Buster Keaton is an American comic genius.
His improbable show-biz life - born to wandering sub-vaudeville performing parents, rising to the top ranks of silent film comedy, a precipitous fall due to alcohol, bad business decisions and very human failings, and finally, a semi-successful comeback in early television - is the stuff of entertainment legend.
His classic films are almost too numerous to mention (feature films "The General", "Our Hospitality", "College", "The Cameraman" come to mind, plus such great shorts as "One Week"), and are widely available.
Iola, Kansas is a few miles away from the tiny village where Keaton was born while his parents were on a never-ending vaudeville tour. For the seventeenth consecutive year, The Buster Keaton Celebration will take place in this small southeastern Kansas town. Each festival spotlights a specific aspect of Buster's life. The 2009 edition will explore his World War I enlistment.
We had the great fortune to attend this event a couple of years ago - it was a hoot, with intriguing speakers, great films and a cool small-town atmosphere. Check out the Keaton Festival website here: http://www.busterkeatoncelebration.org/
Keaton - world's greatest comic.
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