Buster Keaton: A Filmmaker's Life
**One of Literary Hub's Five “Most Critically Acclaimed” Biographies of 2022**

From acclaimed cultural and film historian James Curtis-a major biography, the first in more than two decades, of the legendary comedian and filmmaker who elevated physical comedy to the highest of arts and whose ingenious films remain as startling, innovative, modern-and irresistible-today as they were when they beguiled audiences almost a century ago.


"It is brilliant-I was totally absorbed, couldn't stop reading it and was very sorry when it ended."-Kevin Brownlow
 
It was James Agee who christened Buster Keaton “The Great Stone Face.” Keaton's face, Agee wrote, "ranked almost with Lincoln's as an early American archetype; it was haunting, handsome, almost beautiful, yet it was also irreducibly funny. Keaton was the only major comedian who kept sentiment almost entirely out of his work and . . . he brought pure physical comedy to its greatest heights.”
 
Mel Brooks: “A lot of my daring came from Keaton.”
 
Martin Scorsese, influenced by Keaton's pictures in the making of Raging Bull: “The only person who had the right attitude about boxing in the movies for me,” Scorsese said, “was Buster Keaton.”
 
Keaton's deadpan stare in a porkpie hat was as recognizable as Charlie Chaplin's tramp and Harold Lloyd's straw boater and spectacles, and, with W. C. Fields, the four were each considered a comedy king--but Keaton was, and still is, considered to be the greatest of them all.
 
His iconic look and acrobatic brilliance obscured the fact that behind the camera Keaton was one of our most gifted filmmakers. Through nineteen short comedies and twelve magnificent features, he distinguished himself with such seminal works as Sherlock Jr., The Navigator, Steamboat Bill, Jr., The Cameraman, and his masterpiece, The General.
 
Now James Curtis, admired biographer of Preston Sturges (“definitive”-Variety), W. C. Fields (“by far the fullest, fairest and most touching account we have yet had. Or are likely to have”-Richard Schickel, front page of The New York Times Book Review), and Spencer Tracy (“monumental; definitive”-Kirkus Reviews), gives us the richest, most comprehensive life to date of the legendary actor, stunt artist, screenwriter, director-master.
1139493971
Buster Keaton: A Filmmaker's Life
**One of Literary Hub's Five “Most Critically Acclaimed” Biographies of 2022**

From acclaimed cultural and film historian James Curtis-a major biography, the first in more than two decades, of the legendary comedian and filmmaker who elevated physical comedy to the highest of arts and whose ingenious films remain as startling, innovative, modern-and irresistible-today as they were when they beguiled audiences almost a century ago.


"It is brilliant-I was totally absorbed, couldn't stop reading it and was very sorry when it ended."-Kevin Brownlow
 
It was James Agee who christened Buster Keaton “The Great Stone Face.” Keaton's face, Agee wrote, "ranked almost with Lincoln's as an early American archetype; it was haunting, handsome, almost beautiful, yet it was also irreducibly funny. Keaton was the only major comedian who kept sentiment almost entirely out of his work and . . . he brought pure physical comedy to its greatest heights.”
 
Mel Brooks: “A lot of my daring came from Keaton.”
 
Martin Scorsese, influenced by Keaton's pictures in the making of Raging Bull: “The only person who had the right attitude about boxing in the movies for me,” Scorsese said, “was Buster Keaton.”
 
Keaton's deadpan stare in a porkpie hat was as recognizable as Charlie Chaplin's tramp and Harold Lloyd's straw boater and spectacles, and, with W. C. Fields, the four were each considered a comedy king--but Keaton was, and still is, considered to be the greatest of them all.
 
His iconic look and acrobatic brilliance obscured the fact that behind the camera Keaton was one of our most gifted filmmakers. Through nineteen short comedies and twelve magnificent features, he distinguished himself with such seminal works as Sherlock Jr., The Navigator, Steamboat Bill, Jr., The Cameraman, and his masterpiece, The General.
 
