An epic train chase is turning 100 — and Buster Keaton fans are celebrating
A woman walks her dog near a mural depicting Buster Keaton from his 1926 film, The General, in Cottage Grove, Ore. Fans gathered in the town to celebrate the film’s centennial with a conference, a look-alike contest, a 1920s costume party and tours of film locations.
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The South wasn’t in a laughing mood after the Civil War, so silent film star and comedian Buster Keaton went west. To make a film based on a real wartime train chase, he ended up in Cottage Grove, Ore.
This past weekend, about 80 Keaton fans gathered in the small rural city to celebrate Keaton’s move, which led to his critically-acclaimed film, The General. They wore porkpie or straw hats, discussed favorite scenes, and learned how to do the Charleston as the Eugene-based band The Fat Dandelions played 1920s jazz through the evening.
Buster Keaton Conference attendees Joy Blatchford (from left) dances with her son Aden Blatchford, while Katrina Nguyen dances with her husband Khoi Nguyen at a 1920s themed dance in Cottage Grove, Ore.
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Buster Keaton keyrings and other souvenirs on display at the conference.
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They call themselves “Damfinos.” (Whenever Keaton was hit up for an answer he didn’t readily have, he’d say “damfino” — as in, “damned if I know.”)
“I wasn’t even aware that people across the country would know where Cottage Grove was, but they did,” said Lloyd Williams, smiling. He’s the former president of the Cottage Grove Historical Society and lead organizer for the centennial celebration of The General.
Who are these people? Damfino.
Khoi Nguyen does an impression while competing as a Buster Keaton look-alike.
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Among the fans in Cottage Grove was 21-year-old Chloe Fadem, who arrived from Chicago gleefully sporting her own Keatonesque two-piece suit.
“I picked up a little rainbow bowtie that is not ‘on era’ branding for the outfit, but I love it,” she said, prepping for the evening’s Buster lookalike contest. “And a porkpie hat that I wear very proudly in honor of Keaton.”
Joining her for the competition was 13-year-old Aden Blatchford, from Ontario, Canada. He was also dressed as his idol, a true-to-life cosplay that his father, Steve, said he’s done for three consecutive Halloweens.
“He has a little sign that says ‘Trick or Treat’ and he flips it over, and it says ‘Buster Keaton, the 1920s silent film star,'” said the elder Blatchford. “He has ‘The Entertainer’ playing on a Bluetooth speaker.”
Aden Blatchford got hooked on Keaton when he was 8 years old, and likens silent films to reading comics. “With talkie movies, you can look away and just hear the soundtrack that’s playing. But with silent films you have to pay close attention because if you miss a title card, you can miss a big part of the film.”
Aden Blatchford, 13, from Ontario, Canada and Chloe Fadem, 21, from Chicago, dressed up as Buster Keaton.
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Ultimately, the winner of the Buster lookalike contest was 37-year-old Liz Bartholomew of Portland. She paraded past the judges dressed as “Sherlock Jr.” with fake moustache, magnifying glass and a book titled How to Be a Detective.
Bartholomew said she’s not the biggest Buster Keaton aficionado — but her mom is. “She flew from out of town to come to this festival. So to me, Buster Keaton means a way to get closer to my mom and something for us to bond over.”
“I love dressing up in a costume,” she smiled. “And today I walk away a winner.”
Liz Bartholomew (left) wins for best Buster Keaton look-alike — awarded by Dana Merryday (center) and Jennifer Ferraez Chartrand.
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Meet the relatives
If it’s any consolation to people like Fadem and Blatchford, they’ve become close with some of Keaton’s family. Both posed with the actor’s granddaughter, Melissa Talmadge Cox, who first met Fadem at another Keaton celebration ten years ago in Muskegon, Mich.
“She took me under her wing and started telling me these stories about Buster,” said Fadem. “Trying to pass on that knowledge and those memories on to another generation.”
Melissa Talmadge Cox (left), Buster Keaton’s granddaughter, looks at photographs from the filming of The General along with conference attendees.
