In light of Super Bowl LI today I thought I’d repost this from 2012:
“When we speak of silent comedy we speak instantly of three names—Chaplin, Loyd, Keaton.”
Walter Kerr
The Silent Clowns
I thought it would be a fun challenge to see if I could connect the silent film era with the Super Bowl. And so here’s the Harold Loyd Vs. Buster Keaton debate—in the battle of football movies. (I didn’t include Chaplin because he recently had his own post—Mr. Silent Films—plus he didn’t make a film about football.)
“It is taking nothing from Keaton or Loyd to say that Chaplin built the road along which they swept to success.”
Kevin Brownlow
Hollywood; The Pioneers
Despite Loyd being famous for his clock management, and Rudy-like zeal (Indiana reference #2) of not being that gifted athletically—he was only a first year player in The Freshman (1925):
Keaton would appear to have the advantage because as Walter Kerr pointed out, “Keaton ran so often during the twelve features he made in the 1920’s that the sprint became a trademark.” And, in fact, he did run a good deal in Three Ages (1923):
And the winner is—Buster Keaton. Why? Three reason:
1) First, Keaton not only starred in Three Ages, but he’s also credited as producing, directing and writing the film.
2) The Freshman was said to be pirated from H.C. Witwer’s short story, The Emancipation of Rodney.
3) I trust drama critic Walter Kerr’s (1913-1996) assessment of Keaton in his book The Silent Clowns: “Let Chaplin be king and let Keaton court jester. The king effectively rules, the jester tells the truth.”
P.S. Just for some added Midwest mojo, Buster Keaton was born in Piqua, Kansas and Harold Loyd was born in Burchard, Nebraska—more unlikely places for Hollywood icons to come from. Talent comes from everywhere. Kerr (who was also a produced playwright, on top of writing for the New York Times) was born in Evanston, IL and received his BA and MA from Northwestern, on his way to becoming a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer in criticism.