What Ever Happened to Buster Keaton?

Fall from Grace

In a previous blog post, I mentioned how Buster Keaton signed a contract to MGM. If we were to look at modern filmmaking and Buster Keaton's style of filmmaking, it can be understandable why these two things clashed. The film industry as we know it today focuses on having a script and staying within a budget. Buster Keaton did not care how much money it would take to create a film, because he wanted to make it the way he wanted. He also did not use scripts, even in his feature-length films, and would often make up his stunts on the spot. For example in the film Three Ages, there is a famous scene where he makes a jump across a rooftop.

He did not make the jump. (tumblr.com)

He missed, hit the wall of the building, and fell into a safety net below. When he saw the footage, he actually incorporated the mishap into a different, more elaborate stunt all together; he would fall through awnings, hang on a pipe, swing through a window, go down a fireman's pole, and end up on a firetruck leaving the station.

During his time with MGM, Keaton was forced to use a stunt double for the more dangerous stunts. The company wanted to protect their investment, but Keaton wanted to do the stunts himself because he believed the stuntmen do not get laughs. The sound pictures were not the usual level of comedy he performed, so he grew frustrated. What made this worse was the fact that these films made more money than his earlier films did. Thus he would start drinking and begin to show up on set hung over. Eleanor Norris, his third wife who was 23 years younger than him, was what helped stopped his heavy drinking and got his career back together.

(findagrave.com)

Rise

After spending some time putting himself back together, Buster Keaton found success in an up and coming medium: television. Television had the live audience, which he loved because it was like back in his vaudeville days. His old gags from his past films found new life on television.

When James Mason, an actor, bought Buster Keaton's old house, he found film reels that were once thought to be lost. He was able to save them and thus introduce Keaton's gags to a new generation. In 1965, he was invited to the Venice Film Festival and received a standing ovation for five minutes.

Buster Keaton hit rock bottom and hit it hard. However, he surprised the world by picking himself up and doing what he loved to do.