Content Warning: This article contains discussions of sexual assault. Please read with care.
Roscoe Conkling Arbuckle, more famously known as Fatty Arbuckle, was one of the biggest silent film actors of the early 20th century. The round-faced, heavyset actor started performing at an early age in theaters and vaudeville shows, and in his mid-20s, he signed with the Keystone Film Company headed by producer and director Marck Sennett aka the “King of Comedy.”
Arbuckle was popular for his versatile acting and his comedic skills. The audience loved his facial expressions and slapstick comedy, which came naturally to him. He signed a three-year deal with Paramount to appear in 18 silent films, and he was to be paid $1 million each year (about $17.5 million in today’s money) — a rare offer at that time. Biographer Stuart Oderman described how big a star Arbuckle was by saying, “This was the guy who discovered Buster Keaton; who helped mentor Charlie Chaplin. He had magical comic timing. He was one of the all-time greats.”
Unfortunately, Arbuckle was involved in what many consider the first Hollywood scandal, and he was never able to restore his reputation.
The Labor Day party
Arbuckle was the picture of success. He had hundreds of movies under his name, a million-dollar contract, a fleet of cars, a mansion in Los Angeles, and hoards of fans who loved him. In Sept. of 1921, several of his films were playing in theaters, and the actor decided to take a much-needed break from his work by attending a party in San Francisco that his friend, Fred Fischbach, organized.
Arbuckle, Fischbach, and another friend, Lowell Sherman, headed to San Francisco’s luxurious St. Francis Hotel on Sept. 5 to spend Labor Day there. Fischbach reserved three adjoining rooms, 1219, 1220, and 1221, on the 12th floor. It was Prohibition, but it wasn’t a party without alcohol involved. According to Arbuckle, Fischbach was the one who was in charge of everything, including the guests, one of whom was model and actress Virginia Rappe.
Rappe was with her friends, Maude Delmont and Alfred Semnacher. Drinks were overflowing, guests were dancing, and everyone was having a good time. The events that happened next aren’t clear, as there were conflicting reports from witnesses. What is certain is that it was the beginning of Arbuckle’s downfall.
The allegations against Fatty Arbuckle
At some point during the party, Rappe was heard screaming in agony from room 1219. Guests entered the room, and a doctor was called to aid the actress, who was clearly in distress. The doctor said she was mostly suffering from the effects of alcohol. Rappe was given morphine but her condition didn’t improve. Despite that, it wasn’t until three days later that she was brought to a hospital where she died on Sept 9. Her cause of death was peritonitis – swelling of the abdomen – caused by a ruptured bladder.
According to Arbuckle, he had planned to leave the party and go sightseeing before the incident happened. He headed to his room, 1219, to change his clothes when he saw Rappe vomiting in the bathroom. He then helped clean her up and then put her in bed to rest, thinking she was just intoxicated, but she was tearing off her clothes. Arbuckle went back to the party in the other room, but when he returned, he saw her on the floor, still in pain. He claimed that’s when he went to get help.
Rappe’s friend, Delmont, however, had a different account of what happened. She said she saw Arbuckle leading Rappe into his room and saying, “I’ve waited for you five years, and now I’ve got you.” Rappe’s screams were then heard minutes later. Delmont claimed that she attempted to get into the room, but the door was locked, and when Arbuckle opened the door, she saw her friend naked. She said that Arbuckle sexually assaulted Rappe, and she heard her screaming, “I am dying. He did it.” Delmont told authorities that Arbuckle’s heavy weight had ruptured Rappe’s bladder during the assault.
Arbuckle was charged with first-degree murder – which was later downgraded to manslaughter – a day after Rappe’s death, and he voluntarily went to the police station. Meanwhile, newspapers had a field day with the scandal. Arbuckle was called a “beast” and his party was described as an “orgy.” Theaters stopped showing Arbuckle’s movies, and Paramount stopped his paychecks. Other studios added morality clauses to their contracts, saying that stars wouldn’t be paid if they lost “the respect of the public.”
Fatty Arbuckle’s trials
In Arbuckle’s first trial, the prosecution accused him of drugging Rappe, leading her into his room and sexually assaulting her, rupturing her bladder in the process. Some witnesses corroborated the story, but they didn’t do well under cross-examination. Arbuckle took the stand and didn’t waver in his story. He said he was simply trying to help Rappe, who he assumed was extremely inebriated. A nurse from the hospital where the actress was brought testified that Rappe told her she felt pain for weeks before the party. The jury couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict and eventually voted 11 to 1 to acquit. It ended in a mistrial.
The second trial happened months later. It was mostly a repeat of the first proceedings, but the defense chose not to put their client on the stand. This was detrimental for the defense, as the jury wasn’t able to hear Arbuckle’s side of the story in his own words. Still, it ended in another mistrial, this time with the jury deadlocked in a vote of 9 to 3 to convict.
The third trial began in March 1922. Again, Arbuckle took the stand to tell his side. More information came to light during the proceedings. Some of the prosecution witnesses admitted the district attorney forced them into testifying. Delmont, who was adamant that Arbuckle sexually assaulted Rappe, had a less-than-stellar reputation. She had charges for bigamy and fraud. She was known as Madame Black and sent women to extravagant parties and had them accuse men of sexual assault to be able to blackmail them for money. Her story about the party had inconsistencies as well. Just two days before Rappe’s death, Delmont sent a letter to her friends that read, “We have Roscoe Arbuckle in a hole here chance to make money out of him.”
Witnesses also testified that they had seen Rappe intoxicated before, and she had a tendency to remove her clothes when drunk, even in the presence of other people. Those close to the actress also said she had long suffered from chronic cystitis, also called the painful bladder syndrome. The coroner’s autopsy report showed that there was no evidence of Rappe being attacked “in any way.”
The jury deliberated for a little over five minutes and came back with a verdict of not guilty. Furthermore, they had an apology letter for Arbuckle. They said the acquittal wasn’t enough, and he should be exonerated of the crime. The letter, in part, read, “There was not the slightest proof adduced to connect him in any way with the commission of a crime. He was manly throughout the case and told a straightforward story on the witness stand, which we all believed.” They said what happened to Rappe was unfortunate, but there was no evidence that Arbuckle was responsible.
Fatty Arbuckle never recovered
In December of that year, the cancellation of Arbuckle’s movie screenings was revoked, but the damage had already been done. Arbuckle found it difficult to bounce back to acting after the scandal. Instead, he worked behind the scenes as a writer and director using the name William Goodrich, but his standing in Hollywood was never the same.
In 1932, Arbuckle appeared in two talking films for Warner Bros., which were both successful. That landed him a contract with the studio in 1933, and after signing, he celebrated with his friends. Sadly, Arbuckle died of a heart attack in his sleep that night at just 46 years old.
If you know someone suffering from sexual violence, contact RAINN or the National Sexual Abuse Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.