Joe Roberts
Birth : 1871-02-02, Albany, New York, USA
Death : 1923-10-28
History
"Big Joe" Roberts, as he was known in vaudeville, toured the country with his first wife, Lillian Stuart Roberts as part of a rowdy act known as Roberts, Hays, and Roberts. Their signature routine was called "The Cowboy, the Swell and the Lady." At this time, in the first decade of the twentieth century, Buster Keaton's father, Joe Keaton, had started a summer Actors' Colony for vaudevillians between Lake Michigan and Muskegon Lake in Michigan. Roberts became acquainted with the Keaton family as a member of this community.
When Buster Keaton's film apprenticeship years with Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle came to an end, and Keaton began making his own shorts in 1920, he asked Roberts to join him. Roberts' hefty 6'3" frame, usually playing a menacing heavy or authority figure, made a striking and amusing contrast to the thin, 5'6" Keaton.
IMDB shows that Roberts made only two films without Keaton. He played the role of "Roaring Bill" Rivers in 1922's The Primitive Lover starring Constance Talmadge—Keaton's sister-in-law—and the silent film actor Harrison Ford; and a drill master in the Clyde Cook comedy The Misfit,[4] released in March 1924, after Roberts' death.
When Keaton began making feature films in 1923, he apparently intended to continue working with Roberts. Roberts had roles in Keaton's Three Ages and Our Hospitality (both 1923). During the filming of the second feature, Roberts had a stroke but insisted on returning to the set to finish the film. After completion, Roberts suffered another stroke and died shortly afterwards.
The Drill Master
THE MISFIT - starring Clyde Cook, with Blanche Payson and Joe Roberts. A rarely-seen silent comedy short. Henpecked hubby Clyde totes groceries and paints floors for his wifey, escaping at last...by joining the U.S. Marines. The basic training sequence was shot at the Buster Keaton studios; this may be "Big" Joe Roberts' final screen role.
Joseph Canfield
A young man falls for a young woman on his trip home; unbeknownst to him, her family has vowed to kill every member of his.
The Girl's Father
The rituals of courtship, romantic rivalry and love play out three times as a man vies with a villain for the girl. In the Stone Age, the rivalry is set off by dinosaurs, a turtle used as a ouija board, and a round of golf with stones. In ancient Rome, the men display their brawn through a chariot race, using dogs instead of horses. In contemporary times, the man finds himself overcome by modernity, including a very fragile car.
Captain of the Whaler
In an attempt to forget his lost sweetheart, Buster takes a long trip at the sea when he's caught by pirates.
The Mayor
In order to impress the father of a girl he is keen on, Buster goes to the city in search of work. In his letters home he writes of his various jobs which her imagination expands into much nobler ones than those that he is actually attempting.
Millionaire
Botany major Buster mistakenly graduates in electrical engineering and is hired to wire a new home.
The Driver
This satirical parody of William S. Hart's melodramatic films finds Buster in the frozen north, "last stop on the subway." He uses a wanted poster as his partner in robbing a gambling house. When he thinks he spies his wife making love to another man he shoots them both only to learn it isn't his cabin after all.
Blacksmith
Buster clowns around in a blacksmith's shop until he and the smithy get in a fight which sends the smithy to jail. Buster helps several customers with horses, then destroys a Rolls Royce while fixing the car parked next to it.
Brother
Buster is falsely accused of breaking a window by a woman and is taken into a courtroom. Thinking that Buster and the woman are engaged, the judge mistakenly marries them and Buster is quickly taken home by the woman to meet her family. At first unwelcoming, the family begins to treat Buster nice when they come to believe that he is going to inherit a large sum of money.
'Roaring' Bill Rivers
A free-spirited girl is caught between her love for her husband and her attraction to a handsome adventurer.
Police Chief (uncredited)
Buster Keaton gets involved in a series of misunderstandings involving a horse and cart. Eventually he infuriates every cop in the city when he accidentally interrupts a police parade.
The Indian Chief
A butterfly collector unwittingly wanders into an Indian encampment while chasing a butterfly, but the tribe has resolved to kill the first white man who enters their encampment because white oil tycoons are trying to force them from their land.
Actor-Stage Manager (uncredited)
After waking up from his wacky dream, a theater stage hand inadvertently causes havoc everywhere he works.
Buzz Saw Brannigan (uncredited)
An American boy turns out to be the long-lost heir of a British fortune. He is sent to live with the cold and unsentimental lord who oversees the trust.
Police Chief
A series of adventures begins when Buster is mistaken for Dead Shot Dan, the evil bad guy.
Leader of Buzzards
Buster is thrown off a train near an amusement park. There he gets a job in a shooting gallery run by the Blinking Buzzards mob. Ordered to kill a businessman, he winds up protecting the man and his daughter by outfitting their home with trick devices.
Lizard Lip Luke
A down on his luck young man makes several attempts at committing suicide but fails them too. He then finds himself becoming more confident through a series of petty adventures, to such an extent that this becomes his undoing.
Bank Cashier
Buster Keaton is a bank teller who becomes involved with a hold-up, counterfeiters, and a theatrical troupe posing as spooks in a haunted house.
Her Father (uncredited)
The Romeo and Juliet story played out in a tenement neighborhood with Buster and Virginia's families hating each other over the fence separating their buildings.
Farmhand
Buster competes with another farmhand for the love of the farmer's daughter.
Prisoner / Prisonnier
A young golfer is mugged by an escaped convict and finds himself in a prison where he foils a jailbreak.
Piano Mover (uncredited)
The story involves two newlyweds, Keaton and Seely, who receive a build-it-yourself house as a wedding gift. The house can be built, supposedly, in "one week." A rejected suitor secretly re-numbers packing crates. The movie recounts Keaton's struggle to assemble the house according to this new "arrangement."
