The resulting scandal destroyed Arbuckle's career along with his personal life. [11] He was 46. The second such death in a week has sparked soul-searching in Germany about public safety, particularly in train stations. He had recently signed a deal with Paramount Pictures for a whopping $1 million (about $13 million today), an unheard-of sum at the time. She never took the stand. He was one of the all-time greats.". Wikipedia 9. [citation needed], Arbuckle was regarded by those who knew him closely as a good-natured man who was shy around women; he has been described as "the most chaste man in pictures". But by this time, the scandal had so devastated Arbuckles career that the jury who acquitted him felt obliged to read an apologetic statement that concluded with We wish him success and hope that the American people will take the judgment of fourteen men and women that Roscoe Arbuckle is entirely innocent and free from all blame.. He arranged bail after nearly three weeks in jail. On Monday, September 5, the party started early. Create your own unique website with customizable templates. The jury saw this as an admission of guilt and deadlocked in a 10 to 2 vote for conviction. Further, in contrast to the first trial, Rappe's history of promiscuity and heavy drinking was detailed. Succumbs at 46 After He and Wife Had Celebrated Their First Wedding Anniversary", "Minta Durfee, actress, 85, Dies; Former Wife of Fatty Arbuckle", "Home Video: Arbuckle Shorts, Fresh and Frisky", "The death of an actress in San Francisco. . He helped Charlie Chaplin become an actor. HE was one of Hollywood's biggest stars and adored by millions. The papers went wild with thestory. "And he paid for it for the rest of his life. Best remembered for the scandal surrounding the death of an aspiring actress that ended his career, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle was actually one of early Hollywood's biggest stars even before the likes of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton earned a similar stature. [11], On August 6, 1908, Arbuckle married Minta Durfee (18891975), the daughter of Charles Warren Durfee and Flora Adkins. In the words of his first wife, "Roscoe only seemed to find solace and comfort in a bottle". The show consisted of the audience judging acts by clapping or jeering, with bad acts pulled off the stage by a shepherd's crook. During the party in question, witnesses recalled that an intoxicated Rappe complained she could not breathe and then started to tear off her clothes. And this was not the first instance of Virginia Rappe stripping while intoxicated. He moved gracefully, threw pies, and humorously tumbled. [7] He first performed on stage with Frank Bacon's company at age 8 during their performance in Santa Ana. Actor: Coney Island. Another partygoer soon accused Fatty Arbuckle of raping and killing her and he was tried three different times for those crimes. "A grave injustice has been done.". Hubbard's husband was a lawyer who did business with the D.A. The main character in the story is Dashiell Hammett, a Pinkerton detective in San Francisco at the time of the trials. Though the newspapers of the day reveled in the gory, rumored details, juries found little evidence that Arbuckle was in any way connected with her death. [3] As in the first trial, Arbuckle testified as the final witness and again maintained his denials in his heartfelt testimony about his version of the events at the party. Arbuckle's rehabilitation was finally complete when Warner Bros offered him a feature-film contract in 1933. Though Arbuckle had begun a come-back and had signed with Warner Brothers in 1933 to act in some comedy shorts, he was never to see his popularity regained. "Illinois, Cook County Birth Registers, 1871-1915," database, FamilySearch (, Last edited on 22 February 2023, at 02:12, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N7WC-F8M, "The Fourteenth Census of the United States: 1920", "Sausalito News 12 November 1921 California Digital Newspaper Collection", "Fatty Arbuckle and the Death of Virginia Rappe", Crime Library Article on the Rappe/Arbuckle case, Film researcher discusses the Fatty Arbuckle trial, Allan Ellenberger blog entry on Virginia Rappe, 'Fatty' Arbuckle and Hollywood's first scandal, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Virginia_Rappe&oldid=1140848504, This page was last edited on 22 February 2023, at 02:12. Web. THE LONG FALL OF ROSCOE "FATTY" ARBUCKLE. Her organs had been destroyed and it was now impossible to test for pregnancy. While Arbuckle saw a resurgence in his popularity immediately after his third trial (in which he was acquitted) Zukor decided he had to be sacrificed to keep the movie industry out of the clutches of censors and moralists. According to the 2008 biography The Chris Farley Show: A Biography in Three Acts, Farley and screenwriter David Mamet agreed to work together on what would have been Farley's first dramatic role. To celebrate just having finished three pictures at the same time and to celebrate his new contract with Paramount, Arbuckle and a couple of friends drove up from Los Angeles to San Francisco on Saturday, September 3, 1921, for some Labor Day weekend revelry. Arbuckle sang, danced, and did some clowning around, but he did not impress the audience. Arbuckle was one of the most famous actors in world at the time, second only to Charlie Chaplin. There she met dress designer Robert Moscovitz and they became engaged, but shortly afterward he was killed in a streetcar accident, and Rappe moved to Los Angeles. Arbuckle's lawyers found physicians in San Francisco for authority and physicians in Chicago who would state for the record that they treated or may have treated Virginia Rappe between 1908 and 1914. The principal witness was Prevon. Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle had long been a performer. Specializing in excellent craft cocktails with over 200 different Whiskeys and a large selection of. Rappe was not hospitalized until two days after the incident.[3]. Rosenberg, Jennifer. Arbuckle told them - it was a story he always stuck to - that he had gone to use the bathroom where he found Rappe in a drunken faint on the floor. Skully after being charged with the murder of Virginia Rappe, San Francisco, 1921. Rappe had fallen ill at a party hosted by Arbuckle at San Francisco's St. Francis Hotel in September 1921, and died four days later. Delmont claims that Rappe managed to gasp Arbuckle did it before she was taken away into a different hotel room. But her condition worsened and when she was finally taken to hospital three days later her friend, Bambina Maude Delmont, told the doctor Arbuckle had raped Rappe. He had also requested that all showings and bookings of Arbuckle films be canceled, and exhibitors complied. [6], Arbuckle was nearly two when his family moved to Santa Ana, California. Arbuckle calmly maintained that he never physically hurt or sexually assaulted Rappe in any way during the party, and he also stated that he never made any inappropriate sexual advances against any woman in his life. Few know he was eventually acquitted of his crimes (after three trials). During cross-examination, Norgard's testimony was called into question when he was revealed to be an ex-convict who was currently charged with sexually assaulting an eight-year-old girl, and who was also looking for a sentence reduction from Brady in exchange for his testimony. What happened in room 1219? His comedies are noted as rollicking and fast-paced, have many chase scenes, and feature sight gags. The first two trials . That evening, the three men, Arbuckle, Lowell Sherman and Fred Fischbach, had invited several women to the party. The public was angry and they were using Arbuckle as a target. Arbuckle seemed to give up on his passion and took odd jobs to get by. His family moved to Santa Ana when he was about two, and with his mother's encouragement, he began to act and sing on stage. [4][5] He weighed in excess of 13 pounds (5.9kg) at birth and his father believed that he was illegitimate, as both parents had slim builds. But it was such an amazing thing for me to come in to make this broken-down picture, and to find my director was the great Roscoe Arbuckle. Prices $1.50, $1.00, 75 cents. And hidden gems. [citation needed], Arbuckle was a talented singer. Arbuckle greeted visitors in his pajamas and though this was during Prohibition, large quantities of liquor werebeing drunk. Arbuckle was able to stay in film by doing some directing, but even behind the camera, his career didnt have a chance of finding its footing. Arbuckle was one of the most popular silent stars of the 1910s and one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood, signing a contract in 1920 with Paramount Pictures for $1,000,000 a year (equivalent to $13,527,000 in 2021). Today we continue with the ruination of Roscoe Conkling Arbuckle, circa 1921. On Eve of his Comeback. 1977. A day later Rappe died from peritonitis, caused by a ruptured bladder. One report had stated that while raping her, Arbuckles weight had caused Rappes bladder to rupture. Click Lists to find my most popular articles. 2023 BBC. [2] Hays lifted the ban within a year, but Arbuckle only worked sparingly through the 1920s. 'Fatty' Arbuckle in silent film Coney Island, from 1917. Durfee starred in many early comedy films, often with Arbuckle. Not only that, but the jury read an apology to Arbuckle. Additionally, the jury wrote an apology to Arbuckle: Being acquitted was not the end to Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle's problems. Brady had originally planned to seek the death penalty. When Arbuckle portrayed a female, the character was named "Miss Fatty", as in the film Miss Fatty's Seaside Lovers. Miss . According to Buster Keaton, Hearst boasted that Arbuckle's story sold more papers than thesinking of the Lusitania. After the reading of the apology statement, the jury foreman personally handed the statement to Arbuckle, who kept it as a treasured memento for the rest of his life. For this trial, the jury deliberated for only a couple of minutes and came back with a verdict of not guilty. After this look at Fatty Arbuckle and the Virginia Rappe case, read up on other old Hollywood scandals including the murder of William Desmond Taylor and the tragic downfall of Frances