Books by John Bengtson
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Top Posts & Pages
- Arbuckle - Keaton at the Bronx Biograph Studio
- How Harold Lloyd Filmed Safety Last!
- Green Acres, Pickfair, Chaplin's Breakaway Home, and Keaton's Italian Villa
- Buster Keaton's Go West Desert - "Frozen" in Time
- How Buster Keaton Filmed The General
- Leave it to Santa Monica - Beaver and Harold Lloyd
- The Artist Locations Part 4, Bradbury, Chaplin, and Lloyd
- Hollywood Snapshots - a 1922 Time Machine
- Where Roscoe Arbuckle Filmed His Brooklyn Vitaphone Shorts
- Chaplin - 100 Years Ago on Sunset Boulevard
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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
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Recent Posts
- 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
- It’s The Old Army Game – W.C. Fields in New York with Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd
- It’s The Old Army Game – W.C. Fields and Louise Brooks in Ocala Florida – Part Three – Fields Chased Around Town
- W.C. Fields Running Wild in New York
- It’s The Old Army Game – W.C. Fields and Louise Brooks in Ocala Florida – Part Two – Louise Strolls Around Town
- It’s The Old Army Game – W.C. Fields and Louise Brooks in Ocala Florida – Part One
- It’s The Old Army Game – W.C. Fields and Louise Brooks Bring Magazines to Life
- New Buster Keaton Self-Guided Tours
- Ghosts of the Past – the Regent Apartments – costar with Chaplin, Weber, Sennett and Roach
- Keaton’s Battling Butler – A Knockout Finish to the SF Silent Film Festival
- Keaton’s Seven Chances – On The Clock
- The Surviving Sherlock Jr. Bungalow
- Chaplin’s The Great Dictator – Author Presentation at the Alex
- From Roach’s to Roaches – Stan & Ollie Meet Starsky & Hutch
- Restoration Premiere of Soft Shoes – Crossing Paths with Chaplin, Laurel, and Lloyd
- The Surviving Keaton Studio Neighbors
- The Surviving Chaplin “The Circus” Tree
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Categories
- Angels Flight
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- Brooklyn
- Bunker Hill
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- Charley Chase
- Charlie Chaplin
- Chinatown
- City Lights
- College
- Columbia
- Convict 13
- Cops
- Court Hill
- Culver City
- Daydreams
- Doug Fairbanks
- Doug MacLean
- Douglas Fairbanks
- Duck Soup
- Edendale
- Exposition Park
- Film Noir
- Florida
- For Heaven's Sake
- Girl Shy
- Go West
- Hal Roach Studios
- Harold Lloyd
- Harry Houdini
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- Hollywood History
- Hollywood Tour
- Hot Water
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- James Cagney
- Jewett Estate
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- Keaton Tour
- Keystone Studio
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- Leave It To Beaver
- Lloyd Studio
- Lloyd Thrill Pictures
- Lloyd Tour
- Lois Weber
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- Modern Times
- New York
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- 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
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- The Strong Man
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- Three Stooges
- Tillie's Punctured Romance
- TV Shows
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- Follow Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd film locations (and more) on WordPress.com
Silent Locations – Chaplin – Keaton – Lloyd (and more)- 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
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Tag Archives: Stan Laurel
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
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Lady Cops (and Harold Lloyd) Reveal 1914 Lost LA Treasures
What time machines! Thanks to the Eastman Museum, vivid details of downtown LA’s most iconic (and now sadly lost) landmarks fill the background of the 1914 gender reversal comedy Forcing the Force, restored and streaming on the museum site. Harold … Continue reading
Incredible new Laurel “OR” Hardy film collection
Flicker Alley’s exciting new Laurel OR Hardy Blu-ray release offers a wide collection of early films created by Stan Laurel or Oliver Hardy, but each as solo stars before being paired as the world’s most beloved comedy duo. Beautifully restored … Continue reading
Buster Keaton – Hard Luck, The Goat – closeups at Westlake Park
Vintage movies and photos are time machines. This rare 1923 photo reveals exactly where Buster Keaton flees from Big Joe Roberts during The Goat (1921) nearly a century ago. This detail looks SE at the 7th Street and Alvarado corner … Continue reading
How Laurel and Hardy Filmed Duck Soup
Although they had appeared onscreen together in The Lucky Dog (1921), the Hal Roach short Duck Soup (1927) marks the first time Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were paired as comedy leads. They play a couple of hoboes who flee … Continue reading
Laurel & Hardy’s Liberty Rooftop
Shortly after the San Francisco Silent Film Festival presented Laurel & Hardy’s high-rise comedy Liberty (1929), accompanied by Jon Mirsalis, TCM broadcast the 1933 MGM drama Day of Reckoning, starring Richard Dix. The Dix film was full of surprises. For … Continue reading
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
Mostly Lost – Keaton Found (Stan Laurel too) at Hollywood and Western
This fun discovery from Buster Keaton’s The Goat (1921) was made possible thanks to Mostly Lost, the Library of Congress crowd-sourcing workshop to screen and identify orphan silent and early sound films, held at the Packard Campus in Culpeper Virginia. … Continue reading
