Frozen Face

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 726, 27 July 1929, Page 29

Frozen Face

BUSTER KEATON EXPLAINS HOW HE REMAINS GRAVE IN MOMENTS OF COMEDY L

Buster Keaton is an authority on the prevention o£ laughter. He has ridden to fame on a vehicle consisting of comedy novelties and peculiarities, the chief of which is his determination to preserve an impassive countenance on every occasion. Hence the title, “Frozen Face.”

“When working on a picture,” says Keaton, “and a

humorous gag or episode is performed, I keep! thinking of the multiplication table. Regardless of what may happen, my thoughts are centred upon the fact only that

three threes are nine, three fours

are twelve, three fives are fifteen, and so on. Multiplication tables are not, funny, and, by thinking of them, I avoid laughing.” “It may be,” Keaton continues, “that this scheme will not work for everyone. The unliappiest period in my life was my early childhood, when my masters first attempted to teach me arithmetic. My mind never was mathematically inclined. Multiplication tables recall sad experiences—whippings, dunce caps, and a degrading sense of my mathematical inferiority—and the effect of arithmetic will sadden any situation.”