Keaton comedy on deck at downtown L.A.’s Orpheum

Buster Keaton’s silent comedy “Steamboat Bill, Jr.” docks Friday evening for a special screening at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Los Angeles that will feature live organ accompaniment by Chris Elliott. The event, which kicks off the Los Angeles Theatre Organ Society’s Wurlitzer Weekend and is presented in partnership with the Los Angeles Conservancy’s Broadway Initiative, begins at 8.

In the film, Keaton plays Willie, the effete, college-educated son of a tough riverboat captain (Ernest Torrence) who reunites with his father after years of separation. Needless to say, the scrappy Steamboat Bill is not thrilled that his son is a dandy. To make matters worse, the town’s powerful banker has a brand-new passenger vessel that threatens to put Steamboat Bill out of business.

So it’s up to Willie, who has fallen in love with the banker’s daughter, to toughen up and prove himself to be a riverboat captain. And in true Keaton style, Willie saves the day.

The film features several of Keaton’s best sight gags, including the extraordinary moment in which a wall falls on Willie as he stands in front of a house during a cyclone. The only thing that saves him? A conveniently placed window.

“Steamboat Bill, Jr.” marked the end of Keaton’s collaboration with producer Joseph Schenck (they were also brothers-in-law). Their creative alliance yielded such classic silent-era comedies as “The General,” “The Navigator” and “Seven Chances.”

The film signaled the end of another era as well. After completing “Steamboat Bill, Jr.,” Keaton signed with MGM, a decision he later described as the “biggest mistake of my life.”

He made one great film at MGM, “The Cameraman,” but his subsequent work for the studio -- especially his sound comedies -- weren’t worthy of his talents.

For more information about the screening, visit laconservan cy.org.

-- Susan King