A Reader Writes:

Dear Jill:

Has the motion picture industry made a movie of Roscoe C. Arbuckle's biography, explaining all the true facts?

Callmefatty.com Replies:

Arbuckle and Coogan

Update! As of summer 2007, Mad Rabbit Films and Argus Entertainment are in pre-production on a feature film based on Roscoe Arbuckle, currently titled "Life of the Party." Shooting is slated for the fall.

According to Robert Young Jr.'s excellent biography of Arbuckle, there has never been a film devoted to Arbuckle's life. He notes that "The Buster Keaton Story" (1957) and "Chaplin" (1992) missed opportunities to include Arbuckle in their screenplays, though Arbuckle was a significant figure in the lives of both men.

Two films, "The Wild Party" (1975) and "Valentino" (1977) are regrettably worth noting. "The Wild Party" is said to have been loosely based on Arbuckle--i.e., the main character is a film comedian who shoots his girlfriend. Needless to say "The Wild Party" did little to dispel the myth of Arbuckle the monster. Arbuckle himself was portrayed in "Valentino"--but the portrayal was egregiously false. Young reports Arbuckle was depicted as "a gross, vulgar, selfish lout." And one critic called the portrayal "a repulsive remembrance of an already much-maligned comedian."

It's astonishing that Hollywood hasn't yet told Arbuckle's real story--though it does seems clear that the industry has tried from time to time. For example, in 1966, Jackie Coogan signed on to play Arbuckle in a film bio--a project that was almost immediately cancelled. Coogan was an interesting choice; Roscoe worked a lot with Coogan's dad, and young Coogan and Roscoe had been photographed together when Coogan was still a child. I can only imagine that Coogan would would have brought depth and humanity to his depiction of Roscoe, a man he'd known personally.

A while back it was reported that Johnny Depp had optioned Jerry Stahl's novel "I, Fatty," a partially fictionalized version of Arbuckle's life. We'll see what happens with that one. I'd consider it kind of tragic if the film is made; Stahl's fictionalized depiction of Arbuckle is neither true nor flattering.

As a side note, Young writes that since 1974, "there have been produced four plays and two musical comedies involving Arbuckle either as the main character or as a supporting player." One of these is a personal favorite of mine, Jerry Herman's "Mack and Mabel." Because it was on Broadway for only a short run, I (like most) know the show only from its awesome cast recording featuring Robert Preston and Bernadette Peters as Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand. I've noticed, however, that the Roscoe Arbuckle character in the show is named "Fatty," a sign that the depiction of our man Roscoe wasn't exactly true-to-life.

A Reader Writes:

Dear Jill:

Although I am one of Arbuckle's younger fans (17 in October), I have already been an admirer for several years.

I wonder where I can find the six WB shorts he made in 1932-1933. I have only seen excerpts from "In the Dough," and I really want to see more.

I have also another question. Although I have read a countless number of articles and excerpts from books, I've never really figured out what Roscoe's father really did to him. In "Hollywood Book of Scandals" it is stated that he (William) whipped his children in frustration over the fact that his hotel went bankrupt. Is this true? I would love to buy one of the Arbuckle biographies, but I haven't much money these days, unfortunately.

Callmefatty.com Replies:

That is an excellent question! Even last year's wonderful DVD set "The Forgotten Films of Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle" doesn't feature any of Roscoe's sound work. I believe these films exist only as rare, fragile nitrate prints and haven't yet been transferred to DVD. The films occasionally turn up at screenings here and there. I know, for example, that all six Arbuckle shorts were screened last spring at an Arbuckle symposium in Fort Lee, NJ, but I didn't find out about it until after the fact.

The webmaster of Arbucklemania, Dave Pearson, told me last year that he owns prints of each of Arbuckle's talkies. He's even put sound clips of Arbuckle's voice on his website (silent-movies.org/Arbucklemania//home.html), which are most interesting to listen to.

The UCLA Film and TV Archives used to have two Arbuckle talkies in its database. When I searched it last spring, "Close Relations," was too delicate for the public to view and had been taken out of circulation, but "Buzzin' Around," was in relatively stable shape--missing sound track notwithstanding! I scheduled an appointment to view it anyway when I was in L.A. last year. It was pretty easy to follow the story line, but I sure wished I could have heard Arbuckle's voice. (When I just now searched the UCLA database, "Close Relations" no longer even turns up, and it looks as if "Buzzin' Around" is out of circulation.)

As for Roscoe's dad, William Goodrich Arbuckle, here are some excerpts from the Arbuckle bios, which I hope will be helpful:

"When he returned from foraging trips, frustrated and disgusted, [William Goodrich Arbuckle] often would take out his feelings on his boys with a thick leather strap. Harry remembered Roscoe, by this time he was five or six, getting what seemed to be more than his share...[He was] an abusive father who did not love [Roscoe]." [Young, pp. 8 and 9]

"Everything William said was spoken like a command. On the occasions when he was drunk, the commands were often accompanied by beatings. Twelve-year-old Roscoe, the youngest boy at home, was a made-to-order target. Roscoe was round and fat. Weighing almost 200 pounds and standing 67 inches tall, he was easily the heaviest boy in the neighborhood." [Oderman, p. 3]

"William Arbuckle had always teased, ridiculed, and snickered at his son's weight, forcing Roscoe to withdraw and become very self-conscious about his appearance. He remembered the drinking and the beatings that always followed a half bottle of whiskey." [Edmonds, p. 23]

"The antagonism William Arbuckle showed toward his youngest child is something of a mystery. One member of the Arbuckle clan suggested to me that the reason for it was William's suspicion that he was not Roscoe's father. Since Mrs. Arbuckle was a devout, hard-working Baptist, this would be surprising." [Yallop, p. 15]

On that pitiful note, thank you for writing! And don't forget to check out your public library. The Yallop and Edmonds books are pretty popular and may be in stock.

