Books by John Bengtson
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Top Posts & Pages
- Laurel & Hardy's Liberty Rooftop
- How Harold Lloyd Filmed Safety Last!
- Leave it to Santa Monica - Beaver and Harold Lloyd
- Groucho, Buster, and Noir - at the Pasadena Jewett Estate
- Buster Keaton's riverbank footsteps - Steamboat Bill, Jr.
- Green Acres, Pickfair, Chaplin's Breakaway Home, and Keaton's Italian Villa
- The Surviving Chaplin “The Circus” Tree
- Chaplin Keaton Lloyd Alley
- About
- Take the Tour - the Buster Keaton Studio
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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
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Recent Posts
- 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
- The Hollywood Heritage in Lois Weber’s Suspense
- Harold Lloyd’s The Kid Brother Was Close to Home
- Buster’s Paramount Backlot Plunge
- Buster Keaton’s The Cameraman
- Green Acres, Pickfair, Chaplin’s Breakaway Home, and Keaton’s Italian Villa
- Silent Echoes LA Bus Tours and Podcast
- Hollywood Snapshots – a 1922 Time Machine
- Harry Langdon – His Marriage Wow
- Laurel & Hardy’s Liberty Rooftop
- Before the Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd Alley
- Chaplin falls for The Kid – every scene now identified
- Keaton’s Bungalow Outside MGM
- Oliver Hardy at the Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd Alley
- Buster Keaton and W.C. Fields in Astoria
- Buster Keaton’s Kennel on the MGM lot
- Buster Keaton’s Blue Blazes in Astoria
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Categories
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- Follow Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd film locations (and more) on WordPress.com
Silent Locations – Chaplin – Keaton – Lloyd (and more)- 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
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Search Results for: Court Hill
The Artist Locations Part 4, Bradbury, Chaplin, and Lloyd
During a pivotal scene in The Artist (2011), fading silent film star George Valentin and rising ingénue Peppy Miller pass each other on a staircase at the Kinograph Studios where they work, their career trajectories mirrored by their relative positions … Continue reading
Posted in Angels Flight, Charlie Chaplin, Hal Roach Studios, Harold Lloyd, Lloyd Thrill Pictures, Los Angeles Historic Core, Los Angeles Tunnels, Safety Last!, The Artist
Tagged angles flight, Bradbury Building, Bradbury Mansion, Broadway, bunker hill, Charlie Chaplin, Court Flight, Court Hill, funicular, Hal Roach, Harold Lloyd, High and Dizzy, Lloyd Studio, Lloyd Thrill Pictures, Los Angeles Historic Core, Man on the Clock, Safety Last!, Silent Comedians, Silent Comedies, Silent Movie Locations, Silent Movies, Stunt Climbing, The Artist, the artist filming locations, The Artist locations, then and now
20 Comments
Buster Keaton and Film Noir? – It’s Also True
It’s now Buster Keaton’s turn, after Harold Lloyd and Charlie Chaplin (see prior posts), to brush shoulders with film noir. The Glendale Southern Pacific station was barely three years old when Buster Keaton used it to portray the station for … Continue reading
Posted in Angels Flight, Bunker Hill, Buster Keaton, College, Film Noir, For Heaven's Sake, Harold Lloyd, Los Angeles Historic Core
Tagged angles flight, bunker hill, Buster Keaton, film noir, film noir locations, Harold Lloyd, Los Angeles Historic Core, Silent Comedies, Silent Movie Locations, Silent Movies
8 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
Soft Shoes – Crossing Paths with Chaplin, Laurel, and Lloyd
Now streaming on the San Francisco Silent Film Festival’s website, Harry Carey’s 1925 action/drama Soft Shoes, in which Carey (right) seeks to rescue a young woman from a life of crime, was purportedly set in San Francisco. Yet the film’s … Continue reading
Posted in Charlie Chaplin, Chinatown, Harold Lloyd, Stan Laurel
Tagged A Film Johnnie, Apablasa, Asbury, Bryson, Cayetano, Charlie Chaplin, Chinatown, For Heaven's Sake, Franconia, Harold Lloyd, Harry Carey, Mandarin Mixup, Ocean Park, Soft Shoes, St. Clement's Church, Stan Laurel, The Kid
1 Comment
The Roaring Road – rare ‘new’ views of early Hollywood
Above, a rare time capsule glimpse looking east from Cahuenga toward the towering Taft Building at the SE corner of Hollywood and Vine, before the neighboring Broadway (B. H. Dyas) Building was built on the SW corner in 1928. The … Continue reading
The Lens of History – Hollywood before the Chaplin Studio
Above, only part of a vast panoramic view looking south at Hollywood, circa 1906. Can you spot the future site of the Charlie Chaplin Studio, nearly straight ahead? The hill in the foreground would become in 1914 the site to … Continue reading
Three Good Fellows – Harold Lloyd, Doug MacLean, and Ben Model
Musician Ben Model is a silent film super-hero. Aside from his duties as resident accompanist for MoMA in New York, the Library of Congress, and performing at silent screenings around the county, his indie Undercrank Productions has released over 20 … Continue reading
Buster Keaton’s Scarecrow Adobe
I’m delighted to host guest blogger Jeffrey Castel de Oro’s amazing post regarding the early California history appearing in Buster Keaton’s The Scarecrow. A friend for 20 years, Jeff has contributed many significant locations and photographs to all of my … Continue reading
Harry Houdini Solves a Charlie Chaplin Mystery!
