Anita Page, R.I.P.
Almost every day I think about Anita Page, and several times a week I check online to see if she’s still alive. No more. She died today at the age of 98.
Ms. Page was a movie star of the 20’s and 30’s, appearing in the silent era in one of MGM’s biggest hits, which ultimately led to her being partnered with — and this is why she matters to me — Buster Keaton, in his first talkie, “Free and Easy,” in 1930. Keaton liked her so much he requested her again for “Sidewalks of New York” the next year, making her the only female costar he worked with twice in movies with sound. Neither movie is very good — Keaton was drinking heavily and furious with MGM for taking control over his movies and changing his character; the ending of “Free and Easy” is especially hard to watch, as Keaton, made up as a sad clown with a teary expression looks on hopelessly as the shallow male romantic lead makes off with the girl. But both movies have their bright spots, and in both of them Anita Page is very good as a moll with wonderful comic moxie.
The reason I’m reminded of Anita Page on an almost daily basis is that above my desk I have a statuette of her that she signed for me almost 15 years ago. (When I retrieve my camera I’ll post a photo.) Back then, I went to the Silent Movie Theatre on Fairfax every month to see all the Buster Keaton movies, and in the process got to meet Mel Brooks, Anne Bancroft, Dom deLuise and other Keaton fans who would come by. On the night of what would have been Keaton’s 100th birthday, I took with me another Keaton fan, the Ohio playwright Kevin Barry, who was in town because I was producing his play, and I wound up sitting next to another one of the great comic’s co-stars, Eleanor Keaton. I can’t remember what we talked about (except our mutual affection for her late husband), but I wish I did.
Some time after that, Silent Movie held a tribute to Anita Page and my friend Joe Stafford and I went. Ms. Page was selling and signing these statuettes, and Joe bought one for me as a gift. I’m still grateful. It’s one of the nicest gifts I’ve ever received. (Another is the framed photo that Paul Crist took for me of the lake deep in the woods where I spent so much of my youth.) It’s a reminder of friendship, and it’s a reminder that I got to meet two people who worked with Buster Keaton, who has brought me immense joy.
September 16th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Silent Movie such a treat! I thought as we waited for Anita Page to autograph that it was neat that there were so few fans of Silent Movies that the line was very short. And that everyone was very polite too.