Roscoe Arbuckle

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Roscoe Arbuckle (1916)

Roscoe Conkling "Fatty" Arbuckle (born March 24, 1887 in Smith Center , Kansas , USA , † June 29, 1933 in New York City , USA) was an American actor and director . His nickname "Fatty" Fatty , which he got for his sprawling figure, he hated, but used it as a stage name. Fatty Arbuckle was one of the great stars of the silent film .

He worked u. a. along with Buster Keaton , with whom he was close friends, as well as with Charlie Chaplin , Ben Turpin , Stan Laurel , Oliver Hardy and Bing Crosby .

In 1921, however, at the height of his fame, he was charged with the murder of aspiring actress Virginia Rappe . The subsequent Arbuckle scandal ended his career early with a lawsuit and cost him his reputation despite acquittal . In connection with the scandal, all of Hollywood , especially the Hearst press, was denounced as a den of sin . The criticism had an impact, and the following year the film studios submitted to an institutionalized voluntary self-regulation designed to monitor morality in Hollywood films.

Youth and career start

Out West from 1918, with Buster Keaton, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and Al St. John (from left)

Arbuckle was born in Smith Center, Kansas, to one of nine children of Mollie and William Goodrich Arbuckle. After several years of stage experience in vaudeville theaters , he went to Los Angeles and signed a contract with the Selig Polyscope Company in July 1909 . However, only a few appearances in short films followed by 1913. Already in 1908, on August 6, he married the silent film actress Araminta Estelle Durfee (born October 1, 1889, Los Angeles; † September 9, 1975, Woodland Hills, Ca.), who became known under the name Minta Durfee Arbuckle. After a short visit to Carl Laemmle's Universal Pictures his rise began at the Keystone Studios from Mack Sennett to which he moved with his wife 1913th It was there that his fame began when he took on a role in the police slapstick series Keystone Cops, which has been running since 1912 . The series was produced by Mack Sennett until 1917, including Charlie Chaplin.

Arbuckle, who was capable of dynamic performance despite his weight, became known for exuberant and gaudy comedies, with chases, funny pictures and cake fights , which he especially loved. In fact, the earliest film version of a cake fight can be seen in the Keystone-produced silent film A Noise from the Deep , in which Fatty Arbuckle starred with Mabel Normand .

Legend has it that Arbuckle himself was the "inventor" of the cake fight. He allegedly landed in El Paso during a vaudeville tour of Texas , where he came across the Pancho Villa army encamped on the other bank during a picnic on the Rio Grande . The two sides are said to have thrown fruit at each other for sheer pleasure, and when Arbuckle pulled a Mexican from his saddle with a plant of bananas, Pancho Villa was also extremely amused.

In 1917, Arbuckle Buster discovered Keaton , gave him roles in his films and made him a star. The two actors formed a close friendship, which even Arbuckle's later life tragedy could not shake.

The arbuckle scandal

In 1921, Arbuckle was at the height of his fame. He was under contract to Paramount and was the first actor to earn more than a million dollars a year - no studio had paid that much for a star before. On September 3, the Saturday before Labor Day , he took a break from his tight schedule and production schedule and drove to San Francisco for three days with two friends, Lowell Sherman and Fred Fischbach . The trio rented a room at the St. Francis Hotel and decided to have a Labor Day party on Monday, September 5th. They invited a couple of women over, one of whom, 26-year-old actress Virginia Rappe , suddenly fell seriously ill during the party. The hotel doctor who was called only found a strong alcohol intoxication. However, three days later she died of peritonitis due to a ruptured bladder. Virginia Rappe's companion, Maude Delmont, then tried to blackmail Arbuckle for his involvement in the incident. Arbuckle was convinced, however, that he was not responsible, and did not engage in blackmail. Delmont then made an incriminating statement to the police in order to get money through Arbuckle's lawyers. After that, however, the incident got out of hand and became a scandal.

The politically ambitious San Francisco District Attorney Matthew Brady picked up the case and began investigating Arbuckle. In a press release, he accused the actor of rape or attempted rape of Virginia Rappe, among other things through the use of an object that he introduced or attempted to import - there were rumors of a champagne or Coca-Cola bottle. After all, he is said to have crushed her by his considerable body weight. Brady hoped that the spectacular trial that was to be expected would give him better chances of finding his way to governor .

The autopsy of the dead came to a different conclusion, however: the doctor carrying out the rape could neither prove a rape nor were there any traces of violence to be found. The deceased, on the other hand, was known to be sickly. She suffered from chronic cystitis, which got worse when she drank alcohol. Nonetheless, she was known at Hollywood parties for her heavy drinking.

Before and during the trial, Arbuckle insisted on his version of what had happened: he found Black in the bathroom calling for help and throwing up. He helped her to bed and was alone with her for barely ten minutes. Although the suspicion did not materialize, Brady upheld the charges. At the start of the trial, the evidence against Arbuckle was very thin. The original witness Maude Delmont seemed extremely untrustworthy. She had been involved in criminal activities several times, including as an accomplice in a blackmail case. Further testimony apparently came under massive pressure from the investigators and were not sufficient for a conviction.

However, due to negative newspaper reports, Arbuckle's public image had suffered greatly. The mood turned against him, and the publisher William Randolph Hearst used the public interest to denounce the "depravity" of Hollywood. The first trial from November 14 to December 4, 1921, ended without result because the jury could not agree; ten pleaded for acquittal, two for guilty. In the second trial, from January 11 to February 3, 1922, eight were guilty and only four were acquitted. In the third trial, from March 13 to April 12, 1922, the judge reduced the charges from murder to manslaughter . After less than half an hour of deliberation, the jury unanimously voted in favor of acquittal and emphasized the untenability of the allegations against Arbuckle.

