The Cirque Medrano (in English : Circus Medrano) is a French circus that was located at 63 Boulevard de Rochechouart , at the corner of rue des Martyrs , in the 18th arrondissement at the edge of Montmartre in Paris . It was originally called Cirque Fernando . The title "Cirque Medrano" is still active today: it is now a successful French traveling circus.
147-585: The Parisian circus was created by a Belgian circus entrepreneur, Ferdinand Beert (1835-1902), known as Fernando, and was built at the corner of the Boulevard de Rochechouart and the Rue des Martyrs, in what was then the edge of the City of Paris , under the name "Cirque Fernando." The area was a working-class neighborhood at the foot of the hill of Montmartre, famous for its many places of popular entertainment, among which
294-626: A Fête de la Bière —a sort of Bavarian beer-hall. The building slowly went into a state of disrepair. The Bougliones demolished it in December 1974: in 1975, it would have been one-hundred years old and become a protected landmark... A nondescript apartment building called The Bouglione now occupies the site. Edgar Degas , the French Impressionist artist, painted Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando in 1879, now in
441-770: A Proto-Celtic form reconstructed as * kwar-is-io -. Alternatively, Pierre-Yves Lambert proposed to translate Parisii as the 'spear people', by connecting the first element to the Old Irish carr ('spear'), derived from an earlier * kwar-sā . In any case, the city's name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology . Residents of the city are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens ( [paʁizjɛ̃] ). They are also pejoratively called Parigots ( [paʁiɡo] ). The Parisii ,
588-416: A second banana : either veteran comic Monty Collins or raucous comic dancer Elsie Ames . The insistent White directed Keaton whenever possible – to Keaton's mild annoyance – and only two Keaton shorts did without White's services because they were filmed on location, away from the studio. Those remaining two shorts were directed by Del Lord , a former director for Mack Sennett . Keaton's personal favorite
735-402: A TV show wanted to simulate silent-movie comedy, Keaton answered the call and guested in such successful series as The Ken Murray Show , You Asked for It , The Garry Moore Show , and The Ed Sullivan Show . Well into his fifties, Keaton successfully recreated his old routines, including one stunt in which he propped one foot onto a table, then swung the second foot up next to it and held
882-401: A better than usual film. "Apart from its exceptional quality," writes biographer James Curtis, "the big takeaway from Parlor, Bedroom and Bath was its extraordinary commercial success. Performing better at the box office than any of Keaton's other MGM talkies, it pulled in worldwide rentals of $ 985,000 [$ 20,694,850 in 2024]. With a yield [net profit] of $ 299,000 [$ 6,281,990 in 2024], it became
1029-476: A business partnership to re-release his films. Actor James Mason had bought the Keatons' house and found numerous cans of films, among which was Keaton's long-lost classic The Boat . Keaton had prints of the features Three Ages , Sherlock Jr. , Steamboat Bill, Jr. , and College (missing one reel), and the shorts "The Boat" and " My Wife's Relations ". Rohauer instructed Keaton to approach Mason for
1176-711: A comedic film about the Civil War, even while noting it had a "few laughs." It was an expensive misfire (the climactic scene of a locomotive plummeting through a burning bridge was the most expensive single shot in silent-film history), and Keaton was never entrusted with total control over his films again. His distributor, United Artists , insisted on a production manager who monitored expenses and interfered with certain story elements. Keaton endured this treatment for two more feature films, and then exchanged his independent setup for employment at Hollywood's biggest studio, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Keaton's loss of independence as
1323-508: A comedy routine about two inept stage musicians in Charlie Chaplin 's Limelight (released in 1952), recalling the vaudeville of The Playhouse . With the exception of Seeing Stars , a minor publicity film produced in 1922, Limelight was the only time in which the two would ever appear together on film. In 1949, comedian Ed Wynn invited Keaton to appear on his CBS Television comedy-variety show, The Ed Wynn Show , which
1470-473: A deal with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for Keaton's services. Keaton had little to say about the details of the MGM contract; he would no longer have any financial responsibility for his films, and even his salary had been pre-negotiated, without his own input. Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd advised him against making the move, cautioning that he would lose his independence. But, given Schenck's desire to keep things "in
1617-436: A drunk and a fat lady and a kid. Get 'em for me.' At my studio they would have the characters I wanted in 10 minutes. But not MGM. You had to requisition a toothpick in triplicate. I just stood there, and everybody is hassling." MGM wanted only Keaton the star, Keaton the creator was considered a waste of time and money because "in the time it took him to develop a project, he could have appeared in two or three pictures set up by
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#17327912986731764-530: A fair amount of sunshine. Each year there are a few days when the temperature rises above 32 °C (90 °F). Longer periods of more intense heat sometimes occur, such as the heat wave of 2003 when temperatures exceeded 30 °C (86 °F) for weeks, reached 40 °C (104 °F) on some days, and rarely cooled down at night. Spring and autumn have, on average, mild days and cool nights, but are changing and unstable. Surprisingly warm or cool weather occurs frequently in both seasons. In winter, sunshine
1911-468: A few lines at a time and shoot immediately after. This is discussed in the TCM documentary Buster Keaton: So Funny it Hurt , with Keaton complaining about having to shoot lousy films not just once, but three times. Keaton kept trying to persuade his bosses to let him do things his way. Production head Irving Thalberg would not permit Keaton to create a script from scratch because the studio had already purchased
2058-411: A filmmaker coincided with the coming of sound films (although he was interested in making the transition) and mounting personal problems, and his career in the early sound era was hurt as a result. Keaton's last three features had been produced and released independently, under Keaton's control, and fell short of financial expectations at the box office. In 1928 film executive Nicholas Schenck arranged
2205-560: A gag writer, supplying material for the final three Marx Brothers MGM films: At the Circus (1939), Go West (1940), and The Big Store (1941); these were not as artistically successful as the Marxes' previous MGM features. Keaton also directed three one-reel novelty shorts for the studio, but these did not result in further directorial assignments. In 1939, Columbia Pictures hired Keaton to star in two-reel comedies; he filmed two at
2352-403: A gang of rowdy kids. Keaton thought the premise was totally unsuitable, and was uncomfortable with his directors Jules White and Zion Myers, who emphasized blunt slapstick. "I went over (Weingarten's) head and appealed to Irving Thalberg to help get me out of the assignment. Irving was usually on my side, but this time he said, 'Larry likes it. Everybody else in the studio likes the story. You are
2499-578: A house packed with the Tout-Paris and a crowd of disconsolate Parisians, habitués, circus fans, and friends from the neighborhood. The Bougliones revived the circus for a couple of seasons under the name Cirque de Montmartre , but the magic was gone. Although their shows were commendable, they were mostly a replica of what could be seen at the Cirque d'Hiver. They rented the building for a short while to Ariane Mnouchkine 's Théâtre du Soleil , and then to
2646-720: A huge and emotional crowd down the Champs Élysées towards Notre Dame de Paris and made a rousing speech from the Hôtel de Ville . In the 1950s and the 1960s, Paris became one front of the Algerian War for independence; in August 1961, the pro-independence FLN targeted and killed 11 Paris policemen, leading to the imposition of a curfew on Muslims of Algeria (who, at that time, were French citizens). On 17 October 1961, an unauthorised but peaceful protest demonstration of Algerians against
