silent Film Showcase
- The San Francisco Silent Film Festival returns to live cinema – Steamboat Bill, Jr. – Penrod and Sam
- Buster Keaton’s Lost and Found “Seven Chances” Homes
- Buster Keaton’s riverbank footsteps – Steamboat Bill, Jr.
- SF Silent Film Festival Returns to Live Cinema with Chaplin’s City Lights
- Take the Tour – the Buster Keaton Studio
- Lady Cops (and Harold Lloyd) Reveal 1914 Lost LA Treasures
- Silent Locations YouTube Channel
- Ben Model presents Edward Everett Horton: 8 Silent Comedies
- The Roaring Road – rare ‘new’ views of early Hollywood
- Silent Movie Day celebrates the Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd Alley
- Step by silent footstep – how the Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd Alley was revealed
- Hollywood Heritage Celebrates the Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd Alley
- Solved! Buster Keaton’s Mystery Colegrove Building
- The Kid – Chaplin’s Silent Footsteps tour now on YouTube
- The Kid – Silent Footsteps a Century Ago – Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum Chaplin Days
- Silent Footsteps Now Online – SFSFF Amazing Tales
- Silent Footsteps – SFSFF Amazing Tales Online
- Worth a Thousand Words – Patrick Mate’s Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd Alley Cartoon
- Chaplin’s Bay Area Footsteps
- Charlie, Buster, and Harold Silent Footsteps LA Tour
- Columbo and Mannix Save Us, Again
- Early Hollywood Visual Tour at HippFest 2021
- Buster Keaton’s Early Days on Los Feliz
- Incredible new Laurel “OR” Hardy film collection
- The Lens of History – Hollywood before the Chaplin Studio
- Live Virtual Silent Locations Tour with Esotouric
- Mary Pickford’s “A Beast at Bay” a century before LAX
- Buster’s Brazen Bystanders
- Doug and Mary, Hedda and Jed, The Beverly Hillbillies Hollywood Appeal
- The Remarkable Charlie Chaplin Archives
- Buster, Harold, Mabel, and Doug, and the murder of Wm. Desmond Taylor!
- Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, and Lyons & Moran – the “good” old days on New High Street
- Buster Keaton’s Go West Desert – “Frozen” in Time
- Time Travel to 1919 Hollywood
- CHASE! A Tribute to the Keystone Cops
- Buster Keaton – Hard Luck, The Goat – closeups at Westlake Park
- Time Travelers: Uncovering Old LA in Keaton Comedies
- Buster Keaton – Ghosts of Go West
- Caught on Camera – Buster Keaton’s The Cameraman in New York
- Charlie Chaplin’s Once Lost Film – A Thief Catcher
- Arbuckle and Keaton Filmed in Culver City Years Before Laurel and Hardy
- Harold Lloyd’s Earliest Days Filming in Edendale
- Buster Keaton – More Backlot Scenes From Our Hospitality
- How Laurel and Hardy Filmed Duck Soup
- Keaton’s The Cameraman on the Santa Monica Pier
- Three Good Fellows – Harold Lloyd, Doug MacLean, and Ben Model
- Buster, Harold, and Stymie at the Venice Pier
- Mary Pickford, the Talmadge Sisters, and Buster Keaton at the Brunton Studio
- Keaton’s Missing Scene and Cameraman Tricks
- Silent Comedy’s Crazy Corner
- Happy “Roaring Twenties” New Year at Keaton’s Bungalow
- Buster Keaton at the Selig Studio “Prison”
- Buster Keaton’s Scarecrow Adobe
- Silent Hollywood’s Japanese Enclave
- How Mary Pickford Filmed Daddy-Long-Legs Part Two
- Chaplin’s Earliest Scenes Beside the Selig Studio
- Harpo, Chico, and James Cagney at the Brunswig Mansion
- Early Thrill Comedies – Who Was First?
- Harry Houdini Solves a Charlie Chaplin Mystery!
- How Mary Pickford Filmed Daddy-Long-Legs Part One
- Buster Keaton’s Sherlock Schindler
- The nearly last – Safety Last – joke
- The Office – Film Noir – and Harold Lloyd
- Chaplin, Keaton, and Lois Weber’s “Suspense” in Beverly Hills
- Alice Howell Early Hollywood Views
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Categories
- Angels Flight
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- Ben Model
- Beverly Hills
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- Brooklyn
- Bunker Hill
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- Charley Chase
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- Chinatown
- City Lights
- College
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- Convict 13
- Cops
- Court Hill
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- Day Dreams
- Daydreams
- Doug Fairbanks
- Doug MacLean
- Douglas Fairbanks
- Duck Soup
- Edendale
- Exposition Park
- Film Noir
- Florida
- For Heaven's Sake
- Gale Henry
- Girl Shy
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- Hollywood History
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- Hot Water
- It's The Old Army Game
- Jackie Coogan
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- Modern Times
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- One Week
- Orson Welles
- Our Hospitality
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- Safety Last!