Now James Curtis, admired biographer of Preston Sturges (“definitive”-Variety), W. C. Fields (“by far the fullest, fairest and most touching account we have yet had. Or are likely to have”-Richard Schickel, front page of The New York Times Book Review), and Spencer Tracy (“monumental; definitive”-Kirkus Reviews), gives us the richest, most comprehensive life to date of the legendary actor, stunt artist, screenwriter, director-master.
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Buster Keaton: A Filmmaker's Life

Buster Keaton: A Filmmaker's Life

by James Curtis

Narrated by David Pittu

Unabridged — 31 hours, 10 minutes

Buster Keaton: A Filmmaker's Life

Buster Keaton: A Filmmaker's Life

by James Curtis

Narrated by David Pittu

Unabridged — 31 hours, 10 minutes

Audiobook (Digital)

$32.50
(Not eligible for purchase using B&N Audiobooks Subscription credits)

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Overview

**One of Literary Hub's Five “Most Critically Acclaimed” Biographies of 2022**

From acclaimed cultural and film historian James Curtis-a major biography, the first in more than two decades, of the legendary comedian and filmmaker who elevated physical comedy to the highest of arts and whose ingenious films remain as startling, innovative, modern-and irresistible-today as they were when they beguiled audiences almost a century ago.


"It is brilliant-I was totally absorbed, couldn't stop reading it and was very sorry when it ended."-Kevin Brownlow
 
It was James Agee who christened Buster Keaton “The Great Stone Face.” Keaton's face, Agee wrote, "ranked almost with Lincoln's as an early American archetype; it was haunting, handsome, almost beautiful, yet it was also irreducibly funny. Keaton was the only major comedian who kept sentiment almost entirely out of his work and . . . he brought pure physical comedy to its greatest heights.”
 
Mel Brooks: “A lot of my daring came from Keaton.”
 
Martin Scorsese, influenced by Keaton's pictures in the making of Raging Bull: “The only person who had the right attitude about boxing in the movies for me,” Scorsese said, “was Buster Keaton.”
 
Keaton's deadpan stare in a porkpie hat was as recognizable as Charlie Chaplin's tramp and Harold Lloyd's straw boater and spectacles, and, with W. C. Fields, the four were each considered a comedy king--but Keaton was, and still is, considered to be the greatest of them all.
 
His iconic look and acrobatic brilliance obscured the fact that behind the camera Keaton was one of our most gifted filmmakers. Through nineteen short comedies and twelve magnificent features, he distinguished himself with such seminal works as Sherlock Jr., The Navigator, Steamboat Bill, Jr., The Cameraman, and his masterpiece, The General.
 
Now James Curtis, admired biographer of Preston Sturges (“definitive”-Variety), W. C. Fields (“by far the fullest, fairest and most touching account we have yet had. Or are likely to have”-Richard Schickel, front page of The New York Times Book Review), and Spencer Tracy (“monumental; definitive”-Kirkus Reviews), gives us the richest, most comprehensive life to date of the legendary actor, stunt artist, screenwriter, director-master.

Editorial Reviews

MARCH 2022 - AudioFile

Respected film expert and historian James Curtis offers a comprehensive and intriguing dive into the life and career of actor, comedian, and filmmaker Buster Keaton (1895-1966). Narrator David Pittu is an ideal choice for this lengthy but entertaining audiobook. While Pittu’s nuanced, sensitive performance is a bit slow-paced, it’s entirely absorbing—simply superb. Pittu slightly alters his voice when directly quoting voices beyond the author’s and Keaton’s. All of Keaton’s vaudeville performances, along with his comedic “shorts” and feature films, are discussed, including behind-the-scenes stories and vignettes. His personal life is presented without a hint of the now-common sensationalism and exaggeration. Boomers may well become nostalgic as they remember Keaton’s cameos in several beach party films of the 1960s. Treat yourself to the fun of Buster Keaton. W.A.G. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

