In this illustrated talk film historian David Robinson traces the making of the Buster Keaton we know and love, starting with the silent film icon’s childhood training in vaudeville and his subsequent transformation of all that he had learned about comedy and stagecraft into the new and very different medium of film.

Recalling Keaton’s early appearances in English music hall, including a bumpy week at the Palace in 1909 to a nostalgic tour in 1951, David will be sharing some rare early pictures of Keaton in vaudeville, examples of Buster’s first film essays as well as tales of Buster in happy partnership with Fatty Arbuckle.

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