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,
The Buster Keaton Story the same time as Al Jolson’s blockbuster talkie, “The Jazz Singer”, reducing public interest in it. Buster struggles to adapt to performing in talking pictures. He pursues a silent film star throughout his early career, Peggy Courtney (Rhonda Fleming), who sneers at his boarding-house manners and eventually marries a European Duke in order to become a Duchess. Crushed, Keaton begins drinking heavily. The casting director, Gloria, who has been interested in him and remained his friend throughout his career has been similarly disappointed by his lack of interest in her, and plans to marry a studio executive, Tom McAffee (Richard