1. The name "Buster" came from:

a) Keaton's comedic talent causing the audience to bust up laughing.
b) Keaton's character in the act always getting thrown around.
c) the name of a respected great uncle who was killed in the Civil War.
d) a nasty fall he took down some stairs when very young.

 

2. Buster Keaton could work as a child actor in vaudeville because at the time there were no strict child labor laws.

True
False

 

3. Keaton said they made movies the following way in the 1920s.
a) A studio writer would pitch a plot and complete script to them before deciding whether to make the movie and starting.
b) Keaton and the writers would decide on a plot, create the ending, and then work on the middle of the story.
c) They followed a strict format created by the studio, which oversaw the whole movie-making process and gave Keaton little creative control.
d) Keaton and the writers would decide on a plot and then write the whole story from that.

 

4. Keaton could always find material for gags on early movie sets.
True
False

 

5. Keaton said that one of the few constants in the movie-making business over the years was the degree of laughter at gags.
True
False

 

6. Keaton's response to the advent of sound in movies was to:

a) change his style of comedy to include more spoken gags.
b) coordinate puns and wisecracks with the physical comedy he was famous for.
c) keep making movies as he had been and only using sound when it was natural to do so.
d) ignore sound as much as possible and concentrate on his fame as a slapstick comedian.

 

7. Keaton's physical comedy skills and Jimmie Durante's wise-cracking made for one of the most successful comedy teams prior to Abbot and Costello.

True
False

 

8. Keaton felt that Abbot and Costello would not have been as successful as they were if they'd come along a few years earlier than they did.

True
False