Born to vaudevillian parents, Keaton performed on stage from a very young age. After moving to New York on his own in 1917, he happened to meet comedy star Roscoe Conkling Arbuckle, an encounter that led him to the world of moving pictures. With Arbuckle ’s change of companies, Keaton started making short movies which he directed and starred in. Eventually Keaton created a golden era, producing a succession of feature-length comic masterpieces. Arbuckle worked on the screenplay of Sherlock Jr., and, according to one story, the film was codirected by Keaton and Arbuckle.