Steamboat Bill, Jr. Bill, Jr." McQueen stands in Keaton's place as a house facade falls over him. This film was shot from multiple angles, and the scene repeats over and over again while McQueen stands seemingly unaffected. Steamboat Bill, Jr. Steamboat Bill, Jr. is a 1928 silent comedy film starring Buster Keaton. Released by United Artists, the film is the last product of Keaton's independent production team and set of gag writers. It was not a box-office success and became the last picture Keaton made for United Artists. Keaton ended up moving to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer where he made one last film in his trademark
Pat Powers (businessman) time, De Forest was in too weak a financial position to mount a legal challenge against Powers for patent infringement. In 1929, Powers sold Walt Disney a Cinephone system so that he could make sound cartoons such as Mickey Mouse's "Steamboat Willie" (1928). Unable to find a distributor for the sound cartoons, Disney began releasing his cartoons through Powers' company Celebrity Pictures. After one year of successful "Mickey Mouse" and "Silly Symphonies" cartoons, Walt Disney confronted Powers in 1930 about money due to Disney from the distribution deal. Powers responded by signing Disney's head animator Ub Iwerks to an exclusive