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Coming from Bear Manor Media early next year:

We can't forget that the prepared scripts for Keaton's silent features THE CAMERAMAN and SPITE MARRIAGE were preserved by MGM and, one way or another, have been known and discussed at least as far back as 1960 and "My Wonderful World of Slapstick." Although not up to the standards of Buste...

Imdb "trivia" about Vernon Dent: "According to Emil Sitka in various interviews, Dent was completely blind by 1955 brought about by diabetes. Many of his friends and colleagues did not know it until the funeral of Dent's longtime friend Shemp Howard, when they noticed that a man had t...

Excellent writeup as usual, Richard. One of my all-time favorite Robert Benchley scenes is in this film, when he creeps down the grand staircase trying to escape from the mansion he's broken into, peering around as he moves forward, looking for a possible exit. "Who are you?" the grand dam...

Paul -- THANK YOU!

THE MACK SENNETT COLLECTION leaves me otherwise speechless!

The Warner Archive text erroneously states that ESTRELLADOS was "shot simultaneously" with FREE & EASY. FREE & EASY was completed and assembled for previews before scenes were filmed for the Spanish-language version. FREE & EASY was trimmed after previews, while ESTELLADOS cont...

Ernest Pagano had previously worked on Frank Capra's Columbia THE MATINEE IDOL (1928) starring Bessie Love. Comparing that film to Keaton's SPITE MARRIAGE (1929), you'll see close similarities in the scenes involving a badly-staged Civil War melodrama. Eleanor Keaton told me that Pagano and Buster h...

Pablo Picasso and Harpo Marx (sans wig) make a better match.

This is a precious little treasure, Louie -- and it was darned nice of you to share it with us -- thank you for this special "Christmas gift." When El mentions that the last few Christmases weren't nearly as happy, he was probably thinking of the recent World War, but also his Columbia par...