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
- Charlie Chaplin's Echo Park Home - 100 Years Later
- Leave it to Skokie, and Beaver, and Ward's Joke Letter
- Chaplin's Modern (Los Angeles) Times
- How Buster Keaton Filmed The General
- Mary Pickford's "A Beast at Bay" a century before LAX
- Silent Star Mabel Normand – the Game Girl’s Trio of Triumphs
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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
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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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Tag Archives: Silent Movies
New revelations about Safety Last! and The Kid
Two recent YouTube videos revealing new details from Harold Lloyd’s Safety Last!, and Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid, are now uploaded to my YouTube Channel. The channel includes a playlist of other video presentations hosted by museums and other groups. Hang … Continue reading
Mary Pickford, the Talmadge Sisters, and Buster Keaton at the Brunton Studio
The Hoodlum (1919), Mary Pickford’s second independent production, followed her triumphant debut self-production Daddy Long Legs (1919). DDL brims with so much Los Angeles history and locations it took two lengthy posts to cover them all, HERE and HERE, and … Continue reading
Early Thrill Comedies – Who Was First?
Thrill comedies featuring a star hanging from the side of a tall building have long been a staple of silent films. The photo at left from Play Ball (1925) eloquently explains the brilliant technique with a single image. Starting with … Continue reading
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
Chaplin, Keaton, and Lois Weber’s “Suspense” in Beverly Hills
The beautiful new Kino Lorber Blu-ray release Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers features dozens of early films created by women, many unseen for decades. One highlight is Lois Weber’s home invasion thriller Suspense (1913). As shown in a prior post, the film provides … Continue reading
Alice Howell Early Hollywood Views
We all owe Ben Model a huge debt of gratitude for releasing his fantastic new Alice Howell Collection DVD, featuring 12 shorts starring the delightful (and mostly forgotten) comedienne, sourced from archival materials from the Library of Congress, BFI, DFI, … Continue reading
Posted in Ben Model, Hollywood History
Tagged Alice Howell, Ben Model, Silent Comedies, Silent Movie Locations, Silent Movies, then and now
9 Comments
The Hollywood Heritage in Lois Weber’s Suspense
The beautiful new Kino Lorber Blu-ray release Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers is a revelation, a six-disc set featuring dozens of early films created by women, many unseen for decades. One highlight is Lois Weber‘s innovative and aptly titled home invasion thriller Suspense … Continue reading
Buster’s Paramount Backlot Plunge
I’m pleased to update this post to announce that the 2019 San Francisco Silent Film Festival will conclude Sunday May 5, with a 8:00 pm screening of Buster Keaton’s second feature comedy Our Hospitality (1923), to be accompanied by the … Continue reading
Posted in Buster Keaton
Tagged Buster Keaton, Hard Luck, Hollywood Tour, How Buster filmed Our Hospitality waterfall stunt, How Buster Keaton filmed waterfall stunt, Keaton Locations, Our Hospitality, Our Hospitality waterfall stunt, Paramount Studios, Silent Comedians, Silent Comedies, Silent Movie Locations, Silent Movies, then and now, waterfall stunt
17 Comments
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
Chaplin falls for The Kid – every scene now identified
Charlie Chaplin’s masterpiece The Kid (1921) tells the story of the Little Tramp discovering, trying to avoid, and eventually falling in love with an abandoned infant, played out scene by scene at the end of this post. As I write … Continue reading
Posted in Chaplin - Keaton - Lloyd Alley, Charlie Chaplin, For Heaven's Sake, Harold Lloyd, The Kid
Tagged Alameda Street, Chaplin - Keaton - Lloyd Alley, Chaplin Locations, Charlie Chaplin, For Heaven's Sake, From Hand to Mouth, Harold Lloyd, New High Street, Ord Street, Silent Comedians, Silent Comedies, Silent Movie Locations, Silent Movies, The Kid, then and now
13 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
It’s The Old Army Game – W.C. Fields and Louise Brooks in Ocala Florida – Part One
If you love W.C Fields, Louise Brooks, silent comedy, or time-traveling via a beautiful vintage movie, you’ve got to get the wonderful new Kino Lorber Blu-ray release of It’s The Old Army Game (1926). In only his sixth onscreen role, … Continue reading
Keaton’s Seven Chances – On The Clock
Late for church, during Seven Chances (1925) Buster Keaton must marry by 7:00 p.m. that evening in order to inherit a fortune. But what time is it? Having just lost his pocket watch down a sewer drain, Buster stops in … Continue reading
The Surviving Sherlock Jr. Bungalow
A bungalow that appears in Buster Keaton’s Sherlock Jr. (1924), and in his early short film Convict 13 (1920), is still standing today at 4908 McKinley Avenue, when it was moved 11 miles away from Buster’s studio in 1926, the … Continue reading
From Roach’s to Roaches – Stan & Ollie Meet Starsky & Hutch
Guest blogger Jim Dallape, creator with Robert Winslow of the remarkable Hal Roach Studios Backlot Tour, reports how TV’s Starsky & Hutch and Charlie’s Angles filmed in the same places as Laurel & Hardy and other Roach stars. Take it … 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
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
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
Chaplin’s San Jose Day Making A Night Out
Do you know the way to San Jose? It turns out Charlie Chaplin did. Thanks to the Blu-ray clarity of Charlie’s restored Essanay comedies, and the tenacious research by Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum historian David Kiehn, we now know … Continue reading
Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd film locations (and more) 