Category Archives: Buster Keaton

Colleen Moore and Buster Keaton Reveal a “Lost” Hollywood Intersection

Posted on March 30, 2024 by John Bengtson

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 , , , , | 2 Comments

Solved! – Buster Keaton’s 100 Year Old Three Ages Bungalow

Posted on January 19, 2024 by John Bengtson

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 →

Posted in Buster Keaton, Three Ages | Tagged , , , , , | 13 Comments

Buster Keaton’s San Francisco footsteps

Posted on December 30, 2023 by John Bengtson

Buster filmed scenes from Day Dreams (1922) and The Navigator (1924) across San Francisco. Most locations look remarkably unchanged a century later. My latest YouTube video reveals every SF locale with then and now views, intercut with scenes where sneaky … Continue reading →

Posted in Buster Keaton, Day Dreams, San Francisco | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Keaton and W.C. Fields Cross Paths Again Near Buster’s Studio

Posted on November 11, 2023 by John Bengtson

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 , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Chaplin, Keaton, and Coogan on Sanchez Street – Three Films Revealed in a Brief Glimpse during The Kid

Posted on October 14, 2023 by John Bengtson

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 →

Posted in Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Jackie Coogan, The Kid | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Keaton-Fairbanks Hollywood Fire Station

Posted on July 22, 2023 by John Bengtson

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 →

Posted in Buster Keaton, Doug Fairbanks, Gale Henry, Hollywood History | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Hiding in plain sight – more cinematic magic from Buster Keaton’s Go West

Posted on December 24, 2022 by John Bengtson

Known only as “Friendless,” Buster finds himself working on an Arizona cattle ranch during Go West. There he meets Brown Eyes the cow when he kindly removes a painful rock stuck in her hoof. Soon after she returns the favor … Continue reading →

Posted in Buster Keaton, Go West | Tagged , | 9 Comments

Buster Keaton’s “Electric House” Home

Posted on November 30, 2022 by John Bengtson

Buster filmed the graduation scenes from The Electric House (1922) at a commercial site still standing, just blocks away from his once magnificent real-life home (above) appearing later in the film. The film opens with graduating botanist Buster mistakenly receiving … Continue reading →

Posted in Buster Keaton | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Kid, Cops, Intolerance revealed in a 125 year old photo

Posted on October 29, 2022 by John Bengtson

When the great silent comedians filmed the streets of LA one hundred or more years ago, many of those settings were already decades old. Focusing on a single vintage photo, let’s explore one of the most fascinating film locations in … Continue reading →

Posted in Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Los Angeles Historic Core | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Harold Lloyd’s “Hot Water” Sherlock turkey troubles

Posted on October 15, 2022 by John Bengtson

Wrangling a live turkey on a trolley, forced to walk it home, overlapping Buster Keaton’s Sherlock Jr., even more visual history is now revealed from Harold Lloyd’s Hot Water (1924). Newlywed Harold’s day is shattered when his better half calls … Continue reading →

Posted in Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Hot Water, Lyons and Moran, Sherlock Jr. | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Case Closed! How Buster Keaton filmed Sherlock Jr.

Posted on July 2, 2022 by John Bengtson

Hosted by the Catalina Museum for Art and History, earlier this year I had the thrill and honor to introduce their screening of Buster Keaton’s brilliant comedy Sherlock Jr. (1924), accompanied by renowned pianist and composer Michael D. Mortilla. With … Continue reading →

Posted in Buster Keaton, Sherlock Jr. | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Keaton Sherlock Jr. – Valentino Blood and Sand – at Avalon Silent Film Showcase

Posted on May 8, 2022 by John Bengtson

Buster Keaton’s brilliant comedy Sherlock Jr., and Rudolph Valentino’s smoldering performance as a conflicted bullfighter in Blood and Sand, highlight this year’s Avalon Silent Film Showcase, hosted on Catalina Island at the beautiful Avalon Casino Theatre, on May 13 – … Continue reading →

Posted in Buster Keaton | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Buster Keaton’s Lost and Found “Seven Chances” Homes

Posted on March 27, 2022 by John Bengtson

During Seven Chances (1925) Buster’s character discovers on his 27th birthday he must marry by seven o’clock that evening in order to inherit a $7M fortune. After ineptly proposing to his longtime girlfriend, he speeds off to a country club … Continue reading →

Posted in Buster Keaton, Seven Chances | Tagged , , , | 12 Comments

Buster Keaton’s riverbank footsteps – Steamboat Bill, Jr.

Posted on March 6, 2022 by John Bengtson

Buster Keaton filmed his final independent production Steamboat Bill, Jr. on location in Sacramento. The movie opens with an elegant scene filmed at the tip of what is now Discovery Park, slowly panning right to left from the American river … Continue reading →

Posted in Buster Keaton, Steamboat Bill, Jr. | Tagged , , , , , | 10 Comments

Take the Tour – the Buster Keaton Studio

Posted on January 8, 2022 by John Bengtson

I first read Rudi Blesh’s biography Keaton in junior high, and was immediately hooked by Buster’s magic and the romance of early filmmaking. I grew up watching silent comedies on public television, and collecting 8mm prints of Charlie Chaplin and … Continue reading →

Posted in Buster Keaton, Keaton Studio, Keaton Tour | Tagged , , , , | 11 Comments

Solved! Buster Keaton’s Mystery Colegrove Building

Posted on July 30, 2021 by John Bengtson

Buster Keaton was a pragmatic filmmaker, and it’s been fun discovering how often he would shoot simple scenes nearby, or even across the street from his small Hollywood studio once standing at 1025 Lillian Way. Appearing as both a receiving … Continue reading →

Posted in Buster Keaton, Hollywood History, The Goat | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Buster Keaton’s Early Days on Los Feliz

Posted on March 6, 2021 by John Bengtson

Straight from their opening-scene wedding in One Week (1920), staged on the steps of the Congregational Sunday School at the SE corner of Lillian Way and Romaine (kitty-corner from the Keaton Studio), Buster and Sybil Seely drive west along Los … Continue reading →

Posted in Buster Keaton, Convict 13, One Week | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Mary Pickford’s “A Beast at Bay” a century before LAX

Posted on December 27, 2020 by John Bengtson

Mary Pickford’s A Beast at Bay (1912), directed by D.W. Griffith, portends his 1916 feature Intolerance, overlaps with later films starring Mabel Normand, Douglas Fairbanks, and Buster Keaton, and reveals the future site of LAX (!), the Los Angeles International … Continue reading →

Posted in Buster Keaton, Mary Pickford, One Week, The Goat | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Buster’s Brazen Bystanders

Posted on December 6, 2020 by John Bengtson

Bystanders appear frequently in the background of early films, a charming reminder of how the public witnessed the cinematic artform blossom, not only in theaters, but before their very eyes on the streets where they were made. The young girls … Continue reading →

Posted in Buster Keaton, Cops | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments

Buster, Harold, Mabel, and Doug, and the murder of Wm. Desmond Taylor!

Posted on October 25, 2020 by John Bengtson

This post contains a variety of odds and ends. To begin, thanks to Tommy Dangcil we can see exactly where Buster Keaton staged a scene from Cops (1922) in front of the grand stairway leading to the former First Baptist … Continue reading →

Posted in Buster Keaton, Doug MacLean, Harold Lloyd, Mabel Normand | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments