Buster Keaton Smiles While Throwing Pies at/with Alice Faye - Outtakes

In 1939, "Hollywood Cavalcade" told the story of silent film and the transition to sound. Mack Sennett was credited as supervisor and Mal St. Clair from the Chaplin stable directed the silent sequences. Chester Conklin, Hank Mann, Ben Turpin, Snub Pollard, and Jimmy Finlayson all make cameo appearances. Nostalgia trumps historical accuracy throughout, but there's nothing new there..

Buster Keaton, who never staged a pie fight in his own films, was trotted out to show Alice Faye how to receive and throw a pie. This is also uncharacteristic as house rules at Hal Roach studios decreed that everybody took pies except the pretty young girl.

Anyway, here are the outtakes. There is no sound. That's George Givot in the top hat. Watch carefully around 39 seconds in to see Buster Keaton's seraphically beautiful smile.

No copyright claim.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• comedy
• silent comedy
• slapstick
• Buster Keaton smile
• Alice Faye
• Mack Sennett
• Hal Roach
• Charlie Chaplin
• Mal St. Clair
• wet and messy
• pie
• Chester Conklin
• Hank Mann
• Ben Turpin
• Snub Pollard
• Jimmy Finlayson
• George Givot

[Kydeux95]

So many wasted pies :{ but I love buster!

[panskeptic]

@Kydeux95 Don't worry, they were inedible. The pies were made for visual impact and quick cleanup, but tasted horrible.

[panskeptic]

To a degree, Keaton always directed himself from the time he left Fatty Arbuckle. But it's obvious here that he's taking direction from Mal St. Clair, in a specific kind of comedy he hadn't done before.

[MissGoldenDreams13]

Ah, the boyish cuteness of Buster's smile :)

[Aquallee]

This is a rare and beautiful Keaton's smile. Thanks!

[BKadorer]

@eMuse5 In You may be right, I've never heard Buster laughing out loud either although people say he laughed a lot in private life. In "Buster Keaton Rides Again" Keaton came very close to smiling and laughing so freely, but I don't recall there was any sound of laughter.

[eMuse5]

Holy cow, he looks like the happiest person in the world when he smiles like that...now, as rare as these filmed/photographed smiles are, I don't recall EVER hearing a recording of him laughing out loud. Anyone know any different? Would this truly be the Buster Keaton Holy Grail?

[Busterseyes]

What a charmer he must have been with a smile like that! He was a bit shy around a lot of people but not around women. With a face like that, I'm sure he had nothing to worry about when it came to the opposite sex. Such a cutie! : P

[Busterseyes]

Wow! What a sweet smile! I've never seen this before. It's great! I just wish there was sound so we could hear what Buster was saying.

[Kydeux95]

@panskeptic That's really neat :)

[baxter5431]

Ironic. Buster was not a pie thrower as in the quickie Mack Senett pictures. This is just another example of a great talent such as Buster's having been totally wasted by the Hollywood of a different generation. Anybody could have been hired to throw pies but there was only one Buster Keaton: comedic genius.

[nateandsophie]

Buster's smile was so attractive. I don't know what I liked better, his smile or his beautiful eyes. And he was the funniest person in Hollywood!