Publishers Weekly

★ 11/08/2021

Buster Keaton (1895–1966), a director and star of silent comedy classics, emerges as a great auteur and a martyr to Hollywood in this vibrant biography. Film historian Curtis (Spencer Tracy) recaps Keaton’s spectacularly rough-and-tumble career beginning with his childhood vaudeville act in which he was thrown across the stage by his father. He covers Keaton’s hair-raising stunts in the silent train-chase epic The General (as well as in other films); his career fizzling in the 1930s when MGM bought his contract, stripped him of creative autonomy, and stuck him in ill-chosen pictures that made no use of his genius for poetic sight gags; and his 1960s swan songs doing everything from variety shows (at the age of 69, he hoisted Lucille Ball on his shoulders for a stunt) to a Budweiser commercial and a Samuel Beckett–directed art film. In Curtis’s telling, Keaton’s life is a picaresque worthy of his comedies: he was once blackmailed by an ex-mistress who smashed up his office, and when his agent hired a man to keep him from drinking on set, Keaton paid the man to let him drink. The story is evocative, entertaining, and laced with lyrical detail. This is an engrossing portrait of a Hollywood legend. Photos. (Feb.)

From the Publisher

A New Yorker Best Book of the Year

"Others can, and will, continue to write about Buster Keaton and offer their own interpretations... but I can't imagine anyone else tackling his life. This volume can lay claim to being definitive."—Leonard Maltin  

"Comprehensive ... Curtis, who has also written mighty biographies of Preston Sturges, James Whale, W.C. Fields, and Spencer Tracy, does a delightful job of capturing the old, weird America in which the Keatons plied their trade ... Keaton was as much a technical innovator as he was a comic, and Curtis's book goes into painstaking detail about how these effects were achieved ... As definitive an account of the sad-faced comedian as one could hope for."—David Kamp, The New York Times Book Review     
 
"A landmark biography ... Keaton's career in the limelight (he started performing at age 3) and his innovations in motion pictures should keep readers riveted."—Bethanne Patrick, Los Angeles Times

“An immense year-by-year, sometimes week-by-week, account of Keaton as an artist and a man. Every detail of his life and work is here.”—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker
 
“Belongs in any film fan’s library for providing a close look at the silent era and all of Keaton’s efforts, whether big or small, triumph or failure.”Associated Press

“Authoritative... [Keaton] emerges from the pages of Curtis’s [book] not just as the first indie auteur but as the direct forerunner of Indiana Jones and Jason Bourne: the first action hero.”—Tom Shone, Avenue

One of Literary Hub’s most anticipated books of 2022 ... “A definitive biography that delves into the mystery behind the man who made America laugh in the early years of film.”

"It is brilliant—I was totally absorbed, couldn't stop reading it and was very sorry when it ended."—Kevin Brownlow

“At long last, Buster Keaton gets the biography he deserves. James Curtis has given us a monumental book, one of the best Hollywood biographies ever written. Curtis has authored the definitive biographies of W.C. Fields, Preston Sturges, and Spencer Tracy, but this might well be his masterpiece.”–David Weddle, author If They Move, Kill ‘Em: The life and Times of Sam Peckinpah, writer-executive producer, For All Mankind, writer/supervising producer, Battlestar Galactica

“Curtis breathes new life into the classic comic . . . [he] has assembled a biography that will be a go-to source for fans both old and new.”Library Journal

“Vibrant . . . in Curtis’s telling, Keaton’s life is a picaresque worthy of his comedies . . . evocative, entertaining, and laced with lyrical detail. This is an engrossing portrait of a Hollywood legend.”Publishers Weekly (starred)
  
“Just as Buster Keaton’s work transcends its flowering in silent films, so James Curtis’s biography transcends the category of show business biography. In a narrative that majestically carries its subject from 19th century vaudeville to Cinerama to immortality, Keaton is given his due, not just as an artist, but as a man who lived a paradigmatic American Life.”—Scott Eyman

