Joe Keaton
Joseph Hallie "Joe" Keaton (born July 6, 1867 in Terre Haute , Indiana , † January 13, 1946 in Ventura County , California ) was an American vaudeville actor and acrobat .
Life
Born the son of a miller, Joseph Keaton was named after his father and grandfather according to a family tradition.
He tried unsuccessfully as a prospector during the gold rush and ended up as a talented dancer and acrobat at the Cutler-Byrant Medicine Show . There he met his future wife, Myra Edith Cutler, 17-year-old daughter of one of the owners. He later described the process of these shows as follows: "Between the files we sold patent medicine that was guaranteed to cure everything and prevent everything [...]." When they were both on the road with the Mohawk Medicine Show in Piqua in 1895, their first son was born. Until 1899 Joe and Myra were touring with changing medicine shows, among others with Harry Houdini , before they tried their luck on the vaudeville stage in New York .
Joe Keaton began taking his firstborn son, Joseph Frank, on stage at the age of three. This proved to be extremely resilient: Because falls and the like hardly seemed to bother him, he was nicknamed "Buster". With the talented son on stage, Joe and Myra Keaton's vaudeville numbers became a huge hit. With the family he created burlesque acrobatics in which the basic situation, namely the harsh upbringing of the child, was varied again and again. Joe became the father of two other children, Harry and Louise. Since child and youth protection organizations kept a close eye on him and Buster - and he had to work around child abuse charges - Harry and Louise didn't come on stage. Buster denied throughout his life that he was abused by his father for the joint appearances.
Problems with the child protection organization and with the stage manager Martin Beck increased his alcohol addiction . Busters' departure brought the end of the family number in 1917. After Buster had his own film studio in 1920 , Joe repeatedly appeared in his short films. Also in his son's later feature films, such as Darn Hospitality , Sherlock, Jr. and The General , he can be seen in supporting roles.
Joe died in 1946 at the age of 78 after being hit by a car.
Filmography
- 1917: A Country Hero (short film)
- 1918: Out West (short film)
- 1918: The Bell Boy (short film)
- 1918: Good Night, Nurse! (Short film)
- 1920: Buster Keaton as a convict ( Convict 13 , short film)
- 1920: Buster Keaton's wedding with obstacles ( The Scarecrow , short film)
- 1920: Neighborhood in Klinch ( Neighbors , short film)
- 1921: The Goat ( The Goat , short film)
- 1922: The all-electric house ( The Electric House , short film)
- 1922: Day Dreams (short film)
- 1923: Darn hospitality (Our Hospitality)
- 1924: Sherlock, Jr. (Sherlock, Jr.)
- 1925: The Cowboy (Go West)
- 1926: The General (The General)
- 1934: I'll fight for you (Evelyn Prentice)
- 1935: Palooka from Paducah (short film)
literature
- David Robinson: Buster Keaton 2nd edition. Thames and Hudson, London 1970, pp. 11ff., ISBN 978-0436098819
Web links
- Joe Keaton in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Joe Keaton as quoted in Kevin Brownlow: Pioneers of Film. Stroemfeld, Basel, Frankfurt am Main 1997, p. 550.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Keaton, Joe |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Keaton, Joseph Hallie |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American vaudeville actor and acrobat |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 6, 1867 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Terre Haute , Indiana |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 13, 1946 |
| Place of death | Ventura County , California |