meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
True Crime Historian

Fatty's Fatal Pajama Party

True Crime Historian

Richard O Jones

True Crime, Documentary, Arts, Society & Culture, Performing Arts

4.4729 Ratings

🗓️ 27 November 2024

⏱️ 78 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Hollywood’s First Sex Scandal

Ad-Free Safe House Edition

Episode 143 digs back into the early days of the motion picture industry, before Hollywood became synonymous with greed and lust and power. It only took a murder charge to bring down one of the biggest stars of the day, and even though it seems like poor Fatty got a bum rap on the deal, it’s probably the only reason Arbuckle’s work is not held in as high regard as Keaton and Chaplin today. 

More Falls From Grace

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.

You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Safe House is still just a buck a week, and you can get access to over 400 ad-free episodes from the dusty vault, Safe House Exclusives, direct access to the Boss, and whatever personal services you require.

We invite you to our other PULPULAR MEDIA podcasts:

If disaster is more your jam, check out CATASTROPHIC CALAMITIES, telling the stories of famous and forgotten tragedies of the 19th and 20th centuries. What could go wrong? Everything!

For brand-new tales in the old clothes from the golden era of popular literature, give your ears a treat with PULP MAGAZINES with two new stories every week.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Popular.com

0:03.5

Roscow Arbuckle, the famous Paramount Star, one of the best known in popular lights of the

0:14.5

screen, will be seen in his first feature subject, The Roundup, which is said to be one of

0:20.2

exceptional artistry.

0:22.6

When Roscoe Fattie Arbuckle selected Buster Keaton as his successor in the field of two real

0:27.6

comedies, many thought that he had done his share in giving that sad-faced youngster the chance

0:32.6

of his lifetime to become one of the leading satellites in the motion picture firmament. But the rotund comedian didn't stop there.

0:39.3

He dictated a letter to go to some 25,000 of his own admirers,

0:43.3

quote, I did not desert the two-reelers until I felt perfectly sure I had found a worthy successor,

0:49.3

one that can make you laugh even more than I did.

0:52.3

That man is Buster Keaton."

0:55.0

In view of Fattie's position in the comedy world, this rare tribute is one to be prized.

1:02.0

In 1903, Roscoe Arbuckle was employed as a barker at the doors of Bidewile, a vaudeville theater on the pike near Chestnut Way,

1:12.4

Long Beach. Charles E. W. Moore, the manager, discovering that Arbuckle had a talent as a singer,

1:18.6

advanced him to the job of singing illustrated songs at the time all the rage. After a few weeks,

1:25.3

Mr. Moore introduced musical comedy, and Arbuckle was given a tryout as a comedian.

1:31.3

He made good at the start, his breakneck falls and side play of humor made him popular.

1:37.7

Aiding in the comedy was a pony chorus, of which meant to do free, slender and pretty, was a member,

1:44.1

and was not long until not only the players,

1:46.8

but the audience were convinced that Cupid was making targets of the fat comedian and the petite chorus girl.

1:54.3

This was followed in due course by their agent and manager Moore,

1:58.6

who, with an eye to the future of the theater, gained consent to a

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Richard O Jones, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Richard O Jones and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.