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Buster Keaton: Tempest in a Flat Hat (Hardcover)

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4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
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Buster Keaton: Tempest in a Flat Hat + Buster Keaton: Interviews (Conversations With Filmmakers Series) + Buster Keaton Remembered
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  • This item: Buster Keaton: Tempest in a Flat Hat by Edward McPherson

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

McPherson pays homage to Keaton's two-reelers and full-length movies by detailing the iconic filmmaker's plot lines and notable sight gags. Between 1920 and 1929, Keaton rivaled Harold Lloyd and Charlie Chaplin as one of Hollywood's silent masters. Grabbing his title from Keaton's signature porkpie hat, McPherson, who's written for I.D. magazine and the New York Observer, has culled the narrative of the star's personal and professional life from earlier biographical works. His contribution is to adroitly describe the extraordinary visual lunacy Keaton produced on screen to achieve cinema art. Responsible for writing, acting, editing and directing, Keaton took what he knew—"the ingenuity, athleticism, and wit of vaudeville—and applied it to a burgeoning medium." On-screen physical catastrophes were his trademark, though many of his most treasured films, such as The General, were not initially well received. McPherson also remarks on Keaton's disastrous marriage to Natalie Talmadge (her sister, Norma, was a major star), his adjustment to talkies and his descent into alcoholism, a demon he battled for decades. In his prime, Keaton lived a life of luxury, but he paid for his excesses. When his films lost favor, he was reduced to taking studio day jobs. Yet he saw his silent classics reissued and achieved happiness with his third wife, a sunny ending for this loving tribute. 40 b&w photos. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


Review

An excellent portrait of a formidable talent. -- Empire, 4-star review

McPherson's biography...is humane and sympathetic and deserves to lead the way. -- Christopher Wood, The Times [London]

McPherson's] enthusiasm for his subject is undoubtedly contagious. -- Jenny McCartney, The Sunday Telegraph [London]
See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 289 pages
  • Publisher: Newmarket Press (May 12, 2005)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1557046654
  • ISBN-13: 978-1557046659
  • Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,209,200 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Complete Waste of Time, February 14, 2006
This alleged "biography" on Buster Keaton is a total rehash of what you've read before. It's a mystery why this book was published, since it smacks of a vanity project. Besides, there are plenty of superior Keaton books already on the market. Save your money.
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21 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Admiration for a Silent Giant, May 25, 2005
By R. Hardy "Rob Hardy" (Columbus, Mississippi USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
Almost forty years after his death, Buster Keaton is increasingly appreciated as a comic artist. The movies of his only real competitor for silent film clown, Charlie Chaplin, are usually marred by sentimentality, but Keaton was having none of that. As Edward McPherson writes, in _Buster Keaton: Tempest in a Flat Hat_ (Newmarket Press), "Keaton's films are witty, beautiful, unsentimental, moving, and - most of all - funny." McPherson writes that his book is "merely a fan's notes," a celebration of Keaton's work. As such, almost all its pages are lovingly devoted to Keaton's films of the twenties. There was a Keaton after the silent film days were over, and he did make a triumph over various adversities, but his silent shorts and full-length films are wonderful, and are still being mined as examples of timing and technical wizardry. This is not a full biography, but a celebration, and it is all the better for that.

Young Keaton joined his parents in vaudeville performances. He literally joined them by wandering onstage; the parents tried tying him offstage or putting him into a trunk, but it turned out that the best way to keep an eye on him was to bring him into the act. The usual skit involved Joe's helter-skelter efforts to discipline his son, and Keaton simply was tossed around on the stage, thrown into the orchestra pit, or used as a mop. It sounds rough, but Keaton was a ham and loved it, and always denied that he had anything to complain about. Fatty Arbuckle was a fan of the Keatons' act, and had already "borrowed" some of their gags for celluloid. When Keaton wandered into Arbuckle's studio in New York in 1917, he was invited to take part in a scene involving a mess of gooey molasses and being knocked for a backwards summersault from a store out into the street. Arbuckle recognized a movie natural immediately, and Buster signed on to the company. Arbuckle's collaborative and freeform way of making gags was just what Keaton wanted, and what he instituted when he started making his own movies in Hollywood. McPherson describes all of the great films here, with descriptions of how the stunts and the accomplished trick photography were done. It all ground down when Keaton lost his independent studio and went to work for MGM, which wanted scripts, budgets, and shooting schedules; the jolly, funny atmosphere of a team intoxicated by making comic movies evaporated. The other great impediment to Keaton's way of working was sound. The days of hooking the camera to a boat, car, or train and letting it go were over. Keaton was shoe-horned into drawing-room, all-talking productions.

