A New Book on Buster

Today is the office pub date of Lisa Stein Haven’s new book Early Buster Keaton: From the Vaudeville Stage to Comique Films: 1899-1920.

This book is of especial interest to this reader as it focuses entirely on Keaton’s vaudeville years, presumably at a much more granular level than most general biographies of Keaton. There is much to be learned from such details. There are many mysterious elements in his films for example that I have always suspected got their inspiration from encounters Buster had during his vaudeville days. So I’m looking forward to perusing its pages

Frankly (and this is rare for me to say) I basically want ALL of her books. Her previous ones include Syd Chaplin: A Biography (2010), A Comedian Sees the World by Charlie Chaplin (edited by Stein Haven, 2014), Charlie Chaplin’s Little Tramp in America 1947-77 (2016), and perhaps especially The Rise and Fall of Max Linder: The First Cinema Celebrity (2022), released by our own Bear Manor Media, with a cover by good friend Marlene Weisman.

But top of mind is the new Buster one. Get your mitts on it here.