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

Avsnitt(267)

Presenting Cautionary Tales | Lights, Camera, Tax Break

Presenting Cautionary Tales | Lights, Camera, Tax Break

If you like You Must Remember This, you might also enjoy Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford, a podcast about stories of historic human error, catastrophes, and heists, and the lessons we can learn fr...

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Welcome to Hollywoodland: John Waters: Subversion, Shock, and the Ultimate Outsider

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If you’ve finished all episodes of The Old Man is Still Alive, I’ve got another treat for you from Jake Brennan at Hollywoodland.  Have a listen to this episode of Hollywoodland about John Waters, fro...

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John Huston, Part Two: 1975-1987 (The Old Man is Still Alive, Part 15)

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In part two of our season finale, we explore the final decade of John Huston’s life and career. As he was slowly dying of emphysema and undergoing massive turmoil in his personal life, Huston continue...

24 Apr 202554min

John Huston, Part One: 1966-1974 (The Old Man is Still Alive, Part 14)

John Huston, Part One: 1966-1974 (The Old Man is Still Alive, Part 14)

This series began with the story of a director who wrote his autobiography to secure his place in history after his career had gone down the drain. It ends with the story of a man who wrote his autobi...

22 Apr 202553min

Flashback: John Huston and Olivia de Havilland

Flashback: John Huston and Olivia de Havilland

This episode was originally released on March 3, 2015. Listen to help prep for the next episode of our new season, The Old Man is Still Alive. She was the raven-haired beauty whose lily-white persona...

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Stanley Donen 1967-1984 (The Old Man is Still Alive, Part 13)

Stanley Donen 1967-1984 (The Old Man is Still Alive, Part 13)

How does an artist once perceived to be ahead of his time fall behind the times? The choreographer/director of Golden Age classics like Singin’ the Rain and Funny Face left Hollywood for all the 60s a...

8 Apr 20251h 20min

Flashback: The End of Louis B. Mayer

Flashback: The End of Louis B. Mayer

This episode was originally released on December 22, 2015. Listen to help prep for the next episode of our new season, The Old Man is Still Alive. In the 1940s, Louis B. Mayer was the highest paid ma...

4 Apr 202555min

George Cukor 1960-1981 (The Old Man is Still Alive, Part 12)

George Cukor 1960-1981 (The Old Man is Still Alive, Part 12)

George Cukor had always experimented within his relatively broad lane, often finding nuanced ways to explore women’s lives, including their sex lives, under the constraints of the Production Code. But...

1 Apr 20251h 14min

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