Steamboat Bill, Jr. 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 style, "The Cameraman", before his creative control was taken away by the studio. Charles Reisner directed the film, and the credited story writer was Carl Harbaugh, although Keaton wrote the script and publicly called
Animated cartoon Lantz (distributed by Universal), DePatie-Freleng (distributed by United Artists), Van Beuren Studios (distributed by RKO Pictures), ComiColor Cartoons (distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer), Charles Mintz Studios (later Screen Gems) (distributed by Columbia), Famous Studios (distributed by Paramount), and Terrytoons (distributed by 20th Century Fox). The first cartoon to use a soundtrack was in 1926 with Max Fleischer's "My Old Kentucky Home." However the Fleischers used a De Forest sound system and the sound was not completely synchronized with the film. Walt Disney's 1928 cartoon "Steamboat Willie" starring Mickey Mouse was the first to use a click track during the recording session, which