Room 1219: Fatty Arbuckle, the Mysterious Death of Virginia Rappe, and the Scandal That Changed Hollywood

by Greg Merritt

  “As headlines screamed …” Ibid., 39.

  “the lack of specific evidence … “ Ibid., 42.

  “Was he thinking of another bottle …” Ibid., 45.

  “She was all beat up … “Gerald Fine, Fatty (self-published, 1971), 94.

  “she had been bought …” Ibid., 95.

  “when she was trying to fight off…” Anita Loos, Kiss Hollywood Goodbye (New York: Viking, 1974), 107.

  “Arbuckle had told others … “ “Tales of Celebrity Babylon,” Newsweek, June 27, 1994, 26.

  “Hollywood has always had its share …” “When Apes Put Men to Shame,” Independent (London), February 27, 1998.

  “The popular comedian Fatty Arbuckle …” Steve Allen, “Madonna,” Journal of Popular Culture 27 (Summer 1993): 1.

  “During this vacation …” Adela Rogers St. Johns, Love, Laughter and Tears: My Hollywood Story (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1978), 62-63.

  “Her manuscript was too circumspect… “ “Minta Durfee—Always in Arbuckle’s Corner,” Los Angeles Times, September 21, 1975.

  “widow of film star…” TV listings, Tucson Daily Citizen, October 28, 1970.

  “suffering from several diseases”… Kevin Brownlow, The Parade’s Gone By … (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968), 39.

  “Virginia Rappe was one of those poor …” Minta Durfee, interview by Stuart Oderman, September 1969, in Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle: A Biography of the Silent Film Comedian, 1887-1933 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1994), 152.

  “Mr. Sennett had to close the studio … “ Minta Durfee, interview by Walter Wagner, July 4, 1973, in You Must Remember This (New York: Putnam, 1975), 36.

  She “had seventy-two affidavits …” Ibid., 38—39.

  “Roscoe was in handcuffs … “ Ibid., 39.

  “that dreadful, dreadful old man” … Ibid., 38.

  “This awful Will Hays …” Ibid., 41.

  the “notorious” Maude Delmont … “Two Hollywood Cases Bear Likeness to Simpson’s,” Daily Courier (Yavapai County, AZ), July 3, 1994.

  Once again, we’re treated… David Yallop, The Day the Laughter Stopped: The True Story of Fatty Arbuckle (New York: St. Martin’s, 1976), 110.

  “a great deal of money” … Ibid., 112.

  “She was pregnant …” Ibid.

  an illegal autopsy to cover up an illegal abortion … Ibid., 128.

  an unspecified scheme to blackmail Arbuckle … Ibid., 125.

  “I couldn’t stand that girl… “ Andy Edmonds, Frame-Up!: The Untold Story of Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle (New York: William Morrow, 1991), 156.

  “at least five abortions …” Ibid., 155

  “hatchet job” abortion … Ibid., 252.

  Curiously, Edmonds claims … Ibid., 7-8.

  Zukor designed a frame-up … Ibid., 253.

  Durfee first optioned the film rights … “TV’s Gleason Sought to Portray Arbuckle,” Los Angeles Times, February 18, 1957.

  a TV network was planning a musical… Broadway, Reading Eagle, April 23, 1957.

  for a decade afterward, Jackie Gleason … “TV’s Gleason Sought.”

  John Belushi, who was eyeing the part… “The Lost Roles of John Belushi,” Splitsider, March 3, 2011, www.splitsider.com/2011/03/the-lost-roles-of-john-belushi/.

  John Candy was studying for the role… Martin Knelman, Laughing on the Outside: The Life of John Candy (New York: Thomas Dunne, 1996), 199.

  Chris Farley met with playwright/screenwriter David Mamet… Tom Farley and Tanner Colby, The Chris Farley Show: A Biography in Three Acts (New York: Viking, 2008), 267-68.

  Chicago “multi-media treatment”… “Chicago Fatty Follows 1920s Arbuckle Scandal, Mar. 3” Playbill, March 2, 1998.

  a Broadway musical named Fatty … “Coogan Lands Broadway Role,” Daily Review (Hayward, CA), May 10, 1966.

  In 1921, the comic was charged… “Murder, Inc.,” Time, December 31, 1999.

  “a naive young actress”… “The Fatty Arbuckle Scandal, 1920,” Time, March 1, 2007.

