Buster Keaton’s Single-Line Pitches: Arbuckle-Keaton Shorts

Why should you watch Buster Keaton’s earliest screen appearances?  Here are thirteen reasons for you.  (Really, there are lots of Fatty Arbuckle-related reasons to watch these shorts as well, but when we’re talking Single-Line Pitches, it’s all about the Buster.)

The Butcher Boy – in which Buster throws the only pies of his silent career

The Rough House – in which Buster is outsmarted by a garden hose

His Wedding Night – in which Buster checks his pockets for a missing wedding dress

Oh, Doctor! – in which Buster plays an actual child

Coney Island – in which Buster does a backflip simply because he feels like it

Out West – in which Buster is a saloon owner who knows the value of a well-placed trap door

The Bell Boy – in which Buster does parkour before it was cool

Moonshine – in which Buster and Fatty obliterate the fourth wall

Good Night, Nurse! – in which Buster evidently gets his surgical instruments from a butcher shop

The Cook – in which Buster might just have invented a few hip-hop dance moves

Back Stage – in which Buster is the king queen of no-handed cartwheels

The Hayseed – in which Buster fastens a live rabbit to his back

The Garage – in which Buster shows off his moves on a fireman’s pole