Posted in Buster Keaton, Stan Laurel, The Goat
Tagged Buster Keaton, Hollywood, Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood Tour, Keaton Locations, Library of Congress, Mostly Lost, Mother's Joy, Silent Comedians, Silent Comedies, Silent Movie Locations, Silent Movies, Stan Laurel, The Goat, then and now, Western Avenue
5 Comments
How Laurel & Hardy Filmed Perfect Day – New Discoveries
Built in 1925, this charming bungalow at 3120 Vera Avenue near Culver City appearing in the 1929 comedy Perfect Day is one of the most popular and easily recognizable of all Laurel & Hardy film locations. Author Randy Skretvedt reports … Continue reading
How Laurel and Hardy Filmed Another Fine Mess
In 2001 Piet Schreuders wrote to me from his home in Amsterdam postulating (correctly) about the tunnel appearing at the conclusion of Laurel and Hardy’s 1930 comedy short Another Fine Mess. Apart from being an internationally acclaimed graphic designer, and … Continue reading
Posted in Laurel and Hardy, Los Angeles Tunnels
Tagged Another Fine Mess, Fort Moore Hill, Furore, Hal Roach Studios, Hill Street Tunnel, Laurel and Hardy, Laurel and Hardy film locations, Los Angeles Tunnels, movie locations, Piet Schreuders, Stan Laurel, Subway Tunnel, then and now, White Wings
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Chaplin Leads the Gang to the Hollywood Police
As I explain in my book Silent Traces, Charlie Chaplin’s landmark short film Easy Street (1917) contains scenes filmed on extant Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles (see below), where he would return a few years later to film his … Continue reading
Posted in Buster Keaton, Chaplin Tour, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Harold Lloyd, Harry Langdon, Stan Laurel
Tagged Chaplin Locations, Chaplin Tour, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Easy Street, Harold Lloyd, Harry Langdon, High Society, Hollywood, Hollywood Tour, Keaton Locations, Lloyd Hamilton, Silent Comedians, Silent Comedies, Silent Movie Locations, Silent Movies, Stan Laurel, The Kid, The Last Edition, then and now
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Silent Cameos of the lost Southern Pacific Depot
Before the beautiful downtown Los Angeles Union Train Station opened in 1939, built on the site of the original Chinatown, the various railroads serving L.A. each operated from their own stations. Union Station helped to reduce downtown noise and congestion … Continue reading
Posted in Douglas Fairbanks, Girl Shy, Hal Roach Studios, Harold Lloyd, Los Angeles Historic Core, Stan Laurel
Tagged Arcade Depot, Be Reasonable, Douglas Fairbanks, Girl Shy, Harold Lloyd, Just Neighbors, Los Angeles Arcade Depot, Los Angeles Historic Core, Los Angeles Southern Pacific Depot, Los Angeles Train Stations, Los Angeles Union Station, Mother's Joy, Santa Fe Depot, Silent Comedians, Silent Comedies, Silent Movie Locations, Silent Movies, Southern Pacific Central Depot, Stan Laurel, then and now, When the Clouds Roll By
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Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin – Four Silent Jailbreaks
Jails and silent comedies! A match made in heaven. This post shows where (ONE) Laurel and Hardy filmed the jailbreak scene from The Second Hundred Years, (TWO) Charlie Chaplin filmed a prison release scene in Police, (THREE) Laurel and Hardy … Continue reading
Posted in Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, Laurel and Hardy, Stan Laurel
Tagged Bloody Christmas, Charlie Chaplin, County Hospital, Detained, Hal Roach, Harold Lloyd, Haunted Spooks, L.A. Confidential, Laurel and Hardy, Oliver Hardy, Police Station, Silent Comedians, Silent Comedies, Silent Movie Locations, Silent Movies, Stan Laurel, Take A Chance, The Hoose-Gow, The Second Hundred Years, then and now
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Help Please? – Silent Jailbreak – SOLVED
My friend Steve Vaught, who writes a wonderful blog about historic Hollywood and Southern California architecture at Paradise Leased, recently appealed to his readers, with great success, for help identifying certain classic Hollywood homes. So I thought I would give … Continue reading
Laurel and Hardy – Home at Last
Comedy fans across the country celebrated the recent release of Laurel & Hardy: The Essential Collection, a 10 DVD set from RHI Entertainment that contains all of the duo’s sound era short films, and several feature films, that had otherwise … Continue reading
Stan, Ollie, and Harold – a Drive Through Bunker Hill
The Prelinger Archives has just posted some amazingly sharp movie footage of Bunker Hill and downtown Los Angeles taken in the late 1940s. The stock footage was intended to be projected behind actors filming a traveling car scene within an … Continue reading
Posted in Bunker Hill, Duck Soup, Film Noir, For Heaven's Sake, Girl Shy, Hal Roach Studios, Harold Lloyd, Laurel and Hardy, Lloyd Studio, Los Angeles Historic Core, Oliver Hardy, Stan Laurel
Tagged bunker hill, film noir, film noir locations, Girl Shy, Hal Roach Studios, Harold Lloyd, Laurel and Hardy, Oliver Hardy, Silent Comedians, Silent Comedies, Silent Movie Locations, Stan Laurel, then and now
24 Comments
Stan Laurel in Buster’s Footprints
One of my all time favorite Keaton location discoveries was finding these statues appearing in Buster Keaton’s short film Hard Luck (1921). During the scene, Buster eludes the police by posing among the statues of a park monument. The scene … Continue reading
Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd film locations (and more) 