What If: Little Lord Busteroy
We know and love Buster Keaton for his silent films, from 1920's One Week, with spritely Sybil Seeley, to his masterwork The General, 1926.
Many of Buster's fans unhappily squint at MGM and the films the big studio stuck him in. Often, the realm of make-believe is more fun and more comforting than fact.
And since we're on a mission to re-arrange space and time, what if Buster Keaton had been able to make movies the way he (and we!) wanted?
(We'll leave as is 1930s Free And Easy, because a wisecracking Buster out-sings and out-dances a herd of chorines, even hampered by that bizarre costume take on aviator gear. Also Speak Easily, 1932, just 'cause Professor Post is too cute, and for once mixes well with Jimmy Durante.)
On to fantasy. Maybe Buster moved to another studio that would regard him as not just another chunk of meat to be ground into sausage.
Or perhaps Buster Svengali'd MGM into saying, “Sure, why not? Make the kind of pictures you want. We'll back you all the way!”
What then?
First, there was that Grand Hotel parody Buster wanted to do, with Jimmy Durante and Marie Dressler in the cast to play opposite his down-and-out Kringelein.
We'd also need the addition of imperious Gladys Cooper, well-known for her portrayals of terrifying dowagers in such films as Now Voyager, 1942, and The Bishop's Wife, 1947. She would naturally play the ballerina.
(I'd pay good money to see that, though in real life the idea was shot down in flames.)
Then maybe a detective film or two, like my Tumblr's Tough Guy Tuesdays.
In his vaudeville days, young Buster portrayed Little Lord Fauntleroy. The play, and subsequent films, was based in Frances Hodgson Burnett's 1886 book about American lad who becomes heir to an English earldom.
My favorite of the many film remakes is the 1936 talkie starring Freddie Bartholomew as Fauntleroy, with Dolores Costello as Dearest, Mickey Rooney as bootblack Dick, and Guy Kibbee as Mr. Hobbs.
But what if Buster played Fauntleroy as an adult, still dressed in knickers (as in the Arbuckle 1917 two-reeler, Oh Doctor)? A wig wouldn't hurt at all.
Can you just hear Buster's singular voice addressing his mother (played by dry-witted, worldly-wise Helen Broderick, whose film dialogue sounds as though it springs from her own imagination): “Oh, Dearest!”
We'll add Alan Hale as Lord Dorrincourt. Guy Kibbee, Fauntleroy's American grocer pal, was still around to play the same part.
And suppose his pony wasn't a pony, but the winsome Brown Eyes from Buster's feature, Go West (1925)?
Why not? I hear she had an excellent agent.
Our thanks and gratitude to Lea S. and Silent-ology, for hosting this “Busterthon.”
No doubt some of you were wondering–now when is Silent-ology announcing the next Buster blogathon? Well, the day has arrived–and I hope my f
