Myra Keaton performing together in various medicine shows and vaudeville. Their son, silent film actor Buster Keaton (Joseph Frank Keaton), was born October 4, 1895. Their other children included Harry Keaton and Louise Keaton. At the age of four, Buster officially joined the family's vaudeville act, which was billed as "The Three Keatons". Myra and Buster left the act in 1917, as a result of problems arising from Joe Keaton's drinking. All members of the Keaton family occasionally appeared in Buster's silent and sound comedies. Although estranged in later years, Myra remained married to Joe until Joe's death in 1946. Myra Keaton
Buster Keaton a parody of D. W. Griffith's "Intolerance" (1916), from which it replicates the three inter-cut shorts structure. "Three Ages" also featured parodies of Bible stories, like those of Samson and Daniel. Keaton directed the film, along with Edward F. Cline. Film critic David Thomson later described Keaton's style of comedy: "Buster plainly is a man inclined towards a belief in nothing but mathematics and absurdity ... like a number that has always been searching for the right equation. Look at his face—as beautiful but as inhuman as a butterfly—and you see that utter failure to identify sentiment." Gilberto Perez commented