Every see Harold Lloyd hanging from the Clock?
http://www.haroldlloyd.com/bio/default.asp
These 'old timers' had stones the size of boulders and had to be somewhere between crazy and insane.
They produced great, great stuff.... that my guess is a whole generation is missing.

How about a cable channel for the old classics?

Keaton may well be the greatest actor-director of them all.

Matt B. Agreed. Lloyd was a remarkable stuntman but I don't think he was as clever, subtle or plain-old funny as Buster or Chaplin. But like Chaplin, and unlike Buster, he was a shrewd businessman.

Keaton received the name "Buster" from Harry Houdini, who worked the Vaudeville Circuit in a company co-owned with Keaton's father. One of my favorite Keaton roles was his last, in "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"...

"Something for everyone, a Comedy, tonight!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPds0-hZ1tM&NR=1

I always get such classics from the library whenever I want to see them, OYF. Too infrequently, we might get "Modern Times" or "The Great Dictator" on AMC (American Movie Classics), but they only show Chaplin from the silent era where comedies are concerned, I'm afraid.

: )

Sherlock Jr is probably Buster's most satisfying full-length movie, but Steamboat Bill Jr is good, The General, Three Ages, his first movie for MGM, The Cameraman (which has a wonderful scene shot at Yankee Stadium)...I love Go West. Shoot, I pretty much like 'em all. And the two-reelers are another thing altogether. So freakin clever.

I've heard the idea floated that the character Lloyd generally played has just not really aged well. It was very of it's time, but is kind of lost on us, in a way that Keaton's and Chaplin's aren't.

Thanks for posting this, Alex! It's most thrilling to have so much more in common with folks such as you and the other Banterers, than just our love for the Yankees! You simply can't get such a refreshing spectrum of great artists from DEVO to Buster Keaton to the Yankees, anywhere else, and all in one day!

"Go Monkey Go!"

: )

And, for us baseball fans, how about "One Run Elmer" with Jim Thorpe, arguably the greatest American athlete of all time! Check out the play at home on You Tube. I'd do tiny earl or whatever it is if I could.

I dunno, I really dig Lloyd. The box set of his stuff that came out a few years back is full of great stuff, including "Speedy" which features Babe Ruth and Yankee Stadium. Lloyd wasn't brilliant like Keaton or Chaplin, but I think his stuff holds up just fine, and his stunts are often breathtaking and hilarious.

[9] I wasn't suggesting *I* don't like Lloyd or find him funny. I just think his young go-getter character synched up really well with the national psyche of the 20s, but isn't as timeless as the forever put upon Stoneface and Tramp.

Lloyd is certainly one of the geniuses of screen comedy.