OCR Text |
Show How liow I Broke Into IntoThe intoMovQes Intoff The Movies MovQes MovQesCopyright j jCopyright Copyright COPyrliht by Hal Nal C . . HermanBy Herman I IBy By BUSTER KEATONCAN KEATON KEATONT - broke 'broke ' " Into Intotbe Intothe Into1 that I CAN hardly hnrdIy say IntoI T I ICAN the tbe movies mo\"lcs mo "lcs lcs \ " ; ; rather rathcr I 007ed oozed oo ed in Practlcally Prfic Prac PrficUcally Practicaliy Ucally tlcally from birth I 1 hid h'ld hld h'rd hrd ' ' been on thevaud thevaudeville the thevaudeville with my parenta parents . , whodid who whodid whodid vaud vaudeville ( ; l1le stage did a rough rO\1gh rO 1gh \ and nnd tumble act nct , using us ng meas meas me meas football It didn't didnt ' hurt hurtmc hurtme hurtme as a sort of ot bab babyhood babyhoodto hood hoodto trained from . } mc me , . for ( or I 1 was to like It . , and to Irnow kno\v kno v know \ just how to total.e totake totake tal.e tale take . falls tnlls Two world famous nc ac nctresses actresses actresses tresses took toolc exception to this p'1rental p1rental parental p'1rentaltraIning parentaltraining pirentaltraining ' traIning , one the great Sarah Bernhardt Bern Bernhardt Bernhardt hardt and the other beautiful Lily Lilyl.an LilyLangtry LilyLangtry l.an lan Langtry . try . My father was Introducedto Introduc.edto Introduc.ed Introduced . to Bcrnhardt Bernhardt who was on the same samebJll samebill samebill bJll bill with lth us and nnd when he bpnt bent to kls"J klsJ kiss kls"Jher kissher kissher " her hind h'1nd h1nd hand ' , she said Haughtily AlaughUly , , "Are Are " you younot younot younot not ashamed to mike ID\he ID he make ' \ ze money from from7e fromre fromye 7e re cruelty to ze little garconT garcon ? ' Butshe Bllt But Blltshe Butshe she sheas \ - was \\-as as later Inter com convinced Inced that my m ; par parents parents parcnts and cared for me as asjelllouslv asjealousiv asjealously ents lo loved cd me jelllouslv jealousiv as a'S a5 ' any parents could'fhe couldThe could couldThe ' The 'fhe fhe Sll second om ! Lil Lllv Lily v Langtri LlIIgtr Laugtry : , , did not notobject notobject notobject object to say nnj any cruel treatment tre.1tment tre1tment . aCl.Ord aClOrd accord aCl.Orded accorded accorded . ed me-rather me rather me - - rather fche bhe she 0\ 0 ; \ was 0as sas as probably tempt tempted tempted tempted ed to give me some herself her e1f , . for I saton sat saton saton on her long train tr.1ln tr1ln . " when "hen hen she majestlcally mujesttLalIy majestically mujesttLal majestical Iy ly walked wallcd , ' icross 'lcross lcross across the bmrds bO'1rds bO1rds boards ' causmg causing causmgI'luhter causinglaughter causingliughter I'luhter Iluhter laughter ' ; which annoyed the 10\ 10 10ely lovely lovelylnd3 lovelylad \ ely elylall lall lnd3 , } lnd3I 1 I was Just h\entyone h entyone twenty \ one ycirs ye'lrs yelrs years ' 01(1 011 oki 01(1wIJen okiwhen oldwhen ( wIJen when tlie the Shilbcrts Shubcrts Shuberts mide ID'1de ID1de mmde ' me a n ver very veryattractive veriattractive ] attr.1 attr1 attractive . .tl\ .tl < . .tle \ e offer to enter musicil musK'll musKll musical ' corncdy com corn comc cornedy edy c y at nt "aw aw 52,0 520 " 21O ' ) , i 1 m ' " week "eel eel . It meant mennt seDBuster seplr scp- scp seD- seD sep scpt - - , _ r h r } , , F Fc lr lrr lrh lrr c v * w t trr Aar rr Y 4 wF F F a ay r y 9 S Y YMfr Mfr t f ttil & AM- AM AMs AMr " - * * * " s i iBuster y ( y . k 4 4s'9 may # s'9 s9 s'9i ' m mf md msq3 i dxa 3 f d sq3 " 4 4cy cy cyBuster Buster Keaton . antion ar'ltlon arltlon nrmtion ' of the 1 ' ' Three 'three hree Keatons for the thefirst thefirst thefirst first time and at first fast flI ' < ; t I hesl hesitated Jte In Inspite Inspite inspite spite of the ' fict f'lct flct fact tint th'1t th1t that ' the salury salary was wasmost wasmost wasmost most attractive attradh nttractly e I fimlly fin'll1y finll1y finally ' accepted acceptedand acceptedand acceptedand and was a awaiting " mtlng the cill c'lll clll cull ' to relH1rs rehears rehearsals rehcirsals relH1rsals ? ' als alshen \ vvlicn \\hen hen when I hid h'1d h1d had ' alslt a \ visit \lslt lslt from Joseph JosephM 1\1 1 M \ Schenck . , \ who ho sug suggested estc thit th'1t th1t that ' I Im'1l Imake 1mike m'1l m1l make ' e a series of two t\\O t O \ reel come comedies comediesunder comediesunder les lesunder under his inamgeinent man'1gemcnt man1gemcnt management ' He Be oflered onered offered meX40 me X40 40 aelk a \ week \\elk elk . , but , in spite of the great greatdIffer greatdifference greatdiffeience dIffer difference ence in this sum sum and whit wl1'1t wl11t ' the theShnbel theShuberts tliShubeits ( Shuberts Shnbel ts offered . , I it 'lt lt mt ' last decided decl ed orthe on onthe onthe the 010\ 010 010lesand movies-and movies and movies \ les-and les and - and rl right ht here maI mav ma\ ma may \ I st'1te st1te stmte st'1teth'1t stmtethmt stltthit ' ( th'1t th1t thmt ' 1\ 1 ' I've Ive 1e ' ' \ e never regretted niv nn my choice choiceI I mide m'1de m1de m'ide ' ' my first pictures at thComlque the theComlque theComique ( Comlque Comique Film FHm compiny com1ny company ( } ' s studios but butmy butmy bu1my my production plins phns plans were ere cut short shortb shortby sliorlb b by tlie the outbreak ontbreab . of the \ war \ ar I had hadonlv hadonly haconly onlv only mide m'lde mlde made ' five two reel come coinedies comedies les when whenc'1lled whencalled whercilled c'1lled c1lled called ' to ' Ciinp C'unp Cunp Cminp Kearnev Kelrne Kearney ! After 8 a 8period aperiod iperiod period of training trmmng there 1 I sliled s'liled sailed ' for forPrance foiFnnce 'Mll Mll Prance [ ' e where \ here I served sen e as a pnv prl\ prl prrv prlIte \ " rteI ite rte iteI IteI I \ was as abroid abro'1d abro1d abroad ' about a ye yeir yetr lr , , scaln seeing seeingsome seeinsome . ; , otne some Interesting Intuestlng tntcresting service senlce After the thearnll"tlce theararastrce tinarmistice arnll"tlce arnlltlce ararastrce " I 1 helped belped entLi enteitain entcitain taln until or ordered ordered ordered dered home homeWhen \ When \ hen 1 I got back to the good old oldUSA oldU olU ( USA U S A A.I AI , . , I 1 icsumed esumed resumed vvoik wOII work . un under er Mr MrSchen MrSchenck's MrSclienck's MrScliencks Schen Schenck's Schencks .h's .hs hs < . ' able mamgement man'1gement man1gement management ' and remained reinaincd re- re remaIned - - maIned \ with Ith him hm [ until about a year yearago ear earaJo eaiago aJo ago when I signed \ witli with lth the Metro MetroGoldw MetroGoldwyn MetroGoldwin Goldw Goldwyn n Mayor layer Mayer company . Berol Befeie Before e I was elevited elev'lte elevlte elevmted ' to stdr stardom stardom1 stardomI Oll1 Oll1I I was co costariPd starl starred I'd Id ' with William Crnne Crane CrnneIn Cranein Cramin In 'I I 'Ihe Ihe 'lime lime ' he Saphead Snphead , " a picture which whichmade whichmade whicimade made a great hit . . . After this 1 I was wasgnen wasgives vva ; given gnen gives my ovvu o\\n o n own \ \ company bv by Mr MrSchenek MrSchenck MrSchenck Schenek Schenck My first picture under this thisarrangement thisarrangement thisarrangement arrangement was 'One One 'OneV ' One \V V \ Week eek ' Among my most sU successful .cessful cessful < . picture pictures picturesw ; w \ were ere " 'The The "Fhe Fhe ' l'he lhe ' Navigator , " ' The 'The The Geneni Gener'll Generll Gener'llIt General ' ; . It It'College ' ' College 'College ' , ' ' Steamboat Bill Bm . , Jr ' add and and"Ihe am"Ihe amIhe "Ihe Ihe " ' 1 he Camenman Camenmnn Corner iman . . . " Recent necent pictures in \ which hlch I 1 ha have \ e np ap nppea appeared appeared pea peared red are 'The The ' The Passionate Plumher Plumber Plumberand ' arid and "Speak Speak " Easily DasHy " Jlrnmv .Tlmm Tlmm Jimmy . . } , "Schnoz Schnoz "Schnoz71e "Schnoznle "Schnoz7le Schnoz7le " 71e nle " Duiante DUlante plived ph\ed ph ed planed \ with me In both bothof bothof botiof of these plCtUl pictuies pictures es . . In motion pictures ' is 'IS ms In any othe other otherprofes otherprofession ; enjov enJrjov profes profession < : lOn you . } ou do O best whl1 what t you enJr en + jov joy mQ most < : t . . Comedy Is my forte beClHlse because becuusi1 1 li1 like e It |