Buster Keaton - The rowing race! TheClassiclaugh · October 13, 2010 After the cox has fallen ill, Buster has to help out... which can lead only to (hilarious) desaster. Now the team is finally getting to the race.
This was filmed in about 1927-28, the movie is "College". Shots of the campus were at USC, and you can see the brand new construction of the LA Colosseum for the '32 Olys.
The rowing shots were taken on Newport Bay, you can see them row by the Balboa Pavilion a number of times. I did some research, the shells used were actually built locally in Newport. Yes, there was a rowing club there, and a boat builder that built all kinds of boats, including some knockoffs of Pocock rowing shells that he likely copied from Cal. Not sure who the rowers were, you can see some were good and some were novices, I think they found a few locals who could row, and a few guys from San Diego rowing club, where one might assume that they used Cal Crew. the clubhouse burned down, I've never pinpointed it's location, rowing disappeared from Newport until 1955 or so when Bob Hillen brought Cal/Washington down to race each other, OCC was started and UCI in '65.
I did library work reading Buster Keaton bios to learn that stuff, and found a few things at Sherman Library in Corona Del Mar about 30 years ago.
Another astonishing film is "8 Girls in a Boat" from 1934. It's a pre-code film, shot at Lake Arrowhead. check out the rowing skills and athleticism of the women rowing, it's unbelievable, not to mention the very (relatively) explicitly sexy parts of the film -zowie. The women were from ZLAC.
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01/02/2011 3:35:17 PM
10/17/2010 4:59:43 AM
10/14/2010 11:10:50 AM
This was filmed in about 1927-28, the movie is "College". Shots of the campus were at USC, and you can see the brand new construction of the LA Colosseum for the '32 Olys.
The rowing shots were taken on Newport Bay, you can see them row by the Balboa Pavilion a number of times. I did some research, the shells used were actually built locally in Newport. Yes, there was a rowing club there, and a boat builder that built all kinds of boats, including some knockoffs of Pocock rowing shells that he likely copied from Cal. Not sure who the rowers were, you can see some were good and some were novices, I think they found a few locals who could row, and a few guys from San Diego rowing club, where one might assume that they used Cal Crew. the clubhouse burned down, I've never pinpointed it's location, rowing disappeared from Newport until 1955 or so when Bob Hillen brought Cal/Washington down to race each other, OCC was started and UCI in '65.
I did library work reading Buster Keaton bios to learn that stuff, and found a few things at Sherman Library in Corona Del Mar about 30 years ago.
Another astonishing film is "8 Girls in a Boat" from 1934. It's a pre-code film, shot at Lake Arrowhead. check out the rowing skills and athleticism of the women rowing, it's unbelievable, not to mention the very (relatively) explicitly sexy parts of the film -zowie. The women were from ZLAC.
all the best! Sully