A Reader Writes:

Dear Jill:

It's a shame that the movie industry hasn't put a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. After all, they ruined his career and personal life. I remember watching his silent motion pictures as a child, which bought me and my friends hours of laughs.

Callmefatty.com Replies:

Well, that's ONE thing the industry did do for Roscoe Arbuckle. There is indeed a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in his honor. It is located near 6743 Hollywood Blvd. I was there for his birthday last year (March 24) and left some flowers on it. They lasted about 5 minutes...but at least I snapped a picture.

Thanks for the note--and for checking out my site.

Formidable trio Chaplin, Normand, and Arbuckle.

A Reader Writes:

Callmefatty.com Replies:

Arbuckle weighed between 266 and 285 pounds in his prime. But here's something that may surprise you: Almost all of it was muscle! Arbuckle was "not soggy fat, but hard as nails," according to his first wife, Minta.

"What most thought was 'lard' was really hard muscle," writes Arbuckle biographer Robert Young, Jr. "Little of the poundage was fat. Rather, he was mostly solid muscle, kept tuned by frequent and strenuous physical activity." Such activity included endless and elaborate movie pratfalls, plus regular swims in the Pacific Ocean.

Arbuckle had been heavy since the womb. No official report exists, but his weight as a newborn is reported to have been either 14 or 16 pounds, and he himself claimed as much in an interview with the New York Times in 1921. Arbuckle was not the son of particularly heavy parents, and his extraordinary weight at birth mystified his family to no end.

Thank you for visiting my site! And thanks for the kind words!

A Reader Writes:

Dear Jill:

Is the film "The Wild Party" at all based on the famous U.S. book from the twenties of the same title? I have heard of the book but never read it. I hear it's an acerbic take of the high society social lives of the rich and snooty.

Callmefatty.com Replies:

Merchant-Ivory's "The Wild Party" (1975) was indeed based on the 1926 work of the same name by Joseph Moncure March. Callmefatty.com is embarrassed to admit she'd never heard of March's "long, narrative poem" depicting a Greenwich Village party gone wrong, though it seems like just the sort of thing she would like. The film's screenwriter Walter Marks reportedly took March's work, transferred the action from NYC to Hollywood, and adjusted the characters so that they resembled recognizable Hollywood types.

Now that I dig into things, it's unclear whether Marks purposefully based his reworked tale on the Arbuckle scandal or if the similarities were merely coincidental. What is plain, however, is that people continue to regard the film as at least partially inspired by Arbuckle and the scandal that dominated Hollywood the fall and winter of 1921-1922.

A Reader Writes:

Dear Jill:

After Roscoe's mother died and his father abandoned him and his siblings, what happened to his siblings? Did his father remarry? Did Roscoe's siblings abandon him also because of his murder trial?

Callmefatty.com Replies:

Roscoe's dad did remarry. He married a widow named Mary Ellen (Molly) shortly after his first wife died. Molly had seven children of her own and while not exactly a loving woman was basically kind to Roscoe.

Reports vary regarding how many siblings Roscoe had, but I think Robert Young Jr.'s account is probably the best one. He describes Roscoe as having four older siblings: William Harrison (Harry), Arthur Collins, Nora and Lola Belle. Young reports that "Another boy died at birth unnamed."

David Yallop reports that Arthur and Nora were in SF shortly after Roscoe was jailed. Yallop writes: "Nora pulled him out of his trance with a question: 'Did you do it, Roscoe?' Her famous brother looked at her squarely as he replied, 'No, Nora, I didn't. I didn't touch the girl.' It was apparent to Arthur and Nora that he was in a state of deep shock. His world had collapsed around him."

Apart from that, I don't have a lot of info regarding how his siblings acted during the scandal. As for Molly Arbuckle, after the scandal broke, she issued the following statement. Roscoe's dad had died, and according to Stuart Oderman, she was working as a "charwoman" at the time:

"I knew nothing of Roscoe until he was 12 and very good-humored. I last saw him in 1916 when he appeared at a San Jose theater. Roscoe was always kind to me, but he never offered to support me, and I never expected him to. I do not feel it was his place to support me. If he is innocent, I want to see him cleared. If he is guilty, I want to see him punished to the limit."

It's interesting that when Roscoe died in 1933, probate court estimated his estate at only $2,000. His third wife, Addie, was declared the sole heir, but a few weeks later, Harry and Roscoe's half-brother Clyde filed a suit to break the will. They also claimed the estate was worth $150,000-$200,000. The court rejected their suit.