The Keystone Kid: Tales of Early Hollywood

by Coy Watson Jr.

Book Overview

Coy Watson, Jr. made his motion picture debut in 1913 when he was nine months old. His appearances in Mack Sennett's popular Keystone Cop comedies earned him the nickname The Keystone Kid' and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1891661213
• ISBN13: 9781891661211
• Release Date: November 2001
• Publisher: Santa Monica Press
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 8.3" x 10.8"

Customer Reviews

AMAZING !

This is the greatest book ever on the history of film making in L.A. There are pictures in it from the Watson family albums that you'll never find anywhere else. And that Coy Jr. lived it makes this book all the more impressive. It's a first person retelling of a most precious time in film history ... the birth of film making in L.A. I'm fortunate enough to live near Edendale, now Echo Park. I brought Coy Jr's book with me when I visited the area and found many of the places shown in pictures in his book. What a chill I got standing in the same places he wrote about. Of course, the two studios are long gone. As well as the theater he went to. But some of the other houses and stores still remain intact. The Watson family had a major impact on films in it's infancy. Coy Sr. was the very first special affects person in the business. Coy Jr. was the first baby actor star. This book is beyond fascinating. If you want to know more about film history and back stories you'll never find in any other book, you must buy this!

An Excellent Picture of Early Hollywood

Coy Watson's story of early Hollywood provides an excellent picture of what life was like when the movies were being born. Watson is part of the famed Watson family (Dad worked for the studios and even rigged Fairbanks flying carpet and all the kids had parts in the early films - the most famous Watson is brother Bobs who appeared in Boys Town as Pee Wee and On Borrowed Time as Pud). This book lets you know how informal things were in the early days of Hollywood and how films were made before the studios were taken over by the moguls. It is a great history of early Hollywood.

For students and enthusiasts of early movies

The Keystone Kid: Tales Of Early Hollywood is the personal autobiography and fascinating memoir of Coy Watson, Jr. Coy was Hollywood's first authentic child star, who started appearing in the popular "Keystone Cop" comedies before he could walk or talk. Black-and-white photographs add images and reminiscence to the warm, thoughtful, memories detailed on the pages. Within these pages are wonderful anecdotes of such "birth of Hollywood" greats as Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Fatty Arbuckle, Lon Chaney, Gloria Swanson, Tom Mix, Mabel Normand, Jackie Coggan, the Keystone Cops, Mack Swain, Lillan Gish, William S. Campbell, Mack Sennett, D.W. Griffith, King Vidor, Frank Capra, and others. The Keystone Kid is enthusiastically recommended reading for students and enthusiasts of early movies, cinema history, and especially for fans of Coy Watson, Jr.