Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and Virginia Rappe (Fake News: Fact Checking Hollywood Babylon Episode 3)

You Must Remember This

Karina Longworth

Tv & Film

4.7 • 15.1K Ratings

🗓️ 17 July 2018

⏱️ 74 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

At a boozy party over Labor Day weekend 1921, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, silent Hollywood’s superstar plus-size comedian, followed sometime actress Virginia Rappe into a hotel room. They were alone together for only a few minutes, but in that time, Rappe fell ill, and died several days later from her sickness. Arbuckle was tried for murder, and accused of rape in the newspapers. The story of the definitive sex-and-death scandal in early Hollywood history, which left a woman dead and effectively killed off a star comedian’s career, has been plagued with misinformation and distortions for nearly 100 years. Today we’ll closely examine Anger’s text to demonstrate how he implies both Arbuckle and Rappe’s guilt, and we’ll also use more recent scholarship on the case to try to suss out what really happened in that hotel room, and how the facts were distorted throughout Arbuckle’s three trials. This episode includes graphic descriptions of sexual violence. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Yay!
0:13.0	Welcome to another episode of You Must Remember This, the podcast dedicated to exploring
0:36.8	the secrets and or forgotten stories of Hollywood's first century. I'm your host, Karina Longworth,
0:46.8	and this is another chapter in our ongoing series, Fake News, Fact Checking Hollywood Babylon.
0:56.8	The great films of the silent years.
1:03.8	This isn't news. This is totally unfounded gossip.
1:07.8	It's a long way from Hollywood. Criticized for dealing too frightfully with such themes as sex and nudity.
1:13.8	Hollywood Babylon.
1:21.8	Today, we will finally tackle one of the most infamous stories from Hollywood's first decades.
1:28.8	That of Roscoe Fati, Arbuckle. The biggest, no pun intended, comic film star of the 19 teens.
1:39.8	Arbuckle's story is intertwined with the story of Virginia Rappé, a fashion designer and actress who died after attending a party in Arbuckle's hotel room over Labor Day weekend, 1921.
1:56.8	Here are excerpts from the version of this story told in Hollywood Babylon.
2:06.8	Roscoe Fati, Arbuckle, was a hefty plumber's helper discovered by Max Senate in 1913 when he came to unclog the comedy producer's drain.
2:14.8	Virginia Rappé, a lovely brunette model from Chicago, went to work on Senate's lot, taking minor parts.
2:21.8	She also did her share of sleeping around and gave half the company crabs. The epidemic, so shocked, Senate, that he closed down his studio and had it fumigated.
2:31.8	Virginia was forgiven, however, and soon started going steady with veteran Senate director Henry Pathé Lerman.
2:38.8	Arbuckle had his roving eye on Virginia for some time. He insisted that his friend, Bambina Maud Delmont, bring her to a party, celebrating his new three-year, $3 million contract with Paramount.
2:51.8	Fati loved liquor and ladies. The more, the merrier.
2:57.8	Arriving in the Bay City late Saturday night, Arbuckle checked into the luxurious hotel St. Francis.
3:03.8	On Labor Day afternoon, Monday, September 5, 1921, the party was still going strong.
3:09.8	Virginia and the other girls were downing Jim Laced Orange Blossoms.
3:13.8	At about a quarter after three, Arbuckle, flapping around in pajamas in a bathrobe, grabbed Virginia, steered the tipsy model to the bedroom of Suite 1221.
	...

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