“Film historian and biographer Curtis draws on abundant archival sources as well as interviews, memoirs, and previous biographies to create a comprehensive, warmly sympathetic life of iconic entertainer Joseph Frank “Buster” Keaton . . . lively . . . authoritative . . . Meticulous research informs a brisk biography of an entertainment icon.”Kirkus (starred)

“A valuable addition to the literature of film history.”Booklist

Library Journal

02/01/2022

Buster Keaton is frequently cited as one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, but what motivated the man behind "the Great Stone Face"? Curtis (William Cameron Menzies: The Shape of Films To Come) attempts to answer that question, and others. Though there are few living who knew Keaton, Curtis has made deft use of alternative sources already published or circulating. In lesser hands, this might result in a book that treads little new ground, but Curtis breathes new life into the classic comic, exploring the richer context of Keaton's entire career rather than merely hitting the highlights. Although ultimately celebrating Keaton, Curtis also explores, with admirable evenhandedness, the performer's private struggles with depression, adultery, and alcoholism. Curtis does commendable work with the frustratingly necessary job of movie scene descriptions—a particularly daunting task with silent films, where one runs the risk of either bogging down the reader with superfluous detail or overlooking the qualities that endear Keaton to us in the present day. VERDICT This decade will mark the centenaries of Buster Keaton's most celebrated features, and Curtis has assembled a biography that will be a go-to source for fans both old and new during the centenary celebration and beyond.—Gregory Stall

MARCH 2022 - AudioFile

Respected film expert and historian James Curtis offers a comprehensive and intriguing dive into the life and career of actor, comedian, and filmmaker Buster Keaton (1895-1966). Narrator David Pittu is an ideal choice for this lengthy but entertaining audiobook. While Pittu’s nuanced, sensitive performance is a bit slow-paced, it’s entirely absorbing—simply superb. Pittu slightly alters his voice when directly quoting voices beyond the author’s and Keaton’s. All of Keaton’s vaudeville performances, along with his comedic “shorts” and feature films, are discussed, including behind-the-scenes stories and vignettes. His personal life is presented without a hint of the now-common sensationalism and exaggeration. Boomers may well become nostalgic as they remember Keaton’s cameos in several beach party films of the 1960s. Treat yourself to the fun of Buster Keaton. W.A.G. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

★ 2021-11-02
A life of the Great Stone Face.

Film historian and biographer Curtis draws on abundant archival sources as well as interviews, memoirs, and previous biographies to create a comprehensive, warmly sympathetic life of iconic entertainer Joseph Frank “Buster” Keaton (1895-1966). Born into a family of traveling performers, Keaton made his debut as a toddler, featured along with his parents as one of The Three Keatons. “Broadly acrobatic,” he quickly discovered the power of a deadpan expression to elicit laughter, and his porkpie hat, rumpled clothes, and sad eyes became as well-known and beloved as Charlie Chaplin’s bedraggled Little Tramp. In 1917, he ventured out on his own; by 1920, he was hailed by a studio head as “the greatest comedy sensation since the heyday of Charlie Chaplin and Roscoe Arbuckle in two-reelers.” After serving as Arbuckle’s assistant director, Keaton moved into directing and producing, setting up his own studio to make shorts and feature films. In lively detail, Curtis—biographer of Spencer Tracy, Preston Sturges, and W.C. Fields, among others—recounts the highs and lows of Keaton’s prolific career, tracing “the development of gags, the logic of gags, the mechanics of gags” as he acted on stage and in silent movies, talkies, and TV, including being cast in a film by Samuel Beckett and performing with Chaplin in Limelight. Outside of work, Keaton experienced “personal chaos,” including his marriage to fellow actor Natalie Talmadge, which lasted 10 years and ended in acrimonious divorce, incited, in part, by his heavy drinking. His second marriage, to a woman who nursed him through a regimen of drying out, lasted only a few years, as did his abstention from alcohol. In 1935, he ended up in a “psychopathic ward.” Finally, in 1940, he married happily. In this authoritative portrait, Curtis portrays his subject as “a gentle soul, so quiet and unassuming,” sometimes startled by acclaim and happiest when he was working. A chronology of films and TV appearances is appended.

