Buster Keaton up to provide replacements, as happened to some other late-arriving divisions. During his time in uniform, he suffered an ear infection that permanently impaired his hearing. In February 1917, Keaton met Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle at the Talmadge Studios in New York City, where Arbuckle was under contract to Joseph M. Schenck. Joe Keaton disapproved of films, and Buster also had reservations about the medium. During his first meeting with Arbuckle, he asked to borrow one of the cameras to get a feel for how it worked. He took the camera back to his hotel room and dismantled and reassembled it.
The Buster Keaton Story Buster meets some children playing baseball and joins them, making up comedy bits within the game at which the children laugh. When he returns home, Gloria mistakes his elation from having made the children laugh for having gotten the motion picture part. Pretending to go to work the next day, Buster returns to the baseball field, which is empty. Some tourists recognize him and ask for his autograph. He pretends to have forgotten his wallet and borrows $10 from them, which he uses to get drunk. Buster returns home drunk, and Gloria confronts him. He wonders aloud why she married