2793-490: A line bearing the name Joseph Keaton) and Frank for his maternal grandfather, who disapproved of his parents' union. His father was Joseph Hallie "Joe" Keaton who had a traveling show 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
2940-435: A local college-baseball championship, where he was to be the home-team mascot. He sent his regrets to Mayer's office and kept his date at the ball game, only to receive a warning from Mayer the following Tuesday, suspending his pay until he resumed working. Keaton's behavior had become erratic by 1932, despondent over working conditions at the studio, and over his wife's antagonism toward him at home. This affected his films; he
3087-489: A projection room can make trade press critics howl in their seats, then you can bet your mortgaged theater that it's FUNNY [emphasis theirs]." Moviegoers and exhibitors welcomed Keaton's Columbia comedies; and when Columbia began reissuing older comedies to theaters in 1948, Keaton's Pest from the West was chosen to launch the "Comedy Favorites" series ("A 1939 Buster Keaton film and one of his funniest," noted Boxoffice . "It
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#17327912986733234-495: A series of successful two-reel comedies in the early 1920s, including One Week (1920), The Playhouse (1921), Cops (1922), and The Electric House (1922). He then moved to feature-length films; several of them, such as Sherlock Jr. (1924), The General (1926), Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928), and The Cameraman (1928), remain highly regarded. The General is perhaps his most acclaimed work; Orson Welles considered it "the greatest comedy ever made...and perhaps
3381-617: A series premiere, noting that it was filmed without a studio audience: the "lack of studio laughter weakened the climax of several of its acts." The producers fashioned a theatrical, hourlong feature film from the series, intended for the European market: The Misadventures of Buster Keaton was released on April 29, 1953 by British Lion, and it began playing on American television in September 1953. "Roughly reproduced slapstick museum piece, it's most likely to amuse those too young to remember
3528-530: A spacey determination that nears philosophical grandeur." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him as the 21st-greatest male star of classic Hollywood cinema. Keaton was born into a vaudeville family in Piqua, Kansas , the small town that his mother, Myra Keaton (née Cutler), was visiting at the time. He was named Joseph to continue a tradition on his father's side (he was sixth in
3675-456: A stage property dating from 1917, Parlor, Bedroom and Bath , at the suggestion of Lawrence Weingarten , who was Thalberg's brother-in-law and Keaton's producer. ("We were desperate. We didn't know what to do," recalled Weingarten. ) However, Thalberg did allow Keaton to stage the gags, including long stretches of pantomime, and agreed to send a crew to Keaton's own mansion for exterior shots. Keaton's relative freedom during this project resulted in
3822-476: A stunt double during some of the more dangerous scenes to protect its investment, something he had never done in his heyday: "Stuntmen don't get you laughs," Keaton had said. In the first Keaton pictures with sound, he and his fellow actors would shoot each scene three times: once in English, once in Spanish, and once in either French or German . The actors would phonetically memorize the foreign-language scripts
3969-784: A sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones , inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the area's major north–south trade routes crossed the Seine on the Île de la Cité , which gradually became an important trading centre. The Parisii traded with many river towns (some as far away as the Iberian Peninsula) and minted their own coins. The Romans conquered the Paris Basin in 52 BC and began their settlement on Paris's Left Bank . The Roman town
4116-541: A successful play, The New Henrietta , which had already been filmed once, under the title The Lamb , with Douglas Fairbanks playing the lead. After Keaton's successful work with Arbuckle, Schenck gave him his own production unit, Buster Keaton Productions. He made a series of 19 two-reel comedies, including One Week (1920), The Playhouse (1921), Cops (1922), and The Electric House (1922). Keaton then moved to full-length features. Keaton's writers included Clyde Bruckman , Joseph Mitchell, and Jean Havez , but
4263-627: A television pilot tentatively titled "Medicine Man", shooting scenes for it on January 12, 1962—the day before Kovacs died in a car crash. "Medicine Man" was completed but not aired. Buster Keaton found steady work as an actor in TV commercials for Colgate, Alka-Seltzer, U.S. Steel, 7-Up, RCA Victor, Phillips 66, Milky Way, Ford Motors, Minit-Rub, and Budweiser, among others. In a series of pantomime television commercials for Simon Pure Beer made in 1962 by Jim Mohr in Buffalo, New York , Keaton revisited some of
4410-429: A time over two years. These 10 films comprise his last series as a starring comedian. Columbia's short-subject comedians were generally paid a flat fee of $ 500 per film. Keaton, considered exceptional, was hired at double the usual rate. The director was usually Jules White , whose emphasis on slapstick and farce made most of these films resemble White's famous Three Stooges shorts. White sometimes paired Keaton with
4557-455: A variety of television programs. He earned an Academy Honorary Award in 1959. Critic Roger Ebert wrote of Keaton's "extraordinary period from 1920 to 1929" when he "worked without interruption" as having made him "the greatest actor-director in the history of the movies". In 1996, Entertainment Weekly recognized Keaton as the seventh-greatest film director, stating that "his films offer belly laughs of mind-boggling physical invention and
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4704-527: Is Montmartre at 130 m (427 ft). Excluding the outlying parks of Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes , Paris covers an oval measuring about 87 km (34 sq mi) in area, enclosed by the 35 km (22 mi) ring road, the Boulevard Périphérique . Paris' last major annexation of outlying territories in 1860 gave it its modern form, and created the 20 clockwise-spiralling arrondissements (municipal boroughs). From
4851-771: Is 450 km (280 mi) southeast of London, 287 km (178 mi) south of Calais , 305 km (190 mi) southwest of Brussels , 774 km (481 mi) north of Marseille , 385 km (239 mi) northeast of Nantes , and 135 km (84 mi) southeast of Rouen . Paris has an oceanic climate within the Köppen climate classification , typical of western Europe. This climate type features cool winters, with frequent rain and overcast skies, and mild to warm summers. Very hot and very cold temperatures and weather extremes are rare in this type of climate. Summer days are usually mild and pleasant, with average temperatures between 15 and 25 °C (59 and 77 °F), and
4998-746: Is derived from its early inhabitants, the Parisii , a Gallic tribe from the Iron Age and the Roman period . The meaning of the Gaulish ethnonym remains debated. According to Xavier Delamarre , it may derive from the Celtic root pario- ('cauldron'). Alfred Holder interpreted the name as 'the makers' or 'the commanders', by comparing it to the Welsh peryff ('lord, commander'), both possibly descending from
5145-458: Is good to see Buster back.") Keaton's Columbia shorts came back to theaters from 1948 to 1952, and again from 1962 to 1964. Author John McElwee reports the boxoffice figures: " Pest from the West , the first series entry in 1939, brought back domestic rentals of $ 23,000, and subsequent ones tended to hover around that approximate figure ( Nothing But Pleasure did $ 24,000, General Nuisance got $ 26,000). Columbia also realized profits from reissues of
5292-432: Is in landing limp and breaking the fall with a foot or a hand. It's a knack. I started so young that landing right is second nature with me. Several times I'd have been killed if I hadn't been able to land like a cat. Imitators of our act don't last long, because they can't stand the treatment." Keaton said he had so much fun that he sometimes began laughing as his father threw him across the stage. Noticing that this caused
