end of an era

So I'm taking a Flash course and the semester's winding down. Naturally, my latest project incorporated Buster Keaton into it. I made an interactive map of the United States, with map pins stuck in it. When a pin is clicked, it takes you to a picture or video clip with information on how Buster Keaton is associated with the place (like, Cottage Grove, Oregon goes to a clip of The General and information on the movie).

In doing this, I included Wrigley Field of L.A. As I understand it, this is where at least one (but possibly all) of the charity baseball games Buster played in took place. The best documented game featured Leading Men vs. Comedians, pitting the likes of Gary Cooper, Errol Flynn, and Peter Lorre against Buster Keaton, Jack Benny, Fred Allen, etc. Hilarity would ensue, with pranks, gags, and even Boris Karloff, dressed as Frankenstein, scoring a home run (after scaring Keaton--the catcher--from the home plate), even though Frankenstein was not on either team.

What I wouldn't give to be able to sit in on those gag-filled charity baseball games.

Anyway, back to topic: I noticed when researching Wrigley Field of L.A. that it was closed in 1965 and demolished in 1966. It is sad but somehow fitting that the baseball diamond died the same year, and possibly close to the same time, as Keaton.

That's all I wanted to say: a quick memorial for a sublime duo.

Oh, and the comedians won the game I mention, 5-3.

Love, Locomotives and Laughs... with live music!

April is off to a good start! I went on the 4th to see "The General" with live music accompaniment by the National Symphony Orchestra and acclaimed organist Dennis James. The concert hall that the event was held in was rather large and I am happy to report that most seats were taken. And that there were a great deal of youngsters there.

Sadly, I could only afford the cheap seats, in a tiered level all the way in the back. (I opted for seating further back but straight on over closer but on the sides). My sister went with me. I was disappointed with how small the screen was; it was like watching the film on a small television screen across a very large room. Also, the lights were merely dimmed so that the orchestra players could read their music, which I understand, but sadly made the contrast too low to see most of the "night" scenes.

Having said that, it was a great experience. It was my first time seeing a silent film with live music accompaniment, and I've been wanting to watch Buster Keaton with live music for ages.

The live music accompaniment was great, but the live audience was even better. I have watched Buster's movies so many times, but often alone or with my sister (or, very rarely, with the occasional soul I've tricked, bribed, shamed or guilted into giving Keaton's movies a chance).

I got the impression that many people in the audience hadn't seen the film before, or had seen it so long ago that it was new to them again. It was magical to hear other people enjoy Keaton's work, especially since it's so hard to find outside of that setting. It's like a drug, really. I'm jonesing for another dose of Keaton with a live crowd (and even better, live music, as well).

We were encouraged to cheer the hero and hiss at the bad guy.

A few people attempted hissing, but it never really caught on.

Applauding Keaton, however, was enthusiastically embraced. Some scenes with memorable rounds of applause included the cannon firing "straight", Keaton clearing off the last piece of wood from the tracks with the one that got him caught up on the cow chaser, the reclaiming of The General, the switched rail line that leads the enemy's engines onto the raised drop-off after appearing like it was about to run into The General, the infamous train crash, and Johnnie Gray getting his Lieutenant uniform.

A few, me included, clapped for the bad guys once, sort of. It's the scene after Johnnie Gray has bent the rail with a chain and the Northern Army has spent several scenes struggling to fix the rail, with the engineer watching from behind. The scene I love is when, after quite a bit of bumbling by a dozen soldiers, the engineer walks up and fixes their problem in 30 seconds flat.

Big laughs came from the recruitment scene, the cannon scene, all the abuse poor Annabelle Lee endures, and--oh, well countless scenes. All of the sight gags went over well, and I was glad to hear so many of the subtle humor in the film being caught and appreciated.

As we were leaving, I heard dozens of comments of praise for the film. And I heard one woman talking about how handsome Buster Keaton was. And I smiled. For all the sheer brilliance of the film, Buster Keaton himself will never go unnoticed.

Certainly not while I'm around.

1000 Times, Yes

*Blip*

What was that sound? Oh, that was Holly Hunter, who is now on my radar.
....


Holly Hunter was the guest on Craig Ferguson's show tonight (well, technically, this morning).

