His family moved to California when he was one year old. The role: Fatty Arbuckle In 1997, Chris Farley began planning his first dramatic film, a biopic about silent film star Fatty Arbuckle, a heavyset actor who was falsely accused of. The comedian supposedly said he wanted it to play a joke on the actress. [38] Arbuckle married Doris Deane on May 16, 1925. Funnyman FATTY ARBUCKLE was the biggest thing in Hollywood literally but when he was accused of the heinous rape and murder of a notorious party girl his adoring public wanted him strung up! . Photo: File photo. In his room, Arbuckle discovered Rappe in the bathroom vomiting into the toilet. 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. The main prosecution witness, Zey Prevon, had escaped house arrest and left the country. When Arbuckle portrayed a female, the character was named "Miss Fatty", as in the film Miss Fatty's Seaside Lovers. "The "Fatty" Arbuckle Scandal." Posters for his movies billed the 266-pound comedian as "worth his weight in laughs." [8] Rappe appeared in at least four films for Lehrman: His Musical Sneeze, A Twilight Baby, Punch of the Irish and A Game Lady. At this point in time she came to know Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle who had worked at Keystone with her fiance Henry Lehrman. [3] The defense had also obtained a letter from Delmont admitting to a plan to extort payment from Arbuckle. Arbuckle later wrote a premise for a film parodying Hart as a thief, bully, and wife beater, which Keaton purchased from him. [9][10] He then joined the Pantages Theatre Group touring the West Coast and in 1906 played the Orpheum Theater in Portland, Oregon, in a vaudeville troupe organized by Leon Errol. Mugshot of Fatty Arbuckle. The trial began November 14, 1921, in the city courthouse in San Francisco. The third trial began March 13, 1922, and this time the defense took no chances. Fatty Arbuckle, a silent-film era performer at the height of his fame, is arrested in San Francisco for the rape and murder of aspiring actress Virginia Rappe. Arbuckle denied any wrongdoing. Virtually the only indisputable facts seem to be that on September 5, 1921, there was a party at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco where alcohol was in abundance (despite Prohibition laws) and that both Arbuckle, then age 33, and a woman named Virginia Rappe were in attendance. He also mentored Charlie Chaplin, Monty Banks and Bob Hope, and brought vaudeville star Buster Keaton into the movie business. Arbuckle allegedly co-directed scenes in Keaton's Sherlock Jr. (1924), but it is unclear how much of this footage remained in the film's final cut. The first Arbuckle trial began on November 1921 and charged Arbuckle with manslaughter. 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. One of the rooms occupied by Arbuckle and his guests in the days after the infamous party. He retreated into alcoholism. The first two trials resulted in hung juries, but Keaton testified for the defense in the third trial,[citation needed] which acquitted Arbuckle. "[15] Nevertheless, Arbuckle's reputation and career were ruined because of the scandal. He started at the Selig Polyscope Company and eventually moved to Keystone Studios, where he worked with Mabel Normand and Harold Lloyd as well as with his nephew, Al St. John. Few know he was eventually acquitted of his crimes (after three trials). Arbuckle was one of the most famous actors in world at the time, second only to Charlie Chaplin. Addie McPhail, a former Hollywood actress who became the third and last wife of scandal-plagued silent-film comedian Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, has died. He was finally able to return to acting, making short two-reel comedies in 193233 for Warner Bros. Arbuckle died in his sleep of a heart attack in 1933 at age 46, reportedly on the day that he signed a contract with Warner Bros. to make a feature film. The third jury took the unusual step of giving Arbuckle a written statement of apology for his treatment by the justice system. His chief accuser, Bambina Maude Delmont, was a convicted criminal who had admitted plotting to extort money from him. In one of the first major Hollywood scandals, the beloved and overweight film star "Fatty" Arbuckle is accused of raping and murdering Virginia Rappe. Courtroom trials are rarely cut and dry. On Eve of his Comeback. His stage name was Fatty Arbuckle, and he was a big, graceful actor with acrobatic ingenuity and a befuddled. About the collections in Calisphere. He was a wonderful dancera wonderful ballroom dancer, in his heyday. In 1921, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle was the highest-paid actor in the world. 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. 