Hey folks, Harry here... One of my favorite things in this universe is turning folks on to the silent masters... Too many folks I hear from can't watch old black and white movies, much less silent ones, and often I burn incense, smash the ash into various slaughtered animal entrails while invoking various spells and such in honor of Fin Fang Foom in order to make these people disappear, but sometimes I write about the films to get folks to perhaps cast some eyes in the direction of these classic flicks. Usually for the beginning film buff it is best to start them with Chaplin or Keaton... (The Elvis / Beatles litmus test of silent comedians -- though I'll always love Fatty Arbuckle and Harold Lloyd too much for words as well) ...because it is the easiest for folks to pick up. Well here have a reader telling us about an upcoming festival of BUSTER KEATON glory at the end of this month... Check it out... Go and I'd love to hear from you if you do! Here ya go...
Harry and Associates,
My steady diet of Ain’t It Cool News began some 10,000 reviews ago, and feel like I’ve come full circle. I’ve been reading articles and taking much from the wonderful work you’ve all been doing, but I haven’t had the opportunity to give much. Hopefully this is a start….
The first time I ever stumbled across Ain’t It Cool News,Harry had just been to see Buster Keaton’s THE GENERAL, and wrote about his experience in this article. I had just seen one of Buster Keaton’s films with live orchestration for the first time and had been relentlessly trying to describe the wonder of it all to my friends, but couldn’t quite do it justice…then I had Harry, describing the experience of seeing a Buster Keaton film live with an audience and orchestration, to speak for me. Many hyperlinks in emails later, I felt a little more settled, knowing someone reveled the black and white brilliance of Buster Keaton. I’ve been back to AICN (almost) every day since.
Now here’s the ‘full circle’ part…every year I have the chance to get a bit of the wonder of seeing Buster Keaton up on the silver screen and orchestrated with a few hundred other people in a small Midwestern town inKansas. Like something out of WAITING FOR GUFFMAN, Buster Keaton was born in Piqua, Kansas in a medicine wagon amidst tornadoes and Kansas thunderstorms. Ten years ago, nearby Iola, KS claimed Buster as their own and started an annual Buster Keaton Festival. I’ve attended for the past six years and it’s one of those events that has flown ‘under the radar’ for a long time, but each year it gets bigger.
It’s a strange place for a film festival, as you drive past a bunch of tractor and farm implement dealerships…through lots of open fields and typicalKansas flatness (which I happen to love). You’ve got the franchise chains on the outskirts of the town, but when you get to the heart of Iola (3 minutes from the outskirts) there’s the home-cooked little diners, windowless bars, old hardware stores where they still put up their displays on hooks hung in polka-dotted masonite walls, and book/record/coffee/video all-in-one store. There’s a desolate feel to the place, but an air of excitement…people who don’t know anything about Buster Keaton show up at the festival to see what the hubbub is about and end up walking away fans of the silent-film giant.
There’s something about the collective experience of watching these movies and hearing the instruments live…laughter echoing in the performance center that would make most modern comedy creators sea-green with envy, but with a weight behind the jokes that somehow make you feel more human as you’re laughing…recognition that you’ve learned something important about yourself that you want to stash somewhere safe and visit it later…reassurance that even though the world shifts and our gadgets change form—our relationship to them doesn’t, and our frustration with technology has been a long-running gag.
It’s wonderful in a weirdly engaging way. It’s had some pretty esteemed guests in the past too. The best, in my opinion, was seeingSteve Allen in 2000, little more than a month before he died. An incredible man to see, in great form till the end (he was still poignantly hilarious). Other guests from previous years have included Buster’s widow Eleanor, actors Dan Kamen and James Karen, film critic Leonard Maltin, film historian and archivist (incredible work at restoring these films for new generations) David Shepard…. I’ve also gotten a sense of the history of Hollywood and how it’s developed from it’s first studio steps into a cultural icon. But the real star of the weekend is Buster and the great films he created. It’s worth checking out for the unique experience it provides; to see these great films with the guests, the audience, and orchestra all participating.
The Buster Keaton Festival is the last weekend of the month: September 27th and 28th, inIola, KS.
Here’s a link to this year’s schedule.
Thanks,
Call me Bunsen Honeydew.