Meticulous research informs a brisk biography of an entertainment icon.

Product Details

BN ID: 2940176006100
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Publication date: 02/15/2022
Edition description: Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

“I staged it exactly the way it happened,” Keaton liked to say of the Andrews Raid. “The Union agents intended to enter from the state of Kentucky, which was a neutral territory, pretending they were coming down to fight for the Southern cause. That was an excuse to get on that train which takes them up to an army camp. Their leader took seven men with him, including two locomotive engineers and a telegraph operator, and he told them that if anything went wrong they were to scatter individually, stick to their stories that they were Kentuckians down to enlist in the Southern army, and then watch for the first opportunity to desert and get back over the line to the North. As soon as they stole that engine they wanted to pull out of there, to disconnect the telegraph and burn bridges and destroy enough track to cripple the Southern army supply route. That was what they intended to do. And I staged the chase exactly the way it happened. Then I rounded out the story of stealing my engine back.”

However useful Clyde Bruckman’s scenario had been in organizing the contours of the plot, it was remarkably free of the comedy highlights that would distinguish the picture. “The script they took with us they hardly went by at all,” said Marion Mack, “except just the next sequence because they had to write the gags that weren’t in it.” Historically, the Andrews Raid ended at Ringgold, Georgia, when the General ran out of steam some twenty miles south of Chattanooga. But in the picture Keaton and Bruck-man kept the engine in play so that Johnnie could come upon a meeting of Union generals and learn of plans for their supply trains to unite with the Northern Division at Rock River Bridge, then advance for a surprise attack.

Throughout the early filming, much was made of a spectacular shot planned for the third act in which Union soldiers attempt to drive a sup-ply train over a bridge Johnnie has set on fire. The weakened span collapses under the weight of the engine, and it plunges into the river below. It was an idea that came from The Great Locomotive Chase in which the thieves attempt to torch a bridge on the Oostanaula River near Resaca, Georgia, but the dampness of the structure will not permit it to burn. Keaton was dead set against attempting the effect in miniature, knowing the size and spectacle of the thing would make for a thrilling big- screen experience. He surveyed every existing trestle in the region trying to find one suitable to the visual and logistical demands of the scene, and at various times no fewer than four had been picked and rejected, complicating factors being a necessary elevation of seventy- five to a hundred feet and easy access by a spur from the OP&E. Finally, in desperation, a team of four men, headed by Gabe Gabourie, was dispatched one Saturday into the surrounding counties on a mission to identify the best possible candidate. Their conclusion at the end of the day was that the ideal trestle didn’t exist and that Rock River Bridge would have to be built from scratch.

On July 1, a contract was let to begin the design and construction of a 250- foot bridge rising some fifty feet above the jagged rocks of Row River. It would need to be capable of supporting twenty tons of rolling stock, yet collapse into the water on cue. To bring the river up to a depth of twelve feet, a dam at the site near the Culp Creek settlement would also have to be built. By July 7, work had commenced on the span, with a spur five hundred feet in length designed to connect to the main line of the OP&E. The next day, a third engine arrived from Hood River, remodeled to period and renamed the Comet. On July 13, an appeal was made for National Guardsmen from Eugene, Springfield, and Cottage Grove. On July 15, a call went out for five hundred additional men, with tourist sleepers from the Southern Pacific parked on the tracks to accommodate those traveling from long distances. Four days later, confirmation came that the big battle scenes were to be filmed over three days beginning Thursday, July 22, with the collapse of the flaming bridge likely to take place on Friday, July 23.

