Western Railroad Discussion > Water tower where Buster Keaton broke his neck.

O.K. silent film buffs can anyone name the location on the SP where the water tower scene was shot for Buster Keaton's Sherlock Jr?

There are RR scenes on the ATSF and the SP, some of the Santa fe scenes appear to be in the vicinty of LA Grande Station.

According to IMDb, Larchmont Blvd., near Beverly Blvd. Don't know how far that is from tracks.

Ed

Keaton was so tough his many severe injuries never would slow him down. During the filming of "The Electric House" his foot was crushed in an escalator. While recovering from this and against doctor's orders, he did an extended dance sequence for "The Playhouse." "On Our Hospitality" he nearly drowned in a river. On "The General" he was knocked out by a cannon. While filming "Steamboat Bill, Jr." he broke his nose playing baseball.

As you reported, his most serious injury was when broke his neck shooting a scene for "Sherlock Jr." In the scene, he runs along the top of a train and then grabs a water tower spout. During that moment, the spilling water knocks him to the tracks. Undaunted, he gets up and runs off in the very same take. This gave him some severe headaches afterwards. Ten years later during a routine physical he found out that his neck had been fractured as a result of that spill.

Buster Keaton's "Railrodder" was about him riding a speeder across Canada. The same DVD gives some great interviews that reveal even in old age he still insists on putting himself at risk to make scenes that will entertain his audience.

Fred Harrison
Central Point, OR
CORPpower/JSS/EORS

Puts some of today's "stars" to shame ....


TCS - pretty much all of them

Edwardjb Wrote:
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> According to IMDb, Larchmont Blvd., near Beverly
> Blvd. Don't know how far that is from tracks.

Nowhere near steam railroad tracks, although there were streetcar tracks there.

(I used to work at the Baskin Robbins on Larchmont, back when a single was just a dime. Best job I ever had.)