58: MGM Stories Part 3: Buster Keaton’s Biggest Mistake

58: MGM Stories Part 3: Buster Keaton’s Biggest Mistake

In 1928, silent comedy star Buster Keaton made what he would later call “the worst mistake of my career”: against the advice of fellow silent comedy auteurs like Charlie Chaplin, he gave up his independent production shingle and signed a contract with MGM. A vaudevillian who got his start working with Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, by the late 1920s Keaton had established himself as a solo writer, director and star who was known for doing his own spectacular but reckless stunts. Keaton joined MGM with a promise from his friend Joe Schenck that nothing would change, only to find himself in his new situation demoted from artistic boss to employee of a corporation interested in protecting its investment above all. The lack of agency and ability to personally control the quality of his own work within the confines of Mayer’s studio drove Keaton to alcoholism, which further doomed his tenure at MGM. Keaton’s experience is perhaps the first major example of an indie filmmaker “selling out” to a big studio, only to be swallowed up by the system. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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John Ford 1962-1972 (The Old Man is Still Alive, Part 3)

John Ford 1962-1972 (The Old Man is Still Alive, Part 3)

Born in the 19th century, his career forged in the silent era, John Ford helped to invent the genre of the Western and still holds the record for the most Best Director Oscar wins of all time. Though ...

28 Tammi 20251h 19min

Flashback: Peter Bogdanovich and the Woman Behind the Auteur

Flashback: Peter Bogdanovich and the Woman Behind the Auteur

This episode was originally released on June 3, 2020. Listen to help prep for the next episode of our new season, The Old Man is Still Alive. After the death of her first husband and creative partner,...

24 Tammi 20251h 10min

Fritz Lang 1959-1970 (The Old Man is Still Alive, Part 2)

Fritz Lang 1959-1970 (The Old Man is Still Alive, Part 2)

In the mid-1930s, Fritz Lang fled Hitler and left a successful film career in Germany behind to come to America. After a 20 year career in Hollywood, Lang went back to a much-changed Germany to make t...

21 Tammi 20251h 20min

Frank Capra 1959-1971 (The Old Man is Still Alive, Part 1)

Frank Capra 1959-1971 (The Old Man is Still Alive, Part 1)

The director of It’s a Wonderful Life, who won five Oscars in the 1930s for films that embodied the pre-World War II notion of American exceptionalism, was pushed into semi-retirement by the early 50s...

14 Tammi 20251h 20min

Flashback: The Blacklist, Part 4: The African Queen, Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn

Flashback: The Blacklist, Part 4: The African Queen, Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn

This episode was originally released on March 1, 2016. Listen to help prep for the next episode of our new season,The Old Man is Still Alive. In the late 1940s, as the country was moving to the right ...

10 Tammi 202553min

Introducing: The Old Man Is Still Alive

Introducing: The Old Man Is Still Alive

A preview of the new season of You Must Remember This, which covers the late careers of Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford, Howard Hawks, Vincente Minnelli and ten other directors who began their careers in ...

10 Joulu 202427min

SPECIAL PRESENTATION: THE MEMORY PALACE

SPECIAL PRESENTATION: THE MEMORY PALACE

A new season of You Must Remember This is just over a month away, but to tide you over, have a listen to a special presentation: an episode of Nate DiMeo's wonderful podcast "The Memory Palace." This ...

4 Joulu 202412min

Listen Now: Talking Pictures from TCM and Max

Listen Now: Talking Pictures from TCM and Max

If you're enjoying You Must Remember This, you may also like Talking Pictures, a movie memories podcast. On this episode of Talking Pictures, you'll hear Ben Mankiewicz in conversation with Carol Burn...

4 Joulu 202455min

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