Frame-Up!: The Untold Story of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle

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Summary: Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle Was Destroyed By Hollywood Greed
Review: Andy Edmonds does an admirable job in detailing the tragic life of one of Hollywood's first and foremost comic actors, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. Long before Lloyd, Langdon, Keaton, even Chaplin, there was Arbuckle. Aside from precursors Max Linder and John Bunny and a very few others who were brilliant innovators in their own right, Arbuckle was the first great American comic star of silent film. From 1912 to 1921 Arbuckle was the reigning king of slapstick. Incredibly agile for a 280 pounder, Arbuckle did wonderful comic pantomime and made dozens of memorable shorts with silent comedy legends like Mabel Normand, Minta Durfee, Al Saint John, and his best friend, Buster Keaton as his sidekicks. As we all know, Arbuckle, who wanted more autonomy on his own productions, was framed by greedy, spiteful studio heads (including Paramount chief Adolph Zukor) on a frumped up rape charge. The incident allegedly occurred at an infamous 1921 party in a San Francisco hotel. Of course, it was all a lie. Roscoe, targeted for his insubordination to the totalitarian studio system--- was unjustly persecuted as the poster boy for Hollywood hedonism and excess. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Most studio executives at the time lived self-indulgent lives that would make the inhabitants of Soddom and Gemmorah blush. Worst of all, Arbuckle was completely innocent of the phoney charges of rape. Spiteful over Roscoe's switching studios, certain detestable movie executives paid a bigamist and professional correspondent ("Bambina Maude Delmont") to testify against him on the fabricated rape charge. The alleged rape victim ----Virgnia Rappe (ironic first name, isn't it)---died as a result of internal hemmoraging. While Delmont claimed Rappe's death was due to Arbuckle's shoving a bottle inside her (an incident conveniently witnessed solely by the correspondent), medical results proved her death was actually due to a botched abortion she had recently received. Rappe was an infamous Hollywood [lady] who had had more abortions than even she could remember. She was also being treated for an advanced case of venereal disease. Most telling of all, she was known for attending parties, getting stoned, ripping off her clothes, and running into the streets crying "rape." After enduring three separate trials, and despite his eventually being found not guilty in a court of law, in the court of public opinion Fatty's career was utterly destroyed. He was labled a "fat pervert" by ignorant mobs who were susceptible to the vicious vitriol leveled at him by pseudo-moralist studio executives whose only real concern was saving their own asses and preserving their financial bottom lines. The once beloved comedian was literally spat on by men, women, and children who should have known better than to fall prey to the slander perpetrated by corrupt Hollywood mogols. Roscoe's films were pulled from circulation. His contracts were all cancelled and his name became associated with all that was rotten in Hollywood. Of course, the moguls who destroyed him continued on making millions. After the tragic 1921 episode Arbuckle was basically blacklisted in the industry and had to turn to directing under the pseudonym "William Goodrich." But even then jobs were few and far in-between. He longed to return to making people laugh on the screen but his popularity never rebounded even after he was allowed to return to acting. Roscoe's final years were sad, and he turned to the bottle. His Hollywood friends, particularly Buster Keaton, stood by the man whom he described as being "very shy, naive, and innocent." Keaton, in particular, fought to have studios give his friend work. But by the late 1920s Arbuckle was all but forgotten except as the cruel butt of tasteless jokes. Arbuckle never understood how or why he came to be so despised. When Roscoe died in 1933, Keaton said the cause was a broken heart. I enthusiastically recommend the purchase of this well-researched and well-written biography. At the time she was working on this biography on Roscoe, Andy Edmonds had already established a fine reputation for herself as the biographer of another tragic Hollywood legend, Thelma Todd. But this book is extra special. Why? Because it helps to publicly exonerate a wronged human being simply by revealing the truth. Arbuckle was a good, kind man who was actually very well-mannered and a gentleman around women----assuredly more gentlemanly than the hedonistic moguls who daily employed the casting couch as their unique version of "screen testing" of young starlets. Keaton put it best when he said that Roscoe was too naive for his own good. In honor of Roscoe Conklin Arbuckle's memory, I will end this review by stating that Roscoe was a great man and a great talent. He was always embarrassed when people referred to him as "Fatty." He deserved better. Here's to you, Roscoe.