Fatty Arbuckle and the Death of Virginia Rappe
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Arbuckle was back in California in 1909 when he got a part in a movie called Ben's Kid. But these were the days when stage actors were looked on as less than respectable and those in the young film industry were even more suspect. (Boardinghouses often had signs warning no dogs or actors allowed). Arbuckle was positively embarrassed about it and did not tell anyone he knew about his role.
Arbuckle matured into a strikingly fastidious man. He always kept himself clean and neat. Perhaps this was partly a reaction to his poverty-stricken and sometimes squalid childhood or to the prejudicial "fat slob" stereotype. He also disliked swearing. Although he would be known as Fatty to audiences, he never allowed his friends to call him that. If they slipped, he would remind them, "My name is Roscoe."
1909 was an important year for Roscoe Arbuckle. He married singer Minta Durfee, whom he affectionately called "Minty." At their wedding reception, guests teased the couple about the wedding night and how Roscoe's fat body would do against Minta's petite one.
That night he was unable to consummate their marriage. "Minty," he said, "I can't." He was not a virgin but had only had a single sexual encounter — with a showgirl. However, the jeering of his friends left him feeling awkward and embarrassed. The couple slept in the same bed without having sex but hugging each other tightly to express their love. About a week passed before he felt comfortable enough to engage in sexual relations. Soon Arbuckle joined up with the Morosco Burbank stock company. He traveled through China and Japan with Ferris Hartman. Minta accompanied him on his travels. Sometimes she saw a side of him she did not like. He took to drinking with the other guys and, like his father before him, booze caused a negative change in his personality. When drunk he was sullen, nasty, and argumentative, although never physically violent. In 1913, he made his last appearance on the stage in Yokahama, Japan.
Upon returning to the states late that year he went to work at Mack Sennett's studio, Keystone. There he appeared in hundreds of one-reel comedies. Usually he was a policeman with the famous Keystone Cops. Henry "Pathé" Lehrman directed most of the pictures in which Arbuckle appeared. Arbuckle became the very first actor in films to take a pie in the face when he made A Noise from the Deep. The agile actor threw pies as well and was able to accomplish the remarkable feat of tossing two pies in opposite directions at the same time. Actors Arbuckle worked with included such greats as Chaplin, Mabel Normand, and Fred Sterling.
In 1914, Arbuckle began directing some of the films in which he acted. The next year, he moved from one-reelers to two-reelers and proved that he could sustain his comedy.
Mabel Normand was called "The Queen of Comedy" and "The Female Chaplin." She and Roscoe paired up regularly in such movies as Mabel, Fatty and the Law, Mabel and Fatty's Wash Day, and Mable and Fatty Viewing the World's Fair at San Francisco. For the last motion picture, the actors and crew traveled to the actual World's Fair that was going on in San Francisco in 1915.
The next year saw the comedian face a health crisis. He had a carbuncle — a bacterial infection — on his leg. It was so bad that the doctors thought for a while that they might have to amputate.. Luckily, he did not lose a limb but the sickness made the heavy man lose 80 pounds and he briefly became addicted to morphine. In 1917 Arbuckle partnered up with Joseph Schenck, Norma Talmadge's husband, to form a film company called Comique. Arbuckle wanted more creative control over his work and this gave it to him. He soon hired a young performer named Buster Keaton who would become a leading light in the world of comedy. Roscoe and Keaton would star in 1917 in The Butcher Boy. However, professional glory was marred by personal trauma. He and Minta were having trouble in their marriage. Arbuckle would not give up his booze. They separated in 1917. Interestingly, and ironically in view of later events, most familiar with Arbuckle's life believe he was never unfaithful to Minty, even after they separated. Yallop wrote that, "Arbuckle may have been the most chaste man in Hollywood."
Continuing to make Comique films, Arbuckle turned out some of the greatest classics of the silent era. They include movies like Coney Island, Goodnight Nurse,and The Garage. As far as his films went, it seemed like Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle could only get better. Eventually, Arbuckle relinquished control of Comique to Keaton and signed with Paramount after being offered a cool $1 million per year. In 1919, Paramount asked him to move from two-reel films to feature movies. That studio also wanted him to make films at a much faster clip than he was used to and his work suffered as a result. However, movies like Brewster's Millions in 1920 and Gasoline Gus in 1921 are very worthwhile comedies. Arbuckle was making about six motion pictures per year and at one point working on three different films at once. He was understandably exhausted and decided to take a three-day vacation in San Francisco with his friend, director Fred Fischbach. Before they left, Arbuckle suffered a burn to his buttocks. There are two different accounts of how he was burned. According to Andy Edmonds in Frame-Up! Arbuckle asked a mechanic to take a look at his luxurious Pierce-Arrow. While his car was getting a check-up, Arbuckle sat down on an old crate. "Owwwwww!" he shrieked, jumping up instantly. He had sat down on an acid-soaked rag. In that brief moment, the acid had burned through his pants and caused him second-degree burns. Yallop's account in The Day the Laughter Stopped was that Arbuckle had backed into a hot stove." In any case, he was injured and Arbuckle called up Fischbach to tell him that they couldn't take their little vacation as planned because he was in too much pain. Fischbach exploded. He was looking forward to this trip. Arbuckle had to make it.
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"I can't sit very long because of the burns," the comedian told him.
But the director insisted that he could stand it if he really wanted to.
Arbuckle eventually caved in. "I'll put some cases of booze from my cellar in the trunk," he told Fischbach.
"Don't do that," his friend urged. "You don't want to travel with bootleg booze in your car. In case we get stopped, we'll be clean. Let me take care of everything when we get to 'Frisco. I've got connections."
So Arbuckle, Fischbach, and actor Lowell Sherman got in the entertainer's Pierce-Arrow for the ride to San Francisco. Arbuckle was at the wheel. After driving for several hours, Arbuckle complained about the pain he was in. The group stopped at a store and bought a rubber ring for him to sit on that gave him some relief.
The group rented three adjoining rooms, numbers 1219, 1220, and 1221, at the St. Francis hotel. 1219 was Fischbach and Arbuckle's room; 1220 was the party room; and 1221 was Sherman's room.
It was supposed to be a relaxing Labor Day weekend.