Reception, 4-6 p.m.
At the Muskegon Train Depot
Introduction of special guests.
"Damfino What This Talk is About" by David
Macleod, co-founder of the
Blinking Buzzards, the London Keaton group.
Dinner, 6-8 p.m. -- On your own.
Friday Evening, 8-11 p.m.
At the Frauenthal, right across the street from
the hotel
Rare Keaton on film, presented by
film archivist Bruce Lawton.
Saturday Morning,
9 a.m.-12 noon
Muskegon Museum of Art
"Damfino the Answer: The Damfinos Quiz"
by Rochelle Goldman
"His Career at the Rear: Buster Keaton in World
War I,"
video presentation by Martha Jett
Rare Keaton on video -- including the world
premiere of Keaton's very
rare 1923 short, SECOND AGE, which has never been
shown in public before.*
Damfino Jack Dragga has separated the three
segments into
the shorts that might have been. This year, we're showing
the Roman sequence.
*In 1923, Keaton made
his first feature film, THREE AGES. He
was reportedly nervous about making features instead of
short films, so
he constructed this movie so it could be cut apart into
three separate
shorts if it didn't go well as a feature. It was a big
hit.
Lunch: 12-1:30 p.m. On your own.
Saturday Afternoon, Muskegon Museum of
Art, 1:30-5:30 p.m.:
"Running After Buster Keaton:
30 Years of Fun With Buster Keaton," by George
Wead
More Rare Keaton on Video.
3-5:30 p.m. Open to the Public
"Muskegon's Actors' Colony," a video
presentation created
by Frank Scheide
Melissa Talmadge Cox, Buster Keaton's
granddaughter
and Nicole Talmadge, his
great-granddaughter
will be interviewed on the stage by Patricia
Eliot Tobias.
"The House That Buster Built," by David
Pearson.
The Damfinos Auction. Proceeds go to support The
Damfinos.
Auctioneer: David Macleod. Rare Keaton memorabilia
will be
auctioned, including
David Pearson's ONE WEEK dollhouse.)
Saturday Dinner, Holiday Inn Muskegon Harbor,
6-7:30 p.m.:
Our Annual Thanksgiving Dinner.
Turkey, stuffing, cranberries, pumpkin
pie -- the works.
Saturday Night, 8-10 p.m., the restored Frauenthal
movie palace, live
organ music by Clif Martin:
Seven Chances (1925) and One Week
(1920).
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Saturday Late Night,
10 p.m.-the Wee Hours,
Holiday Inn Muskegon Harbor:
.........damfino, with a nuptial twist
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Convention fee:
$80 per person. Separate reservations must be made at the Holiday Inn Muskegon Harbor, 939 3rd Street. 616-722-0100. All events are within walking distance from the hotel. Here's a form you can print out to send us to register, and the online connection to the hotel. |
Martha Jett is the programming director for a retirement community in West
Virginia, and is the co-chair of this year's Damfinos convention. She is an
avid collector and has done extensive research on the Buford, the ship
Buster Keaton used as a set for The Navigator (1924).
Bruce Lawton
Writer and film preservationist, Bruce comes from a family of
Hollywood cameramen. He is the home entertainment reviewer for The
Keaton Chronicle.
David Macleod
Author of The Sound of Buster Keaton, David is a continuity announcer
for Channel Four in London. He won't tell us what his topic is this
year. All he'll say is that he's based his presentation on something a
convention-goer said to him the first year ... but won't say who or
what. It'll be entertaining either way.
David Pearson
Silent film historian David Pearson has built a dollhouse based on the
house used in Keaton's first-released film, ONE WEEK (1921). He is
donating it to The Damfinos for auction. He is the creator of
Arbucklemania and its related websites, some of the most highly regarded
silent film sites on the Internet.
George Wead
George Wead is one of the first and most important writers about Keaton.
Although his books were not well-distributed, his research and writing
have influenced dozens of Keaton scholars.
Join the Damfinos and see the
world.
The Winners of the 1997 Buster
Awards