At one point during the interview, she mentioned that she was watching a lot of Charlie Chaplin lately. Ferguson didn't seem to know what to say to that and kind of laughed and made an uncommitted joke.

Hunter then said something like, "Forget Chaplin. Let's talk about Keaton. Buster Keaton." Ferguson obviously isn't terribly familiar or fond of the silent era, because he was still at a bit of a loss for words. I think he asked what she wanted to talk about relating to Buster Keaton.

Hunter asked (paraphrasing), "Well, is he better than Chaplin?"

Ferguson didn't have much of a response. He said he hasn't really given it much thought, but didn't Keaton's career die sometime in the 1920's? Holly Hunter told him he should look them up again. He then moved the conversation on by saying he watches Marx Brothers with his kid.

I would like to take this moment to answer Hunter's question, on behalf of Craig Ferguson:

Yes.

The Fall and a Birthday Wish

To steal Craig Ferguson's line, it's a great day for America. Why? Because Buster Keaton was born on this day in Piqua, Kansas in 1895.

I, for one, intend to celebrate with a marathon of Buster's movies, a couple games of cards, and possibly a Buster-related purchase on eBay (what better day to treat myself to a birthday wish, since I can't treat Buster to one?).

For anyone interested in watching a new or different sort of a movie in celebration and commemoration of Buster Keaton, I recommend viewing Tarsem's The Fall, starring Lee Pace and newcomer Catinca Untaru.

The Fall is a beautifully filmed and acted story about Roy (Pace), a stuntman from the silent era who has become paralyzed from the waist down due to a stunt gone wrong. His heartbreak over the loss of his love compounded with his new handicap has led him into a spiral of suicidal depression. Enter Alexandria (Untaru), a young girl wandering the hospital with a broken arm. Roy captures her attention with a fantastical story that is an allegory for his own life. As Alexandria urges the story forward, however, it becomes uniquely theirs. In her innocence, however, Alexandria doesn't realize that Roy is using her interest in him and their story for ulterior motives.

It is a well-acted, charming little movie with stunning visuals. The film is a nice tribute to the silent era of film making, and I would recommend viewing it on that alone. I recommend it here, in particular, because Buster Keaton also makes a cameo of sorts.

I've got to get to celebrating, so that's all for today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BUSTER KEATON!

Wall-E (the character)

Some notes on Wall-E the character and his relation to Buster Keaton:

Curiosity
Wall-E's fascination with the objects surrounding him is reminiscent of Buster Keaton's fascination with the motion picture camera. It also brings to mind all of the little contraptions Keaton made, his constant curiosity and desire to see what he can make.

Tenacity
Both Wall-E and the Keaton character have incredible tenacity when courting the affection of the one they fancy, as well as overcoming unexpected obstacles. Wall-E's devotion and goal-oriented behavior regarding Eve parallels Keaton's determination to win over almost every one of his love interests, particularly in the Keaton films The General and The Cameraman.

Romantic Innocence
As with Wall-E, the Keaton character tends to be experiencing first love. With such situations, the smallest things are celebrated on a grand scale, such as holding hands or a chaste first kiss. Consider Wall-E's thrilling as Eve kisses him in space, literally floating away in a spiral of wonder. The Cameraman has a scene where the love interest gives Keaton's character a peck on the cheek after their date, and Keaton reacts much the same way, floating away in wonder.

Wall-E (the movie)

Quick follow-up:

I've seen Wall-E twice now. It didn't disappoint. While there are no obvious Keaton references, the movie still manages to connect to Buster Keaton in fascinating ways.

One thing Wall-E accomplishes is being a movie infused with the kind of treatment and spirit Buster Keaton hoped for with movies when sound was first introduced. Going back to a Keaton statement I've quoted before, "Don't give me puns. Don't give me jokes. No wisecracks....There can be two or three people in a room working at jobs--well, they work at them without talking. That's the way I want it. So you get those stretches in your picture of six, seven, eight, nine minutes where there isn't a word of dialogue. In those, we did our old routines. Then, when it was natural to talk, you talked. You didn't avoid it. But you laid out your material that way, and in many places it didn't call for dialogue...."

