Okay, about my Buster presentation…

tgreywolfe:

There were two programs scheduled for the local Rotary Club’s over-nighter for their foreign exchange students. When I got there at 7:30 the first speaker was rambling on about Gen. George Custer.

Literally rambling off the top of his head, no slides, no pictures, just him talking in unconnected trivia which included his conspiracy theory about how President Grant orchestrated Custer’s death.

We had both been told to keep it to thirty minutes. He started at 7:00 pm and didn’t finish until 8:15. Those poor kids!

My Keaton power-point was to begin at 9:00; they asked if I could wait until 10:00 because they had some workshops scheduled for the students.

“Sure,” I said, “no problem.” But “Oh, crap!“ reverberated in my head.

I filled my stomach with the bitterest coffee I ever had in my life (because Tracy gets sleepy at night) and awaited my doom.

At 10:15,  I and my program were introduced to those weary-eyed children. I began with…

“How many of you have heard of Charlie Chaplin?”

A smattering of hands replied.

“Well, FORGET about that guy! In thirty minutes you’re all gonna be KEATON FANS!!!”

They got the joke; everybody laughed and “bang” I went right into my script, flipping through my power-point screens as fast as I could. I had added as many clips as possible to give the presentation life and it worked. Every time Buster landed on his ass

they howled with laughter.

When I talked about Buster as a doughboy in France,

the French kids cheered.

On careening through a series of his stunts I actually heard gasps.

I matched the photo of the house façade falling on Buster in "Steamboat Bill, Jr.“ with his loss of independence as a filmmaker and described the beginning of his dark period;

 you could have heard a pin drop.

They brightened when they heard about his resurgence and recognition as a great artist.

At the end of the presentation, they did not need to have an adult coax them to applaud;

 

it came spontaneously.

With Buster as my topic, I should never have worried about getting across to those kids.

He speaks every language.