While preparations went forth, Keaton busied himself playing scenes with Marion Mack, who, as Annabelle Lee, has been held captive by the raiders since the theft of the train. Johnnie rescues her, and the two steal away under the cover of darkness. At daybreak, they discover the General at a bustling army encampment being loaded with supplies. “We’ve got to get back to our lines somehow and warn them of this coming attack,” he tells her. Then he stuffs her into a burlap bag, loads her like a sack of pota-toes, and in a quick, decisive move, clobbers a Union officer and brazenly hijacks the engine from under their noses. Soon, Johnnie, Annabelle, and the General are being chased by the Texas and the Comet, both loaded with Union troops.

Mack quickly learned how unpredictable Keaton could be when the cam-eras were grinding. Stopping briefly when they had to take on water, she was unexpectedly drenched when he artfully positioned her directly in front of the spout. “It really knocked me down,” she said. “It’s a good thing we didn’t have sound movies at the time.” Later, she suggested a gag of her own, where Annabelle, trying to make herself useful, picks up a broom and starts sweeping the cab as the Texas is rapidly gaining on them. Alarmed, Johnnie yanks it from her hands and tells her to add wood to the fire. Compliantly, she picks up a tiny piece, opens the door, and primly tosses it in. Disgusted, he finds an even smaller piece, hands it to her, and watches as she does exactly the same thing. Impulsively, he reaches over and takes her neck in his hands and begins to throttle her. Then, just as quickly, he shifts gears and gives her a kiss.

“I think I got that kiss more for thinking of the gag than anything else,” she said.

The General beats the Northerners to Rock River Bridge, giving Johnnie time to set the bridge on fire before continuing on to Calhoun, a Southern stronghold. At division headquarters, he warns the commanding general of the enemy’s plan, which sends hundreds of Confederate soldiers streaming northward. Back at Rock River, the supply trains are stymied as General Parker arrives on the scene. “That bridge is not burned enough to stop you,” he tells the engineers, “and my men will ford the river.”

Thursday, July 22, was devoted to preparations for the fateful crossing. At two o’clock, a train carrying eight hundred men and about ninety horses arrived at Cottage Grove, where they were marched to the wardrobe depot at Sixth and Main Streets. There they were joined by two hundred boys from the local guard company, and all were issued uniforms and battle parapher-nalia. Later the same afternoon, the special train, powered by two logging engines, carried them fifteen miles to a camp at Culp Creek. Only a handful of shots would be made the following day. If all went according to plan, one of them would cost $40,000— the most expensive take in the history of the screen. Were anything to go wrong, the added cost of another run would surely break the bank.

Cars began arriving on Thursday afternoon, with spectators planning to camp near the bridge all night. By four on Friday morning, they lined Row River Road from a quarter mile above the location site to a point about a mile below Culp Creek, leaving hardly any room to get through. Cottage Grove, in fact, cleared out so thoroughly that most merchants closed for the day. Dev Jennings had brought four cameras to Oregon: three Bell & How-ells and an Akeley, a versatile camera expressly designed for shooting action footage under field conditions. Two additional camera units were ordered up from Hollywood, making a total of six on hand to capture the fiery crash. Jennings’ own crew consisted of Boots Haines, assistant Elmer Ellsworth, and stills cameraman Byron Houck, who was carrying an eight- by- ten East-man and a five- by- seven Graflex. Jennings’ principal cameras were stationed down the river about three hundred yards, while two others were on a plat-form directly across the river on its south side, high above the far end of the bridge to capture the approach of the supply trains and Union troops.

The atmosphere had grown tense by the time Keaton decided he was ready. Rehearsals coordinated the movements of the key visual elements— the cavalry, the foot soldiers, the two engines. “I marched more there than I did in the army,” said Ronald Gilstrap, who belonged to the National Guard and volunteered for picture duty. “We came down this road towards the crossing four times, I think, before they got a shot. The first time some kids were in the road, and another time something else happened. Then Buster Keaton took the engine across the trestle and back.” The General had previously crossed over as Johnnie and Annabelle went about the business of starting the fire.