- San Francisco
- Seven Chances
- Sherlock Jr.
- Speedy
- Stan Laurel
- Steamboat Bill, Jr.
- The Artist
- The Blacksmith
- The Boat
- The Cameraman
- The Freshman
- The General
- The Goat
- The Grim Game
- The Kid
- The Last Edition
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- The Scarecrow
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- Three Ages
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- Trolleys
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Silent Locations – Chaplin – Keaton – Lloyd (and more)- Silent Comedy’s Bridges of Hollenbeck Park
- Colleen Moore and Buster Keaton Reveal a “Lost” Hollywood Intersection
- Harold Lloyd, Dorothy Devore, Movie Pilot Frank Clarke – Stunt Birds of a Feather
- Historic Hollywood Relics Found In “Lost” Films
- Solved! – Buster Keaton’s 100 Year Old Three Ages Bungalow
- Buster Keaton’s San Francisco footsteps
- Stan Laurel and W.C. Fields Crossed Paths Near the Keaton and Metro Studios
- Keaton and W.C. Fields Cross Paths Again Near Buster’s Studio
- Chaplin, Keaton, and Coogan on Sanchez Street – Three Films Revealed in a Brief Glimpse during The Kid
- How Laurel & Hardy Filmed Duck Soup – Flicker Alley Year One Blu-ray Release
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Author Archives: John Bengtson
Silent Comedy’s Bridges of Hollenbeck Park
The graceful arch bridge that once spanned the narrow lake in Hollenbeck Park has appeared in numerous silent films. USC Digital Library. Perhaps its most celebrated appearance is with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy during their early talkie short Men … Continue reading
Colleen Moore and Buster Keaton Reveal a “Lost” Hollywood Intersection
Hollywood was a small, undeveloped community during the early years of cinema. Cahuenga Blvd, now a major thoroughfare, once ran south for two blocks from Hollywood Blvd past Selma to where it ended at Sunset Blvd. Through traffic would then … Continue reading
Posted in Buster Keaton, Day Dreams, Hollywood History, One Week
Tagged A Roman Scandal, Colleen Moore, Hollywood History, One Week, The Pest
2 Comments
Harold Lloyd, Dorothy Devore, Movie Pilot Frank Clarke – Stunt Birds of a Feather
Here’s more Hollywood history appearing in another little-known film, this time from a Columbia Studios Screen Snapshots newsreel. Above, Screen Snapshots captured pioneer Hollywood stunt pilot/actor Frank Clarke flying an airplane from the roof of the Los Angeles Railroad Building … Continue reading
Historic Hollywood Relics Found In “Lost” Films
This post presents bits and pieces of Hollywood history appearing in an assortment of little-known films, many unavailable for decades. I closely follow Dave Glass’s invaluable YouTube channel. You never know what brief scene from an obscure film will reveal … Continue reading
Posted in Gale Henry, Hollywood History
Tagged Hollywood, Hollywood Tour, Silent Movie Locations, then and now
7 Comments
Solved! – Buster Keaton’s 100 Year Old Three Ages Bungalow
Love triumphs over all. Buster Keaton’s first feature comedy Three Ages (1923) 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 … Continue reading
Stan Laurel and W.C. Fields Crossed Paths Near the Keaton and Metro Studios
Expanding on the previous post, Stan Laurel also crossed paths with W.C. Fields, at the Metro Studios south of Buster Keaton’s studio, with the same landmark storage building still standing appearing at back. The scenes further below appear in Stan’s … Continue reading
Posted in Stan Laurel, W.C. Fields
Tagged Buster Keaton, Buster Keaton Studio, If I Had A Million, Metro Studios, Stan Laurel, Twins, WC Fields
3 Comments
Keaton and W.C. Fields Cross Paths Again Near Buster’s Studio
Buster Keaton filmed The Chemist (1936) and W.C. Fields filmed Running Wild (1927) beside the same apartment building still standing across the street from the Astoria studios where both movies were made in Queens, New York. (Links to detailed posts … Continue reading
Posted in Buster Keaton, Keaton Studio, W.C. Fields
Tagged Go West, If I Had A Million, KMTR, Running Wild, Seven Chances, The Balloonatic, The Chemist
6 Comments
Chaplin, Keaton, and Coogan on Sanchez Street – Three Films Revealed in a Brief Glimpse during The Kid
