Buster Keaton: Cut to the Chase

I wish somebody had told me that I was supposed to hate this book before I read it. When I was a college boy (and that was some time ago) I got a job at as a librarian in my school's film library. There I came across Keaton's films and I've been a fan ever since. I read this bio and liked him all the more for what I read here. I don't think this book presents him as anything other than a genius who took some hard knocks and still managed to make some of the funniest films of all time. I'm no scholar, so I couldn't say whether or not this book contains any factual errors. But I can say that I read it as a fan of the man's work and it didn't strike me as a hatchet job, an attack, or an effort to diminish what he's done. I'd like to join me voice to the tut-tut chorus if True Keaton Fans(TM), but I'm afraid that I all I can honestly say was that this book made me more interested in and more impressed by one of America's most important filmmakers.

This would be a much better book, except questionable statements (i.e. Buster was illiterate) and some vulgar speculations (i.e. Rappe & Arbuckle) make me doubt the validity of other information. She does not paint a pleasant picture of Buster especially after his decline after joining MGM. However, the fact remains that except for a few brief moments, post-Spite Marriage, Buster rarely rose to great heights again. The Filmography is very good.

This is not an ideal book for sensitive Buster fans who feel over-protective of him and cannot tolerate criticism of the darker side of his personal life. The book is at times an offensive target into that, and does not always paint him as flattering. Marion Meade does not hesitate to label Buster as somebody with vanity, and likes to use the term "extreme egotism" to describe him. It may be that Meade has drawn on this conclusion because as a child, Buster was the center of attention at all times, as a result of becoming a vaudeville star at about the age of 5, and with this, he was the main breadwinner in the family, therefore, the center of attention which may have grown into extreme egotism. Meade also states that Buster was illiterate. Buster may have been unschooled because of his traveling vaudeville show, but he wasn't illiterate. I've seen his penmanship, both handwriting and printing. Also, he was able to read the part of "Little Lord Fauntleroy" when he was 11 years old (another family-breadwinner situation).But other sources I've read and seen have proven that Buster's behavior was as a modest level-headed guy, a miracle to occur in the world of show business. During his successful years, he did not hesitate to loan money to leeches, rarely getting paid back. He also financially supported his entire family, siblings and all, even after they were well past adulthood.However, because I thrive on Hollywood trash, I recommend this book to anyone interested in old Hollywood gossip because it's a page-turner. It's dense with information. It does not skip any part of his 70-year life, which previously written books have done. Meade gives us a lot of background information on the people in his life. Buster was married 3 times, and it's hard to find information in other books about his 2nd wife, Mae. This one gives us her full background, and also what became of her after the marriage ended in 1935. Two periods in Buster's life that are skimmed over in other books that he'd cooperated in the making of are his MGM years (1928-33) and the drinking problem years with Mae (1933-36), probably because they were too painful to talk about. In "Cut to the Chase", we get full explanation of those years.

Marion Meade's definitive (so far) biography of Buster Keaton is meticulously researched and footnoted, and vivid in describing Keaton's character and personal life. Her evocation of his rough and tumble childhood in vaudeville, unparalleled cinematic innovation in the silent era and rediscovery in his later years is fresh and fascinating. Keaton had complete creative control for 19 short films and 10 features in the 1920s; work as intensely original as that of any other cinema artist of any era. No book can convey the laughter and exhilaration of watching Keaton's films, but Meade's book is an invaluable companion to them.