Iola, KS: Buster Keaton celebration

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Bruce Calvert
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Iola, KS: Buster Keaton celebration

Postby Bruce Calvert » Tue Aug 31, 2010 11:55 pm

http://www.washburn.edu/cas/art/cyoho/a ... rticle.pdf

18th ANNUAL BUSTER KEATON CELEBRATION
TO HIGHLIGHT TRAGIC CLOWNS OF THE SILENT SCREEN

The 18th Annual Buster Keaton Celebration in Iola, Kansas on Friday, September 24th and Saturday, September 25th will highlight “Tragic Clowns of the Silent Screen and America’s Comic Melting Pot”. The event will take place at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center in Iola, the admission is free and the program will be a mix of special presentations and classic silent movies with live music. This year, the Celebration will spotlight numerous lesser known silent film comedians who will be real surprises for many regular (and not so regular) attendees. In most cases, as with Buster Keaton all of these comedians suffered some sort of tragedy in their lives.

On Friday morning, Dr. Frank Scheide of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville will present a talk on “Gaining Ethnic Appreciation through Laughter : An Ironic Legacy of America’s Comic Melting Pot”. Dr. Scheide will talk and show film clips from several films featuring a collection of great, but sometimes unknown comedians.

KTWU Public Television producer Bill Shaffer will continue the morning with a look at “Max Davidson – America’s Forgotten Jew” profiling the diminutive Jewish comedian who starred in a stellar series of mid-1920’s Hal Roach short comedies that were produced or directed by Leo McCarey and Stan Laurel. Following this talk will be a screening of one of Davidson’s very best short films, PASS THE GRAVY.

After a lunch break, the Keaton Celebration will continue with Dr. Charles Wolfe (Associate Dean at UCSB) speaking on the topic of “California Comedies” and Ohio University’s Dr. Lisa Stein will speak about the “Aborted Film Career of Sydney Chaplin” (Charlie’s half brother). GUSSIE’S WAYWARD PATH, a Syd Chaplin short will follow her presentation. Denise Morrison, the Kansas Silent Film Festival’s resident historian and Master of Ceremonies will conclude the afternoon with a presentation on “one of Hollywood’s Most Misunderstood Silent Clowns, Harry Langdon” followed by a screening of Part 2 of the Keaton documentary, A
HARD ACT TO FOLLOW.

Friday evening will feature several short comedies starring Buster Keaton, Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle and Al St. John as well as the feature film, PATHS TO PARADISE starring a nearly forgotten comedian, Raymond Griffith. The feature film will include live music by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra of Boulder, Colorado.

Saturday, September 25th will begin with New York University scholar, Hooman Mehran’s presentation on Raymond Griffith and his comic legacy. Yair Solan, our student presenter will speak about Charley Chase, the Renaissance Man of Film Comedy who often worked with or for Laurel & Hardy. Speaker/Researcher Martha Jett will speak about the little known character actor, Karl Dane who worked with many famous dramatic actors and comedians including Buster Keaton.

After a lunch break, Brown University’s Dr. Joanna Rapf will speak about the early sad comedies of Roscoe Arbuckle in a presentation entitled, “A Satyr in a Silk Shirt”. A Harry Langdon short film, SATURDAY AFTERNOON will be presented appropriately on Saturday afternoon. Favorite speaker, BBC announcer David MacLeod will again be here from England to speak about “Every Silver Lining has a Cloud : Turning Tragedy into Comedy” followed by the premiere screening of the Buster Keaton sound feature film, EL MODERNO BARA AZUL (The Modern Bluebeard) made in Mexico in 1948 and presented here for the first time with English sub-titles.

Saturday evening’s screenings will feature some classic howlers (short films) with Charley Chase, Lloyd Hamilton and Mabel Normand as well as the 1928 Buster Keaton silent feature film, THE CAMERAMAN with live music by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra. More information is available at www.iolakeatoncelebration.org

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