Muskegon Chronicle: Buster Keaton set for permanent stay in

[Bruce Calvert]

http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/musk ... manen.html

Buster Keaton set for permanent stay in Muskegon
By Bill Iddings | The Muskegon Chronicle
May 30, 2010, 7:16AM
Forty-four years after his death, Buster Keaton’s back in town.

A life-size bronze statue of the great silent-filmcomedian has been purchased, for $22,000, by the Community Foundation for Muskegon County.

Contributed photoThis bronze statue of Buster Keaton will be placed on Western Avenue June 30.Formerly on display in California at the Hollywood Entertainment Museum, the statue arrived in Muskegon last week.

Subject to approval on an encroachment permit from the city of Muskegon, the statue will be unveiled publicly on June 30.

Chris McGuigan, president of the foundation, said the statue will be placed, on a raised platform, on the west side of Western Avenue, facing the historic Frauenthal Theater. A commemorative plaque will be placed with the statue, she said.

The acquisition of the Keaton statue continues an ongoing project to display interactive public art in downtown Muskegon.

Purchasing the statue and placing it downtown recognizes Keaton’s link to Muskegon.

“We have such a long history with Buster Keaton that (buying the statue) seemed like absolutely the right thing to do,” said Patricia Johnson, chair of the public art committee of the Downtown Development Committee. “He was such a tradition in Muskegon.”

Keaton, who died in 1966 at age 70, summered during the early 1900s in Muskegon with his family.

Keaton’s father, vaudeville entertainer Joseph Keaton, helped establish a show-business enclave here called The Actors’ Colony. The colony was situated in the Bluffton neighborhood, operating from 1908-1938.

A historic marker commemorating the Keatons’ ties to Muskegon stands in a tree-lined area off Lakeshore Drive.

For the past 15 years on the first weekend of October, the fall convention of Buster Keaton’s fan club — Damfinos: International Buster Keaton Society — is held in downtown Muskegon. The convention screens Keaton movies at the Frauenthal Theater.

The statue’s purchase was underwritten by the Community Foundation beautication funds of Alta Daetz and Eunice Bush, according to the foundation.

Ron Pesch, a Muskegon resident, historian, Keaton expert and Damfinos officer, said Keaton’s years in Muskegon influenced Keaton as a filmmaker — many of Keaton’s movies were set on or around water. The statue is symbolic of that influence, Pesch said.

“It’s really a symbol, for the city to recognize that the area itself really impacted Keaton’s films” he said.

Two previous examples of public art being permanently displayed in downtown Muskegon are the “Muskegon Rising” sculpture towering above the traffic circle at Western Avenue and Third Street, and a statue of late Muskegon philanthropist Charles Hackley sitting on a bench at the corner of Clay Avenue and Third.

The Keaton statue, created by artist and sculptor Emmanuel Snitkovsky, depicts Keaton behind an early motion picture camera that towers over the 5-foot-6-inch actor and director.

The Muskegon foundation acquired the statue after it went up for auction this spring. It was dedicated at the Hollywood museum in 1996, when the museum opened.

The museum closed its location on Hollywood Boulevard in 2006, and moved to downtown Los Angeles, as The Education Center for the Entertainment Arts. It has been selling off its museum assets to fund its mission of providing after-school programs for at-risk youth.

According to the local history book “Buster Keaton and the Muskegon Connection” by Pesch and Marc Okkonen, Keaton last visited Muskegon in 1949. He ceased summering in Muskegon after reaching movie stardom. Pesch said Keaton spent summers here from 1908-1917.

McGuigan said Pesch informed her in March about the Keaton statue going up for auction. She said she subsequently visited the Huntington Beach, Calif., auction house where the statue was being stored.

When the statue did not receive a minimum bid, Pesch said, it was withdrawn from auction. The Community Foundation subsequently decided to purchase it.

The Frauenthal Theater, which is inside the Frauenthal Center for the Performing Arts complex, opened in 1930 as the Michigan movie theater, and this year is commemorating its 80th anniversary. The community foundation owns and operates the complex and theater.

Pesch said the Damfinos this fall also will have a Muskegon dedication ceremony for the statue. The 2010 convention will be Oct. 1-2.

Bill Iddings is a Chronicle correspondent.