  Fatty Arbuckles American Diner … “Fatty Arbuckles,” Franchise Business, www .franchisebusiness.co.uk/fatty-arbuckles.

  22. Labor Day Revisited

  “The defendant followed Virginia Rappe …” Leo Friedman, closing statement of third Arbuckle trial, in Classics of the Bar: Stories of the World’s Great Legal Trials and a Compilation of Forensic Masterpieces, vol. 8, ed. Alvin V. Sellers (Washington, DC: Washington Law Book, 1942), 121-22.

  modern forensic experts consulted for this book … Author’s interviews with Kenneth Moses on July 18, 2011, and Larry Stewart on July 18-19, 2011.

  ”When I walked into 1219 … “ People v. Arbuckle, first trial transcript, 1668-69.

  her abs were “exceedingly well-developed” … Nat Schmulowitz, closing statement of third Arbuckle trial, in Classics of the Bar, 49.

  “Now, a violent contraction …” Ibid.

  “Mr. Arbuckle assisted…” Ibid., 49-50.

  she was “holding her stomach” … People v. Arbuckle, Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco, first trial transcript, 1669-76.

  described in the same terms … Roscoe Arbuckle, “Roscoe Arbuckle Tells His Own Story,” Movie Weekly, December 31, 1921.

  “Is that human nature?… “ Milton U’Ren, closing statement of third Arbuckle trial, in Classics of the Bar, 24.

  “Is that the way a man who had nothing to fear …” Ibid., 24.

  “there were no closed or locked doors … “ “Girl Dead After Wild Party in Hotel,” San Francisco Chronicle, September 10, 1921.

  “We sat around and had some drinks …” “Detain Arbuckle,” Evening News (San Jose), September 10, 1921.

  “To show how serious we thought…” “Mystery Death Takes Actress,” Los Angeles Times, September 10, 1921.

  “Arbuckle took me by the arm … “ “Surprise Witness Heard,” Los Angeles Times, March 28, 1922.

  “Miss Rappe told me …” “Fatty Arbuckle Indicted,” Chicago Tribune, September 14, 1921.

  “The patient admitted to me …” Ibid.

  23. Denouement: 1932-33

  “Quite the most man-about-town-ish …” New York Letter, Brownsville Herald, October 14, 1932.

  “100% Californian”… Roscoe Arbuckle, letter to Mrs. Lee, dated December 1, 1932, document for sale on eBay, accessed August 16, 2011.

  “Roscoe Arbuckle has given up dieting…” Medbury Witticisms, Herald-Star (Stubenville, OH), March 9, 1933.

  Arbuckle and McPhail belatedly celebrated… Details of Arbuckle’s final night at La Hiff’s via “1000 Pay Tribute at Arbuckle Bier,” New York Times, July 1, 1933; “Throngs Pass Arbuckle Bier,” Los Angeles Times, June 30, 1933.

  “I’ve made my comeback”… “1000 Pay Tribute at Arbuckle Bier.”

  “We think of his love of children …” “Stage Folk Mourn at Arbuckle Bier,” New York Times, July 2, 1933.

  claiming they had a right… “Arbuckle Will Contest Planned by Brothers,” Los Angeles Times, July 19, 1933.

  a New York court ruled… “Roscoe Arbuckle Once Paid $1000 Daily, Leaves $400,” Syracuse Herald, July 27, 1934.

  she alone committed them to the Pacific Ocean … Robert Young Jr., “Where Fatty Arbuckle Is and Isn’t Buried,” Arbucklemania, www.silent-movies.com /Arbucklemania/Burial.html.

  Time told readers as much … Milestones, Time, July 10, 1933.

  “Instead of being the innocent…”“Consider ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle,” Mansfield NewsJournal, July 1, 1933.

  ”Arbuckle got a rough deal… “ Mark Hellinger, All in a Day, Lowell Sun, July 5, 1933.

  “Those who demanded their pound of flesh … “ Will Rogers, Will Rogers Says, Traverse City Record-Eagle, June 30, 1933.

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  IN 1921 , ON E OF T H E 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 little-known actress. Four days later, she died, and he was charged with her murder.

  Room 1219 tells the story of Arbuckle’s improbable rise and stunning fall—from one of Hollywood’s first true superstars to its first pariah.