Almost never seen without his porkpie hat, Keaton was famous for his "great stone face" that never showed emotion. His father taught him that back in Vaudeville. Some stories even have Keaton's father leaning over young Buster in the middle of a performance, threatening him with beatings if his face as much as twiched.

Keaton became famous in his two-reel short comedies, the only real form for silent comedians in the beginning of his career. No one wanted to see a comedian get knocked around for the full length of a feature, or so they thought. Buster produced several feature length comedies, and his first several were met with little success. Buster knew what he was doing though, and having filmed the features episodically, they played very well cut up as several short films. Soon Keaton and Chaplin broke that barrier and both comedians started making feature length comedies, all thanks to the legwork Keaton had done.

Buster made the transition from Vaudeville to the silver screen as the parter of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. The duo stormed the screen with several short two-reel comedy films until a murder controversy saw the end of Arbuckle's career. Keaton began to star in films directed by Arbuckle after that point. In those days, comedies weren't very scripted. The crew would go out to shoot with a general idea of the story they were going to make, and that's about all. They would come up with gags and find ways to string them all together. Keaton became a master as this fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants filmmaking, and soon began directing his own pictures.

Where'd he get his name?

In the days of Vaudeville, a "buster" was a pratfall. This was common industry lingo, and more than likely several knockabout comics (slapstick comedians who were adept at falling down) claim this as their stage name, tho none more famously than Keaton. His name is said to have been given to him by his godfather, Harry Houdini, after seeing a four year old Buster fall down a flight of stairs, and giggle as he stood up, completely unharmed.

Beginning a phenomenally successful Vaudeville career at the ripe old age of five, Buster Keaton performed with his mother and father in an act called "The Three Keatons." After seeing a young Buster survive many outrageous falls and calamities, he was added to the family act to do, well, just that. His father began a speech on the 'proper rearing of children,' during which he would proceed to throw Buster all around the stage, into the audience, and to top it off, fling him into the backdrop which would crash all around him. His mother even sewed a suitcase handle into the back of his little coat so his father could toss him more efficiently. Little Buster survived all this with acrobatic skill and more than a little luck.