5439-607: Is mentioned as one of the places that he would visit with his expat friend, Carl. Medrano has also appeared in several French popular novels, in songs, and in films (notably during the German Occupation period). Paris Paris ( French pronunciation: [paʁi] ) is the capital and largest city of France . With an estimated population of 2,102,650 residents in January 2023 in an area of more than 105 km (41 sq mi), Paris
5586-440: Is scarce. Days are cool, and nights are cold but generally above freezing, with low temperatures around 3 °C (37 °F). Light night frosts are quite common, but the temperature seldom dips below −5 °C (23 °F). Paris sometimes sees light snow or flurries with or without accumulation. Paris has an average annual precipitation of 641 mm (25.2 in), and experiences light rainfall distributed evenly throughout
5733-463: Is the fourth-largest city in the European Union and the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2022. Since the 17th century, Paris has been one of the world's major centres of finance , diplomacy , commerce , culture , fashion , and gastronomy . Because of its leading role in the arts and sciences and its early adaptation of extensive street lighting, it became known as
5880-630: Is the second-busiest metro system in Europe after the Moscow Metro . Gare du Nord is the 24th-busiest railway station in the world and the busiest outside Japan , with 262 million passengers in 2015. Paris has one of the most sustainable transportation systems and is one of only two cities in the world that received the Sustainable Transport Award twice. Paris is known for its museums and architectural landmarks:
6027-518: The American Civil War , combined physical comedy with Keaton's love of trains, including an epic locomotive chase. Employing picturesque locations, the film's storyline reenacted an actual wartime incident . Though it would come to be regarded as Keaton's greatest achievement, the film received mixed reviews at the time. It was too dramatic for some filmgoers expecting a lightweight comedy, and reviewers questioned Keaton's judgment in making
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6174-619: The Champs-Élysées extended the city west to Étoile , while the working-class neighbourhood of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine on the eastern side of the city grew increasingly crowded with poor migrant workers from other regions of France. Paris was the centre of an explosion of philosophic and scientific activity, known as the Age of Enlightenment . Diderot and D'Alembert published their Encyclopédie in 1751, before
6321-825: The College of Sorbonne , and a palace for himself, the Palais-Cardinal . After Richelieu's death in 1642, it was renamed the Palais-Royal . Due to the Parisian uprisings during the Fronde civil war, Louis XIV moved his court to a new palace, Versailles , in 1682. Although no longer the capital of France, arts and sciences in the city flourished with the Comédie-Française , the Academy of Painting, and
6468-603: The Economist Intelligence Unit Worldwide Cost of Living Survey, in 2022, Paris was the city with the ninth-highest cost of living in the world. Paris is a major railway, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports: Charles de Gaulle Airport , the third-busiest airport in Europe , and Orly Airport . Opened in 1900, the city's subway system, the Paris Métro , serves 5.23 million passengers daily. It
6615-663: The European Space Agency , the European Banking Authority and the European Securities and Markets Authority . The football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris. The 81,000-seat Stade de France , built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup , is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis . Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on
6762-738: The French Academy of Sciences . To demonstrate that the city was safe from attack, the king had the city walls demolished and replaced with tree-lined boulevards that would become the Grands Boulevards . Other marks of his reign were the Collège des Quatre-Nations , the Place Vendôme , the Place des Victoires , and Les Invalides . Paris grew in population from about 400,000 in 1640 to 650,000 in 1780. A new boulevard named
6909-665: The Grand Paris project, to integrate Paris more closely with the towns in the region around it. After many modifications, the new area, named the Metropolis of Grand Paris , with a population of 6.7 million, was created on 1 January 2016. In 2011, the City of Paris and the national government approved the plans for the Grand Paris Express , totalling 205 km (127 mi) of automated metro lines to connect Paris,
7056-918: The Greta Garbo role, Polly Moran in the Joan Crawford role, Henry Armetta in the Jean Hersholt role, Edward Everett Horton in the Lewis Stone role, and Laurel and Hardy sharing the Wallace Beery role. Edward Sedgwick would be directing. Keaton called his version Grand Mills Hotel (after the Mills Hotel, a Bowery flophouse). Thalberg was hesitant about burlesquing the dignified studio's own work but, seeing Keaton's obvious disappointment, said he'd think about it. After Louis B. Mayer had fired Keaton, Thalberg returned to
7203-515: The Louvre received 8.9 million visitors in 2023, on track for keeping its position as the most-visited art museum in the world. The Musée d'Orsay , Musée Marmottan Monet and Musée de l'Orangerie are noted for their collections of French Impressionist art. The Pompidou Centre , Musée National d'Art Moderne , Musée Rodin and Musée Picasso are noted for their collections of modern and contemporary art . The historical district along
7350-519: The Medrano name rights from Jérôme and Violette Medrano and, to this day, his Cirque Medrano-Raoul Gibault has toured France with a big top. His organization has several units that travel under the Medrano title, including Medrano's Cirque sur l'eau (water circus) and Medrano's Cirque de Saint Petersbourg (St. Petersburg Circus). In Henry Miller 's 1934 novel, Tropic of Cancer , Cirque Médrano
7497-493: The Mississippi River setting of Twain's book. In 1962 he signed on for a Canadian musical comedy feature, Ten Girls Ago , starring teen idol Dion and featuring Keaton, Bert Lahr , and Eddie Foy, Jr. Keaton filmed his scenes as arranged, but the film endured a host of production problems and was never released. Keaton had a cameo in the all-star comedy It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), appearing near
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#17327912986737644-493: The Montgolfier Brothers launched the first manned flight in a hot air balloon on 21 November 1783. Paris was the financial capital of continental Europe, as well the primary European centre for book publishing, fashion and the manufacture of fine furniture and luxury goods. On 22 October 1797, Paris was also the site of the first parachute jump in history, by Garnerin . In the summer of 1789, Paris became
7791-748: The Moulin de la Galette and the famous Bal du Moulin Rouge — and in the vicinity of the Bateau-Lavoir in Montmartre, where many young painters lived. An acrobat and equestrian, Fernando started his Cirque Fernando in Vierzon , France, in 1872. The following year, he came to Paris to perform at the Fête de Montmartre, but the traditional fairgrounds for this annual fair were on the very spot on which
7938-854: The National Gallery in London [2] . Auguste Renoir , another Impressionist artist, painted Jugglers at the Cirque Fernando [3] , which is at the Art Institute of Chicago. Georges Seurat 's pointillist painting The Circus (1891) also depicts the Cirque Fernando. In the late 19th century, the Parisian Post-Impressionist artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec also attended the Cirque Medrano and produced many drawing and pastels depicting its performances [4] . Later, Pablo Picasso made many study-sketches at
8085-532: The Paris Commune held power for two months, before being harshly suppressed by the French army during the " Bloody Week " at the end of May 1871. In the late 19th century, Paris hosted two major international expositions: the 1889 Universal Exposition , which featured the new Eiffel Tower, was held to mark the centennial of the French Revolution; and the 1900 Universal Exposition gave Paris
