Haven a lifelong student of cinema

Lisa Haven’s infatuation with early American cinema started at a young age, middle school to be exact.
“They used to show comedy films during our lunch hour,” Haven said during an interview over the phone. “I guess that’s where it started.”
Haven will speak to Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin fans alike during the 21st Annual Buster Keaton Celebration. She is an associate professor of English literature at Ohio University, in Athens, Ohio.
Haven was working toward a doctorate in 2000 at Ohio University, when she came across some of Chaplin’s travel narratives; she eventually based  her research on Chaplin.
“It just kind of snowballed from there,” she said. As she began attending different conferences across the nation, she became more involved with the Chaplin community.
“When you have similar interests like that, the groups are so small,” Haven said. “You get to know each other pretty quickly.”
In 2005, at the British Film Institute’s Charlie Chaplin Conference, Haven met Frank Scheide, a University of Arkansas professor who has written multiple books on Chaplin’s life. Scheide is another speaker at this year’s Buster Keaton Celebration.
Haven said she likes to include film into her teaching, and tries to do so in most of her classes. Her love for cinema has taken her to many places, though some not as unique as Iola’s celebration.
“It’s just so great,” she said of Iola’s event. “Everyone is so accessible, you get to meet some of the biggest names in the business.”

HAVEN’S TOPIC for this year’s presentation is “The American Counterculture and Chaplin’s ‘Little Tramp.’” She has been attending the Keaton event since 2006.
She said the topic examines how Chaplins’ Tramp character — his most commonly known, iconic persona where he wears a bowler hat, trench coat and a sports a mustache — relates to many of the counterculturalists.
She said the style and mannerisms of Chaplin were often imitated, and the beat generation — including Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac — “gravitated toward” his style. She said she will include poems from some of the beat poets in her presentation as well.
Most of all, however, Haven said she is looking forward to seeing some familiar faces in this year’s celebration; while the Keaton fans are a specific demographic, they always come in numbers.