I am saddened to learn of the passing of John Bengtson, a business lawyer, film historian, author and longtime friend. John was also a friend to the Louise Brooks Society. Here is a piece I wrote about John back in 2011. It first appeared on SFGate (the San Francisco Chronicle website), and then was rerun on examiner.com. (Neither piece is accessible, as both websites have shut down.)
Bay Area author John Bengtson digs deep into film
by Thomas Gladysz
August 20, 2011 | San Francisco Examiner (CA)
By day, John Bengtson is a business lawyer who practices in the East Bay. By night, he is a film historian and the author of three widely acclaimed books like few others.
For this Bay Area native, it al started some years back when he noticed familiar looking buildings in the background of an old Buster Keaton film. The buildings and streets looked like those he had noticed in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood.
Armed with photographs of scenes taken off his television set (this was in the earliest days of the internet, and when laser discs still ruled), Bengtson walked the streets of San Francisco in the hopes of locating where Keaton filmed a chase sequence in Daydreams (1922); it turned out to be not far from where the film buff lived.
Soon enough, Bengtson established every other San Francisco location from Daydreams. Encouraged by his first small success, Bengtson undertook to find other Keaton locations in Sacramento, Los Angeles, Southern California, Oregon and elsewhere.
It's not as easy as one would think. Regrettably, the production histories of many early films are lost, or fragmentary, or were not thoroughly recorded in the first place. Chase scenes were occasionally improvised, and street filming was sometimes done on the sly. It's anyone's guess were some location shots were actually filmed in some well known works.
Bengtson's efforts - the result of numerous trips and the detailed examination of scene stills, photographs, old maps, and city directories - first came together into a 1999 book, Silent Echoes: Discovering Early Hollywood Through the Films of Buster Keaton. It is a brilliant work of cinematic archeology, and quite unlike any other work of film history.
In 2006, Bengtson followed that first book with Silent Traces: Discovering Early Hollywood
Through the Films of Charlie Chaplin. And just a couple of months ago, his "trilogy" was completed with the publication of Silent Visions: Discovering Early Hollywood and New York Through the Films of Harold Lloyd. Each features a forward by the Academy Award winning film historian Kevin Brownlow.
It's no stretch to describe Bengtson as something of an archeologist of early cinema. He digs deep into his subject. His digs involve not trowels or shovels, but DVD screen captures, outdated maps, newspaper archives, vintage aerial photographs and dusty city records. And yes, now Google maps too.
"History is hidden in the background of films" is the way Bengtson put it in a recent radio interview. And indeed, half the fascination is in the record they offer of our changing urban landscapes.
Bengtson's books remind us that these early films are not just comedic masterpieces but also remarkable time capsules of early 20th century America. Each book is filed with hundreds of then and now photographs. And often, the telling detail - the business name or advertisement painted on a building wall, the entrance arch or odd architectural detail, the shape of a hill in the distance, are highlighted to show where a scene was filmed.
Last month, Bengtson presented his findings on Keaton, Chaplin and Lloyd to a packed house at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Hollywood. Joining him on-stage were Brownlow and one of the last surviving silent film stars, Diana Serra Cary, who in the 1920's was known as Baby Peggy.
Bengtson, an amateur film historian, was thrilled to be on stage in such illustrious company. "I don't know what I did to deserve that," Bengtson stated recently. What he's done, over a 15 year period, is to research and write three groundbreaking works which have been applauded around the world.
On August 20th, Bengtson will present a program exploring the locations of two classic Harold Lloyd films at the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum (37417 Niles Boulevard) in Fremont. Drawing on material from his latest book, Silent Visions, Bengtson will speak about Girl Shy (1924) - a feature and one of Lloyd's great works, and Never Weaken (1921) - a significant short film. Following Bengtson's presentation, both films will be screened. Jon Mirsalis will accompany on piano, with the Saturday night program set to start at 7:30 in the museum's Edison Theater.
To get a taste of Bengtson's singular approach to movie history, be sure and check out his excellent blog at http://silentlocations.wordpress.com/. Its many extensive entries - which include material uncovered only after his earlier books were published - remind one of the bonus material found on DVDs.
A statement on Bengtson's blog puts it al into perspective. "Having lived with this material for so long, in my mind's eye I can stroll around the Keaton Studio block, or from the Bradbury Mansion to the balustrade overlooking the Hill Street Tunnel, and picture every step of the way. It is the closest thing to time travel I will likely ever experience.
For more info: The Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum is located at 37417 Niles Blvd. in Fremont, California. For further information, ca l (510) 494-1411 or visit the Museum’s website at www.nilesfilmmuseum.org/.
CITATION (AGLC STYLE) CITATION (AGLC STYLE) 'Bay Area author John Bengtson digs deep into film history', San Francisco Examiner (online), 20 Aug 2011 ‹https://infoweb-newsbank-com.ezproxy.sfpl.org/apps/news/document-view? p=AMNEWS&docref=news/13942D67AF34C338›
Source: Examiner.com. Copyright held by author. 2011 All Rights Reserved
THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society (www.pandorasbox.com). Original content copyright © 2026. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
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