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. Although cleared, Arbuckle faced ruinous legal bills and a public still widely convinced of his guilt. Keaton attempted to help Arbuckle by giving him work on his films. It was like floating in the arms of a huge doughnutreally delightful. He arranged bail after nearly three weeks in jail. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. It also didnt help Delmonts credibility that shed sent telegrams to attorneys saying WE HAVE ROSCOE ARBUCKLE IN A HOLE HERE CHANCE TO MAKE SOME MONEY OUT OF HIM.. When he was a teenager, Arbuckle traveled the West Coast on the vaudeville circuit. [citation needed], Some experts later concluded that Rappe's bladder might also have ruptured as a result of an abortion she might have had a short time before the fateful party. Any trauma in the abdominal area could have caused the rupture. They were on the twelfth floor in a suite that contained rooms 1219, 1220, and 1221 (room 1220 was the sitting room). Fatty Arbuckle got his first break while working at the hotel. Jury Nullification: Definition and Examples, Charles Manson and the Tate and LaBianca Murders, How Conservative Hollywood Became a Liberal Town, Profile of Death Row Inmate Brenda Andrew, Overview of the Jury Trial Stage of a Criminal Case, Profile of Husband Killer Kelly Gissendaner, Murder of Helen Jewett, Media Sensation of 1836, B.A., History, University of California at Davis. Working mostly in bit parts, Rappe died after attending a party with actor Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, who was accused of manslaughter and rape in connection with her death, though he was ultimately acquitted of both charges. On April 18, 1922, six days after Arbuckle's acquittal, Hays banned him from ever working in U.S. movies again. Rosenberg, Jennifer. Arbuckle and friends checked into the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco. Arbuckle answered the door wearing his foolish screen smile and Virginia Rappe was on the bed, naked and moaning in pain. 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. Arbuckle discouraged anyone from addressing him as "Fatty" off-screen, and when they did so his usual response was, "I've got a name, you know. Showing Editorial results for fatty arbuckle. Eventually, the hotel staff was contacted and Rappe was taken to another room to rest. The media had a field day with the story . [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. Oh, I thought he was magnificent in films. Arbuckle's rehabilitation was finally complete when Warner Bros offered him a feature-film contract in 1933. Virginia Rappe had had many abortions in the past and was believed to have had one a few days before the party. [49], Many of Arbuckle's films, including the feature Life of the Party (1920), survive only as worn prints with foreign-language inter-titles. He was simple, direct, and unflustered in both direct and cross-examination. The couple eventually became engaged and lived together, but in the United States Census of 1920, the young actress is listed as a "Boarder" in Lehrman's home in Los Angeles. Director: Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. 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. [3], By the time of Arbuckle's third trial, his films had been banned, and newspapers had been filled for the past seven months with stories of Hollywood orgies, murder, and sexual perversion. 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. However, Arbuckle was still unable to secure work as an actor. Some claimed that the overweight Arbuckle had damaged Rappes liver by crushing her while trying to have sex with her, while others offered up increasingly outrageous stories consisting of various depravities supposedly carried out by the actor. Are you sure Roscoe Arbuckle is getting one today? Working mostly in bit parts, Rappe died after attending a party with actor Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, who was accused of manslaughter and rape in connection with her death, though he was ultimately acquitted of both charges. Arbuckle became the main act and the group took their show on tour. [citation needed], Before his death in 1997, comedian Chris Farley expressed interest in starring as Arbuckle in a biography film. [4][5] At 18, she began working as a commercial and art model. [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. He helped Charlie Chaplin become an actor. 