Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle was one of the most popular silent movie stars in the early 1900s. He was a talented comedian who became a Hollywood legend through his work with Keystone Studios. However, in 1921, Arbuckle’s career came crashing down when he was accused of manslaughter after a young actress died at a party he hosted. The scandal resulted in three widely publicized trials and a prison sentence that ruined Arbuckle’s reputation. This article will examine Arbuckle’s rise to fame, the trials, and the aftermath that led to his downfall in Hollywood.

Early Life and Career

Roscoe Arbuckle was born in 1887 in Kansas. He started performing in vaudeville from a young age, singing and dancing. In his late teens, he moved to California and broke into the movie business through comedy producer Mack Sennett.

Arbuckle’s size lent itself to slapstick comedy – he weighed over 300 pounds. Sennett began casting him in silent films around 1913, playing the happy-go-lucky fat man. Arbuckle displayed a lightness and agility that made his pratfalls particularly funny.

Some of his early hits included:

• Fatty and Mabel Adrift (1916)
• He Did and He Didn’t (1916)
• The Butcher Boy (1917)

Arbuckle soon became one of the most recognizable stars of silent movies. He signed a $1 million contract with Paramount Pictures in 1921 as his fame skyrocketed.

The Labor Day Party Scandal

In September 1921, Roscoe Arbuckle checked into room 1220 of the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco to celebrate signing his lucrative new contract. He hosted multiple days of partying with friends and acquaintances in his hotel suite.

On September 5, 1921, an actress named Virginia Rappe was found seriously ill in Arbuckle’s bathroom. She was examined by the hotel doctor who concluded her condition was caused by intoxication. Rappe was moved to another hotel room to recover. However, her condition worsened, and she died three days later of a ruptured bladder.

The sensational media coverage portrayed Arbuckle as using his weight to assault Rappe during the wild party, implying he raped and inadvertently killed her. Other party guests pushed the rape narrative to the police and media, despite a lack of evidence or witnesses.

The Trials

With the salacious media reports, the public was in an uproar over Arbuckle’s alleged attack on Rappe. He was arrested and charged with manslaughter on September 11, 1921.

The trials that followed became a national obsession as Arbuckle’s reputation was picked apart. The hearings included:

• First trial – After days of testimony, the jury was deadlocked after over 40 hours of deliberation. A mistrial was declared.
• Second trial – Arbuckle testified and presented evidence that Rappe’s bladder likely ruptured from an illness or medical complication, not assault. The jury found him not guilty after just a few minutes of deliberation.
• Third trial – Despite the acquittal, the prosecution pushed for another trial. But the evidence was not strong enough, and the jury again returned a not guilty verdict very quickly.

Despite being acquitted at trial, Arbuckle’s career and reputation were destroyed by the scandal and trials. No one would hire or work with him as the public viewed him as guilty.

Aftermath and Impact

Even after the acquittals, the movie industry refused to take Roscoe Arbuckle back. He was banned from acting in films and his movies were pulled from theaters. His marriage fell apart from the scandal’s strain.

Arbuckle managed to direct comedy films under a pseudonym, but his previous success eluded him. By the early 1930s, he got work as a film director using his real name and appeared occasionally in films.

Sadly, just as his comeback started, Arbuckle died in 1933 of heart failure at age 46. The trials and scandal deeply damaged his health and spirit.

The Roscoe Arbuckle trials highlighted the media’s power to shape public opinion and destroy reputations, despite facts and due process. While acquitted, the court of public perception had sentenced Arbuckle to a cruel end in Hollywood.

Conclusion

Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle was one of the top silent film stars until a party allegation destroyed his career. Despite being acquitted after three trials, the damage to his reputation was permanent. The scandal demonstrated the combined power of the media, the legal system, and public perception to bring down a star rapidly. Arbuckle’s prison time and professional collapse underscore how the justice system failed an innocent man. While eventually found not guilty, he was unable to ever fully recover what he lost.

Why Did Roscoe Arbuckle Go to Prison?

This 2000 word article covered the scandal and trials that resulted in silent film star Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle going to prison in 1921 for manslaughter. Key points included:

• Arbuckle’s rise to fame in slapstick silent films with Keystone Studios
• The Labor Day party at a San Francisco hotel where actress Virginia Rappe died
• The sensational media coverage that painted Arbuckle as Rappe’s rapist and killer
• The three trials he faced, resulting in two acquittals but tarnished reputation
• How the public condemnation ruined his career despite being acquitted
• His limited comeback before an early death at age 46
• The role of media, the justice system, and public perception in shaping his downfall.

In summary, while ultimately found not guilty in court, Roscoe Arbuckle’s prison time and damaged career demonstrated the immense power of perception when scandal inserts itself into the justice system. He became one of Hollywood’s first cautionary tales about the fragility of stardom.