My Wonderful World of Slapstick

Rating:
Summary: My Wonderful World of Slapstick
Review: I was dissapointed. Buster does not get into the kind of detail I was expecting. Some of the dates don't make sense. For example Buster states that in 1940 he returned to MGM as a gag writer. At The Circus (The Marx Brothers) was released in 1939. So how could that be? That's just one example. The question really is- how much was ghost written? Get this book if you are a Buster fan, but don't expect to be thrilled.

Rating:
Summary: Quite a disappointment
Review: I was looking forward to hearing about the making of "The General" and "The Navigator" from Buster Keaton himself, in his own voice. Unfortunately, he barely mentions them. I want to ask, why? This book is one part "Hollywood Babylon" (lots of very ambitious chorus girls, practical jokes and irresponsible alcohol consumption), one part technical stuff about the business like how to construct a gag, what's funny and what isn't and why (Keaton shows clearly his fascination with the process), and one part biography that is better done in Meade's book. Keaton speaks with real affection of Arbuckle and Chaplin in particular and, as has been noted by others, he refuses to attack anyone who ever hurt or cheated him. He details the things that got a laugh; unfortunately it is the kind of physical humor that would probably make only children laugh today. I was disappointed. In addition to not getting much detail about the greatest parts of his career, there is no sign of the earnest, shy young heroes of his pictures. Of course this book is unique because it is the only record we have from the man himself, but the book is in an "as told to" style, and it shows. Some of Keaton's remarks are annoyingly cute, and he keeps skimming over the details of his life. I wanted to hear what he was thinking when he was making "The General," how he learned to act. This book is full of the reminiscences of an old man at the end of a long life, and only underscores the fact that the days of the great silent comedians, indeed the early days of Hollywood, are long gone.

Rating:
Summary: Quite a disappointment
Review: I was looking forward to hearing about the making of "The General" and "The Navigator" from Buster Keaton himself, in his own voice. Unfortunately, he barely mentions them. I want to ask, why? This book is one part "Hollywood Babylon" (lots of very ambitious chorus girls, practical jokes and irresponsible alcohol consumption), one part technical stuff about the business like how to construct a gag, what's funny and what isn't and why (Keaton shows clearly his fascination with the process), and one part biography that is better done in Meade's book. Keaton speaks with real affection of Arbuckle and Chaplin in particular and, as has been noted by others, he refuses to attack anyone who ever hurt or cheated him. He details the things that got a laugh; unfortunately it is the kind of physical humor that would probably make only children laugh today. I was disappointed. In addition to not getting much detail about the greatest parts of his career, there is no sign of the earnest, shy young heroes of his pictures. Of course this book is unique because it is the only record we have from the man himself, but the book is in an "as told to" style, and it shows. Some of Keaton's remarks are annoyingly cute, and he keeps skimming over the details of his life. I wanted to hear what he was thinking when he was making "The General," how he learned to act. This book is full of the reminiscences of an old man at the end of a long life, and only underscores the fact that the days of the great silent comedians, indeed the early days of Hollywood, are long gone.

Rating:
Summary: C'mon Buster! Tell us more!
Review: Keaton's description and detail of his life could have been much more thorough than what you get from this book. Unfortunately, this is the only account of his life written by him. I got the distinct impression that he intentionally avoided the truly painful areas of his life...his first wife, Natalie...the suicide of his close friend, Clyde Bruckman...the childhood abuse from his father...the clinical depression he grappled with for most of his life. It's these things which seem to have driven him, yet he barely speaks of them in this book. Marion Meade's ''Cut To The Chase'' provides an excellent cross-section of people who knew Buster. There's also a wonderful video called ''Buster Keaton: A Hard Act To Follow,'' which runs about three hours. Between the three sources I've mentioned, you may get a pretty good, well-rounded look at the life of a little man who set out to make people laugh a long time ago.

Rating:
Summary: C'mon Buster! Tell us more!
Review: Keaton's description and detail of his life could have been much more thorough than what you get from this book. Unfortunately, this is the only account of his life written by him. I got the distinct impression that he intentionally avoided the truly painful areas of his life...his first wife, Natalie...the suicide of his close friend, Clyde Bruckman...the childhood abuse from his father...the clinical depression he grappled with for most of his life. It's these things which seem to have driven him, yet he barely speaks of them in this book. Marion Meade's ''Cut To The Chase'' provides an excellent cross-section of people who knew Buster. There's also a wonderful video called ''Buster Keaton: A Hard Act To Follow,'' which runs about three hours. Between the three sources I've mentioned, you may get a pretty good, well-rounded look at the life of a little man who set out to make people laugh a long time ago.

