Kelsey on Keaton

While at MoonSong Songwriter's Cafe' a few weeks ago, my six year old daughter discovered Buster Keaton. I watched her from across the room as she giggle and laughed at the silent movie being shown as the musician played on stage.

She came to me later and asked if I would get them to play the movie again - only turn the sound up. I told her that the movie had no sound - that it was made before people knew how to make movies talk. I told her that Buster Keaton was my favorite of the silent movie era stars. She then asked if we could find some more movies of his so we could watch them at home.

It's true. I've always liked Buster Keaton best. The world around him was a dangerous place, filled with dangerous contraptions. Buster seemed to nimbly leap from one oncoming death defying circumstance to another. Buster never used a stunt man. He told his production crew to never stop the camera until the shot was in the can or he were dead. He was a comedian that always brought nonstop laughter - yet his character rarely smiled. Buster Keaton was his own straight man - with eyes so melancholy.

Last night before going to bed, after a story, a prayer and a big hug, Kelsey asked me about him again. It had been two weeks since Kelsey had been introduced to Keaton. She remembered his name and asked me when I could find him for her. I of course will be more than happy to go looking for him.