Books by John Bengtson
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Top Posts & Pages
- How Harold Lloyd Filmed Safety Last!
- Green Acres, Pickfair, Chaplin's Breakaway Home, and Keaton's Italian Villa
- Solved! - Buster Keaton's 100 Year Old Three Ages Bungalow
- Leave it to Skokie, and Beaver, and Ward's Joke Letter
- Charlie Chaplin's Echo Park Home - 100 Years Later
- Charlie Chaplin's "Modern Times" Sanitarium Solved
- Leave it to Santa Monica - Beaver and Harold Lloyd
- Chaplin's Modern (Los Angeles) Times
- How Buster Keaton Filmed The General
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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
- Astoria
- Ben Model
- Beverly Hills
- Billy Bevan
- Brooklyn
- Bunker Hill
- Buster Keaton
- Chaplin – Keaton – Lloyd Alley
- Chaplin Studio
- Chaplin Tour
- Charley Chase
- Charlie Chaplin
- Chinatown
- City Lights
- College
- Columbia
- Convict 13
- Cops
- Court Hill
- Culver City
- 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
- Go West
- Hal Roach Studios
- Harold Lloyd
- Harry Houdini
- Harry Langdon
- Hollywood History
- Hollywood Tour
- Hot Water
- It's The Old Army Game
- Jackie Coogan
- James Cagney
- Jewett Estate
- Keaton Studio
- Keaton Tour
- Keystone Studio
- Laurel and Hardy
- Leave It To Beaver
- Lloyd Studio
- Lloyd Thrill Pictures
- Lloyd Tour
- Lois Weber
- Los Angeles Historic Core
- Los Angeles Tunnels
- Louise Brooks
- Lyons and Moran
- Mabel Normand
- Manhattan
- Marx Brothers
- Mary Pickford
- Modern Times
- New York
- Ocala Florida
- Oliver Hardy
- One Week
- Orson Welles
- Our Hospitality
- Pre-Code
- Roscoe Arbuckle
- 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
- The Office
- The Pilgrim
- The Scarecrow
- The Strong Man
- The Turning Point
- Three Ages
- Three Stooges
- Tillie's Punctured Romance
- Trolleys
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- Uncategorized
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- W.C. Fields
- Wanda Wiley
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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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Category Archives: Manhattan
Caught on Camera – Buster Keaton’s The Cameraman in New York
The Criterion Collection’s stunning new Blu-ray release of Buster Keaton’s The Cameraman and Spite Marriage is loaded with bonus special features, including a new documentary Time Travelers I had the privilege of making with historian Marc Wanamaker and Oscar-nominated director … Continue reading
Buster Keaton’s The Cameraman
I’m pleased to update this post to announce the 2019 San Francisco Silent Film Festival kicks off this year on Wednesday, May 1, with a 7:00 pm screening of Buster Keaton’s 1928 comedy triumph The Cameraman, in a beautiful new … Continue reading
Posted in Buster Keaton, Manhattan, The Cameraman
Tagged Buster Keaton, Manhattan, Silent Comedies, Silent Movie Locations, Silent Movies, The Cameraman, then and now, Venice
7 Comments
It’s The Old Army Game – W.C. Fields in New York with Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd
The wonderful new Kino Lorber Blu-ray release of W. C Fields and Louise Brooks in It’s The Old Army Game (1926) is a must-have for any Fields, Brooks, or silent comedy fan. As I’ve reported at length in several prior … Continue reading
Arbuckle – Keaton at the Bronx Biograph Studio
Noted biographer James Curtis contacted me with an intriguing observation. Did a scene from the 1917 Arbuckle-Keaton short Oh Doctor! (above) reveal the large glass rooftop shooting stage of the former Biograph Studio, located at 807 E 175th St in … Continue reading
Posted in Buster Keaton, Manhattan, New York, Roscoe Arbuckle
Tagged Biograph Studio, Buster Keaton, Coney Island, His Wedding Night, Oh Doctor!, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Roscoe Arbuckle, Silent Comedians, Silent Comedies, Silent Movie Locations, Silent Movies, the Bronx, then and now, Yonkers Raceway
14 Comments
Buster’s Manhattan Apartment – The Cameraman Part III
In a prior post, Bob Egan flexed his Manhattan research skills to locate Marceline Day’s now lost apartment in Buster Keaton’s The Cameraman, 35 West 58th Street. Now Bob has located Buster’s midtown apartment as well, 201 East 52nd Street. … Continue reading
Even More Speedy – New York Locations
Harold Lloyd’s final silent comedy Speedy, filmed on location in New York during the summer of 1927, is a goldmine of vintage Manhattan locations. While my book Silent Visions devotes 100 pages to the dozens of NYC (and Los Angeles) … Continue reading
More Buster in Manhattan – The Cameraman, Part II
Bob Egan’s fascinating website PopSpotsNYC.com explores visual archeology similar to my own. But instead of looking at silent-era comics, his site concerns places “where interesting events in the history of Pop Culture took place; like album cover shots, places where … Continue reading
New York, Harold Lloyd, and Adam Sandler?!
