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

by Greg Merritt

  It explores how the earliest silent film experiments evolved into a studiobased system capable of making and, ultimately, breaking a beloved superstar. Simultaneously, it presents the sensational crime story from the day of the “orgy” through Arbuckle’s 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.

  GREG MERRITT is the author of Film Production: The Complete Uncensored Guide to Independent Filmmaking and Celluloid Mavericks: A History of American Independent Film. He is a senior writer for American Media Inc. and has written hundreds of feature articles for numerous magazines. He has an MFA from the American Film Institute.

  Jacket design: Natalya Balnova

  Front cover photos: Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress; Virginia Rappe, New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection, Library of Congress; Hotel St. Francis, Ed Brodzinsky, photographer Author photo: Kevin Horton

  PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA