Parisian Interlude:
The Very First Buster Keaton Retrospective

Sadly, I know next to nothing about this “Hommage à Buster Keaton.” Are any of you in France? Could you do us the kindness of checking the files at the Cinémathèque française to learn the specifics, the schedule, the events, anything, everything? Were these Cinémathèque prints or Rohauer prints, or a mixture of the two? Henri Langlois was adamant about projecting silent films at 16fps and without any musical accompaniment. Was that how Buster’s movies were shown (ruined?) during this retrospective? Or did wiser heads prevail? Does anybody know?

On the Cinémathèque’s website we have a paragraph by Laurent Mannoni, “Langlois-Keaton in Paris,” Henri Langlois, 2024:

The work of the brilliant Buster Keaton has always been revered by the Cinémathèque since its founding, and even before 1936, when Henri Langlois was already programming his film club, the Cercle du cinéma. 1962 was a very intense year for the Cinémathèque française. “Tributes” multiplied non-stop on rue d’Ulm: Julien Duvivier, Frank Capra, Claude Autant-Lara, Marc Allégret, Ludwig Berger, Georg Wilhelm Pabst, Joseph Losey, Otto Preminger, Federico Fellini, Alexandre Astruc, his friend Pierre Braunberger, and even Lev Kuleshov, who came in person with his wife, the extraordinary actress Alexandra Khokhlova. One event in particular moves film buffs: the visit to the Cinémathèque of Buster Keaton, who had fallen into oblivion since the 1930’s. Keaton timidly knocked on the door of 82 rue de Courcelles, where Henri Langlois’s offices were located. He testifies: “One day I entered the Cinémathèque and I was told that there was an old silent film actor there. I arrive and see a gentleman I don’t know. He said, ‘I’m Buster Keaton.’ It’s a funny miraculous coincidence, you know. A reception was given to Keaton on February 22, 1962, in the rue de Courcelles; his films were then screened on rue d’Ulm until March.

Above Laurent Mannoni’s paragraph we have a film by Freddy Baume, shot without sound, showing, among other things, Buster at the Cinémathèque. Only a few seconds at the end show Buster, with Henri Langlois and Raymond Rohauer. Another tenuous link between my two favorite filmmakers: Tinto Brass worked at the Cinémathèque at the time, and so the two probably met, however briefly. I isolated the few seconds with Buster:

On a page entitled “Langlois, le passeur,” we learn that Langlois’s wife, Mary Meerson, penned a memoir, in which she wrote:

Je regardais Keaton observer cette marée humaine. Au bout d’un long moment, il s’est tourné vers moi et m’a demandé pourquoi ces gens étaient là. Je lui ai répondu qu’ils étaient là pour lui, qu’ils étaient venus pour le voir. J’ai vu alors dans ce visage impassible, austère, deux larmes perler et tomber doucement sur ses joues, sur son cou. Finalement, étonné, émerveillé, reconnaissant, il a réussi à prononcer qualques phrases : “ils sont si jeunes”

I watched Keaton observe this human tide. After a long moment, he turned to me and asked why these people were there. I replied that they were there for him, that they had come to see him. Then I saw two tears in that impassive, austere face, falling softly down his cheeks and onto his neck. Finally, astonished, amazed, grateful, he managed to utter a few sentences: “They’re so young.”

On Archive.org, we see another little bit of film shot without sound:

Buster Keaton In Paris 1962
Is that Lotte Eisner we glimpse right at the end?
Another tenuous link: She was Tinto’s mentress.

Apparently there is yet another film, on file at the Cinémathèque: Mario Beunat, Buster Keaton à la Cinémathèque française, 2 minutes. Is that what we see below? I do not know.

busterlove1895, Buster sharing a smoke at the Cinémathèque Française, 1962

CatsandJammer, Grandpa Buster being his goofy self during a visit to Cinémathèque Française in 1962

L’INA éclaire l’actu, Cette vidéo est à retrouver dans... 1962,
Buster Keaton fan de Jacques Tati

orsons, Paris, February 1962: Buster Keaton examines
the first film projector made by the Lumière brothers
at the Cinémathèque Française.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/155866837094964843

gettyimages.co.uk

US film director and actor Buster Keaton listens to film director...

US film director and actor Buster Keaton listens to film director Abel Gance, on February 23 in Paris where he came to present a new version of his film “The General”, directed on 1926.

In the vague hope that I might be able to learn what precisely was shown at this retrospective, and when, and how, I looked at Claude Miller’s article in téléciné, October/November 1962. Unfortunately, the article is an editorial about Buster’s brilliance; it is not a record about the specifics. Nonetheless, there might be a clue. It concludes with a “Filmographie de Buster Keaton,” which includes the bulk of his silents, including films that were considered lost at the time. It takes his work through MGM and Le roi des Champs-Élysées, after which it jumps ahead to Sunset Boulevard and Limelight, and that was it. So I suppose that those were pretty much the movies that were shown, minus the missing ones, of course. Buster was not around to attend this retrospective. He put in his one brief appearance ahead of time, and then he was off for other chores. I wonder what he would have thought about 16fps minus accompaniment. Methinks he would have been heartsick.

