Buster Keaton "Francis". His father was Joseph Hallie "Joe" Keaton, who owned a traveling show with Harry Houdini called the Mohawk Indian Medicine Company, which performed on stage and sold patent medicine on the side. According to a frequently repeated story, which may be apocryphal, Keaton acquired the nickname "Buster" at about 18 months of age. Keaton told interviewer Fletcher Markle that Houdini was present one day when the young Keaton took a tumble down a long flight of stairs without injury. After the infant sat up and shook off his experience, Houdini remarked, "That was a real buster!" According to Keaton,
Buster Keaton minor publicity film produced in 1922, "Limelight" was the only time in which the two would ever appear together on film. In 1949, comedian Ed Wynn invited Keaton to appear on his CBS Television comedy-variety show, "The Ed Wynn Show", which was televised live on the West Coast. Kinescopes were made for distribution of the programs to other parts of the country since there was no transcontinental coaxial cable until September 1951. In 1950, Keaton's television series "The Buster Keaton Show" was broadcast live on a local Los Angeles station. "Life with Buster Keaton" (1951) was less well received as