Farmer. The 30-year-old former host of "Cheaters" was laid to rest Saturday in Provo, Utah during a private ceremony. After helping her onto the bed, he and several other guests summoned the hotel doctor, who determined that Rappe was just heavily intoxicated and took her into another hotel room to sleep it off. Public feeling was so negative that Durfee was later shot at while entering the courthouse. [citation needed] In December of the same year, under public pressure, Hays elected to lift the ban. [39], Arbuckle tried returning to filmmaking, but industry resistance to distributing his pictures continued to linger after his acquittal. Good". [40] The same year, in Photoplay's August issue, James R. Quirk wrote: "I would like to see Roscoe Arbuckle make a comeback to the screen." Rooms 1219 and 1221 were for them, and room 1220 was to be used for a party room. Read about our approach to external linking. Arbuckle testified, repeating his side of the story. After five days and over forty hours of deliberation, the jury returned on February 3, deadlocked with a 102 majority in favour of conviction, resulting in another mistrial. During the deliberations, some jurors joined Hubbard in voting to convict, but they all recanted except for Thomas Kilkenny. In 1913, at the age of 26, Arbuckle hit the big time when he signed with Mack Sennett's Keystone Film Company and became one of the Keystone Kops. One of the films (How've You Bean?) "Fatty" had also been Arbuckle's nickname since school; "It was inevitable", he said. [53] In this film, James Coco portrays a heavy-set silent film comedian named Jolly Grimm whose career is on the skids, but who is desperately planning a comeback. Doing odd jobs around the place in exchange for room and board, author Stuart Oderman reports that Roscoe liked to sing, which caught the attention of the hotel's musician, Pansy Jones. The movies were so lucrative and popular that in 1918 they offered Arbuckle a three-year, $3million contract (equivalent to about $54,000,000 in 2021 dollars[15]). Despite his popularity, no future Arbuckle films were to be released, the letter stated. Posters for his movies billed the 266-pound comedian as "worth his weight in laughs." In fact it is loosely based on the 1926 poem by Joseph Moncure March. Now that illusion was shattered and studio bosses were terrified it would destroy Hollywood itself.". Delmont was touring the country giving one-woman shows as, "The woman who signed the murder charge against Arbuckle", and lecturing on the evils of Hollywood. During the silent era, comedian Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle once raked in the big bucks. Wikipedia, 25 Jan. 2012. View our statement on digital primary resources. [9], The circumstances of Rappe's death in 1921 became a Hollywood scandal and were covered widely and sensationalized by the media of the time. The next day he signed a contract with Warner Bros. to star in a feature-length film. The shocking legacy of the Dutch 'Hunger Winter', Why Alex Murdaugh was spared the death penalty, 'Trump or bust' - grassroots Republicans are still loyal. The grand jury yesterday evening indicted Roscoe Arbuckle on a charge of manslaughter. Arbuckle was one of the most popular silent stars of the 1910s. Paramount had just signed a giant $1 million ($13 million in today's money) deal with Fatty,. He was 46 years old. Keaton co-wrote, directed and starred in the picture; consequently, Hart refused to speak to Keaton for many years. The Eureka High girls' baseball team was in contention to win the title in 1923, following . Newspapers went wild with the story: popular silent-screen comedian Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle had killed Virginia Rappe with his weight while savagely raping her. [3], On September 17, 1921, Arbuckle was arrested and arraigned on charges of manslaughter. ", "Arbuckle case first true scandal in Hollywood", "Interesting facts about Roscoe Arbuckle", "When the Five O'Clock Whistle Blows in Hollywood", "Testify Regarding Early Life of Virginia Rappe", "Miss Rappe's Manager Tells Worst He Knows of Arbuckle", "Excerpts of Interview with Minta Durfee Arbuckle by Don Schneider and Stephen Normand", "Arbuckle, Star Film Comedian, Dies in Sleep", "More on Fatty Arbuckle: His Films and His Legacy", "Valentino. Los Angeles-based film historian Cari Beauchamp says: "This was the first scandal in Hollywood with box office implications. [citation needed], Fatty Arbuckle's was an American-themed restaurant chain in the UK named after Arbuckle. One of Arbuckle's feature-length films known to survive is Leap Year, which Paramount declined to release in the U.S. owing to the scandal. [6], In 1916, Rappe moved to San Francisco to pursue her career as an artist's model. Bakhmut attacks being repelled, says Ukraine, Saving Private Ryan actor Tom Sizemore dies at 61, US lawyer jailed for murdering wife and son, The children left behind in Cuba's mass exodus, Xi Jinping is unveiling a new deputy - why it matters, Snow, Fire and Lights: Photos of the Week. Raquel Welch portrays his mistress, who ultimately goads him into shooting her. (2021, September 2). These rumors