8232-412: The Pont Alexandre III , the Grand Palais , the Petit Palais and the first Paris Métro line. Paris became the laboratory of Naturalism ( Émile Zola ) and Symbolism ( Charles Baudelaire and Paul Verlaine ), and of Impressionism in art ( Courbet , Manet , Monet , Renoir ). By 1901, the population of Paris had grown to about 2,715,000. At the beginning of the century, artists from around
8379-402: The Pont des Arts . During the Restoration , the bridges and squares of Paris were returned to their pre-Revolution names; the July Revolution in 1830 (commemorated by the July Column on the Place de la Bastille ) brought to power a constitutional monarch, Louis Philippe I . The first railway line to Paris opened in 1837, beginning a new period of massive migration from the provinces to
8526-442: The Seine in the city centre has been classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1991. Paris is home to several United Nations organizations including UNESCO, as well as other international organizations such as the OECD , the OECD Development Centre , the International Bureau of Weights and Measures , the International Energy Agency , the International Federation for Human Rights , along with European bodies such as
8673-402: The Siege of Paris (885–886) , for which the then Count of Paris ( comte de Paris ), Odo of France , was elected king of West Francia . From the Capetian dynasty that began with the 987 election of Hugh Capet , Count of Paris and Duke of the Franks ( duc des Francs ), as king of a unified West Francia, Paris gradually became the largest and most prosperous city in France. By the end of
8820-416: The Île Saint-Louis and the larger Île de la Cité , which form the oldest part of Paris. The river's mouth on the English Channel ( La Manche ) is about 233 mi (375 km) downstream from Paris. Paris is spread widely on both banks of the river. Overall, Paris is relatively flat, and the lowest point is 35 m (115 ft) above sea level . Paris has several prominent hills, the highest of which
8967-450: The 12th century, Paris had become the political, economic, religious, and cultural capital of France. The Palais de la Cité , the royal residence, was located at the western end of the Île de la Cité. In 1163, during the reign of Louis VII , Maurice de Sully , bishop of Paris, undertook the construction of the Notre Dame Cathedral at its eastern extremity. After the marshland between the river Seine and its slower 'dead arm' to its north
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#17327912986739114-452: The 1860 area of 78 km (30 sq mi), the city limits were expanded marginally to 86.9 km (33.6 sq mi) in the 1920s. In 1929, the Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes forest parks were annexed to the city, bringing its area to about 105 km (41 sq mi). The metropolitan area is 2,300 km (890 sq mi). Measured from the 'point zero' in front of its Notre-Dame cathedral , Paris by road
9261-418: The Church of the Sacré-Cœur was being built. Fernando thus went on to search for a suitable empty lot nearby, and found it on the Boulevard de Rochechouart, between the rue des Martyrs and the present rue Viollet-le-Duc. He had considerable success there, which went far beyond the context of the fair. He therefore managed to obtain a thirty-year lease on his piece of land to build a permanent circus. Designed by
9408-470: The Cirque Medrano for his Pink Period series of acrobats. Fernand Léger painted Le Cirque Medrano (1918), which is in the collections of the Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris, and published a full album of drawings and paintings titled Cirque (1950), for which his sketched his subjects at the Cirque Medrano. There are many other painters who used the Cirques Fernando and Medrano, and their performers, as their subjects. Circus entrepreneur Raoul Gibault leased
9555-403: The City of Light in the 19th century. The City of Paris is the centre of the Île-de-France region , or Paris Region, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 inhabitants in January 2023, or about 19% of the population of France. The Paris Region had a nominal GDP of €765 billion (US$ 1.064 trillion when adjusted for PPP ) in 2021, the highest in the European Union. According to
9702-444: The Frank , the first king of the Merovingian dynasty , made the city his capital from 508. As the Frankish domination of Gaul began, there was a gradual immigration by the Franks to Paris and the Parisian Francien dialects were born. Fortification of the Île de la Cité failed to avert sacking by Vikings in 845 , but Paris's strategic importance—with its bridges preventing ships from passing—was established by successful defence in
9849-411: The Fratellinis go to his main competition, Paris's Cirque d'Hiver , in 1924), and Cirque Medrano continued to thrive. It was still a favorite rendez-vous for the Parisian artistic elite — and still attracted many artists, who were always welcome around the ring. During World War II and the German Occupation of France, the lease of the Cirque Medrano, which, since Fernando's bankruptcy, included
9996-449: The French police and gendarmes arrested 12,884 Jews, including 4,115 children, and confined them during five days at the Vel d'Hiv ( Vélodrome d'Hiver ), from which they were transported by train to the extermination camp at Auschwitz . None of the children came back. On 25 August 1944, the city was liberated by the French 2nd Armoured Division and the 4th Infantry Division of the United States Army . General Charles de Gaulle led
10143-462: The Good Old Summertime (1949), Sunset Boulevard (1950), and Around the World in 80 Days (1956). In In the Good Old Summertime , Keaton personally directed the stars Judy Garland and Van Johnson in their first scene together, where they bump into each other on the street. Keaton invented comedy bits where Johnson keeps trying to apologize to a seething Garland, but winds up messing up her hairdo and tearing her dress. Keaton also appeared in
10290-657: The Keatons after the war. The Spook Speaks was back for the 1949-50 season, and picked up $ 24,200, this in addition to the $ 28,500 it had realized on its initial run." Keaton's personal life had stabilized with his 1940 marriage to MGM dancer Eleanor Norris , and now he was taking life a little easier, abandoning Columbia for the less strenuous field of feature films. Resuming his daily job as an MGM gag writer, he provided material for Red Skelton and gave help and advice to Lucille Ball . Keaton accepted various character roles in both "A" and "B" features. He made his last starring feature, El Moderno Barba Azul (1946), in Mexico;
10437-411: The Place Royale, now Place des Vosges . In spite of Henry IV's efforts to improve city circulation, the narrowness of Paris's streets was a contributing factor in his assassination near Les Halles marketplace in 1610. During the 17th century, Cardinal Richelieu , chief minister of Louis XIII , was determined to make Paris the most beautiful city in Europe. He built five new bridges, a new chapel for
10584-587: The Revolution, but after 1799 it surged with 160,000 new residents, reaching 660,000 by 1815. Napoleon replaced the elected government of Paris with a prefect that reported directly to him. He began erecting monuments to military glory, including the Arc de Triomphe , and improved the neglected infrastructure of the city with new fountains, the Canal de l'Ourcq , Père Lachaise Cemetery and the city's first metal bridge,
10731-682: The Tuileries Palace. In 1793, as the revolution turned increasingly radical, the king, queen and mayor were beheaded by guillotine in the Reign of Terror , along with more than 16,000 others throughout France. The property of the aristocracy and the church was nationalised , and the city's churches were closed, sold or demolished. A succession of revolutionary factions ruled Paris until 9 November 1799 ( coup d'état du 18 brumaire ), when Napoleon Bonaparte seized power as First Consul. The population of Paris had dropped by 100,000 during
10878-455: The age of 18 months. After the child fell down a long flight of stairs without injury, an actor friend named George Pardey remarked, "Gee whiz, he's a regular buster!" After this, Keaton's father began to use the nickname to refer to the youngster. Keaton retold the anecdote over the years, including in a 1964 interview with the CBC 's Telescope . In Keaton's retelling, he was six months old when
11025-417: The architect Gustave Gridaine, the new Cirque Fernando opened on June 25, 1875. Because of its proximity to Montmartre, the circus attracted many artists ( Renoir , Degas , Lautrec , among many others), who came to sketch the performers in action, which sometimes resulted in full paintings. They brought in their wake members of the Parisian "bohème", writers, journalists, actors, who generated publicity for
11172-491: The audience to laugh less, he adopted his famous deadpan expression when performing. The act ran up against laws banning child performers in vaudeville. According to one biographer, Keaton was made to go to school while performing in New York, but only attended for part of one day. Despite tangles with the law, Keaton was a rising and relatively well-paid star in the theater. He stated that he learned to read and write late, and
11319-399: The awkward position in midair for a moment before crashing to the stage floor. Garry Moore recalled, "I asked (Keaton) how he did all those falls, and he said, 'I'll show you.' He opened his jacket and he was all bruised. So that's how he did it—it hurt —but you had to care enough not to care." In 1954, Buster and Eleanor met movie-theater manager Raymond Rohauer , with whom they developed
11466-429: The camera back to his hotel room where he dismantled and reassembled it by morning. Keaton later said that he was soon Arbuckle's second director and his entire gag department. He appeared in a total of 14 Arbuckle shorts , running into 1920. They were popular, and contrary to Keaton's later reputation as "The Great Stone Face", he often smiled and even laughed in them. Keaton and Arbuckle became close friends, and Keaton
11613-467: The capital of France, was the most populous city of Europe. By comparison, London in 1300 had 80,000 inhabitants. By the early fourteenth century, so much filth had collected inside urban Europe that French and Italian cities were naming streets after human waste. In medieval Paris, several street names were inspired by merde , the French word for "shit". During the Hundred Years' War , Paris
11760-686: The centre stage of the French Revolution . On 14 July, a mob seized the arsenal at the Invalides , acquiring thousands of guns, with which it stormed the Bastille , a principal symbol of royal authority. The first independent Paris Commune , or city council, met in the Hôtel de Ville and elected a Mayor , the astronomer Jean Sylvain Bailly , on 15 July. Louis XVI and the royal family were brought to Paris and incarcerated in
11907-462: The circus until his death in 1912. Then, his wife, Berthe (née Perrin,1876-1920), took over the circus, and gave the artistic management to Rodolphe Bonten, a former acrobat. Gerónimo and Berthe had a son, Jérôme Medrano (1907-1998), who was five years old when his father died. To ensure her son's future, Berthe, whose health was deteriorating, remarried with Rodolphe Bonten. Jérôme was given a formal education in elite schools that had not much to do with
12054-517: The circus. During World War I , Bonten hired a trio of clowns, the Fratellinis , who soon became the Idols of Paris and ensured Medrano's financial success. When Berthe Medrano died of cancer in 1920, Rodolphe Bonten took over the full management of the circus, but the lease actually reverted to Jérôme Medrano, who was only thirteen. Bonten's management was sound, if not overly imaginative (he let
12201-576: The circus. Mrs. Fernando, who oversaw the box office, decided to let the painters work freely in the circus during rehearsals and watch the performances free of charge — a tradition that will remain under the subsequent management of Gerónimo Medrano. Fernando Beert eventually gave the management of his circus to his stepson, Louis, known as Louis Fernando (1851-?). Although Louis's artistic direction proved quite successful, notably with popular revues written for his star clown, Gerónimo Medrano (1849-1912), known as "Boum-Boum," his financial management of
12348-537: The city. In 1848, Louis-Philippe was overthrown by a popular uprising in the streets of Paris. His successor, Napoleon III , alongside the newly appointed prefect of the Seine, Georges-Eugène Haussmann , launched a huge public works project to build wide new boulevards, a new opera house, a central market, new aqueducts, sewers and parks, including the Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes . In 1860, Napoleon III annexed
12495-529: The consumptive Kringelein taken by Lionel Barrymore . As What! No Beer? was nearing completion, Keaton—"sober, shaved, and calm" as Keaton told his biographer Rudi Blesh —pitched an idea to Irving Thalberg. He wanted to make a feature-length parody of Grand Hotel with an all-comedy cast: himself in the Lionel Barrymore role, Jimmy Durante in the John Barrymore role, Marie Dressler in
12642-519: The curfew led to violent confrontations between the police and demonstrators, in which at least 40 people were killed. The anti-independence Organisation armée secrète (OAS) carried out a series of bombings in Paris throughout 1961 and 1962. In May 1968, protesting students occupied the Sorbonne and put up barricades in the Latin Quarter . Thousands of Parisian blue-collar workers joined
12789-414: The elder Keaton responded by throwing him against the scenery, into the orchestra pit, or even into the audience. A suitcase handle was sewn into Keaton's clothing to aid with the constant tossing. The act evolved as Keaton learned to take trick falls safely; he was rarely injured or bruised on stage. This knockabout style of comedy led to accusations of child abuse and, occasionally, arrest. However, Keaton
12936-424: The end of the film as Jimmy. He assists Spencer Tracy 's character, Captain C. G. Culpepper, by readying Culpepper's ultimately unused boat for his abortive escape. (The restored version of that film, released in 2013, contains a scene where Jimmy and Culpepper talk on the telephone. Lost after the comedy epic's " roadshow " exhibition, the audio of that scene was discovered and combined with still pictures to recreate
13083-447: The family" and Keaton's having to admit that his independent pictures hadn't done well, Keaton agreed to sign with MGM. He would later cite this as the worst business decision of his life in his autobiography. Welcomed to the studio by Irving Thalberg , with whom he initially had a relationship of mutual admiration, Keaton realized too late that the studio system MGM represented would severely limit his creative input. The giant studio
13230-469: The family's enterprise was often erratic. He eventually led the circus to bankruptcy in October 1897. In the following December, Gerónimo Medrano bought back Fernando's lease, and renamed the circus Cirque Medrano . Gerónimo Medrano successfully revived the circus of the Boulevard de Rochechouart. It remained a meeting point for artists: Picasso , Braque , Kees van Dongen were regulars. Medrano managed
13377-613: The film was a low-budget production, and it may not have been seen in the United States until its release on VHS videotape in 1986, under the title Boom in the Moon . The film has a largely negative reputation, with renowned film historian Kevin Brownlow calling it the worst film ever made. Critics rediscovered Keaton in 1949 and producers occasionally hired him for bigger "prestige" pictures. He had cameos in such films as In
13524-546: The films, but Mason decided to donate them to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . Rohauer then formed a new legal entity, Buster Keaton Productions, which gave Rohauer legal access to the old films at the Academy. On April 3, 1957, Keaton was surprised by Ralph Edwards for the weekly NBC program This Is Your Life . The program also promoted the release of the fictionalized film biography The Buster Keaton Story with Donald O'Connor . In December 1958, Keaton