237K views 1 year ago In 1921 Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle was charged with the murder of a young actress called Virginia Rappe. Fatty Arbuckle was born "Roscoe Conkling Arbuckle" in 1887. That night he died of a heart attack in the arms of his third wife. It is reported that the jurors voted in favour of the indictment by twelve votes to two. Seventeen people in cast. Wikipedia 9. Following Rappe's death, rumors arose, supposedly to besmirch her character, that she had given birth in Chicago in 1918 and put the baby in foster care. The Fatty Arbuckle trial was marked by little strong evidence and dominated by unpre dictable testimony. On September 5, 1921, Roscoe Conkling Arbuckle, known as "Fatty", a known comedian, actor, director and screen writer, and two others rented three rooms in the St. Francis Hotel. Both Fatty Arbuckle and Virginia Rappes names were dragged through the mud in the competition to print the most salacious rumors. We like the whole world to look upon America as the place where every man gets a square deal. The Fatty Arbuckle Trial: The Injustice of the Century . He suffered a heart attack later that night and died in his sleep. Girls win big. 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. The star, thought to have weighed about 260lb (118kg), was portrayed as a fat brute who had pinned down his prey, rupturing her bladder. One newspaper even dubbed her an amateur call-girlwho used to get drunk at parties and start to tear her clothes off.. Now that illusion was shattered and studio bosses were terrified it would destroy Hollywood itself.". Roscoe Arbuckle in FATTY'S WILD RIDE TUESDAY Geo. His early influence on American slapstick comedy is widely recognised. [65], The 2020 remake of Perry Mason features a minor character named Chubby Carmichael who is based on Arbuckle. Arbuckle testified, repeating his side of the story. [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. While Hubbard offered explanations on her vote whenever challenged, Kilkenny remained silent and quickly faded from the media spotlight after the trial ended. Virginia Rappe was born in Chicago in 1891 to Mabel Rapp, who died when Virginia was 11. The entire jury proudly posed with Arbuckle for photographers after the verdict and apology. At the hospital, Rappe's companion at the party, Bambina Maude Delmont, told a doctor that Arbuckle had raped her friend. Hollywoods highest-paid star was now box office poison: his movies were pulled from cinemas and he never worked onscreen again. Roscoe Conkling "Fatty" Arbuckle (March 24, 1887 - June 29, 1933) was an American silent movie actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter. 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. Keaton co-wrote, directed and starred in the picture; consequently, Hart refused to speak to Keaton for many years. [7] Arbuckle enjoyed performing and continued on until his mother's death in 1898, when he was 11. [11], On August 6, 1908, Arbuckle married Minta Durfee (18891975), the daughter of Charles Warren Durfee and Flora Adkins. [58] Like Farley, comedians John Belushi and John Candy also considered playing Arbuckle, but each of them died before a biopic was made. Delmont then told police that Arbuckle had raped Rappe; the police concluded that the impact of Arbuckle's overweight body lying on top of Rappe had eventually caused her bladder to rupture. ", "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. [47], On June 28, 1933, Arbuckle had finished filming the last of the two-reelers (four of which had already been released). Raquel Welch portrays his mistress, who ultimately goads him into shooting her. When Arbuckle and a few of the guests re-entered the room, they found Rappe on the floor near the bed tearing at her clothing and going into violent convulsions. He was the first movie star in America to systematically direct his own films. 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. [36] They had been separated since 1921, though Durfee always claimed he was the nicest man in the world and they were still friends. The next day he signed a contract with Warner Bros. to star in a feature-length film. When others then entered the room, they found Rappe tearing at her clothes (something that has been claimed she did often when she was drunk). [12][13] They made a strange couple, as Minta was short and petite while Arbuckle tipped the scales at 300lbs. The Arbuckle family moved to the Los Angeles area (Santa Ana, California) when Roscoe was 8. Fatty Arbuckle's mug shot. "This was the guy who discovered Buster Keaton; who helped mentor Charlie Chaplin," says Arbuckle biographer Stuart Oderman. [6] However, studio executives, fearing negative publicity by association, ordered Arbuckle's industry friends and fellow actors (whose careers they controlled) not to publicly speak up for him. [citation needed], During the whole trial, the prosecution presented medical descriptions of Rappe's bladder as evidence that she had an illness. He was often heckled in the street. He appeared sporadically in Selig one-reelers until 1913, moved briefly to Universal Pictures, and became a star in producer-director Mack Sennett's Keystone Cops comedies. 