Room 1219: Fatty Arbuckle, the Mysterious Death of Virginia Rappe, and the Scandal That Changed Hollywood
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Arbuckle’s appearance was applauded… “Fatty Arbuckle Quietly Enters Filmland Again,” Sioux City Journal, September 23, 1923.
a guaranteed $2,500 per week … “Fatty Arbuckle to Dance in Cabaret for $2500 Per Week,” Telegraph-Herald (Dubuque, IA), May 13, 1923.
“This is the first smile …” “Fatty Arbuckle Stages Comeback in Chicago Cafe,” Traverse City Record-Eagle, June 6, 1923.
The show’s producer remembered… “Pioneer Fair Revue Producer Was 50% of What Today Is MCA,” Billboard, February 28, 1948, 91.
“The people have been very kind”… “Arbuckle Fails in Cabaret Act but Keeps Hope,” Syracuse Herald, June 17, 1923.
“Our women are lean and fat…” “Fatty Arbuckle in Revue House of David Burlesque,” Chillicothe Constitution, June 6, 1923.
he pulled in $6,000 weekly … “About Roscoe Arbuckle,” Oakland Tribune, July 29, 1923.
“She stood by me …” “‘Fatty’ Arbuckle Smashes Up Cabaret, Socks Manager, to Meet His Wife at Train,” Evening Independent (Massillon, OH), July 19, 1923.
“Well kid don’t get discouraged… “Roscoe Arbuckle, letter to Minta Durfee, November 18, 1923, manuscript from the estate of Charles Williamson and Tucker Fleming, auctioned April 20, 2011.
“We were about to start …” Buster Keaton with Charles Samuels, My Wonderful World of Slapstick (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1960), 194.
In one of the two scenes … David B. Pearson, “Playing Detective: Possible Solutions to the Production Mysteries of Sherlock Jr.,” in Buster Keaton’s Sherlock Jr., ed. Andrew Horton. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 146.
“He hadn’t recovered from those trials …” Kevin Brownlow, The Parade’s Gone By … (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968), 486. “I am taking my father’s name … “ Arbuckle to Durfee, November 18, 1923.
in 1910 the family … US Census Bureau, Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910, population of Dubuque City, IA, sup. dist. 3, enum. dist. 126, April 18, 1910 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1912-14).
they lived in Butte, Montana … “Arbuckle Again Sued by Former Butte Student,” Montana Standard, September 18, 1929.
her rumored engagement to Jack Dempsey … “Jack Dempsey Reported Engaged,” Appleton Post-Crescent, December 16, 1922.
“Weeks ago I saw Fatty …” “Fatty Arbuckle Is Starting Over.”
he was greeted by an eleven-minute ovation … “Arbuckle Opens at Pantages,” Los Angeles Times, June 15, 1924.
”the only way an accused man …” Ibid.
“I would rather build up … “ “‘Fatty’ Arbuckle,” Ogden Standard-Examiner, July 15, 1924.
“San Francisco’s reception of me …”“Arbuckle Draws Capacity Crowds,” Ogden Standard-Examiner, July 17, 1924.
“I hope not …” Ibid.
get in shape for his “reappearance …” Patrolling the Sport Highway, Ogden Standard-Examiner, July 18, 1924.
“No, I don’t belong to either … “ “‘Fatty’ Arbuckle Wants Comeback,” Ogden Standard-Examiner, July 18, 1924.
“chance to live a clean …” “Arbuckle Plea Defeats Ban in Kansas City,” Oakland Tribune, July 29, 1924.
British immigrant named Lester Hope … Bob Hope and Pete Martin, Have Tux, Will Travel: Bob Hope’s Own Story (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1954), 40.
He said he envied the creative freedom … “‘Fatty’ Arbuckle Soon to Return to Movie Game, He Tells the Morning Press,” Logansport Morning Press, August 29, 1924.
“I did not know … “ “‘Fatty’ Arbuckle Would Preach Sermon but Minister Objects,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 13, 1924.
“Appeal to you as one of several… “ Untitled clipping, Toledo Blade, September 6, 1924, in scrapbook pages, Minta Durfee Arbuckle Collection, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, Beverly Hills, CA.
“I don’t claim to be … “Untitled clipping, Toledo Blade, September 10, 1924, scrapbook pages, Minta Durfee Arbuckle Collection.
he mused on literary matters … Roscoe Arbuckle, letter to Minta Durfee, September 13, 1924, auctioned at Bonhams, December 14, 2011, www.bonhams.com/auctions/19431/lot/4001/.
the Portland, Oregon, city council banned him … “Fatty Arbuckle’s Films Opposed by City of Portland,” Eugene Guard, October 16, 1924.
forbade him from stages in Tacoma … “‘Fatty’ Arbuckle Kept From Giving Tacoma Monologue,” Twin Falls Daily News, October 21, 1924.