13671-550: The first Bishop of Paris: according to legend, when he refused to renounce his faith before the Roman occupiers, he was beheaded on the hill which became known as Mons Martyrum (Latin "Hill of Martyrs"), later " Montmartre ", from where he walked headless to the north of the city; the place where he fell and was buried became an important religious shrine, the Basilica of Saint-Denis , and many French kings are buried there. Clovis
13818-681: The first socialist mayor. He was re-elected in March 2008. In 2007, in an effort to reduce car traffic, he introduced the Vélib' , a system which rents bicycles. Bertrand Delanoë also transformed a section of the highway along the Left Bank of the Seine into an urban promenade and park, the Promenade des Berges de la Seine , which he inaugurated in June 2013. In 2007, President Nicolas Sarkozy launched
13965-565: The front line at the First Battle of the Marne . The city was also bombed by Zeppelins and shelled by German long-range guns . In the years after the war, known as Les Années Folles , Paris continued to be a mecca for writers, musicians and artists from around the world, including Ernest Hemingway , Igor Stravinsky , James Joyce , Josephine Baker , Eva Kotchever , Henry Miller , Anaïs Nin , Sidney Bechet and Salvador Dalí . In
14112-466: The gags from his silent-film days. In 1961, Keaton appeared in promotional films for Maryvale , a housing development in the western part of Phoenix . In 1960, Keaton returned to MGM for the final time, playing a lion tamer in a 1960 adaptation of Mark Twain 's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn . Much of the film was shot on location on the Sacramento River , which doubled for
14259-567: The gags supplied by Keaton himself, often recycling ideas from his family vaudeville act and his earlier films. Keaton had a free hand in staging the films, within the studio's budgetary limits and using its staff writers. The Educational two-reelers have far more pantomime than his earlier talkies, and Keaton is in good form throughout. The high point in the Educational series is Grand Slam Opera (1936), featuring Keaton in his own screenplay as an amateur-hour contestant. The Educational series
14406-644: The greatest film ever made". Keaton's career declined after 1928, when he signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and lost his artistic independence. His first wife divorced him, and he descended into alcoholism. He was fired from MGM in 1933, ending his career as a leading man in feature films. He recovered in the 1940s, marrying Eleanor Norris and working as an honored comic performer until the end of his life. During this period, he made cameos in Billy Wilder 's Sunset Boulevard (1950), Charlie Chaplin 's Limelight (1952), Samuel Beckett 's Film (1965) and
14553-473: The helm of his circus until the end of 1962, when the Bougliones finally took possession of the building. During that time, he continued to give remarkable shows, with such guest stars as Buster Keaton , Grock, Achille Zavatta , Charlie Rivel , the famous French comedian Fernand Raynaud , and even the tap-dancer Harold Nicholas . The Cirque Medrano gave its last performance on January 7, 1963, in front of
14700-636: The incident occurred, and Harry Houdini gave him the nickname (though the family did not get to know Houdini until later). At the age of 3, Keaton began performing with his parents in The Three Keatons. He first appeared on stage in 1899 in Wilmington, Delaware . The act was mainly a comedy sketch. Myra played the saxophone to one side, while Joe and Keaton performed center stage, both wearing slapsoles, bald-headed wigs and "Irish" beards. The young Keaton goaded his father by disobeying him, and
14847-481: The innermost three departments around Paris, airports and high-speed rail (TGV) stations, at an estimated cost of €35 billion. The system is scheduled to be completed by 2030. In January 2015, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed attacks across the Paris region. 1.5 million people marched in Paris in a show of solidarity against terrorism and in support of freedom of speech. In November of
14994-637: The land as well as the walls, was put for sale. Jérôme Medrano had joined the French Resistance , and was not in a position to buy his circus back; the wealthy Bouglione family, owners of Paris's Cirque d'Hiver, bought the land and the walls from their rightful owners, the Saint family, paying them in gold! At the end of the War, Jérôme Medrano found himself being the tenant of his main competitors. From one lawsuit to another, Jérôme Medrano managed to stay at
15141-570: The late 12th century, Philip Augustus extended the Louvre fortress to defend the city against river invasions from the west, gave the city its first walls between 1190 and 1215, rebuilt its bridges to either side of its central island, and paved its main thoroughfares. In 1190, he transformed Paris's former cathedral school into a student-teacher corporation that would become the University of Paris and would draw students from all of Europe. With 200,000 inhabitants in 1328, Paris, then already
15288-646: The modern city of Paris was first mentioned in the mid-1st century BC by Julius Caesar as Luteciam Parisiorum (' Lutetia of the Parisii ') and is later attested as Parision in the 5th century AD, then as Paris in 1265. During the Roman period, it was commonly known as Lutetia or Lutecia in Latin, and as Leukotekía in Greek, which is interpreted as either stemming from the Celtic root *lukot- ('mouse'), or from * luto- ('marsh, swamp'). The name Paris
15435-428: The most ingenious gags were generally conceived by Keaton himself. Comedy director Leo McCarey , recalling the freewheeling days of making slapstick comedies, said, "All of us tried to steal each other's gagmen. But we had no luck with Keaton because he thought up his best gags himself and we couldn't steal him! " The more adventurous ideas called for dangerous stunts, performed by Keaton at great physical risk. During
15582-407: The most profitable of all of Buster Keaton's features, silent or sound." Curtis notes that it was also the only one of his MGM features that came in under budget and ahead of schedule. The next project confirmed Keaton's fears about studio interference. He was handed a script titled Sidewalks of New York (1931), in which he played a millionaire becoming involved with a slum-neighborhood girl and
15729-732: The new site of the Bibliothèque nationale de France (1996), the Arche de la Défense (1985–1989) in La Défense , as well as the Louvre Pyramid with its underground courtyard (1983–1989); Jacques Chirac (2006), the Musée du quai Branly . In the early 21st century, the population of Paris began to increase slowly again, as more young people moved into the city. It reached 2.25 million in 2011. In March 2001, Bertrand Delanoë became
15876-694: The only one who doesn't.' In the end, I gave up like a fool and said 'what the hell?' Who was I to say I was right and everyone was wrong?" The film's emphasis on obvious slapstick made it unsuitable for the usual, prestigious Broadway premiere -- it opened simultaneously in two New York side-street theaters -- but the less discriminating audiences in small towns across America flocked to the film, resulting in an ultimate success. MGM had been featuring comical musician Cliff Edwards in Keaton's films. The studio replaced Edwards, who had substance-abuse problems, with nightclub comedian Jimmy Durante . The laconic Keaton and
16023-457: The outcome: "Buster ordered him out of the trailer, and Mayer ordered him out of the studio." Mayer couldn't oust him immediately, because Keaton's latest picture wasn't yet finished. Immediately after Keaton completed retakes on What! No Beer? , he was fired "for good and sufficient cause" in a letter signed by Mayer on February 2, 1933. Keaton had been considered to appear in the studio's all-star success Grand Hotel , only to have his role of
16170-483: The prop house weighed two tons, and the window only offered a few inches of clearance around Keaton's body. The sequence furnished one of the most memorable images of his career. Aside from Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928), Keaton's most enduring feature-length films include Three Ages (1923), Our Hospitality (1923), The Navigator (1924), Sherlock Jr. (1924), Seven Chances (1925), The Cameraman (1928), and The General (1926). The General , set during
