UPDATE: Hard to argue with hearing it from the man himself:
Buster Keaton explaining how he got his name pic.twitter.com/mPCiO6ENGN— Silent Movie GIFs (@silentmoviegifs) September 24, 2017
Buster Keaton explaining how he got his name pic.twitter.com/mPCiO6ENGN— Silent Movie GIFs (@silentmoviegifs) September 24, 2017
In his book "My wonderful World of Slapstick" Buster says Houdini gave him the nickname.
ReplyDeleteWho are you going to believe?
I'm going to believe the guy that did the research. Just because somebody says something in an interview doesn't make it a fact. Try watching an interview with Orson Welles talking about who wrote Citizen Kane and then read John Houseman's autobiography and see who you believe.
DeleteDon't believe it. It was a small vaudevillian tab show guy named George Purdy who whilst Joe and Myra were playing Myers Lake in Canton , Ohio, their little boy took a spill down a flight of stairs and didn't make a sound. George turned to Joe and said, "My what a Buster" Joe Keaton liked the sound of the name and kept it. Circa 1899 it was reported in The Akron Beacon Journal naming Purdy as the man who gave Joe Keaton, Jr. His moniker....the rest is history....Buster took a lot of prat falls to live up to that name.
ReplyDeleteDid Harry every refute that he named Buster?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if Houdini himself ever said anything about it.
Deleteit makes sense and Buster is a good name for such a character I believe him
ReplyDelete