Arbuckle wrote Durfee … Roscoe Arbuckle, letter to Minta Durfee, September 4, 1924, document for sale on eBay, accessed May 15, 2011.
They agreed that he would pay … “Amount of Arbuckle’s Wealth Brought Up; to Pay Ex-Wife $200 Week,” Joplin Globe, March 28, 1924.
the announcement that Arbuckle would marry … “Doris Deane to Wed Arbuckle,” Oakland Tribune, December 5, 1924.
one acerbic headline … “Doris Is Daring,” Linton Daily Citizen, January 31, 1925.
a March ceremony was scrapped… “Arbuckle Wedding, Slated for Tonight, Halted Month by Law,” Oakland Tribune, March 24, 1925.
married at her mother’s home … “Roscoe Arbuckle and Doris Deane Married,” Albuquerque Morning Journal, May 17, 1925.
“hidden away in the country” … “‘Fatty’ Arbuckle and Doris Deane Are Wed,” Titusville Herald, May 18, 1925.
a contract worth $100,000 … “Fatty Arbuckle Weds Doris Deane at Pasadena,” Cook County Herald (Arlington Heights, IL), May 22, 1925.
”It was their way of thumbing… “ David Yallop, The Day the Laughter Stopped: The True Story of Fatty Arbuckle (New York: St. Martin’s, 1976), 283.
the school demanded Arbuckle be dropped… “Film Actors to Stand Back of Roscoe Arbuckle,” Sioux City Journal, October 16, 1925.
elicited a long ovation … “Fatty Given Ovation at Masquers,” Los Angeles Times, October 23, 1925.
“Here is the sad spectacle … “ Russell J. Birdwell, Hollywood!, Ogden Standard-Examiner, December 13, 1925.
20. Endurance: 1926-32
A front-page article in February 1926… “‘Fatty’ Arbuckle Does Comeback!,” Olean Evening Times, February 3, 1926.
In March, he, Buster Keaton, and their wives … “Movie Stars Escape from Prison,” Nevada State Journal, March 25, 1926.
“The intrigues on the set… “ Colleen Moore, interview by Stuart Oderman, August 1967, in Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle: A Biography of the Silent Film Comedian, 1887-1933 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1994), 206.
advertising sometimes touted… Advertisement for Special Delivery, Syracuse Herald, June 25, 1927.
“In the gathering sitting obscurely …” O. O. McIntyre, New York Day by Day, Record Argus (Greenville, PA), January 4, 1927.
a deal worth $2.5 million … “‘Outlaw’ of Film Signs Deal for $2,500,000,” San Francisco Chronicle, March 15, 1927.
A Los Angeles review noted… “Pantages Sets High Standard,” Los Angeles Times, April 19, 1927.
Arbuckle’s opening night ovations … “Baby Mine Revived After 17 Years,” New York Times, June 10, 1927.
“Mr. Arbuckle is not much of an actor” … Features of New York Stage, Salt Lake Tribune, June 19, 1927.
National Educational Association … “Protest Appearance of Fatty Arbuckle,” Free Press (Carbondale, IL), August 19, 1927.
A lien was placed against him … “Tax Liens Filed Against Carey and Arbuckle,” Los Angeles Times, December 1, 1927.
Minta Durfee sued him … “Arbuckle Pay to Be Attached,” Los Angeles Times, December 28, 1927.
“his last vaudeville tour prior to re-entering …” Advertisement for vaudeville performance, Altoona Mirror, February 25, 1928.
ministers in Clarksburg, West Virginia … “Ministers Protest Arbuckle Visit,” New Castle News, January 26, 1928.
“might corrupt public morals” … “Minneapolis Bans Fatty Arbuckle,” Decatur Daily Review, April 28, 1928.
a performa
nce in Waterloo, Iowa … “Protests Cancel Fatty Arbuckle’s Appearance Here,” Waterloo Evening Courier, May 10, 1928.
“defiance of the Hays organization”… “Fatty Arbuckle Plans Comeback While Political Scandals Have Darkened the Fame of Will Hays,” Vidette Messenger (Valparaiso, IN), April 20, 1928.
”I have never paraded as a reformer…” “Senator Reed Flays Graft in Politics,” Tipton Daily Tribune, April 12, 1928.
“Some of my old films …” “‘Fatty’ Arbuckle Goes to Paris to Regain Esteem,” Sioux City Journal, March 19, 1928.
“hoping the audience would cool off’… “Arbuckle a Riot in Paris; but O, the Kind of Riot!,” Manitowoc Herald News, March 26, 1928.
