Another slightly interesting tidbit of news regarding my dad's work is that I will be speaking with a film writer who's writing a new biography of Buster Keaton. My dad was close to one of the last people to work professionally with Keaton, hiring him to appear in a commercial he wrote and directed.

It was one of his favorite stories in a long line of good stories from the TV and advertising business starting in the late 50s and extending through the late 80s. He spoke of Keaton with awe: that this old man, a legend, decades past his heights of fame would take the work and execute it with dignity and full concentration, applying all of the trademark effort he was ever known for. This involved scaling a telephone pole in the Arizona desert while dressed in a wool suit...again, and again, and again. Take after take. Didn't complain nor bat an eye. Amazing.

Anyway, I have some wonderful stills from on the set and a 16mm reel of the commercial, and I was chatting with a coworker who happens to be friends with the writer, so she's asked to get in touch and talk about it, which I think is neat. I'm always glad to share this material...as I and my sisters did regarding the Z Channel (for which, coincident with early film stars, my dad conducted one of the last if not the last interview with Groucho Marx...I remember the day he went; I wish I could have gone. He came back, again, awed).