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Today is the birthday of silent film star, Buster Keaton, born on October 4, 1895, into a vaudeville family in Piqua, Kansas. His father was Joseph Hallie "Joe" Keaton who had a traveling show called the Mohawk Indian Medicine Company, which performed on stage and sold patent medicine on the side. When he was about 18 months old, Keaton fell down a long flight of stairs without injury, an
actor friend remarked, "Gee whiz, he's a regular
buster!" After that, Keaton's father began to use the nickname to refer to the youngster.
Buster began performing with his parents as The Three Keatons when he was three years old. He first appeared on stage in 1899 in Wilmington, Delaware.
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The act was mainly a comedy sketch. His mother, Myra, played the saxophone on one
side of the stage, while Joe and Keaton performed center stage.
date & photographer unknown
Keaton
goaded his father by disobeying him, and the elder Keaton responded by
throwing him against the scenery, into the orchestra pit, or even into
the audience. A suitcase handle was sewn into Keaton's clothing to aid with the
constant tossing.
The act evolved as Keaton learned to take trick falls
safely; he was rarely injured or bruised on stage. This knockabout style
of comedy led to accusations of child abuse,
and occasionally, arrest. However, Keaton was always able to show the
authorities that he had no bruises or broken bones. He was eventually
billed as "The Little Boy Who Can't Be Damaged", and the overall act as
"The Roughest Act That Was Ever in the History of the Stage". Keaton said he had so much fun that he sometimes began laughing as his
father threw him across the stage. Noticing that this caused the
audience to laugh less, he adopted his famous deadpan expression when
performing
Keaton is best known for his silent film work in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by his stoic, deadpan expression that earned him the nickname "The Great Stone Face". Critic Roger Ebert
wrote of Keaton's "extraordinary period from 1920 to 1929" when he
"worked without interruption" as having made him "the greatest
actor-director in the history of the movies". A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum was the final screen role for Buster Keaton.
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detail photo of album cover by Styrous® A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum was inspired by the farce, Pseudolus, by the ancient Roman playwright Plautus (251–183 BC) and tells the bawdy story of a slave named Pseudolus and his attempts to win his freedom by helping his young master woo the girl next door.
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The film plot takes place in the city of Rome during the reign of Emperor Nero,
Pseudolus is "the lyingest, cheatingest, sloppiest slave in all of
Rome", whose only wish is to buy his freedom from his master's parents,
the henpecked Senex and his overbearing wife, Domina.
A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum
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The film is a wonderful essay in raucous humor due to the cast, which was perfect! Zero Mostel was Pseudolus with Phil Silvers, Jack Gilford and Keaton to back him up.
A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum
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detail photo of album cover by Styrous® In addition to an accomplished performer, he was a brilliant film maker, director and camera man. He said, "The first thing I did in the studio was to want to tear that camera to pieces. I had to know how that film got into the cutting room, what you did to it in there, how you projected it, how you finally got the picture together, how you made things match. The technical part of pictures is what interested me. Material was the last thing in the world I thought about. You only had to turn me loose on the set and I`d have material in two minutes, because I`d been doing it all my life."
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detail photo of album cover by Styrous®
Keaton's career declined when he signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
and lost his artistic independence. His wife divorced him, and he
descended into alcoholism. He recovered in the 1940s, remarried, and
revived his career as an honored comic performer for the rest of his
life, earning an Academy Honorary Award in 1959. Late in his career, he starred in the only cinema work by Samuel Beckett, the silent and VERY surreal, Film (link below). Keaton had some great scenes in the 1965 film, Beach Blanket Bingo which starred Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello (link below).
Keaton was featured in the 1961 Rod Serling television episode of Twilight Zone, Once Upon a Time, written by Sci-fi author, Richard Matheson. It is the only comedy of the series.
He made cameos in the Billy Wilder film Sunset Boulevard and The Charlie Chaplin film Limelight (links below). Keaton is often described as having been ahead of his time; Anthony Lane wrote "He was just too good, in too many ways, too soon."
date & photographer unknown
Keaton loved television and he watched everything. Though he never mentioned it by name, among his favorite shows during the 1950s must have been the pioneering sitcom I Love Lucy, starring his friend and onetime MGM protégée Lucille Ball. When asked to name the best comedians of the up-and-coming generation he would often cite Ball as one of his “pets,” calling her timing “impeccable.”