That is to say, Wall-E is a movie where dialog is present, but not necessary. It utilizes to maximum benefit the charm, story-telling, pathos and humor that comes through telling a story visually. In the end, the movie feels like those comfortable silences with someone you love where you simply are together, enjoying each other's company. I very much enjoyed Wall-E's company.

Buster Keaton is God

And I'm not the only one who thinks so!

I rifled through some old, unread newspapers last night and a beautiful, large color image from WALL-E was printed on the front of the entertainment section. It made me pause and as I considered reading the article, my eyes flicked down and immediately caught the words "Buster Keaton is God". For a second, I thought I was having some Freudian-like slip-of-the-thought transference (does that sound like a real psychological turn of phrase?), literally reading my own thoughts in some random phrase like "Burger King is Good".

But, no! I blinked, read again, and it still said "Buster Keaton is God". I didn't even stop to read the rest of the article. I pulled out that section of the paper for keeps and smiled because the writer of the article (Michael Sragow) and a creator of WALL-E (specifically, Andrew Stanton) were relating WALL-E to Buster Keaton and the silent era.

And just like that, WALL-E became a Must-See-In-Theaters-,-Maybe-Even-More-Than-Once movie. I was suddenly twice as excited about the film, and five times more confident that it will (at least) contend with Monsters, Inc. as my favorite Pixar flick.

It makes more sense than ever now how much the scenes in the WALL-E trailer have delighted me. Actually, I feel like I should have been able to make the connection to a silent movie immediately, with all the minimal "dialog" and physical comedy. But, I didn't. In my defense, however, I have been keeping away from WALL-E promotions and articles in an attempt to avoid spoilers and such. I've only seen the trailer for the movie once in its entirety, and so far know only that I like its style, and that it's a movie about a "trash" robot that finds love. And presumably faces some huge challenge that leads to saving her, or the world, or the galaxy.

The movie always looked promising to me. Now, however, it has high expectations to live up to. I sure do hope it delivers.

Recher Mural

I went to a show last week at the Recher Theater in Towson, Maryland. They have a little mural by the entrance. Buster makes it on there twice. Unfortunately, there was some metal stuff in front of half the mural, over one of the Keaton images.

Curtis Eller's "Buster Keaton" & Silence in "talkies"

My last post included images of a project where I created imagined CD art for "Taking Up Serpents Again" by Curtis Eller's American Circus. I thought maybe I should explain who that is, for anyone who might be unfamiliar with them.

Curtis Eller is "New York City's angriest yodelling banjo player." As far as I can tell, Eller sometimes performs alone as Curtis Eller, but when accompanied, the group is called Curtis Eller's American Circus. Curtis Eller happens to have a song dedicated to Buster Keaton named, appropriately, "Buster Keaton." It's on the CD "Taking Up Serpents Again." Video and lyrics below:

"Buster Keaton" by Curtis Eller

Well, since they started in with the talkies, you can't get a moments peace
But they're talking just to hear their own voices, well at least...
That's what it seems like
'Cause there's nothing that I've heard that bears repeatin'
Won't you come back to the movies, Buster Keaton

You know it barely took a decade for those negatives to decay
But what the Hell, there was nitrate in the film stock from those days..
I guess that's the problem
But I'm not tired enough to admit that I've been beaten
Won't you come back to the movies, Buster Keaton

I wish that I was Buster Keaton when they took it all away
Gettin' drunk every night on Irish whisky
Or maybe Fatty Arbuckle when the headlines finally declared,
"Well I guess that it's just a mystery"
But I'm not gonna be like Charlie Chaplin, jumpin' on the first boat
And sail away before they have a chance to miss me
No, I'm stayin' here...here in New York City
I don't care how bad it gets

Well they keep on making pictures, but they're worthless and they're sad
And they never will make up for the silence that we had
And now we're stuck with it...
And the kids are watching T.V. while they're eatin'
Won't you come back to the movies, Buster Keaton
Won't you come back to the movies, Buster Keaton

It's a fantastic song, and it's hook, "won't you come back to the movies, Buster Keaton," reflects my thoughts exactly. That was the inspiration for the CD art I created; inserting Buster Keaton into some more modern iconic movie imagery.

