[53] In this film, James Coco portrays a heavy-set silent film comedian named Jolly Grimm whose career is on the skids, but who is desperately planning a comeback. [n 1] Although his large size was undoubtedly part of his comedic appeal, Arbuckle was self-conscious about his weight and refused to use it to get "cheap" laughs like getting stuck in a doorway or chair. Sharing the Spotlight A young British stage actor. He retreated into alcoholism. While Arbuckle saw a resurgence in his popularity immediately after his third trial (in which he was acquitted) Zukor decided he had to be sacrificed to keep the movie industry out of the clutches of censors and moralists. He made his first movie, a short comedy called Ben's Kid, in 1909. "[16], Despite his physical size, Arbuckle was remarkably agile and acrobatic. After this news was released, the public went wild with rumors about how Arbuckle was involved. The Arbuckle family moved to the Los Angeles area (Santa Ana, California) when Roscoe was 8. Some articles stated Arbuckle had crushed Rappe with his weight, while others said he had raped her with a foreign object (the papers went into graphic details). Film Comedian, Central Figure in Coast Tragedy in 1921, Long Barred From Screen. McNab was furthermore able to get Nurse Hultson to admit that the rupture of Rappe's bladder could very well have been a result of cancer, and that the bruises on her body could also have been a result of the heavy jewelry she was wearing that evening. Rooms 1219 and 1221 were for them, and room 1220 was to be used for a party room. "[21], On September 5, 1921, Arbuckle took a break from his hectic film schedule and, despite suffering from second-degree burns to both buttocks from an on-set accident, drove to San Francisco with two friends, Lowell Sherman and Fred Fishback. It is reported that the jurors voted in favour of the indictment by twelve votes to two. Virginia Rappe And Fatty Arbuckle: The Facts Behind The Scandal Arbuckle, whose real name was Roscoe, had allegedly locked Rappe in a room and crushed her with his 19 stone body weight and raped her. The young woman's fiance, film director Henry Lehrman, introduced her to Arbuckle, and according to . [59], In April and May 2006, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City mounted a 56-film, month-long retrospective of all of Arbuckle's known surviving work, running the entire series twice. The jury was hung with a 10 to 2 vote for acquittal. . [citation needed], Arbuckle and Dan Coombs, one of Culver City's first mayors, re-opened the Plantation Club near the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios on Washington Boulevard as Roscoe Arbuckle's Plantation Caf on August 2, 1928. The earliest known pie thrown in film was in the June 1913 Keystone one-reeler A Noise from the Deep, starring Arbuckle and frequent screen partner Mabel Normand. https://www.thoughtco.com/fatty-arbuckle-scandal-1779625 (accessed March 4, 2023). He was a wonderful dancera wonderful ballroom dancer, in his heyday. [50], For his contributions to the film industry, in 1960, some 27 years after his death, Arbuckle was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6701 Hollywood Boulevard. And though she didn't improve, she wasn't taken to the hospital for three days because most people who visited her considered her condition to be caused by liquor. Arbuckle sang, danced, and did some clowning around, but he did not impress the audience. [citation needed] Several women were invited to the suite. He soon became one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood.