Customer Reviews

My Wonderful World Of Slapstick (Da Capo Paperback)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Despite the review voted most helpful until now (which gives this book only 3 stars), I decided to see by myself. To my surprise I found a book very different from the one portrayed by Shawn T. Marengo.

First of all, the book is not called Autobiography or My Life, but My Wonderful World of Slapstick. Oddly enough, that is its subject. So, if you are expecting to uncover deep and dark secrets, you got the wrong book. Buy a biography instead.

But you got the wrong person too. Mediocre people think that artists are guys who are lucky enough to have a sudden inspiration right at the moment when they have a pencil in their hands and a white sheet of paper in front of them, or some millions in a friend's bank account to make a movie. These people can't understand that the way Keaton made his pictures was the only way possible for him; badly put: the way he saw life. In this book we get exactly what we are promised: a world full of anecdotes, accidents, shows and practical jokes.

On page NUMBER 3 he warns those readers who like sniffing the rotten meat under the carpet: "I've had few dull moments and not too many sad and defeated ones. In saying this I am by no means overlooking the rough and rocky years I've lived through. But I was not brought up thinking life would be easy. I always expected to work hard for my money and to get nothing I did not earn. And the bad years, it seems to me, were so few that only a dyed-in-the-wool grouch who enjoys feeling sorry for himself would complain."

If after reading this your first thought is: he's lying, then probably you are the kind of person who delights in other people's misfortunes but, most important, one who sees misfortunes where they're not. After all, every life is unique and if you are going to compare Keaton with, let's say Chaplin, who had always control over his films but, after the 20's were gone, made one worst than the other... Then I don't know how and who is to judge if a life is a failure or not.

There are other things in Shawn Marengo's review. He says the book is full of mistakes. But they are all about movie titles, and they were all corrected in the later edition so... big deal. Then he puts in evidence his lack of understanding by asking how could Keaton have forgotten the name of his first short-film. Answer: probably because once he did something he didn't bother to see it again, like so many artists. The Reviewer upstairs then asks, "Why would molasses be sold in a butcher shop?". A: because it's only a movie. And then he confuses an anecdote Keaton tells about something that happens "off-camera", with a similar anecdote that is in one of the films, and he says there's something "screwy" in the writing of this book. I think there's something screwy in your reading.

This reviewer also complains of not hearing "nothing about the probable horror of his serving in France during World War 1". But Keaton spent in France only the last seven months of the war. His group was the last to arrive, and they saw (as he says right there) "little but rain and mud." No wonder he doesn't talk about the "probable horrors"... And he does talk about his losing his hearing and how he almost gets shot by an American guard for not having heard him say, "Who goes there?" Isn't tat enough horror for you?

And then there is the silly idea that publishers know better than writers what they book should be like. "If the book were written 20 years later, the publisher would have demanded a more in-depth study of his life, and if Keaton refused, they probably would not have released it", he says. Nonsense. Publishers are as good an artist as a movie producer, and we know that Buster made his best films when least bothered by them. I don't see why this case would be any different.

And last: if you already know the facts of his life for what you have read in other books or on the internet or anywhere else: Why do you keep asking to read the same thing again? Why should Keaton elaborate extensively on the failures of his second marriage, for example? You don't own Keaton: you owe him. Take the book for what it is, and if you are going to criticize it (which is perfectly all right), do it for what the author wrote, not for what TV Guide readers would like to see in it.
This is a fun book to read, and it's perfectly in line with the rest of Buster Keaton's art. Read it as you would watch the "talkie" he never directed.

Reading the words of Buster Keaton gives great insight into how he was able to create his unique form of comedy.

His first hand telling of his fascinating life story may be a bit romanticized and a bit simplified, but then so were his films.

I came away with a clearer picture of what the world of silent film making was like, and how even a genius like Keaton could be dragged down by things beyond his grasp, including his own insecurities.

Keaton reveals himself to be a rather humble man. He makes clear that he never saw his work as anything more than the job of making people laugh. But he was a skilled acrobat and a great mime.

What is really missing from this book can only be found in the films themselves.

This book is written like Keaton is speaking, and provides a glimpse as to what the "the Great Stone Face" may have been like in conversation. The book is great fun, but don't look for great insights to the motivations and themes behind the films...Buster is about as vague on this as his famous face is immobile. Buster leaves out details on his hardest times (alcoholism, his second wife), so it comes as no surprise that this is more a testament to his survival in show business and resurrection in the late fifties. Be ready for the realization that the greatest silent film director of all time has no ego, doesn't take himself seriously, and is a simple guy with great intuition. If you are a Buster fan, you will love this, but for specifics on personal matters, seek out Meade's "Cut to the Chase"

Keaton's description and detail of his life could have been much more thorough than what you get from this book. Unfortunately, this is the only account of his life written by him. I got the distinct impression that he intentionally avoided the truly painful areas of his life...his first wife, Natalie...the suicide of his close friend, Clyde Bruckman...the childhood abuse from his father...the clinical depression he grappled with for most of his life. It's these things which seem to have driven him, yet he barely speaks of them in this book. Marion Meade's ''Cut To The Chase'' provides an excellent cross-section of people who knew Buster. There's also a wonderful video called ''Buster Keaton: A Hard Act To Follow,'' which runs about three hours. Between the three sources I've mentioned, you may get a pretty good, well-rounded look at the life of a little man who set out to make people laugh a long time ago.

