My Wonderful World Of Slapstick (A Da Capo paperback)

Buster Keaton's autobiography is a view into the quirky mind behind the stoic face of the legendary film comedian. Down through the years my face has been called a sour puss, a dead pan, a frozen face, The Great Stone Face, and, believe it or not, "a tragic mask" On the other hand that kindly critic, the late James Agee, described my face as ranking "almost with Lincoln's as an early American archetype, it was haunting, handsome, almost beautiful" I can't imagine what the great rail splitter's reaction would have been to this, though I sure was pleased. Keaton's autobiography, My Wonderful World of Slapstick, is our only record of the quirky mind behind the stoic face. Filled with stories about his childhood in vaudeville where, billed as 'The Human Mop, ' he was slammed on the floor, hurled into wings, banged on the bass drum-by his father!