“We haven’t got along happily …” “‘Fatty’ Arbuckle and Wife Are Separated,” Warsaw Union, May 28, 1928.
at the home of a “prominent resident”… “Doris Dean [sic] Would Divorce Fatty,” Helena Daily Independent, August 7, 1928.
a smattering of headlines such as … “‘Nother Wild Party for Fatty Arbuckle,” Lubbock Morning Avalanche, August 7, 1928.
“vicious, cruel, morose and nagging”… “Doris Dean Would Divorce Fatty.”
“You know, Roscoe was an easy man …” Viola Dana, interview by Stuart Oderman, July 1974, in Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle: A Biography, 208.
initial reports claimed he was launching… “Arbuckle Plans Coffee Inn Chain,” Ogden Standard-Examiner, August 2, 1928.
a long string of nightclubs … Culver City clubs’ history via “Colorful Nightlife Thrived in Westside,” Los Angeles Times, May 7, 1981.
a typical Los Angeles Times headline … “Dry Storm Rages over Plantation,” Los Angeles Times, January 26, 1926.
“Every screen star of note … “ On the Pacific Coast, Miami News, September 6, 1928.
“a strange crowd of big-time movie stars …” “Arbuckle’s Cafe Employs Only Persons of Large Proportions,” Sheboygan Press, July 30, 1928.
“I guess I’ll go back to the stage”… Ibid.
England’s Prince George … “Prince’s Brother Danced with One Girl All Night Long,” Lowell Sun, September 29, 1928.
the Plantation was raided … “Roscoe Arbuckle’s Night Club Raided,” San Antonio Express, December 24, 1928.
the Culver City mayor visited… “Cafes Put on Probation,” Los Angeles Times, January 24, 1929.
a riot broke out at the Plantation … “More Participants in Arbuckle Care Brawl Are Sought,” Record-Chronicle (Denton, TX), May 21, 1929.
the motion picture industry was finding its voice … Information on the transition from silent films to sound primarily via Donald Crafton, The Talkies: American Cinema’s Transition to Sound, 1926—1931 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999); William K. Everson, American Silent Film (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978), 334-47; Scott Eyman, The Speed of Sound: Hollywood and the Talkie Revolution, 1926—1930 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999).
“In [motion pictures’] silence it more nearly … “James Quirk, editorial, Photoplay, May 1921, 19.
“startles the civilized world …” Advertisement for Kinetophone, Motion Picture World, January 25, 1913.
“It’s up to us to sit tight… “James Quirk, editorial, Photoplay, October 1928, 28.
”Now Hollywood wonders …” “Plan to Make Talkies of Crime Confessions,” Capital Times (Madison, WI), November 22, 1929.
“[Arbuckle] made no attempt to direct… “ Kevin Brownlow, The Parade’s Gone By… (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968), 363.
“He left me and went to a Hollywood hotel …” “‘Fatty’ Should Wed Pugilist, Says Wife,” Ogden Standard-Examiner, October 5, 1929.
Born in 1905, Addie Dukes … Obituary for Addie McPhail, Independent (London), May 1, 2003.
“I was a stranger in Hollywood… “ “Addie McPhail, 97; Actress, Last Wife of ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle,” Los Angeles Times, May 5, 2003.
“I had feelings for Roscoe”… Ibid.
he listed his monthly income at $500 … Conditional Contract of Sale, June 12, 1929, Mack Sennett Collection, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, Beverly Hills, CA.
a new Lincoln town car, which cost … Ibid.
A dubious item … Captain Roscoe Fawcett, Screen Oddities, Logansport Pharos-Tribune, December 16, 1931.
A highlight “was the dancing of the serpentine … “ “Film Folk Frolic at Gay Party,” Los Angeles Times, November 9, 1931.
The three hundred members included… Gregory Paul Williams, The Story of Hollywood: An Illustrated History (Los Angeles: BL Press, 2006), 180.
“There goes the evidence”… “Fatty Arbuckle Jokes About Morning Arrest,” Los Angeles Times, September 21, 1931.
“There ought to be a law … “Editorial, Pella Chronicle, August 6, 1931.
an article about Arbuckle appeared… “Just Let Me Work,” Photoplay, March 1931, 65, 127-28.
“I thought someone was playing…” “Fatty Arbuckle Pays Fine for Precaution,” Los Angeles Times, September 22, 1931.
Two months later, Motion Picture Classic published… “Isn’t Fatty Punished Enough?,” Motion Picture Classic, May 1931.
“Arbuckle should be allowed…” “Again Arbuckle?,” Time, July 29, 1931.
A third fan magazine … “Doesn’t Fatty Arbuckle Deserve a Break?,” Motion Picture, September 1931, 40-41; “The Fans Want Fatty Arbuckle Back on the Screen,” Motion Picture, November 1931, 16.
“I have no desire to return …” “Return of Arbuckle to Screen Voiced Pro, Con,” Circleville Herald, June 22, 1931.