Oh goodness gracious! It just now occurs to me. That little pamphlet that is sitting on my shelf. Yes. Marcel Oms, Buster Keaton, No. 31 of the series “Premier Plan,” published in January 1964 by SERDOC, Société d’ Études, Recherches et Documentation Cinématographiques (28, rue Villeroy, Lyon (3)), was an outgrowth of the February/March 1962 Hommage.

It is difficult for me to interpret the above article, especially since I do not speak French. Nonetheless, let’s see what we can do. Some of Buster’s movies are named in French and some are named in English. That’s a clue. We can turn to the volume by the two Georges, Wead and Lellis, The Film Career of Buster Keaton (Boston: G.K. Hall & Co., 1977), which supplies the French and Italian names of the movies, but there was a problem. The two Georges did not have full information. For some gaps we can turn to Marcel Oms’s pamphlet. Some films had multiple names, and I suppose that one was for the original release and another was for a reissue, perhaps in the 1960’s, or for a proposed reissue. With this minimal information, we can perform a preliminary investigation. Let us draw out a chart consisting of the original English name, the French name or names, and the way that Claude Miller refers to each movie in his “Rétrospective Buster Keaton” above. My guess is that if Miller did not know the French title, then it was Rohauer who supplied that particular print, if, indeed, the film was shown at all, which is uncertain. The same applies when Miller indicates that a film’s name is not firmly established in the record. Several of these films at the time were considered lost: Oh! Doctor, His Wedding Night, A Country Hero (still presumed lost), The Bell Boy, Moonshine, The Cook, Hard Luck, and The Love Nest. Three Ages had to have been a Rohauer dupe, because nothing else was available.

PRESUMED SUPPLIER	ENGLISH	FRENCH	CAHIERS
Cinémathèque	The Butcher Boy	Fatty boucher Fatty garçon boucher	Fatty garçon boucher
Rohauer	The Rough House (misidentified as The Cook)	Fatty chez lui	The Cook
—	Oh! Doctor	Fatty docteur	—
—	His Wedding Night	La noce de Fatty	La noce de Fatty
Cinémathèque	Fatty at Coney Island	Fatty à la fête Fatty à Coney Island	Fatty à la fête Fatty à Coney Island
—	A County Hero	Fatty m’ assiste	Fatty m’ assiste
Rohauer	Out West	Fatty bistro	Out West
—	The Bell Boy	Fatty groom	Fatty groom
—	Moonshine	La mission de Fatty	Moonshine
Rohauer	Good Night, Nurse (misidentified as Oh! Doctor)	Fatty à la clinique	Oh, Doctor
—	The Cook	Fatty cuisinier	Fatty cuisinier
Rohauer	Back Stage	Fatty cabotin	Fatty cabotin[?]
—	The Hayseed	Fatty au village	—
Rohauer	The Garage	Fatty et Malec mécanos ou garagistes d’ occasion Le garage de Fatty Un garagiste à la hauteur	Fatty et Malec mécanos — ou garagistes — d’ occasion
Cinémathèque	One Week	Le maison démontable	Le maison démontable
Rohauer	The Saphead	Ce crétin de Malec	Ce crétin de Malec[?]
Rohauer	Convict 13	Malec champion de golf	Convict 13
Cinémathèque	The Scarecrow	L’ epouvantail	L’ epowvantail
Cinémathèque	Neighbors	Voisins-voisines	Voisins-voisines
Rohauer	The Haunted House	Malec chez les fantômes	Malec chez — ou et — les fantômes
—	Hard Luck	La guigne de Malec	La guigne de Malec
Rohauer	The High Sign	Malec champion de tir	The High Sign
Rohauer	The Goat	L’ insaisissable	The Goat
Cinémathèque	The Play House	Frigo fregoli	Frigo frégoli
Rohauer	The Boat	Frigo capitaine au long cours	The Boat
Rohauer	The Paleface	Malec chez les indiens	The Paleface
Rohauer	Cops	Frigo déménageur Les flics	Cops
Cinémathèque	My Wife’s Relations	Les parents de ma femme	Les parents de ma femme
Cinémathèque	The Blacksmith	Malec forgeron	Malec forgeron
Rohauer	The Frozen North	Frigo esquimau	The Frozen North
Rohauer	Day Dreams	Grandeur et décadence	Day Dreams
Cinémathèque	The Electric House	Frigo e l’ électric hôtel	Frigo à l’ électric hôtel
Cinémathèque	The Balloonatic	Malec aéronaute	Malec aéronaute
—	The Love Nest	Frigo et la baleine Le nid d’ amour	The Love Nest
Rohauer	Three Ages	Les trois ages	Les trois ages
Cinémathèque	Our Hospitality	Les lois de l’ hospitalité	Les lois de l’ hospitalité
Rohauer	Sherlock Jr.	Sherlock junior détective	Sherlock Junior
Cinémathèque	The Navigator	La croisière du « Navigator »	La croisière du Navigator
Cinémathèque	Seven Chances	Les fiancées en folie	Les fiancées en folie
Cinémathèque	Go West	Ma vache et moi	Ma vache et moi
Cinémathèque	Battling Butler	Le dernier round	Le dernier round
Cinémathèque	The General	Le mécano de la « Générale »	Le mécano de la générale
Cinémathèque	College	Sportif par amour	Sportif par amour
Cinémathèque	Steamboat Bill, Jr.	Cadet d’ eau douce	Cadet d’ eau douce
Cinémathèque	The Cameraman	L’ opérateur	The Cameraman