Andrew Schanie - Movie Confidential: Sex, Scandal, Murder and Mayhem in the Film Industry

ROSCOE CONKLING ARBUCKLE CAME crashing into the world on March 24, 1887, weighing sixteen pounds. If the birth of a sixteen-pound baby wasnt enough cause for alarm, it happened in the midst of a tornado. In Arbuckles words, My birth and a cyclone blew Smith Center [Kansas] off the map. He was the youngest of nine childrenlittle wonder his mother stopped with Roscoe. His young life was not filled with happiness. Roscoes mother died when he was twelve years old. His father was a drunk with a violent temper. But Roscoe grew up to be a rotund man who could make people laugh.

Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle may have played an idiot onscreen, but in reality he was an actor with great comic timing. His films were often a mixture of vulgarity and innocencelike a fat, horny five-year-old getting his first peck on the cheek.

Arbuckle could have been a legend. At one point he was more popular than his associate Charles Chaplin. He helped Buster Keaton become the star that he was. But one event at a Labor Day partyleading to the mysterious death of a young womanwould bring notoriety to Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle and ruin everything for him. Even after three trialsall ending in acquittal for Arbucklehe would never recover from his transformation from a comedian into a laughingstock.

According to the book, The Fatty Arbuckle Case by Leo Guild, director Henry Lehrman had a new picture on the horizon starring Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle. It was on the set of this movie that Arbuckle met the young starlet Virginia Rappe for the first time. Rappe was involed with Henry Lehrman, but Arbuckle was infatuated with Virginias beauty nonetheless and had no problem letting her know. But Virginia had no interest in being Arbuckles girl. Although Arbuckle may have been a large man, he had a way of charming women. He wasnt a desperate man pining after something he couldnt have. He was a man who wore his emotions on his sleeve and left his options open. Should Virginia Rappe become single, he would swoop in to work his magic.

On Labor Day weekend in 1921, the planets aligned for disaster. Rappe had an argument with Lehrman, who left town on business after the argument, leaving the status of their relationship unknown. Arbuckle was aware of the rift and also was hosting a party at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco that weekend. He had booked three connecting rooms for the bash. Virginia would be one of the guests.

Over thirty guests attended the party, and there were various reports of what happened. Some say Virginia was drunk to the point of being sick. Others remembered her only having two, maybe three drinks. Regardless of how drunk she was or was not, at one point she needed to use the bathroom. Arbuckle offered to let her use the one that connected to his bedroom. She accepted and took his hand while he walked her there. Arbuckle also said loudly, as to address the room, Ive waited five years for you and now Ive got you! They entered the bedroom with no struggle; the door shut and then locked.

The party was in full swing. Arbuckle and Rappe were locked in seclusion. A tenant on the same floor called the front desk to complain about the noise. The phone in Arubuckles suite rang; it was the front desk asking if the raging party could rage a little more quietly. Then, depending on the witness, a bloodcurdling scream erupted from the bedroom. Arbuckle could be heard moaning loudly. Rappe shouted either, Hes killing me! or Dont kill me! One of the guests, Maude Delmont, began pounding the door with her shoe, shouting for Arbuckle to leave Rappe alone.

Another call was placed to the front deskthis time from inside Arbuckles suite. The manager arrived within minutes. He knocked hard on the bedroom door, demanding it be opened. The door was opened to reveal Arbuckle partially clothed and dripping with sweat. Rappe, who lay on the bed, appeared to be in immense pain. Again, depending on the witness, Virginia Rappe was nude, wearing some clothes, or had her clothes torn from her. A doctor was phoned in, who diagnosed the young woman as suffering from alcohol poisoning. The remedy let her sleep it off. Arbuckle wanted the girl out of his bed. A different room in the hotel was booked for her to recover in. Arbuckle added the charge to his bill.

Rappe was moved to another room where two partygoers, Maude Delmont and Zey Prevon, kept a vigil at her bedside. Rappe was not getting better. In fact, she was getting worse. Delmont called a second doctor who called for an ambulance. Virginia Rappe had suffered internal injuries. Her bladder had been ripped. She was transferred to Wakefield Sanatorium and underwent emergency surgery.

Fatty Arbuckle helped Buster Keaton become a star.

Only two people know for certain what happened behind the locked doors of that bedroom. One died four days later. The other was the primary suspect. Unsurprisingly vulgar rumors of what could have happened were floating around. Arbuckle raped her. He raped her twice; the second time caused internal damage. He violated the unconscious woman with a bottle. He violated her with a large piece of ice. Lots of ideas but no smoking gun.