Harry Houdini helped to discover where Charlie Chaplin filmed crucial scenes for his very first movie Making a Living (1914). The initial scene of Charlie’s entire career (below), discovered by Kevin Dale and reported HERE, was staged in front of … Continue reading
Posted in Charlie Chaplin, Harry Houdini, Los Angeles Historic Core
Tagged Chaplin Locations, Charlie Chaplin, City Lights, Harry Houdini, Hill Street, Los Angeles Athletic Club, Los Angeles Express, Los Angeles Historic Core, Los Angeles Tribune, Making a Living, Olive Street, Silent Movie Locations, Ville de Paris
11 Comments
The Office – Film Noir – and Harold Lloyd
What do the television show The Office, the 1950 film noir drama Edge of Doom, and Harold Lloyd’s final silent comedy Speedy (1928) have in common? They all filmed scenes looking southwest down Witmer Street towards the front of the … Continue reading
Harold Lloyd’s The Kid Brother Was Close to Home
It’s time to celebrate the wonderful new Blu-ray release of Harold Lloyd’s classic comedy The Kid Brother by the Criterion Collection. Considered by many to be Lloyd’s masterpiece, this release is simply stunning, a beautiful clear crisp print, a choice … Continue reading
Green Acres, Pickfair, Chaplin’s Breakaway Home, and Keaton’s Italian Villa
Below, 1937, Harold Lloyd’s Green Acres (red), Doug and Mary’s Pickfair (blue), Charlie Chaplin’s home (yellow), and Buster Keaton’s Italian Villa (orange). Who knew they were all spaced so close together? I knew Charlie Chaplin’s home (yellow above and left) … Continue reading
It’s The Old Army Game – W.C. Fields and Louise Brooks in Ocala Florida – Part Three – Fields Chased Around Town
Here’s the third and final post about W.C. Fields and Louise Brooks filming It’s The Old Army Game (1926) in Ocala, Florida. In the first post Fields plays an embattled pharmacist dealing with rude customers, nagging relatives, and pesky firefighters. … Continue reading
Posted in It's The Old Army Game, Ocala Florida, W.C. Fields
7 Comments
Restoration Premiere of Soft Shoes – Crossing Paths with Chaplin, Laurel, and Lloyd
The San Francisco Silent Film Festival 2018 schedule has just been announced! One highlight is the Thursday, May 31 world premiere restoration of Universal’s 1925 Harry Carey action/drama Soft Shoes, in which Carey (right) seeks to rescue a young woman … Continue reading
The Surviving Keaton Studio Neighbors
Buster Keaton unwittingly documented the urbanization of the once agricultural Colegrove region of Hollywood in the background of his films. As reported in my book Silent Echoes, the quaint Cahuenga Valley Lemon Growers Exchange warehouse once stood across the street … Continue reading
The Surviving Chaplin “The Circus” Tree
Paul Ayers, attorney, SoCal historian, and Altadena hiking trail expert and restorer, has shared many remarkable location discoveries over the years, including the finale from Charlie Chaplin’s The Circus (1928). Stemming from Paul’s discoveries, we now know a tree that … Continue reading
Charley Chase “Fast Work” Around Hollywood
Comedy fans are cheering the sparkling DVD release of 18 early Charley Chase talkie comedy shorts. Featuring Charley in top form, beautiful prints, and insightful bonus commentary, Charley Chase: At Hal Roach: The Talkies Volume One 1930-31, is simply fantastic. … Continue reading
Keaton’s “What No Beer?” Barrel Avalanche
As Jim Kline writes in The Complete Films of Buster Keaton, MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer had already drafted Keaton’s termination letter by the time filming of What No Beer? completed in January 1933. For better or worse, this … Continue reading
Arbuckle – Keaton – the Good Night Nurse Hot Springs
Roscoe Arbuckle, Al St. John, and Buster Keaton must have had special fun making their Comique film Good Night Nurse (1918), leaving their Long Beach studio behind to film certain scenes at the Arrowhead Hot Springs resort 75 miles to … Continue reading
Columbo and the Silent Clowns – Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd
I’ve been enjoying watching Peter Falk as Columbo on Netflix, and am transfixed by the time travel elements of this now decades-old series. The population of Los Angeles has nearly doubled since the time of filming, and there’s something quaint, … Continue reading
Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd film locations (and more) 