steamboat bill jr. (buster keaton) scene

Cafe Society
1

Just saw the AMAZING Buster Keaton in Steamboat Bill Jr. I’ve never seen his movies before.

There was one scene where he was looking for his father at the train station. He was going up to individuals essentially asking them if they were his father.

One person he just looked at, then (by his facial expression) dismissed this person as not being his father. I don’t quite get it, but I think it may supposed to have been funny. The only thing I can maybe make out of it was that this person he dismissed out of hand as not being his father, may have been Jewish. I can’t tell though, but it is about the only thing that makes sense.

Is this at all in the ball park, or am I just overthinking it.

Here’s a youtube video. The person in question is at 3:20 03 White Carnations: Kenosha Kid scores "Steamboat Bill Jr." - YouTube

2

Yeah, he was probably meant to be Jewish, the way they had him turn in profile to show his schnozz.

3

No, the person who’s supposed to be Jewish (I guess) is at 1:25, and it’s the father who looks at him trying to decide if it’s his son before seeing him full-face and deciding that the beard and nose mean that he isn’t his son. The man at 3:20 and the son (Buster Keaton) just sort of ignore each other. It’s true that he has a big nose, but he doesn’t really look Jewish.