16317-506: The railroad water-tank scene in Sherlock Jr. , Keaton broke his neck when a torrent of water fell on him from a water tower, but he did not realize it until years afterwards. A scene from Steamboat Bill, Jr. required Keaton to stand still on a particular spot. Then, the facade of a two-story building toppled forward on top of Keaton. Keaton's character emerged unscathed, due to a single open window. The stunt required precision, because
16464-458: The rambunctious Durante offered enough contrast to function as a team, resulting in three very successful films: Speak Easily (1932), The Passionate Plumber (1932), and What! No Beer? (1933). Behind the scenes there was trouble. In March 1932 studio chief Louis B. Mayer 's office requested Keaton to report for work on a Saturday afternoon, to go through the motions of filming a scene for studio visitors. Keaton already had plans to attend
16611-506: The real thing," reported Josh Billings in London's Kinematograph Weekly . American television syndicators agreed, and marketed Life with Buster Keaton as a children's show. It continued to play for years afterward on small, low-budget stations. Keaton's periodic television appearances during the 1950s and 1960s helped to revive interest in his silent films. He appeared in the early television series Faye Emerson's Wonderful Town . Whenever
16758-544: The red clay of Roland Garros . Paris hosted the 1900 , the 1924 , and the 2024 Summer Olympics . The 1938 and 1998 FIFA World Cups , the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup , the 2007 Rugby World Cup , as well as the 1960 , 1984 and 2016 UEFA European Championships were held in Paris. Every July, the Tour de France bicycle race finishes on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris. The ancient oppidum that corresponds to
16905-580: The same year, terrorist attacks , claimed by ISIL, killed 130 people and injured more than 350. On 22 April 2016, the Paris Agreement was signed by 196 nations of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in an aim to limit the effects of climate change below 2 °C. Paris is located in northern central France, in a north-bending arc of the river Seine , whose crest includes two islands,
17052-826: The scene.) In 1964, Keaton was featured in his first theatrical film series since 1941. American International Pictures hired him to furnish comedy scenes for its successful Beach Party pictures. Keaton appeared in four: Pajama Party (1964), Beach Blanket Bingo , How to Stuff a Wild Bikini , and Sergeant Deadhead (all 1965). Director William Asher recalled: I always loved Buster Keaton.... He would bring me bits and routines. He'd say, "How about this?" and it would just be this wonderful, inventive stuff. Keaton's new popularity in movies prompted Columbia Pictures to re-release some of his vintage-1940 two-reel comedies to theaters. Columbia's home-movie division also sold two shorts, Pardon My Berth Marks and So You Won't Squawk , in abridged form on silent 8mm film. During
17199-649: The students, and the movement grew into a two-week general strike. Supporters of the government won the June elections by a large majority. The May 1968 events in France resulted in the break-up of the University of Paris into 13 independent campuses. In 1975, the National Assembly changed the status of Paris to that of other French cities and, on 25 March 1977, Jacques Chirac became the first elected mayor of Paris since 1793. The Tour Maine-Montparnasse ,
17346-536: The studio and persuaded Mayer that Keaton was still valuable to the company. Thalberg tried to resurrect Keaton's MGM career by offering to go ahead with the Grand Hotel satire, now retitled Gland Hotel . Keaton, still furious at Mayer, refused to return to the studio and Mayer was not about to apologize. So ended Buster Keaton's starring career in feature films. In 1934, Keaton accepted an offer to make an independent film in Paris, Le Roi des Champs-Élysées ; it
17493-462: The studio's production staff." When the studio began making talking films, Keaton was enthused about the new technology and wanted to make his next film, Spite Marriage , with sound. MGM refused, because the film was more valuable in silent form; it could be shown around the world in theaters that had not converted to sound. Also, soundstages were then at a premium, and MGM usually reserved them for dramatic productions. MGM also forced Keaton to use
17640-606: The surrounding towns and created eight new arrondissements, expanding Paris to its current limits. During the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871), Paris was besieged by the Prussian Army . Following several months of blockade, hunger, and then bombardment by the Prussians, the city was forced to surrender on 28 January 1871. After seizing power in Paris on 28 March, a revolutionary government known as
17787-463: The tallest building in the city at 57 storeys and 210 m (689 ft) high, was built between 1969 and 1973. It was highly controversial, and it remains the only building in the centre of the city over 32 storeys high. The population of Paris dropped from 2,850,000 in 1954 to 2,152,000 in 1990, as middle-class families moved to the suburbs. A suburban railway network, the RER (Réseau Express Régional),
17934-542: The throne Henry IV , after converting to Catholicism to gain entry to the capital, entered the city in 1594 to claim the crown of France. This king made several improvements to the capital during his reign: he completed the construction of Paris's first uncovered, sidewalk-lined bridge, the Pont Neuf , built a Louvre extension connecting it to the Tuileries Palace , and created the first Paris residential square,
18081-495: The world including Pablo Picasso , Modigliani , and Henri Matisse made Paris their home. It was the birthplace of Fauvism , Cubism and abstract art , and authors such as Marcel Proust were exploring new approaches to literature. During the First World War , Paris sometimes found itself on the front line; 600 to 1,000 Paris taxis played a small but highly important symbolic role in transporting 6,000 soldiers to
18228-401: The year. Paris is known for intermittent, abrupt, heavy showers. The highest recorded temperature was 42.6 °C (108.7 °F), on 25 July 2019. The lowest was −23.9 °C (−11.0 °F), on 10 December 1879. For almost all of its long history, except for a few brief periods, Paris was governed directly by representatives of the king, emperor, or president of France. In 1974, Paris
18375-476: The years after the peace conference , the city was also home to growing numbers of students and activists from French colonies and other Asian and African countries, who later became leaders of their countries, such as Ho Chi Minh , Zhou Enlai and Léopold Sédar Senghor . On 14 June 1940, the German army marched into Paris, which had been declared an " open city ". On 16–17 July 1942, following German orders,
18522-658: Was a guest star in the episode "A Very Merry Christmas" of The Donna Reed Show on ABC. He returned to the program in 1965 in the episode "Now You See It, Now You Don't". In August 1960, Keaton played mute King Sextimus the Silent in the national touring company of the Broadway musical Once Upon A Mattress . In 1961, he starred in The Twilight Zone episode " Once Upon a Time ", which included both silent and sound sequences. He worked with comedian Ernie Kovacs on
18669-518: Was acquired by film importer J. H. Hoffberg in October 1935, and he retitled it An Old Spanish Custom . Hoffberg released the film in America on the "states-rights" market, where independent exchanges bought regional rights to the film and offered it to local theaters in their territories. In 1934, Buster Keaton made a screen comeback in two-reel comedies for Educational Pictures . Most of these 20-minute shorts are simple visual comedies, with many of
18816-597: Was always able to show the authorities that he had no bruises or broken bones. He was eventually billed as "The Little Boy Who Can't Be Damaged", and the overall act as "The Roughest Act That Was Ever in the History of the Stage". Decades later, Keaton said that he was never hurt by his father and that the falls and physical comedy were a matter of proper technical execution. In 1914, he told the Detroit News : "The secret