Many people rave about Buster Keaton's work in the silent era and very few are fans of his work during the talkies. For those people, this book is an excellent read because the bulk of the material is about the gags in his silent films, various pranks played on other people of the profession, and his start on the stage. Unfortunately, this book does not delve into all of Buster's life and sometimes only gives a short overview of specific events, some good and some bad. Fans of The General will be disappointed that the only information given about the film is that it was one of Buster's personal favorites. Thankfully, though, some films get extra special attention like The Navigator, Seven Chances, Steamboat Bill Jr., and The Cameraman.

The book has an added feature. Keaton writes very well (although some credit should be given to co-write Andy Samuels). None of the dialogue is too highbrow to read, but it is intelligent stuff. Our author has certainly given his life some thought.

He could have spent more time talking about his later life, but Keaton takes the route of Mickey Rooney and simply explains that the reason he made so many bad films later in life was because of his desperate need for money. Thankfully, he is optimistic, and leaves the reader uplifted instead of brought down. This book is highly recommended.

Long thought to have been only a pie throwing clown, (which he was NOT) Buster Keaton was and still is one of the great comics. In this book, he relates his early years as part of the stage act, THE THREE KEATONS. It's a miracle that he didn't suffer permanent damage the way his father tossed him about. The insights into life in vaudville and his comments about his father are worth a closer look. From there, Buster tells how he got into films, his friendship with Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and his rise to fame. I was disappointed that he mentioned his masterpiece; THE GENERAL only in passing. This is a CLASSIC! It might have been a financial failure, but in terms of quality, it reigns supreme. Far better than Chaplin's works. But there is still much to hold the reader's interest, especially the era of the "talkies". Pairing Buster with Jimmie Durante was a disaster in my opinion, but Keaton holds no malice towards him. Buster's career took a dive during the forties, but he managed to stay afloat as a comedy writer. And, Keaton is honest about his drinking and his failed marriages. Let it be said that Buster is still a hard act to follow.

I could praise this man every day for the rest of my life and it still wouldn't be enough of a tribute.

Buster Keaton was comedy's Renaissance man: a comic actor equally adept at writing, directing, and doing his own unforgettable stunts.

A man who literally threw himself into his work, Keaton was an instinctive artist who, thanks to his years onstage in vaudeville with his parents, brought to his movies a sense of timing and gag structure that was uniquely his.

It's criminal that silent comedy isn't seen more these days. Rowan Atkinson's Mr. Bean briefly revived it, but these days Atkinson is virtually retired, leaving the silent genre all but forgotten once again.

Maybe it's an unconscious sort of comedy prejudice people have; the idea being that anything as old as a Buster Keaton movie (Who? Buster Who?) must be hopelessly corny, stupid, and irrelevant.

Not at all. Buster Keaton's short films are as inventive and startling as the cleverest, "cutting-edge" TV sitcoms of today, and his feature films almost always beautifully photographed. He still takes my breath away. Start just about anywhere with the Keaton catalogue and I guarantee you'll find yourself thinking, "I have to see more of this guy!" and "HOW did he do THAT?"

This book tells you exactly how he did it; straight from the horse's mouth: a peerless comedy craftsman obsessed with the creation and execution of gags; a robust and genuinely happy and endlessly amused man, adored by his friends and colleagues, a self-effacing regular nice guy who led an amazing and wonderful life, a man who gained all the wealth and fame he could possibly want, a man who rivalled Charlie Chaplin for sheer comedic brilliance, who remained a loyal friend to his unjustly maligned mentor Fatty Arbuckle, and then lost everything, and I do mean everything, before roaring to life again late in his career and being declared a living legend.

It's not a spoiler to tell you Buster doesn't get into the so-called juicy bits (it's not called "My Frightening World of Reality"); rather he's a man who rolls with life's punches, then jumps (alarmingly high and nimbly a jump) to his feet and runs, like a jackrabbit on speed, a look of quiet pride on that great stone face of his, proud to have survived.

It's all admirable as hell. If Buster Keaton isn't your hero now, he will be by the time you've finished this book. What this man went through!! ...Nope, I won't spoil it, you've got to buy it and find out what happened.

I will say that the book only goes up to 1960 (Keaton died in 1966) but the attached filmography, helpfully provided by archivist Raymond Rohauer, is complete and up-to-date.

Side note: Should we still care about Buster Keaton? I love him, you love him, but is it somehow weird and/or futile to even think of sharing Our Buster, an Old Silent Comedy Guy, for heaven's sake, with people today? Especially young people? Do we dare try to re-introduce him to a wider public or do we just give a Keaton-esque shrug and banish him forever to the hinterland of cinephile snobbery?