2023 BBC. In early 1917, she was hired by director Fred Balshofer and given a prominent role in his film Paradise Garden, opposite screen star Harold Lockwood. 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. One of the films (How've You Bean?) In 1921, Arbuckle signed a three-year contract with Paramount for $1 millionan unheard-of amount at the time, even in Hollywood. 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. The show consisted of the audience judging acts by clapping or jeering, with bad acts pulled off the stage by a shepherd's crook. Wikimedia CommonsOne of the rooms occupied by Arbuckle and his guests in the days after the infamous party. Photo: Courtesy Everett Collection. Dear Mick: You state, regarding the Fatty Arbuckle alleged rape-murder incident, "That crime never happened." However, since you were not there, you can't truthfully say it "never happened." The first two trials ended in hung juries, indicating that the evidence was not open and shut. Balshofer hired her again to costar with early drag performer Julian Eltinge and newcomer Rudolph Valentino in Over the Rhine, for which she was awarded the title of "Best Dressed Girl in Pictures". By Friday of that week, Virginia had died in the hospital and Arbuckle was charged with her murder. She died four days later on September 9 from a ruptured bladder and secondary peritonitis. [3], Roscoe Arbuckle was born on March 24, 1887, in Smith Center, Kansas, one of nine children of Mary E. Gordon and William Goodrich Arbuckle. Charlie Chaplin, who was in Britain at the time, told reporters that he could not and would not believe Arbuckle had anything to do with Rappe's death; having known Arbuckle since they both worked at Keystone in 1914, Chaplin "knew Roscoe to be a genial, easy-going type who would not harm a fly. The scandal that followed her death had nothing to do with the fame, or lack of it, of the pretty actress - it was her link to the man who was known as "America's Funnyman . From then until 1913, Roscoe was on the stage, performing as an . 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. [18], By 1916, Arbuckle was experiencing serious health problems. [6], Arbuckle disliked his screen nickname. Her organs had been destroyed and it was now impossible to test for pregnancy. Silent-film comedian Al St. John (Arbuckle's nephew) and actors Lionel Stander and Shemp Howard appeared with Arbuckle. Newspapers across the country went wild. He had merely carried her to the bed and she had fallen off, insisted Arbuckle. Additionally, the jury wrote an apology to Arbuckle: Being acquitted was not the end to Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle's problems. 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. The resulting scandal destroyed Arbuckle's career along with his personal life. Prices $1.50, $1.00, 75 cents. comment. McNab took an aggressive defense, completely tearing apart the prosecution's case with long and aggressive examination and cross-examination of each witness. The public reaction to Arbuckle was fierce. He was manly throughout the case and told a straightforward story on the witness stand, which we all believed. Guests rushed in to find Rappe, fully dressed, writhing in pain on the bed. He was more popular than even Charlie Chaplin and at the time of his downfall in 1921, he was earning over $1 milli We feel that a great injustice has been done him there was not the slightest proof adduced to connect him in any way with the commission of a crime. Movie houses across the country almost immediately stopped showing Arbuckle's movies. Not only that, but the jury read an apology to Arbuckle. His comedies are noted as rollicking and fast-paced, have many chase scenes, and feature sight gags. Public feeling was so negative that Durfee was later shot at while entering the courthouse. But nine decades on, the mystery remains: why did Virginia Rappe die? "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. Read about our approach to external linking. "Fatty Arbuckle was known to have one of the biggest cellars, which meant he had all of this alcohol at his disposal," says Mann. He had been very nice and sweetly dead ever since the scandal that ruined his career. The defense was so convinced of an acquittal that Arbuckle was not called to testify. She died of a ruptured bladder. At the time of his acquittal, he owed over $700,000 (equivalent to approximately $11,300,000 in 2021 dollars[15]) in legal fees to his attorneys for the three criminal trials, and he was forced to sell his house and all of his cars to pay some of the debt. Roscoe Conkling Arbuckle was born in Smith Center, Kansas, on March 24, 1887, weighing more than 13 pounds. He died of a heart attack in 1933 at age 46, having never fully restored his reputation. [34] With Arbuckle's films now banned, in March 1922 Keaton signed an agreement to give Arbuckle thirty-five