were proven false by autopsy. After famed operatic tenor Enrico Caruso heard him sing, he urged the comedian to "give up this nonsense you do for a living, with training you could become the second greatest singer in the world. Nevertheless, the controversy surrounding his possible guilt and the case as a whole continues on. Allegedly, during the party, Rappe made several drunkenly statements such as, Arbuckle did it and He hurt me. We feel also that it was only our plain duty to give him this exoneration, under the evidence, for there was not the slightest proof adduced to connect him in any way with the commission of a crime. She died one day after her hospitalization from peritonitis caused by a ruptured bladder. Dr. Beardslee admitted that Rappe had never mentioned being assaulted while he was treating her. ", a song by comedy metal band GWAR on their album America Must Be Destroyed. What fueled the scandal at the time and what has remained a mystery ever since is just what role, if any, Arbuckle played in Rappes death. The jury statement as read by the jury foreman stated: Acquittal is not enough for Roscoe Arbuckle. In fact, witnesses testified that Arbuckle rubbed the ice on Rappe's stomach to ease her abdominal pain. That night he died of a heart attack in the arms of his third wife. "[15] Nevertheless, Arbuckle's reputation and career were ruined because of the scandal. 15,645 were here. Keaton attempted to help Arbuckle by giving him work on his films. [13] Subsequent witnesses testified that Rappe had for some time suffered from cystitis, a condition which could have been aggravated by consuming alcohol. Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle surrenders to Detective J.D. To calm Rappe down, they placed her in a bathtub of cool water. He later worked as a film director under the pseudonym William Goodrich. [10] She was buried at Hollywood Cemetery (now Hollywood Forever Cemetery). From then until 1913, Roscoe was on the stage, performing as an . On December 4, 1921, the jury returned five days later deadlocked after nearly forty-four hours of deliberation with a 102 not guilty verdict, and a mistrial was declared. He also said: "The American nation prides itself upon its spirit of fair play. Video'Trump or bust' - grassroots Republicans are still loyal, Why Trudeau is facing calls for a public inquiry. It was then that she was taken to a hospital where doctors originally thought she had alcohol poisoning from the bootleg liquor. The case against the silent movies' king of slapstick would be Tinseltown's first major scandal. A family trip to the cinema shortly after Prohibition takes effect. Seventeen people in cast. Then, one by one, the 12-person jury plus the two jury alternates walked up to Arbuckle's defense table, where they shook his hand and/or embraced and personally apologized to him. After a small one-year anniversary party with his new wife on June 29, 1933, Arbuckle went to bed and suffered a fatal heart attack in his sleep. The same evidence was presented, but this time one of the witnesses, Zey Prevon, testified that Brady had forced her to lie. The main prosecution witness, Zey Prevon, had escaped house arrest and left the country. He was simple, direct, and unflustered in both direct and cross-examination. Arbuckle, Fatty Crime--California--San Francisco Herald-Examiner Collection photographs Arbuckle, Roscoe,1887-1933 Rappe, Virginia,1896-1921 . [17], In 1914, Paramount Pictures made the then unheard-of offer of US$1,000 a day plus twenty-five percent of all profits and complete artistic control to make movies with Arbuckle and Normand. Whatever happened that night, Virginia Rappes condition had still not improved three days afterward. [n 1] Although his large size was undoubtedly part of his comedic appeal, Arbuckle was self-conscious about his weight and refused to use it to get "cheap" laughs like getting stuck in a doorway or chair. [14] Witnesses also testified that Rappe had previously suffered from venereal disease, so there were allegations that her death was brought on by her health rather than by an assault.[13]. His early influence on American slapstick comedy is widely recognised. However, the name Fatty identifies the character that Arbuckle portrayed on-screen (usually a naive hayseed), not Arbuckle himself. "Acquittal is not enough for Roscoe Arbuckle," the jury said in a written apology. Party guests tried a number of strange treatments, including covering Rappe with ice, but she still wasn't getting any better. [18], By 1916, Arbuckle was experiencing serious health problems. But the greatest moment is . The comedian supposedly said he wanted it to play a joke on the actress. I'm not. Arbuckle was the defendant in three widely publicized trials between November 1921 and April 1922 for the rape and manslaughter of actress Virginia Rappe. The Vitaphone shorts were very successful in America,[46] although when Warner Bros. attempted to release the first one (Hey, Pop!) [14], Arbuckle began his film career with the Selig Polyscope Company in July 1909 when he appeared in Ben's Kid. Mack Sennett, when recounting his first meeting with Arbuckle, noted that he "skipped