Keaton had had a behind-the-scenes role in getting I Love Lucy on the air. In 1950, when CBS was trying to convince Ball to star in a sitcom based on her successful radio series My Favorite Husband, she agreed to sign on only if the show could costar her real-life husband, Cuban-American bandleader Desi Arnaz. The network balked at the idea of a domestic comedy centered around a couple of mixed race, so the two worked up a vaudeville routine to be filmed as an experimental pilot.
Keaton coached Ball in the big physical comedy scene, an act borrowed from the Spanish clown Pepito that involved Ball as a dimwitted but resourceful cellist auditioning for a spot in Arnaz’s orchestra. This pilot never aired at the time (and was lost until 1989, when it was discovered and aired on CBS as part of a Lucille Ball tribute special). But it was funny enough to convince CBS to give Ball and Arnaz their own prime-time series, which would run for 180 episodes and become perhaps the most influential of all early situation comedies. A pared-down version of the cello sketch found its way into a first-season episode, so although Keaton never guest-starred on I Love Lucy, he is nonetheless there as an influential presence.
20th Century is planning a biopic directed by James Mangold and Warner Bros. Television is in talks to develop a limited series based on the life of Keaton; the project would star Rami Malek as
Keaton.
On May 29, 1940, Keaton married Eleanor Norris. She has been credited with salvaging his life and career. The marriage lasted until his death. Keaton died of lung cancer on February 1, 1966, aged 70, in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles.
Despite being diagnosed with cancer in January 1966, he was never told
he was terminally ill. Keaton thought that he was recovering from a
severe case of bronchitis.
Confined to a hospital during his final days, he was restless and
paced the room endlessly, desiring to return home. In a British
television documentary about his career, his widow Eleanor told
producers from Thames Television that Keaton was up out of bed and moving around, and even played cards with friends who came to visit the day before he died. He was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Hollywood Hills, California.
Tracklist:
Side 1:
Side 1:
A1 - Tiba Solo - Into - Comedy Tonight
Vocals – Zero Mostel
Vocals [Company] – Annette Andre, Buster Keaton, Helen Funai, Inga Neilsen, Jack Gilford, Janet Webb, Jennifer Baker (2), Leon Greene, Lucienne Bridou, Michael Crawford, Michael Hordern, Myrna White, Patricia Jessel, Phil SIlvers, Susan Baker
3:27
A2 - Search For Mare's Sweat 0:39
A3 - Lovely
Vocals – Annette Andre, Michael Crawford
2:47
A4 - Tintinabula's Dance 0:58
A5 - Vibrata's Dance 0:45
A6 - Roman Emissary 0:35
A7 - Everybody Ought To Have A Maid
Vocals – Jack Gilford, Michael Hordern, Phil Silvers, Zero Mostel - 2:51
A8 - Riot At The Funeral 1:24
A9 - Domina Returns (Fanfare) - Into - My Bride, Vocals – Leon Greene, Vocals [Company] – Annette Andre, Buster Keaton, Helen Funai, Inga Neilsen, Jack Gilford, Janet Webb, Jennifer Baker (2), Lucienne Bridou, Michael Crawford, Michael Hordern, Myrna White, Patricia Jessel, Phil SIlvers, Susan Baker, Zero Mostel - 2:37
Vocals – Zero Mostel
Vocals [Company] – Annette Andre, Buster Keaton, Helen Funai, Inga Neilsen, Jack Gilford, Janet Webb, Jennifer Baker (2), Leon Greene, Lucienne Bridou, Michael Crawford, Michael Hordern, Myrna White, Patricia Jessel, Phil SIlvers, Susan Baker
3:27
A2 - Search For Mare's Sweat 0:39
A3 - Lovely
Vocals – Annette Andre, Michael Crawford
2:47
A4 - Tintinabula's Dance 0:58
A5 - Vibrata's Dance 0:45
A6 - Roman Emissary 0:35
A7 - Everybody Ought To Have A Maid
Vocals – Jack Gilford, Michael Hordern, Phil Silvers, Zero Mostel - 2:51
A8 - Riot At The Funeral 1:24
A9 - Domina Returns (Fanfare) - Into - My Bride, Vocals – Leon Greene, Vocals [Company] – Annette Andre, Buster Keaton, Helen Funai, Inga Neilsen, Jack Gilford, Janet Webb, Jennifer Baker (2), Lucienne Bridou, Michael Crawford, Michael Hordern, Myrna White, Patricia Jessel, Phil SIlvers, Susan Baker, Zero Mostel - 2:37
Side 2:
B1 - Erronious Returns - 0:27
B2 - Orgy Music... Roman Style - 1:57
B3 - Lovely (Reprise), Vocals – Jack Gilford, Zero Mostel - 2:16
B4 - In The Arena - 1:38
B5 - The Dirge, Vocals – Leon Greene, Vocals [Company] – Annette Andre, Buster Keaton, Helen Funai, Inga Neilsen, Jack Gilford, Janet Webb, Jennifer Baker (2), Lucienne Bridou, Michael Crawford, Michael Hordern, Myrna White, Patricia Jessel, Phil SIlvers, Susan Baker, Zero Mostel - 3:40
B6 - The Rescue Of Philia - Into - The Chase - 5:57
B7 - Comedy Tonight And Playout - 3:28
Companies, etc.
