Review of "Buster Keaton Remembered" by Eleanor Keaton, Jeffrey Vance

To think of Buster Keaton is to remember a time when films were silent, and the comedy stars of those days were legends. Buster will always be remembered as the stone-faced, dare-devil comedian. His beginning in show business was in Vaudeville with his family. At a very young age he became part of the family act. He soon learned that as his father tossed him around if he never smiled or laughed the audience like him a lot.

One nice thing about the film industry is that the whole world was able to see Keaton and other stars of the theater in their own hometown on a big screen. Many of these nearly-forgotten comedians were hilarious.

Buster played his never smiling, almost tramp like, part. He was a sad clown, not dumb, but very unlucky. He did all of his own stunts in his films, and he was amazing. In one film, a whole house front falls on him. He stands there, utterly still, and the upstairs window falls over him and saves him injury seemingly by a miracle.

Buster Keaton's films are still funny today, and not many of the current crop of comedians can make that claim about their past work. Years from now will Keaton's work will still make audiences laugh.

This wonderful book is filled with the history and the films that Buster Keaton appeared in. His life is explored, and the soul of this brilliant man is revealed. Best of all are the 235 black-and-white illustrations. Many of the shots are from archives that were stored away until the authors waded through them and made an historical-pictorial history of the man that students will always appreciate. Eleanor Keaton, one of the authors, was Buster's third wife and remained devoted to him until he died in 1966. She and Keaton were married in 1940. This biography is a gem to read because the history of the Keaton and his movies is one for you to absorb and enjoy.