Overview: By the late 1940s, it seemed Buster Keaton’s career had ended. With the exception of increasingly rare daywork, he’d barely worked in almost 5 years, other than a four-week part in a famous Paris based circus in 1947 and prior to that, touring in a summer theater production of The Gorilla in 1941.

But in 1949, comedian Ed Wynn had a variety show on the relatively new broadcast format of television and he invited Keaton to appear on his CBS show, which was televised live only on the West Coast and then recorded on kinescope, then film prints were made and distributed to other parts of the country (there was no transcontinental broadcast until September, 1951).

So it was one of the thrills of my life when I got a chance in December of 1949 to do my own weekly TV show on KHJ (KTTV), the Los Angeles Times broadcasting station. By then I had almost given up hope of getting another real chance as an actor. Buster Keaton

Of the 13 episodes produced and aired from The Buster Keaton Show, only these 9 episodes exist today and two of them are especially unique: The one from 2/2/50 has never been viewed since its original air date and the episode from 2/23/50 was never before available on any other format.

The series initially received high ratings on the West Coast but the lack of a studio audience response and its laughter (canned laughter didn’t exist) to Keaton’s brilliant physical humor, doomed the series.

These episodes were restored by renowned archivist/preservationist Jeff Joseph and have been digitally upgraded to high resolution.

Blu-ray Verdict: Sponsored by the Studebaker Dealers of Los Angeles, recalling it all as best as possible, at the end of the 40’s Buster was one of the first of the great stars to appear regularly on TV. Although his starring career in movies was long past, he made a big hit with early TV audiences and was even given two local TV series which were quite successful but were very expensive to produce.

In what is my favorite episode here of the nine - for we have lost five of them over the years, but have gained back two especially unique ones: one from 2/2/50 has never been viewed since its original air date and the episode from 2/23/50 was never before available on any other format - we see our fearless leader deciding to get fit and so has hired a trainer for the purpose.

Obviously the episode requires a bit of set up and story line so there’s a lengthy scene with some actors setting up a story before Buster appears. The story is that BK (as they call him) has decided to get fit and wants a trainer to get him into shape. Then they introduce the trainer who tells us about his girl and how he’s worried about her talking to other men.

Since most TV at this was live it’s not surprising that the actors seem quite intimidated and one guy stumbles over several lines. This material, written by Buster’s old collaborator Clyde Bruckman is pretty labored at times, in truth, sometimes unnecessary in parts, which might have put some uncertainty into the heads of those watching as to whether or not they were going to like the show or not. But all this changes when Buster enters the room and the others leave him to it.

We’re then treated to two 10-minute virtual solo’s from Buster as he proceeds from one form of exercise to the next, managing to bungle each in inventive and hilarious ways. He also gets to show off his talents with a basketball, performing a series of increasingly surreal and improbable tricks - even netting it whilst lying on his back!

You can see Buster gets a big kick out of the live audience and his delight is quite infectious. Although it’s half a century and two decades ago that these episodes were filmed, watching the great man do his thing in real time is a considerable pleasure even today.

Inevitably Buster gets himself in trouble as he accidentally conks a female who comes into the gym, knocking her spark out! As he tries to revive her, Buster hauls and throws the girl around like a rag doll in a scene reminiscent of putting the drunk to bed in Spite Marriage and then his trainer walks in and, of course, it turns out the girl is his wife!

Suspecting Buster of canoodling, the scene is set for an all too real boxing session, but Buster miraculously wins that too! At 55, Buster is still amazingly able to take the falls and you just know none of the stunts are faked in this. As in his films Buster has the uncanny ability to make all the falls and entanglements in the ropes seem completely spontaneous and natural, showing as always that he never needed words to be funny.

Bonus Features:
Three comedians in closeup (CBC-TV) (16:18) in HD
This Is Your Life (TV episode featuring Buster Keaton) (29:22) in HD
Circus Time (7:27) in HD
Cops (1922)(17:49) in SD
The Goat (1921)(19:24) in SD

Official Purchase Link

www.MVDshop.com