up the stairs as lightly as Fred Astaire" and that he "without warning went into a feather light step, clapped his hands and did a backward somersault as graceful as a girl tumbler". Though Hays lifted the ban in December of the same year, the damage was done -- Arbuckle's career had been destroyed. The entire jury proudly posed with Arbuckle for photographers after the verdict and apology. He discovered Buster Keaton and Bob Hope. At some point, Arbuckle and Rappe ended up together in a bedroom from where, a few minutes later, her screams were heard. A medical examination found no evidence of sexual assault. He was in the habit of singing while he worked, and a professional singer heard him and invited him to perform in an amateur talent show. "[27] Buster Keaton reportedly did make one public statement in support of Arbuckle's innocence, a decision which earned him a mild reprimand from the studio where he worked. Even so, the actor was tried three times. 's office,[31] and expressed surprise that she was not challenged when selected for the jury pool. "Everyone had believed the stars were covered in fairy dust. Film actor William S. Hart, who had never met or worked with Arbuckle, made a number of damaging public statements in which he presumed that Arbuckle was guilty. Although Arbuckle was able to keep his leg, he was prescribed morphine against the pain; he would later be accused of being addicted to it. [54], In Ken Russell's 1977 biopic Valentino, Rudolph Nureyev as a pre-movie star Rudolph Valentino dances in a nightclub before a grossly overweight, obnoxious, and hedonistic celebrity called "Mr. Fatty" (played by William Hootkins), a caricature of Arbuckle rooted in the public view of him created in popular press coverage of the Rappe rape trial. Both Fatty Arbuckle and Virginia Rappes names were dragged through the mud in the competition to print the most salacious rumors. While much attention was paid to Hubbard after the trial, some former jury members told reporters that they believed that Arbuckle was indeed guilty, but not beyond a reasonable doubt. [citation needed]. [3] Arbuckle hired as his lead defense counsel Gavin McNab, a competent local attorney. [63], The 2009 novel Devil's Garden is based on the Arbuckle trials. In response to the Arbuckle scandal, Hollywood established a self-policing organization that was to be known as the "Hays Office.". However, some jurors interpreted the refusal to let Arbuckle testify as a sign of guilt. 237K views 1 year ago In 1921 Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle was charged with the murder of a young actress called Virginia Rappe. One of the rooms occupied by Arbuckle and his guests in the days after the infamous party. Some 8,000 strangers attended her funeral at St. Stephens Episcopal Church in East Hollywood. Dr. Heinrich's claim to have found fingerprints was cast into doubt after McNab produced a maid from the St. Francis Hotel who testified that she had thoroughly cleaned the room before the investigation took place. [3] At a later press conference, Rappe's manager, Al Semnacher, accused Arbuckle of using a piece of ice to simulate sex with Rappe, thus leading to her injuries. Arbuckle, whose real name was Roscoe, had allegedly locked Rappe in a room and crushed her with his 19 stone body weight and raped her. Good). What happened at that party and why was the public so ready to believe "Fatty" was guilty? Author David Yallop cites Arbuckle's father's full name as William Goodrich Arbuckle as the inspiration behind the alias. He thought a victory in the Arbuckle case would send him on his way to . [61] The 1963 novel Scandal in Eden by Garet Rogers[62] is a fictionalized version of the Arbuckle scandal. Norgard said he refused to give him the key. [30] At the beginning of the trial Arbuckle told his already-estranged wife, Minta Durfee, that he did not harm Rappe; she believed him and appeared regularly in the courtroom to support him. Hollywoods highest-paid star was now box office poison: his movies were pulled from cinemas and he never worked onscreen again. Though as Fatty Arbuckle was taking the world by storm with his movie career, a new face was just beginning to make the rounds in Hollywood. His stage name was Fatty Arbuckle, and he was a big, graceful actor with acrobatic ingenuity and a befuddled. The 12th floor hotel suite at the Westin St Francis where Arbuckle and friends partied on Labor Day, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle was born into poverty in Kansas, 'Trump or bust' - grassroots Republicans are still loyal. On the heels of million-dollar comedian Fatty Arbuckle's manslaughter charge, and actor Wallace Reid's drug-related death, Taylor's murder spurred a newfound interest in Hollywood scandal. The Arbuckle family moved to the Los Angeles area (Santa Ana, California) when Roscoe was 8. Mugshot of Fatty Arbuckle. After a third trial in 1922, the jury took just a few minutes to unanimously acquit Arbuckle - he was found guilty only of drinking bootleg alcohol. Arbuckle appeared alongside Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Rudolph Valentino, Douglas Fairbanks, and Jackie Coogan.