Copyright © – United Artists Records, Inc.
Pressed By – Columbia Records Pressing Plant, Pitman
Mastered At – Customatrix
Credits:
Directed By [Music Direction], Music By [Incidental Music] – Ken Thorne
Engineer [Sound] – Eric Tomlinson
Music By, Lyrics By – Stephen Sondheim
Vocals [Domina] – Patricia Jessel
Vocals [Erronius] – Buster Keaton
Vocals [Fertilla] – Janet Webb
Vocals [Geminae] – Jennifer Baker (2), Susan Baker
Vocals [Gymnasia] – Inga Neilsen
Vocals [Hero] – Michael Crawford
Vocals [Hysterium] – Jack Gilford
Vocals [Lycus] – Phil Silvers
Vocals [Miles] – Leon Greene
Vocals [Panacea] – Lucienne Bridou
Vocals [Philia] – Annette Andre
Vocals [Pseudolus] – Zero Mostel
Vocals [Senex] – Michael Hordern
Vocals [Tintinabula] – Helen Funai
Vocals [Vibrata] – Myrna White
Notes:
Written by K. Thorne* (tracks: A1, A2, A4 to A6, A9 to B2, B4, B6), S. Sondheim* (tracks: A1, A3, A7 to A9, B3, B5 to B7)
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Matrix / Runout (Side A Label): UAL 4144 A
Matrix / Runout (Side B Label): UAL 4144 B
Matrix / Runout (Side A Runout Etched): UAL 4144A 1A
Matrix / Runout (Side A Runout Stamped): o B P 2
Matrix / Runout (Side B Runout Etched): UAL 4144 B 1A
Matrix / Runout (Side B Runout Stamped): o B I P 2
Matrix / Runout (Side B Label): UAL 4144 B
Matrix / Runout (Side A Runout Etched): UAL 4144A 1A
Matrix / Runout (Side A Runout Stamped): o B P 2
Matrix / Runout (Side B Runout Etched): UAL 4144 B 1A
Matrix / Runout (Side B Runout Stamped): o B I P 2
Stephen Sondheim – A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Label: United Artists Records – UAL 4144
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Mono
Country: US
Released: 1966
Genre: Stage & Screen
Style: Soundtrack
Label: United Artists Records – UAL 4144
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Mono
Country: US
Released: 1966
Genre: Stage & Screen
Style: Soundtrack
Viewfinder links:
Net links:
BAM/PFA ~ Camera Man: Buster Keaton
Cabinet Magazine ~ Buster Keaton's Cure
Roger Ebert ~ Camera Man: Life & Times of Buster Keaton
The Guardian ~ Silent witness: unseen Buster Keaton sketches
International Buster Keaton Society~ Buster Keaton
LA Times ~ Buster Keaton
Library of Congress ~ Remembering Buster Keaton & The Navigator
Military.com ~ Famous Veteran: Buster Keaton
New Yorker ~ What Made Buster Keaton’s Comedy So Modern?
TSPDT ~ Buster Keaton
UPM ~ Buster Keaton Interviews
Vanity Fair ~ How Buster Keaton Shaped TV & I Love Lucy
YouTube links:
Samuel Beckett ~ Film (1 hr. 4 Min.)
CBS Sunday Morning ~ the "Great Stone Face"
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum -
Limelight ~ (Chaplin and Keaton Violin and Piano Duet)
Sunset Boulevard (card scene)
Twilight Zone ~ Once Upon a Time
Twilight Zone ~ Once Upon a Time (review)
"...stuntmen don't get you laughs,"
~ Buster Keaton