18963-528: Was an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent films during the 1920s, in which he performed physical comedy and inventive stunts . He frequently maintained a stoic, deadpan facial expression that became his trademark and earned him the nickname "The Great Stone Face". Keaton was a child vaudeville star, performing as part of his family's traveling act. As an adult, he began working with independent producer Joseph M. Schenck and filmmaker Edward F. Cline , with whom he made
19110-402: Was an attempt to recreate the first series on film, allowing the program to be broadcast nationwide. The series benefited from a company of veteran actors, including Marcia Mae Jones as the ingenue, Iris Adrian , Dick Wessel , Fuzzy Knight , Dub Taylor , Philip Van Zandt , and his silent-era contemporaries Harold Goodwin , Hank Mann , and stuntman Harvey Parry . Keaton's wife Eleanor also
19257-737: Was built to complement the Métro; the Périphérique expressway encircling the city, was completed in 1973. Most of the postwar presidents of the Fifth Republic wanted to leave their own monuments in Paris; President Georges Pompidou started the Centre Georges Pompidou (1977), Valéry Giscard d'Estaing began the Musée d'Orsay (1986); President François Mitterrand had the Opéra Bastille built (1985–1989),
19404-525: Was filled in from around the 10th century, Paris's cultural centre began to move to the Right Bank. In 1137, a new city marketplace (today's Les Halles ) replaced the two smaller ones on the Île de la Cité and Place de Grève (Place de l'Hôtel de Ville) . The latter location housed the headquarters of Paris's river trade corporation, an organisation that later became, unofficially (although formally in later years), Paris's first municipal government. In
19551-482: Was granted municipal autonomy by the National Assembly. The first modern elected mayor of Paris was Jacques Chirac , elected March 1977, becoming the city's first mayor since 1871 and only the fourth since 1794. The current mayor is Anne Hidalgo , a socialist , first elected in April 2014 , and re-elected in June 2020 . Buster Keaton Joseph Frank " Buster " Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966)
19698-639: Was not broken up to provide replacements, as happened to some other late-arriving divisions. During his time in uniform, he developed an ear infection that permanently impaired his hearing. Keaton spent the summers of 1908–1916 "at the 'Actor's Colony' in the Bluffton neighborhood of Muskegon , along with other famous vaudevillians." In February 1917, he met Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle at the Talmadge Studios in New York City, where Arbuckle
19845-489: Was not released in the United States. During this period, he made another film in England, The Invader . MGM, which needed a certain number of British-made films to comply with a legal quota (see quota quickies ), distributed the Keaton film in England but declined to release it in the United States, because the studio had already terminated Keaton's employment and was no longer promoting him as one of its stars. The Invader
19992-618: Was occupied by England-friendly Burgundian forces from 1418, before being occupied outright by the English when Henry V of England entered the French capital in 1420; in spite of a 1429 effort by Joan of Arc to liberate the city, it would remain under English occupation until 1436. In the late 16th-century French Wars of Religion , Paris was a stronghold of the Catholic League , the organisers of 24 August 1572 St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in which thousands of French Protestants were killed. The conflicts ended when pretender to
20139-399: Was one of few people, along with Charlie Chaplin , to defend Arbuckle's character during accusations that he was responsible for the death of actress Virginia Rappe . (Arbuckle was eventually acquitted, with an apology from the jury for the ordeal he underwent. ) In 1920, The Saphead was released, in which Keaton had his first starring role in a full-length feature film. It was based on
20286-556: Was originally called Lutetia (more fully, Lutetia Parisiorum , "Lutetia of the Parisii", modern French Lutèce ). It became a prosperous city with a forum, baths, temples, theatres, and an amphitheatre . By the end of the Western Roman Empire , the town was known as Parisius , a Latin name that would later become Paris in French. Christianity was introduced in the middle of the 3rd century AD by Saint Denis ,
20433-449: Was run along strict factory lines, with everything planned and budgeted in advance. The first of MGM's Keaton films was The Cameraman (1928), and Keaton sensed trouble immediately when he saw the script. "It was as long as War and Peace ," Keaton recalled. "I took out 40 useless characters and a couple of subplots. These guys didn't realize—they still don't realize—that the best comedies are simple. I said, 'I'd like to do something with
20580-401: Was seen in the series (notably as Juliet to Keaton's Romeo in a little-theater vignette). Despite the hardworking cast and crew, the series was unsuccessful and only 13 half-hour episodes were filmed. Producer Hittleman audaciously reissued these same episodes in 1952 as though they were entirely new, with the series now titled Life with Buster Keaton . Variety reporter Fred Hift reviewed it as
20727-440: Was sometimes visibly intoxicated on- and off-camera. "I got to the stage where I didn't give a darn whether school kept or not, and then I started drinking too much," Keaton told interviewer Tony Thomas. "When I found out that they could write stories and material better than I could anyway, what was the use of my fighting with them?" The demoralized Keaton couldn't turn to production chief Irving Thalberg for support, because Thalberg
20874-609: Was taught by his mother. By the time he was 21, his father's alcoholism threatened the reputation of the family act, so Keaton and his mother, Myra, left for New York, where Keaton's career quickly moved from vaudeville to film. Keaton served in the American Expeditionary Forces in France with the United States Army 's 40th Infantry Division during World War I . His unit remained intact and
21021-514: Was televised live on the West Coast. Kinescope film prints were made for distribution of the programs to other parts of the country, since there was no transcontinental coaxial cable until September 1951. Reaction was strong enough for a local Los Angeles station to offer Keaton his own show, also broadcast live ( The Buster Keaton Show , 1950). Producer Carl Hittleman mounted a new series, again titled The Buster Keaton Show , in 1951. This
21168-401: Was the series' debut, Pest from the West , directed by Lord; it was a shorter, tighter remake of Keaton's little-viewed 1935 feature The Invader . Trade critics loved it. Film Daily raved: "One of the funniest shorts of the season. In fact, of any season. It just goes to prove that this Buster Keaton feller is a natural boxoffice gold mine that is not being mined. When a comedy shown cold in
21315-416: Was then on a medical leave that lasted eight months. This left Louis B. Mayer temporarily in sole charge of the studio, which made Keaton's standing at MGM even more fragile. Keaton's absences were costing the company $ 3,000 a day ($ 63,030 in 2024). The last straw came when Mayer "raided" Keaton's dressing room during a wild party with Keaton's "cronies and their girlfriends". MGM staffer Sam Marx remembered
21462-402: Was under contract to Joseph M. Schenck . Joe Keaton disapproved of films, and Keaton also had reservations about the medium. During his first meeting with Arbuckle, he was asked to jump in and start acting. Keaton was such a natural in his first film, The Butcher Boy , he was hired on the spot. At the end of the day, he asked to borrow one of the cameras to get a feel for how it worked. He took
21609-584: Was very well received by theater owners and movie audiences, and Keaton was the studio's most important comedian. He was also its most expensive comedian (earning $ 2,500 per film, equal to $ 54,776 in 2024), and when Educational was forced to economize in 1937, the company could no longer afford to maintain two studios. Educational closed its Hollywood studio, thus forfeiting Keaton's services, and kept its cheaper New York studio going. The company replaced Keaton with New York-based stage star Willie Howard . After Keaton's Educational series lapsed, he returned to MGM as
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