roscoe arbuckle, at he height of his career, was making the highest salary paid to an actor at the time - one million dollars a year, from paramount studios.
sept 2, 1921, roscoe and 2 friends, lowell sherman and fred fischbach, drove to northern california, where arbuckle intended to take a well needed break from his hectic film schedule. they checked into the st francis hotel in san francisco.
one of the women who ended up at their party, a 26-year-old aspiring actress named Virginia Rappe, became seriously ill and was examined by the hotel doctor, who concluded that she was over-intoxicated.
rappe died three days later of peritonitis caused by a ruptured bladder. her party companion, maude delmont, implicated Arbuckle over his involvement in the matter, claiming that he'd crushed rappe's innards while raping her. arbuckle refused to be intimidated. delmont then made a statement to the police in an attempt to get money from arbuckle's attorneys, but the matter soon got out of her hands. newspapers, particularly those controlled by William Randolph Hearst, made a fortune endlessly crucifying arbuckle in spurious and surreally vicious articles and editorials.
the arbuckle trial was a major media event, and stories in hearst's newspaper empire made arbuckle appear guilty. after two hung juries, a 3rd trial resulted not only in an acquittal for roscoe, but a written apology from the jury to him, as well -- a unprecedented gesture in american jurisprudence.
although arbuckle was exonerated of the rappe allegations, the infamy from the trials destroyed his career and his personal life. during the trial, morality groups nationwide called for arbuckle to be sentenced to death, and studio moguls ordered arbuckle's friends in the industry not to come to his public defense. charlie chaplin was out of the country at the time on a triumphant return to england. buster keaton, a good friend of roscoe's, make a public statement in support of arbuckle, calling him one of the kindest souls he had known.
the hays office banned all of roscoe's films, although will hays later issued a statement that arbuckle should be allowed to work in hollywood. ironically, one of the very few of Arbuckle's feature-length films known to survive, leap year, had been one of two finished films paramount held back from release at the time the scandal broke; while it was eventually released in europe after the acquittal, it was never theatrically released in the us or europe
many of roscoe's films, including the feature life of the party, survive only as a print with foreign-language inter-titles; life of the party was released before the scandal, but no effort was made to preserve the original english-language prints.
roscoe arbuckle filmography
Ben’s Kid (1909)
Mrs. Jones’ Birthday (1909)
Making It Pleasant for Him (1909)
The Sanitarium (1910)
Alas! Poor Yorick! (1913)
The Gangsters (1913)
Help! Help! Hydrophobia! (1913)
Passions, He Had Three (1913)
The Waiters’ Picnic (1913)
A Bandit (1913)
Peeping Pete (1913)
For the Love of Mabel (1913)
The Telltale Light (1913)
A Noise from the Deep (1913)
Love and Courage (1913)
Professor Bean’s Removal (1913)
The Riot (1913)
Mabel’s New Hero (1913)
Fatty’s Day Off (1913)
Mabel’s Dramatic Career (1913)
The Gypsy Queen (1913)
The Fatal Taxicab (1913)
When Dreams Come True (1913)
Mother’s Boy (1913)
Two Old Tars (1913)
A Quiet Little Wedding (1913)
The Speed Kings - Earl Cooper and Teddy Tetzlaft (1913)
Fatty At San Diego (1913)
Wine (1913)
A Muddy Romance (1913)
Fatty Joins the Force (1913)
The Woman Haters (1913)
A Ride for the Bride (1913)
Fatty’s Flirtation (1913)
His Sister’s Kids (1913)
He Would a Hunting Go (1913)
A Misplaced Foot (1914)
The Under Sheriff (1914)
A Flirt’s Mistake (1914)
In the Clutches of the Gang (1914)
Rebecca’s Wedding Day (1914)
A Robust Romeo (1914)
’Twixt Love and Fire (1914)
A Film Johnnie (1914)
Tango Tangles (1914)
His Favorite Pastime (1914)
A Rural Demon (1914)
The Chicken Chaser (1914)
A Suspended Ordeal (1914)
The Water Dog (1914)
A Fatal Flirtation (1914)
The Alarm (1914)
The Knockout (1914)
His New Profession (1914)
Fatty and the Heiress (1914)
Fatty’s Finish (1914)
Love and Bullets (1914)
A Rowboat Romance (1914)
The Sky Pirate (1914)
Those Happy Days (1914)
That Minstrel Man (1914)
Those Country Kids (1914)
Fatty’s Gift (1914)
The Masquerader (1914)
A Brand New Hero (1914)
The Rounders (1914)
Lovers’ Luck (1914)
Fatty’s Debut (1914)
Fatty Again (1914)
Their Ups and Downs (1914)
Zip, the Dodger (1914)
Lovers’ Post Office (1914)
An Incompetent Hero (1914)
Fatty’s Jonah Day (1914)
Fatty’s Wine Party (1914)
The Sea Nymphs (1914)
Leading Lizzie Astray (1914)
Shotguns That Kick (1914)
Fatty’s Magic Pants (1914)
Fatty and Minnie-He-Haw (1914)
Mabel and Fatty’s Wash Day (1915)
Fatty and Mabel’s Simple Life (1915)
Fatty and Mabel (At the San Diego Exposition) (1915)
Mabel, Fatty and the Law (1915)
Fatty’s New Role (1915)
Mabel and Fatty’s Married Life (1915)
Fatty’s Reckless Fling (1915)
Fatty’s Chance Acquaintance (1915)
Love in Armor (1915)
That Little Band of Gold (1915)
Fatty’s Faithful Fido (1915)
When Love Took Wings (1915)
Wished on Mabel (1915)
Mabel and Fatty Viewing the World’s Fair at San Francisco, Cal. (1915)
Mabel’s Wilful Way (1915)
Miss Fatty’s Seaside Lovers (1915)
The Little Teacher (1915)
Fatty’s Plucky Pup (1915)
Fatty’s Tintype Tangle (1915)
Fickle Fatty’s Fall (1915)
The Village Scandal (1915)
Fatty and the Broadway Stars (1915)
Fatty and Mabel Adrift (1916)
He Did and He Didn't (1916)
The Bright Lights (1916)
His Wife’s Mistake (1916)
The Other Man (1916)
The Waiters’ Ball (1916)
A Cream Puff Romance (1916)
Gaumont Graphic Newsreel No. 39 (1916)
The Butcher Boy (1917)
A Reckless Romeo (1917)
The Rough House (1917)
His Wedding Night (1917)
Oh, Doctor! (1917)
Coney Island (1917)
A Country Hero (1917)
Out West (1918)
The Bell Boy (1918)
Moonshine (1918)
Good Night, Nurse! (1918)
United States Fourth Liberty Loan Drive (1918)
The Cook (1918)
Canadian Victory Loan Drive (1918)
The Sheriff (1918)
Camping Out (1919)
The Pullman Porter (1919)
Love (1919)
The Bank Clerk (1919)
A Desert Hero (1919)
Back Stage (1919)
The Hayseed (1919)
The Garage (1920)
The Round-Up (1920)
The Life of the Party (1920)
Brewster’s Millions (1921)
The Dollar a Year Man (1921)
The Traveling Salesman (1921)
Gasoline Gus (1921)
Crazy to Marry (1921)
Leap Year (1922)
Freight Prepaid (1922)
Character Studies (1923)
Hollywood (1923)
Go West (1925)
