Buster Keaton Treasure

Buster Keaton, silent-movie star and comic genius, was once extremely popular and extremely rich.  He owned a beautiful mansion in Hollywood, filled with secret tunnels and secret treasures.

Unfortunately he became an acholic, like his father before him, and lost his fame and fortune, his house and his wife.  In 1928, MGM had hired Buster Keaton as their “star, but by 1937 he was desperate for work and was rehired by the same company as relatively lowly paid gagman.

Other stars rose and fell, and in the 1950s, James Mason, whose star was shining brightly, owned Keaton’s prestigious Hollywood mansion.  He was cleaning the grounds of his home, when he made a startling discovering.  In an old shed, covered by vines and hidden from the world for many years, was a secret store of presumably lost nitrate stock films of Buster Keaton’s films.  It contained prints of all Keaton’s silent features and many of his short comedies too.

Keaton’s career was revitalised by the discovery and his lost films were lovingly restored and preserved. In 1952, he appeared with Charlie Chaplin in “Limelight” and, in 1957, his film biography “The Buster Keaton Story” was released. In 1959, he finally received peer recognition and an Honorary Oscar.

Buster Keaton died at the age of seventy on February 1, 1966 in Los Angeles, California, knowing that he was loved and admired by the world.

 
Vanity Fair: Buster Keaton, 1920
Buy this Mounted Print at AllPosters.com

Reviews (applause received)   

Be the first to review this anecdote - click here.