McPherson describes but does not detail the years thereafter, when Keaton had embarrassing journeyman jobs as his only outlet, and then cameos in such films as _Sunset Boulevard_, and even in beach blanket movies. His troubles with alcoholism (eventually conquered) and two difficult marriages (the third one was charmed) are here. Here also, however, is mention of his lucrative career making guest spots and commercials on television, a medium that many moviemakers hated or dreaded but which he appreciated as the latest technology. Collectors ensured that his films were seen again in the fifties and sixties, and he got lifetime honors from the Academy and other appreciative organizations, so that when he died in 1966, he knew that his astonishing output from the twenties was going to be appreciated by every subsequent generation. As a appreciation of Keaton's work, McPherson's book is sweet and generous, and will send readers out to the video store to do their own appreciating.
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars LOVED IT!, May 25, 2005
I bought this book in London and could not put it down. It was fascinating to read about Keaton's early years in show business and how he grew to be one of America's most admired actors. Mr. Mcpherson's book is hilarious, engrossing and full of surprises. He brings to life Buster Keaton's story. If you are a movie aficionado as I am, you will love this book.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Genius in a Nutshell
There have been several biographies of Buster Keaton, a man whose raw genius seems to defy description. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Scott A. Kallick

2.0 out of 5 stars Go watch his movies instead...
I just finished this book and I found little insight to Keaton as a person. I wouldn't really call this book a biography. Read more
Published on April 27, 2007 by B. Harris

5.0 out of 5 stars Why the Stone Face?
Like everyone else I wondered at the way McPherson seems to have curtailed his life of Buster Keaton so that when he joins MGM, the book rushes through the last thirty-five years... Read more
Published on June 30, 2006 by Kevin Killian

4.0 out of 5 stars A nice little surprise
This book was a "nice little surprise", in that I didn't really expect to enjoy it as much as I did. Read more
Published on February 23, 2006 by Arnold L. Fogel

1.0 out of 5 stars A "Flat" Biography
"Tempest in a Flat Hat" (2004) offers nothing new on the life and art of Buster Keaton. The book merely represents "a fan's notes" while regurgitating material from other Keaton... Read more
Published on February 13, 2006 by Scott Rivers

5.0 out of 5 stars Follows Keaton's career from vaudeville to silent film
Buster Keton is one of the best actor-directors in movie history, and has received biographical attention before - but for true depth don't miss Buster Keaton: Tempest In A Flat... Read more
Published on December 5, 2005 by Midwest Book Review

5.0 out of 5 stars Follows Keaton's career from vaudeville to silent film
Buster Keton is one of the best actor-directors in movie history, and has received biographical attention before - but for true depth don't miss Buster Keaton: Tempest In A Flat... Read more
Published on December 5, 2005 by Midwest Book Review

5.0 out of 5 stars Follows Keaton's career from vaudeville to silent film
Buster Keton is one of the best actor-directors in movie history, and has received biographical attention before - but for true depth don't miss Buster Keaton: Tempest In A Flat... Read more
Published on December 5, 2005 by Midwest Book Review

4.0 out of 5 stars A fan's notes
This book lives up to what Mr. McPherson promised it would be--just a fan's notes on Buster's films. Read more
Published on November 10, 2005 by Anyechka

5.0 out of 5 stars Flat hat Buster Keaton's bio
Mr Keaton has long been one of my favorite persons and the marvelous biography by Mr. McPherson has polished the image of a really marvelous actor. Read more
Published on October 9, 2005 by Roy Nunn

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