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In turn, Talmadge Cox has learned many stories about her grandfather and his approach to cinema from fans. “I never saw any of his movies until right after he died,” said Talmadge Cox. “I saw one when I was in college and I just could not believe that this man was the grandfather that I’d known my whole life because his films weren’t available to anybody.”
Another special guest was Keaton’s nephew, 84-year-old Harry Keaton Moore Jr. who grew up with his uncle and other relatives in the same Los Angeles house in the 1940s. He would later drive Keaton to some of his shoots, including for the movies Beach Blanket Bingo and How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, when his career rebounded in the 1950s.
“Buster didn’t really like to drive, even though you see a lot of it in the films,” said Keaton Moore Jr.
Harry Keaton Moore Jr., Buster’s nephew, also attended the conference.
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On hallowed ground
Keaton Moore Jr. joined fans on a bus tour to visit various filming locations for The General, which ended with the site of a now-famous train crash scene from the film.
Keaton needed a convincing backdrop for The General that incorporated Marietta, Georgia and Chattanooga, Tenn., in its storyline. After being rebuffed by communities in the South, Keaton came to Oregon with his scouts and saw the timber town of Cottage Grove had a short line railroad that went into the foothills of the Cascades.
Conference attendees cross the Chambers Covered Railroad Bridge during a tour in Cottage Grove, Ore.
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“And when he got up here and looked out, he said ‘This is it. This is perfect,'” said Williams.
Film crews quickly set up facades that turned the Pacific Northwest town into the Deep South of the Civil War.
When it was the time to shoot the most expensive and complicated shot of The General on July 23, 1926 more than 4,000 people gathered near nearby Culp Creek to watch a real train crash into the water. Businesses and mills closed, some with signs saying GONE TO SEE BUSTER.
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“There were hot dog vendors and all sorts of carnival atmosphere,” said Williams.
After much planning and coordination, a locomotive and burning trestle bridge collapsed on cue, complete with a dummy engineer in the driving cabin.
The Cottage Grove Sentinel reported that Keaton was “happy as a kid” with the shoot, which cost more than $40,000 and is “believed to be the most expensive shot” in the silent-film era.
Lloyd Williams is the lead organizer for the centennial celebration and former president of the Cottage Grove Historical Society. He stands outside the Cottage Grove Museum, which has Keaton memorabilia on display.
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The newspaper reported that one distressed witness was a woman who saw the papier mache engineer’s head floating down the water.
Last weekend, the often rancorous and chatty Damfinos fell into a hushed reverence as they arrived at the site.
After passing through the back patio and yard of a private homeowner the Damfinos arrived on the rocky shore and quickly began looking over old movie stills to see where the destroyed trestle bridge and train had collapsed more than a century ago. Many marveled at a curled and rusted piece of iron that could have been one of the locomotive’s wheels.
This area of the Row River near Culp Creek, Ore., is known for being the filming location of the train crash scene from The General.
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“It feels so magical,” said the younger Blatchford, who arrived dressed in a vintage vest, necktie and porkpie hat. “He shot the main scene here. This is the biggest scene he’s ever shot. This is the biggest highlight for me on the trip. It’s just so cool to be here.”
Fadem was also dazzled to be standing where Keaton directed his movie’s epic shot. She and several others held up a black and white photo to get perspective.
“It’s kind of full circle,” Fadem said, smiling. “You see it 2-D in the movie, but now you see it really 3-D. Holding the photo up and comparing the rocks and the water and the trees, and seeing where everything was and where that bridge would have been, and where the train would have been.”
Melissa Talmadge Cox (left), Keaton’s granddaughter, hugs Chloe Fadem.
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Fadem, a film and television student at Emerson College, said she’s determined to incorporate elements of Keaton’s work into her projects.
“You could see him literally throwing himself, literally and metaphorically, into his work,” she said. “That’s something that I really want to incorporate in films I do in the future.”
The next big event is just a month away. In October, Muskegon, Mich., hosts its annual International Buster Keaton Society Convention — a few days before what would be the filmmaker’s 131st birthday.
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