Tag: buster keaton

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Buster Keaton’s final word

Eric Veillette

This piece was originally published by the Toronto Star on March 5, 2013. It appears here in a slightly edited form. Buster Keaton, who rose to fame in the 1920s, directed and starred in some of the most famous films of the silent era. The General (1926) is ranked 34th on Sight and Sound magazine’s list of the 50 greatest films of all time. Nearly four decades later, during a chilly October in 1965, Keaton was in Toronto, appearing in The Scribe , an industrial safety film commissioned by the Construction Safety Association of Ontario. It would be his last film. On Feb. 1, 1966, Keaton … Continue reading Buster Keaton’s final word

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Buster Keaton, turntables and sound effects: The early days of cinema redux

Eric Veillette

In today’s Toronto Star, I interviewed Toronto-based turntablist duo iNSIDEaMIND on their upcoming project, Sherlock Jr. in Concert, which they’ll perform on Monday, February 21 at Bell Lightbox. Two turntables, effects processors and samplers will replace the pianos, organs or orchestras normally used to accompany Buster Keaton’s surrealist Sherlock Jr. During the interview, the “phonograph alchemists,” Cheldon Patterson and Erik Laar, spoke highly of both Keaton’s talents as a filmmaker as well as the rich, sparse palette offered by the silent visuals when creating an ambience-driven soundscape using beats and samples. What’s interesting about iNSIDEaMIND’s project is that although it’s … Continue reading Buster Keaton, turntables and sound effects: The early days of cinema redux

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Buster Keaton 1895-1966

Eric Veillette

Buster Keaton died forty-five years ago today, and Silent Toronto would like to offer posthumous thanks for all the laughter that has filled (and continues to fill) Toronto cinemas. Seven Chances premiered at the former Shea’s Hippodrome in October, 1925. Last year I was fortunate to attend a screening at Casa Loma where the film was accompanied by Clark Wilson at the helm of the mighty, rumbling Wurlitzer organ. As I wrote in the Toronto Star in March, 2010, this organ was no stranger to Keaton’s farce — it was in use at Shea’s Hippodrome when the film premiered. It … Continue reading Buster Keaton 1895-1966

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Lecture on Toronto Theatres at the Revue Cinema

Eric Veillette

Above image from January 1929 shows Yonge St. facing north from Queen St. On the bill at the Loews Yonge St. is a Buster Keaton film, probably Steamboat Bill. Source: Toronto Transit Commission. Ten-cent admission, newsreels, adventure serials and slapstick. That’s what you would find if you could return to the early days of movie-going. As this site, dedicated to preserving the stories of our varied theatres, nears its first anniversary, I am partnering with Toronto’s Revue Cinema on a new lecture series chronicling the history of local movie theatres. On August 22, the first lecture, “Toronto Movie Theatres: Palaces … Continue reading Lecture on Toronto Theatres at the Revue Cinema