Rating:
Summary: A basic primer for Keaton study
Review: Long thought to have been only a pie throwing clown, (which he was NOT) Buster Keaton was and still is one of the great comics. In this book, he relates his early years as part of the stage act, THE THREE KEATONS. It's a miracle that he didn't suffer permanent damage the way his father tossed him about. The insights into life in vaudville and his comments about his father are worth a closer look. From there, Buster tells how he got into films, his friendship with Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and his rise to fame. I was disappointed that he mentioned his masterpiece; THE GENERAL only in passing. This is a CLASSIC! It might have been a financial failure, but in terms of quality, it reigns supreme. Far better than Chaplin's works. But there is still much to hold the reader's interest, especially the era of the "talkies". Pairing Buster with Jimmie Durante was a disaster in my opinion, but Keaton holds no malice towards him. Buster's career took a dive during the forties, but he managed to stay afloat as a comedy writer. And, Keaton is honest about his drinking and his failed marriages. Let it be said that Buster is still a hard act to follow.

Rating:
Summary: A Rare Glimpse into A Creative Genius' Mind
Review: Reading the words of Buster Keaton gives great insight into how he was able to create his unique form of comedy.

His first hand telling of his fascinating life story may be a bit romanticized and a bit simplified, but then so were his films.

I came away with a clearer picture of what the world of silent film making was like, and how even a genius like Keaton could be dragged down by things beyond his grasp, including his own insecurities.

Keaton reveals himself to be a rather humble man. He makes clear that he never saw his work as anything more than the job of making people laugh. But he was a skilled acrobat and a great mime.

What is really missing from this book can only be found in the films themselves.

Rating:
Summary: A Must for Buster Fans!!
Review: This book is written like Keaton is speaking, and provides a glimpse as to what the "the Great Stone Face" may have been like in conversation. The book is great fun, but don't look for great insights to the motivations and themes behind the films...Buster is about as vague on this as his famous face is immobile. Buster leaves out details on his hardest times (alcoholism, his second wife), so it comes as no surprise that this is more a testament to his survival in show business and resurrection in the late fifties. Be ready for the realization that the greatest silent film director of all time has no ego, doesn't take himself seriously, and is a simple guy with great intuition. If you are a Buster fan, you will love this, but for specifics on personal matters, seek out Meade's "Cut to the Chase". Doug Straton, [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: Blame 1950s Publishing Ideals For Holding Keaton Back
Review: Written in 1959 and it shows. If the book were written 20 years later, the publisher would have demanded a more in-depth study of his life, and if Keaton refused, they probably would not have released it. There's something about autobiographies written before the '70s that kept the reader from learning the squalid parts of the biographer's life and his surroundings. Keaton gives us a feeling about what it was like for him to be obsessed with liquor at the downfall of his career in the early 1930s, and there's much to be said about it but he didn't elaborate on it as much as he could have, and I would have liked to have learned more. We hear nothing about the probable horror of his serving in France during World War 1, only the silly situations he got himself into. Was this what the publisher wanted? He said a lot about the huge mansion he lived in at the height of his career but I wanted to know more about the bit part times in the 1940s when he was reduced to living in a modest bungalow. He scims over the more personal items in his life that we would like to hear, namely, his troubled marriages - numbers 1 and 2. In number 1 to Natalie Talmadge, he told us about her excessive spending habits and why he let her get away with it, but I would have liked to have known more about her than what he gave us. On marriage to number 2 he didn't give us the woman's name and why the marriage didn't work out.

Keaton talks a lot about the construction of gags and why some work and some don't, but after reading the book, I didn't feel I knew much about the making of those classic movies from the 1920s, and he didn't say anything about his stock company of actors that repeatedly showed up in the movies and shorts. I wish he had introduced them to us. However, he was very good about describing the difference between the teamwork required of his staff in the making of his independent films and the lack thereof after he became an employee of a movie studio.

