The Scarecrow Trivia Quiz

Answer: He has a toothache.

Buster sits on the bed, a handkerchief tied around his aching jaw. He's the very picture of misery. But he's momentarily distracted when he sees his roommate, Big Joe Roberts, kissing a picture of Sybil Seely. Buster snatches the picture from Joe, and they bicker for a moment before returning to the issue of Buster's bad tooth. After a comedy of screw-ups, they manage to successfully pull Buster's tooth, restoring him to a pain free state almost immediately. Which is good, because it's time for breakfast.

Buster deals with broken suspenders during the wedding scene in "Neighbors" (1920).

Answer: An organ

The settee converts to a bathtub -- which dumps out through the wall into the duck pond (or puddle). The phonograph converts to a stove. The bookcase converts to an ice box.

This scene really shows off Keaton's love of tinkering and gadgetry. The men crank a little chuck-wagon full of food back and forth, and use counter-weighted salt and pepper shakers suspended by pulleys from the ceiling.

Big Joe Roberts was a neighbor of Keaton's in his childhood home of Muskegon, Michigan. Big Joe was a favorite Keaton foil because his massive bulk provided such an amusing contrast to the slight, wiry Keaton.

Answer: He goes to the drug store and buys first aid supplies.

Luke chases Buster through a ruined shell of a building -- including up a ladder and across gaps in the wall. Buster finally takes refuge in a hay pile. Big Joe ends up needing the first aid supplies himself when he stands in the middle of the road and gets knocked down by a truck.

Answer: He gets scooped up and dumped into a hay shredder.

We see Buster's bottom half sticking out as the hay is scooped up, but of course the workmen are oblivious. Out the end of the shredder come Buster's trousers, Buster's shirt, and Buster himself, clad in his shoes, socks, and underwear. Luke joins him, they shake hands in a truce, and Buster disgustedly ponders his unclad state.

Luke belonged to Roscoe Arbuckle's wife, Minta Dufree. She had been given the dog as a bonus for performing a particularly tough stunt in a film. Luke was in many of the films Arbuckle made both before and after he started working with Buster Keaton. "The Scarecrow" is the only independent Keaton film Luke appears in.

Answer: She kicks him in the head.

Usually it was Joe Keaton's gag to kick other people in the head -- or at least to kick their hats off. But this time he goes down, his feet flying up in the air as Sybil stammers a silent apology.

When Buster Keaton first went into film, he and his mother kept it as a shameful secret from Joe, who had declared that the Keatons would never be displayed "on a bedsheet" for people paying a nickel. Joe evidently changed his mind when he saw how successful his son had become. He played in about a dozen of his son's films, often in small, uncredited parts.

Answer: Farmer Joe plows headlong into Big Joe.

Farmer Joe gets to his feet, kicks the hapless Big Joe in the rear end, and takes off again after Buster. Poor Big Joe collects his crutches, and he and Sybil go looking for Farmer Joe.

Answer: She's freaked out and runs away.

Sybil runs right into the middle of the creek and stands there a while, gaping.

Sybil Seely was Buster's leading lady in several of his two reelers. She played the bride in "One Week" (1920), the warden's daughter in "Convict 13" (1920), and Buster's long-suffering wife in "The Boat" (1921).

Answer: He kicks them repeatedly, while they blame each other.

Buster kicks each of the men in turn for a while, and then turns around and kicks both of them at once. Each time, he turns his back on them and resumes his scarecrow impersonation. What gives him away is when the pole collapses underneath him. He takes off through the corn field, with Big Joe and Farmer Joe in hot pursuit.

They mistake another scarecrow for Buster and shred it -- buying Buster some time to run.

Answer: He walks on his hands.

Buster did the running dive into the water gag in "Seven Chances" (1925).

In "The Scarecrow", Buster doffs his gloves, rolls up his sleeves, and walks most of the way across -- before trying to flip onto his feet on the far bank. He manages instead to land flat on his back. Thus, Buster gets his lucky dunking.

Answer: He kneels down to tie his shoe, and she mistakes this for kneeling to propose.

Buster loses his shoe, and when he's putting it back on Sybil backs into him. She turns around to see him kneeling, and blushes. "This is so sudden!" she smiles, and she nods her acceptance. Buster, bewildered but pleased, takes her in his arms. But they have to run -- the two Joes are back on Buster's trail.

Answer: Buster has mounted a fake horse.

First Buster helps Sybil mount. She waits for him to mount his horse, then takes off. Buster urges his horse on -- but it's a fake horse set up for display in front of a harness shop. Buster climbs off and examines the horse thoroughly before giving up on getting anywhere on it.

Answer: He runs to leap onto the horse, but the horse moves and he misses.

Buster's second mount works, but he falls off when the horse swerves into the trees. Buster gives up on the horse. He and Sybil commandeer a motorcycle with a sidecar.

Answer: Big Joe's weight tips the man's car over backward.

Farmer Joe runs to crank over the engine while Big Joe climbs in -- and sits on the back edge of the back seat, tipping the car up on end. Big Joe tumbles off onto the road, and the car falls back down, nearly flattening Farmer Joe.

Answer: On a moving motorcycle and sidecar

Buster and Sybil commandeer a motorcycle and sidecar. They plow right into a parson who is in the road, who lands in the sidecar on Sybil's lap. Buster quickly explains the situation and asks for his services. The parson plants himself between the young people and starts the wedding. Buster uses a nut from the motorcycle as the ring, steering with his feet while he screws the nut onto Sybil's finger.

Answer: Buster and Sybil embrace in the river, and Buster spits out a stream of water.

Just as the parson is finishing up the ceremony aboard the speeding motorcycle, they crash into the river. The three of them stand up, the parson declares them wed, and a smiling Sybil presses her cheek against Buster's.

Keaton had a superstitious belief that getting a dunking on film would ensure a successful movie, so he frequently ends up in the drink. In "The Scarecrow" he gets one full dunking and a partial one.