It’s All Fun & Games Until You Ruptures Someone’s Bladder with a Coke Bottle
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| Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle |
In 1918, as the dawn of silent films had hit it’s stride, no one was more successful, or more beloved than Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle. Launching his career as a $3 per day extra in the Keystone Cops series, he worked his way up to starring in many of those films, before becoming a headline feature attraction in his own right. By 1914, Fatty was widely revered as one of the originators, and quite possibly the King, of slapstick comedy. His box office draw was so great, that he was earning an average of $1,000. per day shooting silent films, in addition to 25% of the profits. Adjusted to 2013 numbers, that’s close to $15,000 a day. Not a bad payday for a fat man taking a pie in the face and generally being the butt of the joke.
By 1921, the success of films like “Miss Fatty’s Seaside Lovers”, “Fatty Joins The Force”, “Coney Island” and “Good Night, Nurse”, prompted Paramount Pictures to offer Arbuckle an unprecedented $1 million a year contract. That’s close to $15 million a year in 2013 bucks! Yep, Fatty was most certainly living high on the hog.
By 1921, the success of films like “Miss Fatty’s Seaside Lovers”, “Fatty Joins The Force”, “Coney Island” and “Good Night, Nurse”, prompted Paramount Pictures to offer Arbuckle an unprecedented $1 million a year contract. That’s close to $15 million a year in 2013 bucks! Yep, Fatty was most certainly living high on the hog.
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| Fatty Loved The Ladies |
Along with his excessive salary was his excessive lifestyle. Fatty loved to party, and despite prohibition being in full swing, he had a penchant for imbibing copious amounts of bootleg alcohol. Despite being married, he also enjoyed the company of young, pretty, promiscuous starlets. On September 5, 1921 Fatty and a couple of his Hollywood pals checked into the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco to take advantage of a few days off. They each took a room of their own, as well as an extra suite to be utilized as a “party room”. One of the young ladies who made her way to the party room was up and coming Hollywood glamour girl Virginia Rappe. Being an ambitious young actress, Virginia, 25, was hoping to meet Fatty Arbuckle, and leave enough of an impression on him that she might land a role in one of his upcoming films. By the time the party was over, Virginia was drunk on enough illegal alcohol to have passed out, been raped, and sexually assaulted with either a “large chunk of ice”, a “Coca Cola bottle”, or both. She was left with a ruptured bladder from which she died a few days later.
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| Virginia Rappe |
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| Virginia Rappe's Coffin being transported to her wake which was attended by over 8,000 people |
Several witnesses fingered Fatty as the bottle wielder, and he was arrested and charged with manslaughter. His defense was that Virginia was intoxicated and acting crazy, and he may have inadvertently kneed her in the stomach while he was simply trying to help her find a quiet place to lay down and sleep it off. Later, his story changed, claiming that he may have stumbled and “fallen” on top of her while she lay in a bed, his massive weight causing the fatal internal injuries.
Suffice it to say, the believability of his story in the public eye was low, and much like O.J. Simpson, he was convicted in the press even before his trial began. Shockingly, the trial ended in a hung jury. Not just once, but TWICE. Accusations of payoffs, witness tampering and jurist bribery permeated the proceedings, and by the time the third trial rolled around, it almost wasn’t surprising when the jury came back after only 6 minutes with a unanimous verdict of “Not Guilty”. Allegedly, they reached their verdict in less than 1 minute; the remaining 5 minutes were spent writing an apology letter which the jury foreman read aloud in the court room.
“Acquittal is not enough for Roscoe Arbuckle. We feel that a great injustice has been done him. We feel also that it was our only plain duty to give him this exoneration. There was not the slightest proof to connect him in any way with the commission of a crime. We wish him success and hope that the American people will take the judgment of fourteen men and women who have sat listening to the evidence that Roscoe Arbuckle is entirely innocent and free from all blame.”
Despite his legal exoneration, the damage had been done to his career, and his films were quickly banned from every movie house in America. Fatty couldn’t even get a job sweeping the floors at a local cinema, let alone appearing on screen. His wife divorced him, and he retreated further into alcohol and depression. A dozen years later, Fatty was living in New York City, destitute, and practically penniless, when Buster Keaton, whom he had once mentored, helped to convince Warner Brothers to give the funny man a chance at launching a comeback. On June 29, 1933 they presented Arbuckle with a contract to make a new feature length film. He went out on the town that evening to celebrate his long sought second chance, and was quoted as saying “This is the best day of my life”. He went home, went to bed, and died in his sleep of a massive heart attack. In the end, much like in his films, it seems the last laugh was on him.
