After the depressing late MGM films that Keaton did (several in tandem with up-and-coming Jimmy Durante), after the divorce from Nathalie Talmadge, and a messy remarriage, and alcoholic binges, and an indifferent and vicious Louis B. Mayer, Buster hit probably the bottom of his career. But all things are relative. Keaton never was totally unemployed (like his fellow Silent Film star John Gilbert), because he had other talents: as writer, gag men, and bit player. He also had name recognition, due to the strength of his performances in his silent masterpieces. So, despite a plethora of bad films he still could show what he was capable of.
Working for "Educational Films", Keaton made "Grand Slam Opera" in 1936. I see it as a pretty funny film - one of an increasing number of shorts and small features that would keep him going until the 1950s brought his "rediscovery" by the public.
It starts off with a spoof of a scene which many of you have seen done correctly in a film biography. If you recall the film YANKEE DOODLE DANDY, they have a scene from the George M. Cohan musical, Forty-Five Minutes From Broadway, where Fay Templeton (Irene Manning) is escorted by the beaus of her hometown to the train to New York City. They sing the tune, "So Long Mary". Keaton purchased the rights to use the music with some altered lyrics for his film persona Elmer Butts from Cohan. Instead of boy friends or girl friends, or friends, Elmer (Buster) is accompanied by a lynch mob led by Bud Jamison. And they tell him how glad they are to see him leave, and not to come back.
Elmer goes to New York City hoping to make his fame and fortune in entertainment. Spoofing Major Edward Bowes "Amateur Hour", Elmer goes to appear on "Colonel Crow's" show on radio. Initially though the show ends before he can do anything. Soon he begins having a series of accidental meetings with another contestant. The young lady keeps telling him off, and he keeps asking her out to dinner.
Elmer tries to practice juggling and acrobatics in his boarding house room. But the staff of the house come in and knock down sticks he is balancing, or he breaks his bed. He sees a picture of Fred Astaire, and tries to dance like that gentleman. It has been pointed out that the sequence here imitates Astaire's dancing on sand to put Ginger Rogers to sleep in TOP HAT the previous year, and that (ironically enough) Keaton even starts dancing around the room almost (if not quite as artistically) as Astaire would in ROYAL WEDDING in 1951.
Elmer returns to the radio program, and is forced to wait in a waiting room, where he does a series of dances to the folk music (Scot, Irish, Russian, among others) he hears from inside. Finally he returns and gets his chance, only to find that he is on an audio entertainment system and everything he does requires sight to appreciate. He tries to overcome this by describing the tricks and then performing them. Soon, however, he is at loggerheads with the orchestra conductor and Colonel Crow. He is thrown out.
In disgrace, we see Elmer walking and hoboing across American, only to hear on radio that he is sought by the authorities: he won the first prize. We see him rapidly recross the country, get the prize (and also upset the conductor again) and finally get a chance to take out the girl.
While not up to the standards of his work in the 1920s (compare this with a short like ONE WEEK or COPS) Keaton is quite inventive throughout the entire film. It was still possible, despite the extensive problems he was facing in his personal life, for Buster to show his creativity at this low point.
Working for "Educational Films", Keaton made "Grand Slam Opera" in 1936. I see it as a pretty funny film - one of an increasing number of shorts and small features that would keep him going until the 1950s brought his "rediscovery" by the public.
It starts off with a spoof of a scene which many of you have seen done correctly in a film biography. If you recall the film YANKEE DOODLE DANDY, they have a scene from the George M. Cohan musical, Forty-Five Minutes From Broadway, where Fay Templeton (Irene Manning) is escorted by the beaus of her hometown to the train to New York City. They sing the tune, "So Long Mary". Keaton purchased the rights to use the music with some altered lyrics for his film persona Elmer Butts from Cohan. Instead of boy friends or girl friends, or friends, Elmer (Buster) is accompanied by a lynch mob led by Bud Jamison. And they tell him how glad they are to see him leave, and not to come back.
Elmer goes to New York City hoping to make his fame and fortune in entertainment. Spoofing Major Edward Bowes "Amateur Hour", Elmer goes to appear on "Colonel Crow's" show on radio. Initially though the show ends before he can do anything. Soon he begins having a series of accidental meetings with another contestant. The young lady keeps telling him off, and he keeps asking her out to dinner.
Elmer tries to practice juggling and acrobatics in his boarding house room. But the staff of the house come in and knock down sticks he is balancing, or he breaks his bed. He sees a picture of Fred Astaire, and tries to dance like that gentleman. It has been pointed out that the sequence here imitates Astaire's dancing on sand to put Ginger Rogers to sleep in TOP HAT the previous year, and that (ironically enough) Keaton even starts dancing around the room almost (if not quite as artistically) as Astaire would in ROYAL WEDDING in 1951.
Elmer returns to the radio program, and is forced to wait in a waiting room, where he does a series of dances to the folk music (Scot, Irish, Russian, among others) he hears from inside. Finally he returns and gets his chance, only to find that he is on an audio entertainment system and everything he does requires sight to appreciate. He tries to overcome this by describing the tricks and then performing them. Soon, however, he is at loggerheads with the orchestra conductor and Colonel Crow. He is thrown out.
In disgrace, we see Elmer walking and hoboing across American, only to hear on radio that he is sought by the authorities: he won the first prize. We see him rapidly recross the country, get the prize (and also upset the conductor again) and finally get a chance to take out the girl.
While not up to the standards of his work in the 1920s (compare this with a short like ONE WEEK or COPS) Keaton is quite inventive throughout the entire film. It was still possible, despite the extensive problems he was facing in his personal life, for Buster to show his creativity at this low point.