percent of all future profits from his production company, Buster Keaton Comedies, in hopes of easing his financial situation. Some articles stated Arbuckle had crushed Rappe with his weight, while others said he had raped her with a foreign object (the papers went into graphic details). Miss . She was 97. Roscoe Arbuckle spent more than a decade on the comeback trail - during which time he worked under a pseudonym and discovered Bob Hope in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1927. The jury was hung with a 10 to 2 vote for acquittal. He was one of the all-time greats.". Among the guests was Virginia Rappe, a 30-year-old struggling actress who suffered from chronic cystitis, a bladder inflammation. [42] Keaton himself told this story during a recorded interview with Kevin Brownlow in the 1960s.[43]. [37] After a brief reconciliation, Durfee again filed for divorce, this time while in Paris, in December 1924. The charge was later reduced to manslaughter. 's office,[31] and expressed surprise that she was not challenged when selected for the jury pool. [45] On June 21, 1932, Roscoe married Addie Oakley Dukes McPhail (later Addie Oakley Sheldon, 19052003) in Erie, Pennsylvania. Arbuckle was arrested for first-degree murder, which according to California laws at the time, included the charge of rape. The main character in the story is Dashiell Hammett, a Pinkerton detective in San Francisco at the time of the trials. After this news was released, the public went wild with rumors about how Arbuckle was involved. However, the name Fatty identifies the character that Arbuckle portrayed on-screen (usually a naive hayseed), not Arbuckle himself. "Rappe was definitely in the wrong place at the wrong time because she wound up dead. [60], Arbuckle is the subject of a 2004 novel titled I, Fatty by author Jerry Stahl. After over two weeks of testimony with sixty prosecution and defense witnesses, including eighteen doctors who testified about Rappe's illness, the defense rested. Arbuckle appeared alongside Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Rudolph Valentino, Douglas Fairbanks, and Jackie Coogan. As Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan says: "Stars still get into trouble and they still need help managing crises. An infection that developed on his leg became a carbuncle so severe that doctors considered amputation. Another partygoer soon accused Fatty Arbuckle of raping and killing her and he was tried three different times for those crimes. A family trip to the cinema shortly after Prohibition takes effect. And as for the events of September 5, 1921, the accounts of the night vary wildly. Pansy soon allowed the young Arbuckle to sing for tips on quiet nights. 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. in the United Kingdom, the British Board of Film Censors cited the ten-year-old scandal and refused to grant an exhibition certificate. The jury statement as read by the jury foreman stated: Acquittal is not enough for Roscoe Arbuckle. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/fatty-arbuckle-scandal-1779625. Rappes detractors used this as evidence of her wild ways, while her defenders point out that she had a bladder condition that was exacerbated by alcohol and used to cause her such discomfort that she would drunkenly take off her clothes in an attempt to alleviate her condition. On September 9, 1921, the death of a young movie actress named Virginia Rappe would make newspaper headlines around the world. That evening, the three men, Arbuckle, Lowell Sherman and Fred Fischbach, had invited several women to the party. [citation needed] Several women were invited to the suite. The second such death in a week has sparked soul-searching in Germany about public safety, particularly in train stations. Arbuckle, Fatty Crime--California--San Francisco Herald-Examiner Collection photographs Arbuckle, Roscoe,1887-1933 Rappe, Virginia,1896-1921 . 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. [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. In his testimony, Arbuckle denied he had any knowledge of Rappe's illness. Rudolph Nureyev Dances", "Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, acquitted for murder of Virginia Rappe in 1922, never recovered from all the bad press", "Rediscovering Roscoe: The Careers of "Fatty" Arbuckle", "Restoring Fatty Arbuckle's Tarnished Reputation at MoMa", Contemporary press articles pertaining to Arbuckle, Banned Film Resurfaces 90 Years After San Francisco Scandal, The Fatty Arbuckle Trial: The Injustice of the Century (2004), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Roscoe_Arbuckle&oldid=1139315103, Arbuckle, Roscoe "Fatty," "What the Well-Dressed Man Will Wear,", This page was last edited on 14 February 2023, at 13:48.
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