Fatty Arbuckle's career came to a sudden halt amidst allegations that he raped and caused the death of a young starlet named Virginia Rappe. Though he was acquitted, the comedian, who was at one time second in popularity only to Charlie Chaplin, was ruined. Interviews with many of Arbuckle's contemporaries (including Minta Durfee, his first wife) and extensive research inform this serious study of the once-fabled comedian. His early days in the Keystone comedies and his relationship with Chaplin are recounted. The details of the Rappe trial and his life afterwards are also provided.
For the first time in twenty-five years, one of America's top investigative reporters reopens the case of Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle, a man accused of murdering a girl named Virginia Rappe. People remember him as the fat comedian who raped that young girl. They may not know he was one of the highest-paid talents of his time and that he was completely innocent. 27 photographs.
Part biography, part true-crime narrative, this painstakingly researched book chronicles the improbable rise and stunning fall of Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle from his early big screen success to his involvement in actress Virginia Rappe’s death, and the resulting irreparable damage to his career. It describes how during the course of a rowdy party hosted by the comedian in a San Francisco hotel, Rappe became fatally ill, and Arbuckle was subsequently charged with manslaughter. Ultimately acquitted after three trials, neither his career nor his reputation ever recovered from this devastating incident. Relying on a careful examination of documents, the book finally reveals what most likely occurred that Labor Day weekend in 1921 in that fateful hotel room. In addition, it covers the evolution of the film industry—from the first silent experiments to the connection between Arbuckle’s scandal and the implementation of industry-wide censorship that altered the course of Hollywood filmmaking for five decades.
"In 1921, one of the biggest movie stars in the world was accused of killing a woman. What followed was an unprecedented avalanche of press coverage, the original "trial of the century," and a wave of censorship that altered the course of Hollywood filmmaking. It began on Labor Day, when comic actor Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, then at the pinnacle of his fame and fortune, hosted a party in San Francisco's best hotel. As the party raged, he was alone in room 1219 with Virginia Rappe, a minor actress. Four days later, she died, and he was charged with her murder. ROOM 1219 presents the crime story from the day of the "orgy" through the three trials. Relying on a careful examination of documents, the book finally reveals, after almost a century of wild speculation, what most likely occurred in room 1219. In addition, ROOM 1219 covers the creation of the film industry--from the first silent experiments to a studio-based system capable of making and, ultimately, breaking a beloved superstar"--
Abandoned as a boy in Kansas, Fatty Arbuckle found adulation in Hollywood in the early days of cinema. During his heyday he was more popular than Charlie Chaplin and became the first screen actor to make a million dollars a year. But in 1921 Fatty was accused of the rape and murder of an actress he had met in San Francisco.
The true story behind the 'Fatty Arbuckle' Scandal David Yallop is no stranger to controversy. The impact of his investigations in such bestsellers as In God's Name, Beyond Reasonable Doubt and To Encourage the Others has reverberated around the world. In The Day the Laughter Stopped, he uncovers the incredible true story behind the Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle scandal of 1921, when the fat film comedian stood accused of the rape and murder of a pretty screen actress. Arbuckle's is the story of a man born in extreme poverty who was destined to rise to the heights of a multi-million dollar career, only to have it snatched from him by a wave of hysteria and bigotry that swept the globe. It is the story of Hollywood and what really happened in the corridors of power; the political corruption of San Francisco; the immorality of a president. How Charlie Chaplin's career was saved. How Buster Keaton's was begun. Both by Arbuckle. It is a life story that ranges from comic heights to tragic depths. The Day the Laughter Stopped confirms David Yallop's reputation as the world's greatest investigative author, combining exhaustive research with compulsive narrative.
On November 8, 1985, 18-year-old Tom Odle brutally murdered his parents and three siblings in the small southern Illinois town of Mount Vernon, sending shockwaves throughout the nation. The murder of the Odle family remains one of the most horrific family mass murders in U.S. history. Odle was sentenced to death and, after seventeen years on death row, expected a lethal injection to end his life. However, Illinois governor George Ryan’s moratorium on the death penalty in 2000, and later commutation of all death sentences in 2003, changed Odle’s sentence to natural life. The commutation of his death sentence was an epiphany for Odle. Prior to the commutation of his death sentence, Odle lived in denial, repressing any feelings about his family and his horrible crime. Following the commutation and the removal of the weight of eventual execution associated with his death sentence, he was confronted with an unfamiliar reality. A future. As a result, he realized that he needed to understand why he murdered his family. He reached out to Dr. Robert Hanlon, a neuropsychologist who had examined him in the past. Dr. Hanlon engaged Odle in a therapeutic process of introspection and self-reflection, which became the basis of their collaboration on this book. Hanlon tells a gripping story of Odle’s life as an abused child, the life experiences that formed his personality, and his tragic homicidal escalation to mass murder, seamlessly weaving into the narrative Odle’s unadorned reflections of his childhood, finding a new family on death row, and his belief in the powers of redemption. As our nation attempts to understand the continual mass murders occurring in the U.S., Survived by One sheds some light on the psychological aspects of why and how such acts of extreme carnage may occur. However, Survived by One offers a never-been-told perspective from the mass murderer himself, as he searches for the answers concurrently being asked by the nation and the world.
From 1917 to 1919, Joseph Schenck produced a series of Comique comedies starring master movie comedian Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and featuring an apprentice, Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton. These films were initially deemed significant by modern archivists for representing the first movie appearances of Keaton, widely considered one of the most important figures in motion picture history. But the Comique films also remain the most important of Arbuckle's career because they feature him at the height of his cinematic genius and powers. The 14 short comedies starring Arbuckle and Keaton are incredibly important to the history of cinema and are analyzed in this book. After two chapters of biographical introductions, the rest of the book discusses their collaborative efforts and reveals the way in which the films evolved from Arbuckle's wild slapstick to feature more of the subtlety and cleverness of Keaton. Closing sections discuss what became of Arbuckle and Keaton afterward, commenting significantly on the scandal that undermined Arbuckle's career.
Nearly a century before Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey shamed Hollywood spawning the #MeToo and Time's-Up movements, popular film star Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle - second at the box office only to Charlie Chaplin - stood trial for the murder of the young starlette Virginia Rappe. Some medical experts, and the court of public opinion, concluded the girl died in a sexual assault after a weekend of consuming illegal alcohol, her bladder having ruptured under Fatty's 266 pounds. But after three trials and a defense that cost Arbuckle more than did O. J. Simpson's "Dream Team," the comedian was freed. The public was never persuaded. "Everywhere today," one period commentary said, "Arbuckle's name, with its unsavory associations, is met with a sneer; everywhere indecent living is branded as 'Fatty Arbuckle stuff.'" Using contemporaneous accounts, "Forty Quarts of Liquor," - a reference to the amount of prohibition-era illegal alcohol Arbuckle's party consumed - documents Hollywood's first scandal.
From the New York Times bestselling author of the Quinn Colson series comes a noir crime classic about one of the most notorious trials in American history. San Francisco, September 1921: Silent-screen comedy star Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle is throwing a wild party in his suite at the St. Francis Hotel-girls, jazz, bootleg hooch...and a dead actress named Virginia Rappe. The D.A. says it was Arbuckle who killed her—crushed her under his weight—and brings him up on manslaughter charges. William Randolph Hearst's newspapers stir up the public and demand a guilty verdict. In desperation, Arbuckle's defense team hires an operative from the famed Pinkerton detective agency to investigate and, they hope, discover the truth. The agent's name is Dashiell Hammett... and what he discovers will change American legal history—and his own life—forever
