13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Take the information provided with a grain of salt, September 28, 2007
This review is from: Buster Keaton: Cut To The Chase (Paperback)
On the positive side, this book talks about the lean years in Buster's life, including his second marriage, that are pretty much ignored in other books on Keaton. It offers a complete filmography at the end, and talks about what has happened to Buster's extended family in the years since his death. On the negative side, the author jumps to conclusions or offers her own opinions about what happened as facts. Like everyone else, I vehemently disagree with the functional illiteracy accusation. Did Buster lack formal education? absolutely. Was he illiterate? absolutely not, based on jobs he had at MGM that involved working on scripts and his own diary which prove otherwise. Buster was interested in his craft and had no use for going over contracts and legal issues with a fine-toothed comb, a character trait that was part of his undoing for sure, but not proof he couldn't have read them had he been interested.
The specific errors that the author makes include her claiming that by the late 50's Buster didn't even remember who Dorothy Sebastian was - part of her portrait of Buster as an emotional cripple. However, about the same time, Buster wrote, along with a ghost-author "My Wonderful World of Slapstick" in which he talks about the dilemma he was in when he met his third wife Eleanor while already involved with a woman with which he had an off-and-on relationship for the previous ten years, and how he wanted to break it off with this woman to pursue Eleanor without hurting the woman's feelings. He is obviously talking about Dorothy Sebastian here, but he comes from an era in which he doesn't want to "kiss and tell" and omits her name from the book. There are other erroneous conclusions in which the author totally misinterprets certain magazine articles to claim Buster is actually complaining about this or that. The point is, take this book with a grain of salt. Entertaining it is, entirely accurate it is not.
From reading this book - and others for that matter - the person who comes across as a total mystery to me is Natalie Talmadge - Keaton's first wife. Here again, the author adds her own conclusions about Natalie's attitudes that I can't see Natalie ever conveying to anyone who would have revealed them, but the following facts are inescapible:
a. Natalie spent a huge percentage of Buster's money on clothes she never wore and homes Buster really couldn't afford.
b. Natalie ceased sexual relations with Buster after the birth of their second child.
c. The effect of (a) was that Buster HAD to sign the contract with MGM in order to keep the money pouring in after his own studio closed.
d. The effect of (b) was that Buster looked elsewhere for female companionship.
e. The effect of (c) was that Buster became an alcoholic when he no longer had any creative control over his films and was reduced to a performer in movies he largely held in contempt.
f. Natalie ultimately divorced Keaton because of (d) and (e) and was seethingly angry with him for the rest of her natural life, when in fact her own actions ( (a) and (b) ) contributed to the whole cycle in the first place.
In spite of this obvious chain of events, Keaton never spoke evil of his first wife, a fact that even the author of this book admits. That truly makes him a class act in my book.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Poor research., July 31, 2007
This review is from: Buster Keaton: Cut To The Chase (Paperback)
Why did Ms. Meade write a book about someone whom she clearly dislikes?
More importantly, why did she write such a poorly researched book?
AS soon as I read that Keaton was 'illiterate' I knew that this book was not a keeper.
(Buster Keaton kept a diary when he was seven years old, and wrote screenplays when he was an adult. Any biographer can check this out.)
And any reader can purchase a much, much better biography of Buster Keaton. THE MAN WHO WOULDN'T LIE DOWN or KEATON are both superior to this one.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not Bad But Many Errors, March 11, 2004
...the most annoying perhaps eing the myth that Buster Keaton was illiterate. True he was not educated, but to say he was illiterate is false. I've seen photocopies of his journal he kept during WWI, and it's clear he studied his Army manuals and learned Morse code and practiced it. The author also makes the mistake of relaying to us conversations that took place between Buster and his mother-in-law, both deceased of course. How would she know what was said? These were about things Buster would have discussed with no one else. It's an intro to people unfamiliar with Buster, but by no means accurate. She could have skipped the hearsay about his early life "with women" as that is unfounded too.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