“Roscoe was warmly received…” Obituary for McPhail, Independent.
“master or mistress of ceremonies” … News and Comment of Stage and Screen, Fitchburg Sentinel, May 7, 1932.
after rousing the court reporter … “‘Fatty’ Finally Married,” Rochester Evening Journal, June 21, 1932.
“Roscoe felt like he had been given …” Obituary for McPhail, Independent.
A photo of that moment… “Star Emerging from Eclipse,” Mansfield News, August 8, 1932.
“Frankly gambling on Fatty’s chances …” “‘Fatty’ Arbuckle to Attempt Comeback,” Salt Lake Tribune, July 28, 1932.
”It’s kind of like home to me … “ “Fatty Arbuckle Is Coming Back,” Joplin Globe, July 29, 1932.
21. Legends
“passed a strong resolution … “ Looking Backward, Kentucky New Era (Hokinsville, KY), January 13, 1948.
she penned a remembrance… Adela Rogers St. Johns, “The Arbuckle Tragedy,” American Weekly, October 22, 1950.
“He was no more guilty …” “Donald Crisp Fine Figure After Making 400 Movies,” Calgary Herald, April 3, 1958.
a 1949 public opinion poll… “Adults Rate Hope Funniest Comedian,” Los Angeles Times, September 19, 1949.
an extensive cover story … James Agee, “Comedy’s Greatest Era,” Life, September 5, 1949, 70-88.
“They get American movies here”… Bob Hope, “A Bodyguard? Ridiculous! No One’s Seen My Films,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City, UT), March 21, 1958.
The first, from Doris Deane … Behind the Scenes in Hollywood, Steubenville Herald Star, July 1, 1935.
Minta Durfee had written a play … May Mann, Going Hollywood, Ogden Standard-Examiner, August 24, 1939.
penning a book of the same name … “Sennett Alumni Recall Kops and Pies in Eyes,” Los Angeles Times, July 30, 1951.
the title had changed to … Hollywood, Kingsport Times, April 22, 1955.
“Bob Hope is said to be interested… “ Jackie the Author, Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY), August 14, 1971.
“Then, in 1921, Funny Fatty …” “Scandal and the Stars: Fatty Arbuckle,” Daily Reporter (Dover, OH), September 27, 1960.
“one Hollywood observer”… Ezra Goodman, The Fifty-Year Decline and Fall of Hollywood (New York: MacFadden, 1961), 337.
Confidential magazine … Henry E. Scott, Sho
cking True Story: The Rise and Fall of Confidential, “America’s Most Scandalous Scandal Magazine” (New York: Pantheon, 2010).
Arbuckle was never featured in Confidential… E-mail exchange between author and Henry E. Scott, June 11, 2011.
“HERE Is THE SHOCKING …” Leo Guild, The Fatty Arbuckle Case (New York: Paperback Library, 1962).
pulp fictionist Leo Guild… Paul Collins, “The Worst Pulp Novelist Ever: Remembering Leo Guild,” Stranger, March 14, 2007.
“Liberace is the perfect specimen … “ Leo Guild, The Loves of Liberace (Avon, 1956), quoted in Odd Books blog, September 26, 2010, http://oddbooks.co.uk/oddbooks/loves-liberace.
“These are the rumors … “ Guild, Fatty Arbuckle Case, 27.
who called Arbuckle “despicable” … Ibid., 35.
The most “sane explanation”… Ibid., 40.
“One rumor was …” Ibid., 41.
”Three versions of the incident…” Charles Beaumont, Remember? Remember?: A Nostalgic Backward Glance at Some of Yesteryear’s Most Beloved Features of Our National Profile (New York: Macmillan, 1963), 208.
A less explicit intimation … “Again Arbuckle?,” Time, July 29, 1931.
“If a book such as this…” “Hollywood Babylon,” New York Times, August 31, 1975.
“Vacationers returning from Europe …” Voice of Broadway, News Tribune (Fort Pierce, FL), September 19, 1961.
“And when Fatty died… “ Jerome Charyn, Movieland: Hollywood and the Great American Dream Culture (New York: New York University Press, 1989), 65.
Miller rendered the other third… Bill Landis, Anger: The Unauthorized Biography of Kenneth Anger (New York: HarperCollins, 1995), 122.
as many as two million copies … Ibid., 123.
“plumber’s helper” Arbuckle … Kenneth Anger, Hollywood Babylon (New York: Dell, 1975), 27.
This story was debunked… David Stenn, Clara Bow: Runnin’ Wild (New York: Cooper Square, 1988), 107-15.
“Mishawn [sic] Manor” … Anger, Hollywood Babylon, 27.
“did her fair share of sleeping around…” Ibid., 29.
misidentified with a photo of Minta Durfee… Ibid., 38.
Arbuckle’s “friend”… Ibid., 30.