Reel 221

8.

series: AMERICAN MASTERS (CO); close 8 PM; The life of Hollywood's sad-eyed, rubber-faced comic genius is explored in a three-part documentary. Joseph Frank Keaton (1895-1966) got the childhood nickname Buster from magician Harry Houdini, who was a partner in the elder Keatons vaudeville act, of which the youngster became a regular at age 4. Little Buster was on the comic box in physical gags that laid the foundation for his eventual movie career, first in shorts along with Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle (1917-19) and later on his own. Part 1 focuses on Keaton's silent-screen career, and recruces clips from "The Butcher Boy" (1921) and "The Electric House" (1922). They're enriched by the recollections of his contemporaries and remarks by Keaton himself. A senior cinternie lookback on his subterranean logic gags. Keaton once always warned an audience to outguess me. Buddies always wanted an audience to outguess them, and then I'd double-cross them. TV by the award-winning team of Produced for Brown & Giant Co. Hollywood The Sam Kevin Browne and David G. Hopkins The Sam Years Unknown Channel Narrated by director Lindsay Anderson (60 min.)

(BW); Hatfield-McCoy feud. Co-stars then Keaton's wife Natalie Talmadge.

(BW); A very condensed version of:

8.

8.