16th Annual Damfinos Convention Oct 1 & 2, 2010

[David B Pearson]

2010: The Year of the Chase
Brides, Cops, Rocks & Falls
16th Annual Damfinos Convention
October 1 & 2, 2010 • Muskegon, Michigan

Buster's Daughter-in-Law Barbara Talmadge
To Attend 2010 Buster Keaton Convention

Over the years, we have been fortunate to have Keaton family members attend our annual conventions in Muskegon, Michigan—from Buster's widow to Keaton cousins to his granddaughter. This year we are particularly honored to welcome someone who has been part of the Keaton family since 1940: Buster's daughter-in-law, Barbara Talmadge, who joins our party for the first time. She will be attending with her daughter, Damfinos board member, Melissa Talmadge Cox.

Barbara Tichenor Talmadge was born in 1925 in Santa Monica, California, to a strict family who survived the Great Depression on a teacher's salary. She poured much of her free time into playing tennis and was already a champion by the time she was in her teens. She met Jim Talmadge, Buster's older son, in high school when she was 17 years old. After graduating at age 17, she went to work for Douglas Aircraft as the United States was preparing for the possibility of entering WWII. At 18, she and Jim eloped in Ventura, California, and then she continued to work while he joined the Coast Guard and OSS. At the time, she had never met his family and didn't know much about the movies but loved the Duesenberg he drove.

While Jim was overseas Barbara took a train to Chicago to play in a tennis tournament then continued on to New York by herself where she met her new mother-in-law, Natalie, and her new aunt-in-law, Constance, for the first time. After the war ended and Jim came back home in 1945, he had a nine-month-old son he had never seen and a wife who had never met his father. So he took them both over to Buster's house on Victoria Avenue, and in that one afternoon she met Buster, Eleanor, Myra, Louise, Harry (Jingles), Harry's wife Ernestine and Harry, Jr., who all lived in the same house. Buster made one of his specialties, lobster thermidor, and they all had a festive evening.


During the next 63 years, Barbara raised four children, one husband and tons of animals, ran a resort and worked in real estate. To this day, she still enjoys hikes in the High Sierras and continues playing tennis. At 77, she and her partner won the National Super Senior Doubles Tournament in Phoenix, and at 85 she still plays three days a week in the Santa Ynez Valley.


“Can Buster come out and play?”

This was the question young Bart Williams asked Eleanor Keaton after he knocked on the door of Buster Keaton’s home in Woodland Hills, California. Buster did indeed come out and play, and Bart will be our special guest this year in Muskegon, Michigan, Buster's hometown. When he grew up, Bart became Eleanor Keaton’s best friend, and he’s got plenty of memories to share.

A professional actor, physical comedian and singer since he was a child, Bart Williams will not only talk about his memories of Buster and Eleanor, he will present “The Art of the Pratfall” and will give a short concert of “The Songs of Buster Keaton,” accompanied by Patricia Eliot Tobias, president of the International Buster Keaton Society. This is one event you don’t want to miss!

Nestled in downtown Muskegon and nearby Bluffton, are pockets rich in the history of Buster and his family: Joe, Myra, Jingles and Louise. Join local historian Ron Pesch on his now-famous walking tour of Bluffton (aka the Actor’s Colony), introducing you to where Buster and his family lived and played during the off seasons of vaudeville touring. You’ll actually be able to walk where Buster walked, see where Buster lived, and even play baseball where Buster played baseball!

For more info visit http://silent-movies.com/Damfinos/