Buster Keaton’s final word

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

Hollywood Dreams at the Loew’s Theatre

by Eric Veillette In the early days of the movie palace, it didn’t take much to get people into the theatres. The seats were always filled with beaming eyes staring at the latest antics of Mary Pickford or Buster Keaton. Despite jam-packed attendance, theatre managers liked to spruce things up a bit, and give patrons a little more than just a film and a newsreel. How about offering up a prize for grabs? A Saint-John, New Brunswick newspaper clipping I have from November of 1916, promoting Chaplin’s film Shanghaied, asks: “Boys and girls! Have You Sent Your Chaplin Essays in Yet? … Continue reading Hollywood Dreams at the Loew’s Theatre