Whatever, it's a fact that for the last thirty-five years or so Buster Keaton has been hailed by cinema buffs as superior to Charlie Chaplin, and, speaking as one who admires both, I do agree that Keaton is better. Meaning that Buster Keaton was a witty, hard-working filmmaker, interested in the production as a whole, whereas Charlie Chaplin's main concern was that the camera be focused on Charlie Chaplin.

I'm not suggesting that Chaplin was incompetent, merely that he didn't care enough about his end product. With Keaton the care shows. There is something doggedly contemporary, too, about Keaton's sardonic, unsentimental, unsmiling, flat-hatted little character versus Chaplin's sensitive, romantic tramp.

The only time Buster gets really sentimental in his book is when he speaks of the simplicity of the old days of movie making when he was a young man starting out; when it seemed all you had to do was grab a camera and act funny in front of it, everybody doing a little bit of everything, and next thing you know it's being seen by millions of people in movie theatres.

Not like today...where young people starting out grab a camera and act funny in front of it, everybody doing a little bit of everything, and next thing you know it's being seen by millions of people...on YouTube.

Hmm...maybe there is something contemporary about this Keaton guy after all!

Leonard Maltin once said: Buster Keaton knew more about film comedy than anyone else on the business.

Damn right. Let's make My Wonderful World of Slapstick required reading! We'll start with the filmmaking classes...

Yes Keaton could have told us more about his problems, but I don't think that Keaton actually dwelt on his problems as much as some of us dwell on Keaton's problems, he would rather talk about all the good things that have happened to him and there was a lot. In one of the chapters he talks about how he would like to be a millionaire, but he points out he has many things in his life that he is very happy about, his pretty wife, new car, nice house etc. I loved this book you can hear Keaton's voice in every word written and isn't that really what you want from an auto-biography.

It's always interesting to read how a celebrity describes his or her own life, especially when that person's on-screen persona has captivated audiences worldwide and over several generations to such a degree as Buster Keaton has. With such a reputation, namely as the most famous comedian alongside Charlie Chaplin, it's very appropriate that his autobiography should be entitled "My Wonderful World of Slapstick", and throughout the book the focus is on this style of comedy, both on-screen and off. Obviously a natural and born comedian, Buster fondly recalls many private, off-screen gags, practical jokes and other funny moments, even telling more serious events of his life with a tongue-in-cheek sense of humour. So for those expecting more laughs and other funny stories about his films, this book won't be disappointing. But for those seeking some more in-depth, personal revelations or just the man behind the screen image, it might be a bit frustrating how Buster skims over family matters and refers to his second wife in just one sentence, namely "that second marriage of mine did not last long, which is the nicest thing about it I remember." On the other hand, Buster does not flinch or hold back in honestly recounting his worst years when he lost everything in his divorce and became an alcoholic landing in clinics and institutions, and the mere fact that he struggled to climb back out of this dark hole and returned to acting also speaks highly for him. This straightforward honesty and the stories of his successful early years in Hollywood were the highlights of this book for me personally. Reading about his childhood in vaudeville shows and then his success in films from 1917 onwards allows the reader to briefly go back in time to another world where things were obviously very different, such as simply the nature of vaudeville and some slapstick, which for us today may seem very crude, violent and distasteful at times. It was interesting to read, however, that as Buster was growing up, several new laws came into force to protect children from being literally thrown about in vaudeville shows. But lucky for us, perhaps, Buster grew up in such an environment and only went to school for one hilarious day in his life, which built the foundation for his keen sense of comedy and his physical skills in tumbling, falling and other dangerous stunts just to make us laugh. These things he also describes in some detail, as well as special people he knew such as Harry Houdini, some behind-the-scenes goings-on and the sad story of his friend, Roscoe Arbuckle's demise. While none of these contain any special insights for us today, they are nonetheless Buster's own views, and although co-authored, this book reads smoothly and fluently as if Buster himself were sitting comfortably in your lounge, telling you his life story in a fairly casual, rambling manner in that deep, slow monotone voice of his. Anyone fond of Buster - and most people are - would enjoy at least some aspects of his book, if not all. My only quibble is that the few photos in the middle are grainy and not very clear, but for a soft-cover book published first in 1960, with many historic titbits and anecdotes of days gone by, this is still a very enjoyable and special little book.

This book is written like Keaton is speaking, and provides a glimpse as to what the "the Great Stone Face" may have been like in conversation. The book is great fun, but don't look for great insights to the motivations and themes behind the films...Buster is about as vague on this as his famous face is immobile. Buster leaves out details on his hardest times (alcoholism, his second wife), so it comes as no surprise that this is more a testament to his survival in show business and resurrection in the late fifties. Be ready for the realization that the greatest silent film director of all time has no ego, doesn't take himself seriously, and is a simple guy with great intuition. If you are a Buster fan, you will love this, but for specifics on personal matters, seek out Meade's "Cut to the Chase". Doug Straton, Degas98217@aol.com