Trivia / Steamboat Bill, Jr.

• Distanced from Current Events: The movie was originally meant to incorporate a large flood as the disaster that hits the town. However, due to a real Mississippi flood and bickering amongst the producers, the flood plot was changed to a "cyclone".
• Fatal Method Acting: Just barely averted. Keaton had the trope-defining By Wall That Is Holey prop rebuilt to code so it would look more realistic. This meant that it was a very real wall which could easily have crushed him - not only that, but the crew measured it wrong and made it too short. Both the cameraman and the director refused to watch the recording of the stunt, and while filming it, the botched prop wall missed Keaton by mere inches. You can see that it brushes his left arm as it falls.
• Real-Life Relative: Marion Byron could not swim, so the scenes where her character is in the river with Buster Keaton were filmed with Buster's real-life sister Louise Keaton serving as Marion's stunt double (the two were both the same size: 4'11"). The water was very cold and during a day of filming Buster and Louise consumed four to five glasses of French brandy to keep them warm.

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