I found errors that may have been his writing collaborator's fault or could very well have been due to a lack of memory. He called his first film "The Butcher Shop". The film was called "The Butcher Boy" and was set in a general store. In "The Butcher Boy" he mentioned that Roscoe Arbuckle and Al St. John help him deal with a scene involving molasses. Al St. John got nowhere near the sticky goo. He said that the song "Singin' in the Rain" from one of his early MGM films is such an MGM classic that Gene Kelly used it in his film "Les Girls". Gene Kelly used it in his film "Singin' in the Rain". Called his last silent film "Spite Wife", although its actual name is "Spite Marriage". He worked on Esther Williams' film "Bathing Beauty" but called it "Swimming Beauty". Especially on the case of "The Butcher Boy", how could Keaton forget the title of his first film and what he did in it (the molasses being the purpose of his first screen appearance) when the general store was so much a part of the plot. Why would molasses be sold in a butcher shop? The man was not an idiot! I've heard him talk about his first screen appearance, and there's no indication that he remembered it as being a butcher shop. That's why I think something was screwy in the writing of this book with his collaborator.

However, I recommend this book if you are a Keaton fan and would like to know more about him. You won't get everything you want to hear but that's because of the censored publishing rules at the time. Still, you are getting it from his own mouth, and that's something to value over a biography written by someone who didn't live his life.

Rating:
Summary: Blame 1950s Publishing Ideals For Holding Keaton Back
Review: Written in 1959 and it shows. If the book were written 20 years later, the publisher would have demanded a more in-depth study of his life, and if Keaton refused, they probably would not have released it. There's something about autobiographies written before the '70s that kept the reader from learning the squalid parts of the biographer's life and his surroundings. Keaton gives us a feeling about what it was like for him to be obsessed with liquor at the downfall of his career in the early 1930s, and there's much to be said about it but he didn't elaborate on it as much as he could have, and I would have liked to have learned more. We hear nothing about the probable horror of his serving in France during World War 1, only the silly situations he got himself into. Was this what the publisher wanted? He said a lot about the huge mansion he lived in at the height of his career but I wanted to know more about the bit part times in the 1940s when he was reduced to living in a modest bungalow. He scims over the more personal items in his life that we would like to hear, namely, his troubled marriages - numbers 1 and 2. In number 1 to Natalie Talmadge, he told us about her excessive spending habits and why he let her get away with it, but I would have liked to have known more about her than what he gave us. On marriage to number 2 he didn't give us the woman's name and why the marriage didn't work out.

Keaton talks a lot about the construction of gags and why some work and some don't, but after reading the book, I didn't feel I knew much about the making of those classic movies from the 1920s, and he didn't say anything about his stock company of actors that repeatedly showed up in the movies and shorts. I wish he had introduced them to us. However, he was very good about describing the difference between the teamwork required of his staff in the making of his independent films and the lack thereof after he became an employee of a movie studio.

I found errors that may have been his writing collaborator's fault or could very well have been due to a lack of memory. He called his first film "The Butcher Shop". The film was called "The Butcher Boy" and was set in a general store. In "The Butcher Boy" he mentioned that Roscoe Arbuckle and Al St. John help him deal with a scene involving molasses. Al St. John got nowhere near the sticky goo. He said that the song "Singin' in the Rain" from one of his early MGM films is such an MGM classic that Gene Kelly used it in his film "Les Girls". Gene Kelly used it in his film "Singin' in the Rain". Called his last silent film "Spite Wife", although its actual name is "Spite Marriage". He worked on Esther Williams' film "Bathing Beauty" but called it "Swimming Beauty". Especially on the case of "The Butcher Boy", how could Keaton forget the title of his first film and what he did in it (the molasses being the purpose of his first screen appearance) when the general store was so much a part of the plot. Why would molasses be sold in a butcher shop? The man was not an idiot! I've heard him talk about his first screen appearance, and there's no indication that he remembered it as being a butcher shop. That's why I think something was screwy in the writing of this book with his collaborator.

However, I recommend this book if you are a Keaton fan and would like to know more about him. You won't get everything you want to hear but that's because of the censored publishing rules at the time. Still, you are getting it from his own mouth, and that's something to value over a biography written by someone who didn't live his life.