Despite the acquittal, Fatty Arbuckle's great career had come to an inglorious end. The press had left him uncomfortable and his personal tragedy cast a shadow over Hollywood and the film industry. During the lengthy process, the mood had turned sharply: moralists across the country organized themselves and demanded the death penalty for Arbuckle, the studio bosses required his friends to distance himself from him and not to protect him publicly. Only Buster Keaton could resist and called Arbuckle one of the most decent people he knew.

End of career and death

Over the years, the view that Arbuckle was indeed innocent became increasingly popular; however, it didn't help him much. On January 27, 1925, Araminta Estelle Durfee divorced him in Paris for malicious departure. But on May 16, 1925, he married Doris Deane. His attempts to return to the film business failed and he became ill with alcohol and heroin . His friend Buster Keaton wanted to help him by employing him in his film productions, but with little success. For the Educational Pictures film studio , he directed several cartoons under the pseudonym William B. Goodrich . However, he became increasingly difficult and irritable. In 1929 his second marriage also fell apart, Doris Deane justified her application for divorce with malicious abandonment and cruelty.

At the beginning of 1931 a streak of light appeared for Arbuckle when Jack L. Warner offered him a contract for a total of six short comedies to be produced in New York using the Vitaphone sound process. Arbuckle signed because he was even allowed to perform under his familiar name. On June 21, 1931, he married for the third time - Addie Oakley Dukes McPhail. On June 28, 1933, the last film was shot and a new contract was signed with the Warner Brothers .

Just hours later, Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle died of heart failure. Buster Keaton insisted that he died of a broken heart. The body was cremated and the ashes scattered in the Pacific by Addie McPhail . The rumor that has been widespread at times that Arbuckle is buried in the Holy Cross cemetery in Culver City , California, is inaccurate .

Effects of the scandal

The Arbuckle case was just one of three major scandals of the period that hit Paramount Studios in particular . On February 1, 1922, the director William Desmond Taylor was murdered under mysterious circumstances in his home and on January 18, 1923, the actor Wallace Reid died in connection with morphine abuse. All of these events rocked Hollywood, and there was increasing demand for morality to be established and monitored in the film business. This led to the creation of Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA) and the introduction of Production Codes to promote moral standards in the film industry. It was essentially a matter of voluntary self-regulation in order to prevent possible censorship by the state or interest groups. The MPPDA was chaired by William Harrison Hays , campaign manager for Republican President Warren G. Harding . He was conservative and had good contacts with the " moral majority " of the USA. The MPPDA's Production Code, also known as the Hays Code , forbade the representation of violence and violent crimes, the idealization of criminals and vicious people, and the representation of sexuality, especially “perversion” ( homosexuality ). With these measures, the Hollywood studios hoped to improve their image again and to counter criticism from outside in advance.

For Roscoe Arbuckle, the measures taken by the Hays Office had fatal consequences: his films were banned and only after many years was he allowed to officially work for Hollywood again.

Short films (selection)

1909

  • Ben's kid
  • Mr. Jones' birthday
  • Making It Pleasant for Him

1910

  • The sanitarium

1913

1914

  • A film Johnnie (with Charles Chaplin)
  • Tango Tangles (with Charles Chaplin)
  • The Knockout (with Charles Chaplin)
  • The Rounders (with Charles Chaplin)

1915

1917

  • The Butcher Boy (with Buster Keaton)
  • A Reckless Romeo (with Buster Keaton)
  • The Rough House (with Buster Keaton)
  • His Wedding Night (with Buster Keaton)
  • Oh Doctor (with Buster Keaton)
  • Coney Island (with Buster Keaton)
  • Country Hero (with Buster Keaton)

1918

  • Out West (with Buster Keaton)
  • The Bell Boy (with Buster Keaton)
  • Moonshine (with Buster Keaton)
  • Good Night Nurse (with Buster Keaton)
  • The chef ( The Cook , with Buster Keaton)

1919

  • Back Stage (with Buster Keaton)
  • The Hayseed (with Buster Keaton)

1920

1931

  • Windy Riley Goes Hollywood (Director: Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle)

Feature films (selection)

1920
  • The round-up
  • Life of the party
1921
  • Leap Year
  • Brewster's Millions
  • Crazy to Marry
  • The Fast Freight (unreleased)
1924
  • Sherlock Jr., directed by Buster Keaton and Roscoe Arbuckle (not named)
1927
  • The Red Mill (directed under the pen name William Goodrich)

literature

  • Andy Edmonds: Frame-Up! The Untold Story of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. William Morrow & Co, New York NY 1991, ISBN 0-688-09129-6 (English).
  • Stuart Oderman: Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. A biography of the silent film comedian, 1887–1933. McFarland & Co Inc, Jefferson, NC et al. 2005, ISBN 0-7864-2277-7 (English).
  • Jerry Stahl: I, Fatty. A novel. Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, New York NY 2005, ISBN 1-58234-582-1 (English).
  • David A. Yallop : The Day the Laughter Stopped. The true story of Fatty Arbuckle. St. Martin's Press, New York NY 1976, ISBN 0-340-16901-X (English).

Web links

Commons : Roscoe Arbuckle  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Cult director Tarantino on the Weinstein affair: "I knew enough". In: kurier.at. October 21, 2017. Retrieved December 30, 2017 .