Comic Legends Together: Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd and More!

Just for Fun: When Comic Legends Gather, it makes for some awesome pictures…

I can’t help but marvel at the comedic talent (understatement) that emerged during the Silent Era — Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd…  It’s really mind-boggling… That said, however, I tend to ‘compartmentalize’ and ‘isolate’ these legendary figures in my mind, and sometimes forget that they were working during the same time period and were crossing paths with each other… To take this one step further, they were also crossing paths with the comedic legends that followed them… IMHO, that makes for some interesting photos!

So to celebrate, this will be the first in a series of pictorial blog posts called “Comic Legends Together” in which I will share pictures of iconic comedic figures as they ‘gather’ together. Unfortunately I won’t know the backstories behind some of these photos, so if you have any additional information about them, please feel free to share…

PS: Boy would I have loved to be a fly on the wall when these photos were taken!

Okay, here we go for the first installment… in no particular order…

Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin meet with executives of the Balboa Film Studio. Left to right: (1) Buster Keaton, (2) Alf Reeves, Chaplin’s studio manager, (3) Charlie Chaplin, (4) H.O. Stechan (in rear), (5) H. M. Horkheimer, (6) unidentified, (7) Lou Anger, manager for Fatty Arbuckle (courtesy of Marc Wanamaker)

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Close-up of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin from the above photo

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The Karno Company heading to the US: Charlie Chaplin is inside the life preserver and Stan Laurel is to the far left sitting on the chair

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Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel (to Chaplin’s left) stand on the Continental Divide in Butte, Montana while touring America with Fred Karno, 1911

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Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks

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Buster Keaton, Mary Pickford, and Charlie Chaplin at a dinner party held by Joseph Schenck to welcome Rudolph Valentino into United Artists

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Groucho Marx, Buster Keaton and Chico Marx

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From bottom left, clockwise: Buster Keaton, Harpo Marx, George Burns and James Cagney

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Groucho Marx and Charlie Chaplin at opening of Beverly Hills Tennis Club in 1937, with players Ellsworth Vines and Fred Perry

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Lou Costello and Charlie Chaplin

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Stan Laurel, Buster Keaton, Oliver Hardy and Jimmy Durante – MGM 1931 | © John Kobal Foundation

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Inaugural meeting of the Independent Screen Artists’ Guild, Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles, December, 1921. Front row from left to right: William Selig, Buster Keaton, Thomas Ince (holding Jackie Coogan) and Charlie Chaplin

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Buster Keaton, Jacques Tati and Harold Lloyd

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And of course I would be remiss if I didn’t include a screen shot of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton in Limelight

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A cartoon version of Harold Lloyd and Charlie Chaplin with Mickey Mouse in Walt Disney’s Mickey’s Gala Premiere (1933)

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Lloyd, Keaton and Chaplin: not sure who created this illustration… any info, please let me know.

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Stay tuned for more!

–Annmarie Gatti for Classic Movie Hub