Watching current movies, I often imagine how the movie would be different or improved if Buster had a hand in making it. I believe Buster could hold his own in today's movie climate, although I wouldn't go so far as to say he'd be making blockbusters or movies that were terribly commercially successful. But they would likely have been critically successful.

Consider 2007's No Country for Old Men. There was quite a lot of marvel and praise when the movie came out for how quiet the movie is, for its use of dialog only when necessary.

This isn't a revolutionary approach to film-making. Buster Keaton was saying since the invent of the talkies that people needn't talk for the sake of talking, and that a story with minimal dialog makes the spoken aspect all the more powerful and relevant. Here are excerpts from an interview with Buster when he talks about this:

When sound came, we found this out--we found this out from our own pictures--that sound didn't bother us at all. There was only one thing I wanted at all times, and insisted on: that you go ahead and talk in the most natural way, in your situations. Don't give me puns. Don't give me jokes. No wisecracks. Give that to Abbott and Costello. Give that to the Marx Brothers. Because as soon as our plot is set and everything is going smooth, I'm always going to find places in the story where dialogue is not called for. There can be two or three people in a room working at jobs--well, they work at them without talking. That's the way I want it. So you get those stretches in your picture of six, seven, eight, nine minutes where there isn't a word of dialogue. In those, we did our old routines. Then, when it was natural to talk, you talked. Then, when it was natural to talk, you talked. You didn't avoid it. But you laid out your material that way, and in many places it didn't call for dialogue....

Then, of course, when you give me a Jimmie Durante.... Well, Durante just can't keep quiet. He's going to talk no matter what happens.... They'd say, "This is funny," and I'd say, "I don't think so." "This'll be good"; I'd say, "It stinks." It didn't make any difference; we did it anyhow. I'd only argue about so far, and then let it go. And I knew better.

Consider what No Country for Old Men would look like with Buster Keaton helming it. It would be a totally different movie. Probably, the only resemblance to the original would be part of the plot's basic conflict, and the dominating silence.

Links:
Curtis Eller's website and Myspace

Interview excerpts were taken from

Buster Keaton Patterns

When in college, I had a tendency to tailor class assignments around Buster Keaton. Especially at the end of semester. It was one way to ensure that I wouldn't slack off because I'd stay interested in the assignment. I wrote a lot of final papers on Buster Keaton (And got A's on all of them, by the way).

I've been taking graphic design courses for a while now. This semester was all about designing using Adobe Illustrator. Two out of the three projects I did where we got to choose subject matter ended up relating to Buster Keaton.

The first assignment was to design CD packaging. I redid Curtis Eller's American Circus's "Taking Up Serpents Again" CD and made "Buster Keaton" the title song.

The images are line drawings I did that take Buster Keaton's face and impose it on iconic images from other movies. The inspiration came came from the song "Buster Keaton," from the line, "Won't you come back to the movies, Buster Keaton." So, the CD art imagines him as "back in the movies." The cover and CD art is Buster Keaton in Sweeney Todd. The left inside flap is Buster Keaton in 300. The CD would be inserted there. The right inside flap is Buster Keaton in North By Northwest. The black section on the inside is the insert with lyrics, etc. When that lifts out, the background is the completed image (plane), in tan and black. I don't love it, but I think it turned out alright. If I were to redo it, I think I'd like to take out the 300 image and put something from the 80s in, like Say Anything..., with Buster Keaton as Lloyd holding up the boom box. That way, the images would sample three very different decades and movie styles.

The final project for the class was to make several patterns. I used two basic forms related to Buster Keaton for patterns: the porkpie hat and eyes line drawing that is on the hardcover of Buster's autobiography, My Wonderful World of Slapstick, and Buster's autograph.

Here are some designs using a repetition of the hat & eyes image. The second also uses his autograph.

Here are some designs using his autograph, repeated dozens of times, like in the first one, or a quadrillion times, like in the fifth:


































The longer formats are ones I turned in:



























I had a lot of fun with the patterns. I made and turned in some other patterns that didn't have any relation to Buster Keaton, as well. Those were harder for me to stay interested in, and I didn't like them as much. However, as much as I love Buster and enjoyed making the patterns, I can't deny that I'm happy to be done with the class.