After matching The Artist (2011) and Harold Lloyd in a prior post, how about pairing Harold and Adam Sandler for an encore? I haven’t seen many of Sandler’s films, but once I realized Big Daddy was shot on location in … Continue reading
Buster’s Manhattan Project – on Film
During the summer of 1964, Buster Keaton and Samuel Beckett collaborated making a black and white, avant garde, nearly silent short movie entitled Film. Keaton, who is seen only from the rear, plays a man attempting to evade perception, eluding … Continue reading
Posted in Buster Keaton, Manhattan, New York
Tagged Buster Keaton, Keaton Locations, Manhattan, New York, Silent Comedians, Silent Movie Locations, then and now
2 Comments
New Photos – Babe Ruth’s Orphanage Cameo in Speedy
Babe Ruth’s hilarious cameo appearance is one of the many highlights in Harold Lloyd’s final silent comedy Speedy (1928), which I am presenting at 3:10 pm on Sunday, October 21, 2012, and at 7:30 pm on Monday, October 22, at … Continue reading
Cameo Squared – Lou Gehrig in Ruth’s Speedy Cameo
Eagle-eyed reader Kevin Dale not only recognized the setting of the very first shot of Charlie Chaplin’s career (see prior post), he also notified me of this amazing discovery. During the concluding scenes from Babe Ruth’s cameo appearance in Speedy … Continue reading
Posted in Harold Lloyd, Manhattan, New York, Speedy
Tagged Babe Ruth, Harold Lloyd, Lou Gehrig, Manhattan, New York, Silent Comedies, Silent Movie Locations, Silent Movies, Speedy
3 Comments
Silent Era New York – Harold Lloyd’s Speedy – Part 1
I will be presenting Harold Lloyd’s final silent comedy Speedy (1928) at 3:10 pm on Sunday, October 21, 2012, and at 7:30 pm on Monday, October 22, at Film Forum, 209 West Houston Street, New York, NY 10014, based … Continue reading
Posted in Brooklyn, Harold Lloyd, Lloyd Tour, Manhattan, New York, Speedy
Tagged Brooklyn, Harold Lloyd, Manhattan, New York, Silent Comedies, Silent Movie Locations, Silent Movies, Speedy
10 Comments
Harold – Buster – and Bergdorf Goodman – NYC Then and Now
Towards the end of Harold Lloyd’s manic taxi-ride driving Babe Ruth up 5th Avenue in New York during Speedy (released in 1928, but filmed during the summer of 1927), they approach W 57th Street, and the final of five traffic … Continue reading
Harold Lloyd’s Manhattan cigar
I’m excited to report that my new Harold Lloyd book Silent Visions is now available. Nearly five years in the making, it is such a relief to finally have the book in hand. As shown below, the book includes nearly … Continue reading
Posted in Harold Lloyd, Lloyd Tour, Manhattan, New York, Speedy
Tagged Harold Lloyd, Manhattan, Silent Comedians, Silent Movie Locations, Silent Movies, Speedy, then and now
2 Comments
Harold Lloyd Brooklyn – Speedy Tour
Harold Lloyd Brooklyn – Speedy Tour – Film Forum October 21, 22, 2012 I will be presenting Harold Lloyd’s final silent comedy Speedy (1928) at 3:10 pm on Sunday, October 21, 2012, and at 7:30 pm on Monday, October 22, … Continue reading
Posted in Brooklyn, Harold Lloyd, Lloyd Tour, Manhattan, New York, Speedy
Tagged Brooklyn, Harold Lloyd, Silent Comedies, Silent Movie Locations, Silent Movies, Speedy
12 Comments
Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd film locations (and more) 