Hollywood Origin Story – The story of ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle and Hollywood’s first major scandal

Roscoe Conkling “Grasso” Arbuckle he was one of Hollywood’s most popular actors during the silent film era. Known for his comedic performances and over-the-top character of him, Arbuckle was loved by audiences around the world. However, in 1921, his career collapsed after he was accused of a heinous crime that shocked the nation.

The “Fatty” Arbuckle story is Hollywood’s first major celebrity scandal and had a profound impact on the film industry and public perception of Hollywood celebrities. Before Arbuckle’s arrest and trial, Hollywood was still a relatively new industry and the public was still figuring out how to navigate the world of movie stars and celebrity culture.

The Arbuckle scandal was a perfect storm of tabloid journalism, public hysteria, and an emerging film industry that was still trying to establish itself as a legitimate art form. Media coverage of the trial was relentless, with sensational headlines and salacious details about Arbuckle’s personal life dominating the news cycle for months.

On Labor Day weekend 1921, Arbuckle and some friends decided to take a break from their busy movie schedule to throw a huge party on the 12th floor of San Francisco’s St. Francis Hotel. One of the guests at the party was a struggling 30-year-old actress named Virginia Rappe. Over the course of the night, Rappe became ill and at one point was screaming in agony in a bed. When guests rushed into the room, they found Rappe in pain.

Second witness and friend Little girl “Maude” Delmont, Rappe “writhed in pain” and tore at his clothes, and she screamed, “He did this! It hurt! I’m dying!” Maude accused Fatty of the rape and murder of her friend.

Maude cared for Rappe over the course of several days and was examined by multiple doctors, one of whom said her bladder was injured and likely needed surgery. However, they didn’t take her to a real hospital because they didn’t want the police involved. Why? Because alcohol was illegal at the time and they didn’t have time to clean everything up and get rid of the evidence. Then, they took Rappe to Wakefield Sanatorium, which served as a maternity hospital and sometimes an abortion clinic. Over the next few days, her condition worsened and she eventually slipped into a coma and died. Virginia told her nurses that Fatty did this to her.

An unauthorized autopsy was performed “at the request of friends of the deceased”. It was confirmed by this that Virginia’s bladder ruptured and the bladder injury was between one and twelve days old. The cause of death was determined to be peritonitis, an infection of the membrane lining the abdominal wall. It was believed that her bladder had ruptured from an external force. They came to the conclusion that Arbuckle applied external force during the act of sexual assault. That day, Fatty Arbuckle was arrested and charged with the murder of Virginia Rappe.

The scandal quickly became national news, and the media began reporting sensational stories about the incident. According to some reports, Arbuckle had raped Rappe with a bottle of champagne, while others claimed that he had caused his death by other violent means. One thing made clear, Arbuckle, the man who discovered Buster Keaton and mentored Charlie Chaplin, was public enemy number one, and mortality groups wanted him to face the death penalty.

Arbuckle was initially charged with first-degree murder, but that was eventually reduced to manslaughter, and as you can imagine, his trial became a media circus. The prosecution painted Arbuckle as a sexual deviant, while the defense argued that Rappe died of a pre-existing medical condition. It was also revealed in court that the prosecution had used intimidation to coerce several witnesses into testifying against Arbuckle.

The trial resulted in a hung jury and Arbuckle went on trial two more times before finally being acquitted of all charges. The trials were a complete disaster and Virginia’s fiancé swore under oath that she would have killed Arbuckle on the spot if he had not been convicted.

His main accuser was Maude Delmont, but she was a convicted felon who admitted to plotting to extort money from him. You were never asked to testify because you would only harm the case.

Fatty’s story, which has never changed, was that when Virginia was in a hysterical state, he would wash her face and lay her on the bed. At one point, she fell to the floor and he picked her up to put her back on the bed. She explained that it wasn’t her fault that she had ripped her clothes off. He said all she did was try to help her.

Despite being found innocent, Arbuckle’s career was completely ruined. He was blacklisted in Hollywood and struggled to find work for the rest of his life. After the trial, Hollywood set up a board of censors, which ruled that Arbuckle should never work in the industry again. Though it was eventually revoked, the actor remained blacklisted.

Arbuckle spent more than a decade trying to make a comeback in which he worked under a pseudonym and during that time, in 1927, he discovered Bob Hope in Cleveland, Ohio.

In 1933 Warner Bros. ended up offering him a feature film contract. When he signed the deal, he reportedly said, “This is the best day of my life.” That same night he died of a heart attack in his house in his wife’s arms. He was only 46 years old.

While it’s impossible to know exactly what happened on that fateful night in 1921, Fatty Arbuckle’s story is tragic for all involved. Subsequently, reporting on Hollywood gossip and creating scandals about personal problems that occurred in the life of celebrities became big business.

As you know, nothing has changed and everything is even more amplified thanks to social networks!

This is Virginia’s coffin, which is draped in flowers. Charlie Chaplin’s child wife at the time, Mildred, provided the gown in which Virginia was buried.

Source: BBC