John Bengtson is a business lawyer and film historian who discovered the magic of silent comedy at an early age. He is the author of the critically acclaimed series of books, “Silent Traces: Discovering Early Hollywood Through the Films of Charlie Chaplin,” and its Buster Keaton counterpart, “Silent Echoes,” hailed by the New York Times as a “Proustian collage of time and memory, biography and history, urban growth and artistic expression.”

Bengtson has presented his work on Chaplin and Keaton as keynote speaker at events hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre, and the UCLA Film and Television Archive, and has provided commentary and interactive materials to several Keaton DVDs, including the new Blu-Ray edition of “The General.” He is a featured columnist of the Keaton Chronicle newsletter, and lives in the San Francisco bay area with his two daughters. Bengtson is finishing a third volume about the films of Harold Lloyd titled “Silent Visions” that will be released in early 2011.

[Charlie Chaplin: SCV Connections, with Historian John Bengtson]

[ChaplinFest: ‘Modern Times’ Plaque Unveiling, with Tippi Hedren & Leonard Maltin]

[Out & About with Roger Martin: ChaplinFest: 75th Anniversary of ‘Modern Times’ at Heritage Junction/Hart Park]