Accolades aside, Chaplin’s masterpiece The Kid preserves a treasure trove of visual history, including Olvera Street near the Plaza de Los Angeles, and the Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd Alley in Hollywood. It’s complicated (more below), but The Kid also captures the precise spot … Continue reading
How Laurel & Hardy Filmed Duck Soup – Flicker Alley Year One Blu-ray Release
Hooray for Flicker Alley releasing Laurel & Hardy: Year One, a beautifully presented 2-disc Blu-ray set of Stan and Ollie’s 1927 films. The all-new restorations look stunning, meticulously assembled from the best available materials contributed by archives and collectors around … Continue reading
How Charlie Chaplin and Jackie Coogan Made The Kid at the Plaza de Los Angeles
Time travel back over a century ago, as Charlie Chaplin and Jackie Coogan lead a personal tour around the Plaza de Los Angeles while making The Kid (1921) and other early films. Charlie and Jackie famously reunite on Olvera Street, … Continue reading
Posted in Chaplin Tour, The Kid
Tagged Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, How Harold Lloyd filmed Safety Last, Jackie Coogan, My Boy, The Kid, The Rag Man
3 Comments
The Keaton-Fairbanks Hollywood Fire Station
Buster Keaton filmed FIVE movies at the former Hollywood Fire/Police Station. Douglas Fairbanks was likely the first major star to film here, and so far as known the only star to film the now lost building from all sides. Teaser … Continue reading
Rooftop Vistas from Silent Film – Hal Roach’s “Radio Mad”
Imagine visiting an apartment rooftop a century ago, the things you’d see. Overflowing with LA history, the Hal Roach comedy Radio Mad (1924) also reveals novel views of silent films such as Safety Last! and A Woman of Paris (below), … Continue reading
The Ghosts of Trolleys Past – Harold Lloyd’s Haunted Spooks
Paul Ayers, attorney, SoCal historian, and Altadena hiking trail expert and restorer (Paul on Facebook, Paul’s channel on YouTube) has shared many remarkable location discoveries over the years, including the Little Tramp’s walking-away-alone finale spot from Charlie Chaplin’s The Circus … Continue reading
Posted in Harold Lloyd, Trolleys
Tagged Echo Park, Harold Lloyd, Haunted Spooks, LARy, Los Angeles Railway, Pacific Electric Railway, Trolleys
6 Comments
Silk Hat Raymond Griffith at Swanky Fremont Place
Ben Model is a silent film SUPER-HERO. Now the subject of four posts at this site, Ben’s indie Undercrank Productions has released dozens of rare silent movies to home audiences. His latest Blu-ray production now for sale, Raymond Griffith: The … Continue reading
Posted in Ben Model
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Wonderful Wanda Wiley … Who? Part Two – lost on Beaudry
Wonderful Wanda Wiley is my favorite rediscovered silent film comedienne. Her charm, girl-next-door appeal, and athletic stunt-work are on great display in her 1927 comedy short A Thrilling Romance. Wanda portrays a struggling novelist, buried by stacks of rejection letters. … Continue reading
Posted in Wanda Wiley
7 Comments
The Little Tramp’s Screen Debut – Charlie Chaplin’s Kid Autos – They Were What ?!?
My latest YouTube video presents Charlie Chaplin’s screen debut of “The Little Tramp,” while explaining what exactly were “kid auto races.” Below, a few scenes from the video, and further below, my original post about the film from 2011. Inducted … Continue reading
Santa Monica’s Slapstick Comedy Cliffs – How Did They Do It?
Although Harold Lloyd was the most accomplished, dozens of others silent comedians also filmed “stunt” comedies climbing up or hanging from tall buildings. As reported many times in this blog, one very common technique was to construct a small building … Continue reading
Posted in Wanda Wiley
10 Comments
Wonderful Wanda Wiley … Who?
Wonderful Wanda Wiley was a spirited, athletic silent film comedienne, whose charm and girl-next-door appeal made her the female equivalent of Harold Lloyd’s “All-American Boy” (sometimes she even wore glasses). [Fun update – Wanda and Harold share the same April … Continue reading
Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd film locations (and more) 