Tom Galloway calls my (and, therefore, your) attention to this short-but-sweet article in USA Today. It's about the Silent Movie Theatre, which is also the subject of this article on this site. I've never met Charlie Lustman, the entrepreneur who saved the place from oblivion and is, apparently, making a go of it, but I am grateful to him for the effort. He's a hero. I would question though his quote in the article that, "Buster [Keaton] was the most original of all. He never repeated a gag once in his career." This is a minor point but it's an excuse for me to suggest that we oughta all badger Sony to release Keaton's sound shorts — assuming they own them — on home video. Talk about repeating old gags. The films aren't vintage Keaton but, hey, what is?
Some are a bit sad, especially when they recycle his old routines with increasingly-unfunny results. But most are well worth watching and a few, like Grand Slam Opera, are quite enjoyable. And while we're wishing, I wish someone would put out some good copies of The Buster Keaton Show — the one he did for TV, the one where he labored in a sporting goods shop. Again, it's sometimes uncomfy to see him reusing old bits, but the genius was always evident, at least in the background, and sometimes it took center stage. (Keaton also did a live show for TV, only a few bad kinescopes of which seem to exist…but I think all the episodes of the film show are still in existence. I have one or two on tape and can't imagine that there wouldn't be a market for them.)