As director, Keaton was ever present, methodically checking and recheck-ing things as the morning wore on. “Not satisfied to stand on the camera platform and give orders through a telephone with megaphone attach-ment, he was here and there on all angles of the location,” the Eugene Guardrecorded. Co- director Clyde Bruckman, clad in a red jacket and matching hat, was more conspicuous than useful. “He didn’t direct much of it at all,” said Marion Mack. “He was more like an assistant in the whole film.”

With the timing perfected, the span was weakened by sawing into the timbers from underneath. “There was an awful lot of apprehension about it,” said Grace Matteson, whose father worked as a carpenter on the film. “I can remember my father talking about the decisions they had to make in order to get it just right. There was quite a bit of figuring and arguing.” They eventually decided that strategically placed dynamite would also help the bridge to collapse on cue. Shortly before noon, the structure saturated with gasoline, Keaton called for camera. “Start your action!” he signaled, but then he decided the flames were no good and aborted the take. A custom water cannon powered by a six- cylinder automobile engine extinguished them before any damage was done.

Dinner was called, and the extras went off to mess as the livestock were cared for and watered. Spectators, estimated at three to four thousand, crowded around the numerous hot dog stands and refreshment booths that sprang up like toadstools. It wasn’t until two o’clock that everything was in place for another attempt. The bridge was once again ignited, action again was called, and again the shot was abruptly scuttled as the engine dutifully approached its fate. Down at the far base of the bridge, directly below the flaming timbers, a group of small boys could be seen swimming in the river. The powerful water pump again was trained on the flames, the Texas was once more backed into position, and while the bluecoats retreated with their mounts, Bruckman stormed and fumed at the children. A third attempt was spoiled when some of the soldiers waded into the water at the wrong time, causing yet another half- hour delay.

Before a fourth take was attempted, Keaton had a pile of wood placed at the center of the bridge. Sawdust was strewn all about, and everything was once again saturated with gasoline. Now getting past three o’clock, time was running short. Silence was politely requested of the spectators, and down-river the temporary dam was opened, causing water backed up some three hundred yards to flow through the gorge. Now all eyes were on Keaton as he took his place on the camera platform and signaled powderman Jack Little. Activating a series of electric ignitions with the press of a button, Little caused the bridge to burst into flames. As the fire built, the smell of gasoline permeated the air. At last satisfied, Keaton called “Camera!” and the words “Start your action!” As the Texas charged toward the burning trestle, Union cavalrymen made for the river. When the cowcatcher on the locomotive reached the exact center of the trestle, Little detonated the dynamite charges at the centermost pilings and the span began to buckle. With the Texas and its tender now perfectly centered over the water and clearing the banks on both sides, it fell and dug deep into the bed below. As it sank, black smoke erupting skyward, steam forced from the boiler caused the whistle to blow a mournful dirge. There was an audible gasp from the crowd, and screams could be heard as realistic dummies representing the engineer and fireman were thrown clear of the wreck. One woman fainted, and another grew hysterical as the papier- mâché head of the engineer floated downstream.

With the bridge and the locomotive now a smoldering mass of wreck-age, the horses and infantry waded into the river, where they discovered the dam had left the water deeper in places than they expected. Weighted down with heavy uniforms, rifles, and the like, some of the costumed extras had trouble making it across. “I was pulling them out,” said Gilstrap. “I’m a good swimmer, and there were several of us. I pulled four or five fellers up and got them on the bank.” Two men nearly drowned when they found themselves in deep water, and a third, a fifteen- year- old, was hospitalized in critical condition. Visibly relieved when the scene was finally in the can, Keaton was, the Cottage Grove Sentinel reported, “happy as a kid.”

“Come on, gang,” he said, “let’s call it a day.”

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