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 Brown York. Fisher's physical appearance, including the characteristic pageboy haircut, was copied by Outcault and given to Buster Brown. The name "Buster" came directly or indirectly from the popularity of Buster Keaton, then a child actor in vaudeville. Another boy, Roger Cushman Clark (1899-1995) of Deadwood, South Dakota, was also described as the "original model" for the Buster Brown character. The character of Mary Jane was also drawn from real life, as she was also Outcault's daughter of the same name. In Outcault's own words—and his daughter's—she was the only character drawn from life in the Buster Brown strip, although "Mrs.