Buster Keaton's Birthplace

Buster Keaton's Birthplace. . , Joseph F. "Buster" Keaton was born in Piqua, Kansas on October 4, 1895., Buster's parents, Joseph and Myra Keaton, were appearing in a traveling medicine shop with a stock company on a bill which included the later famous magician Harry Houdini. According to the story Joseph later told interviewers, a cyclone struck Piqua and blew away the performance tent. When he returned to his boarding house after chasing around the countryside looking for the tent, he found his wife had given birth to their first child., Buster Keaton made his first stage appearance when he was just 24 hours old in the Catholic Hall, which was serving as a substitute theater for the evening's performance. When he was five years old the family began touring vaudeville as "The Three Keatons.", In 1917, Keaton went to Hollywood to begin a career in movies that lasted until his death in February, 1966. Many of Buster Keaton's silent films are today recognized as classics of the genre. He starred in or directed more than 150 movies and was in 40 television shows. Keaton was know[n] as "the great stone face" because of his ability to maintain a serious demeanor while performing outrageous comedy routines.