Why Call Me Fatty?

The phrase "call me Fatty" originated in "King of Comedy," the 1954 autobiography of Keystone studio head Mack Sennett. This is how Sennett remembered his first encounter with Arbuckle in 1912:

"A tremendous man skipped up the steps as lightly as Fred Astaire. He was tremendous, obese, just plain fat. 'Name's Arbuckle,' he said, 'Roscoe Arbuckle. Call me Fatty! I'm with a stock company. I'm a funnyman and an acrobat. But I could do good in pictures. Watcha think?' With no warning he went into a featherlight step, clapped his hands, and did a backward somersault as graceful as a girl tumbler."

True? Well...despite the source, probably not. Arbuckle WAS charming and talented, light on his feet and an expert acrobat. But he was also shy and modest. And more to the point, he hated the name "Fatty" and was always quick to remind people that his name was Roscoe. It's therefore unlikely that he ever introduced himself to Sennett as "Fatty" in the fashion described here. Even Arbuckle's wife has disputed Sennett's account.

"Fatty," was a nickname that had trailed him since childhood. But always good-natured, Roscoe Arbuckle wasn't one to argue, and when Sennett decided to bill his new player as "Fatty," Arbuckle, true to form, obliged.

As legendary Hollywood producer Joe Schenck has noted, it was this redoubtably agreeable nature--by almost all accounts Roscoe was big-hearted, magnanimous, and generous--that ironically helped spell his downfall. If he hadn't been so generous and kindly, maybe what happened in San Francisco wouldn't have played out the way it did. As Arbuckle himself has written about the infamous party that materialized in his suite, "I hadn't invited them, but they were in my rooms, and I couldn't be rude."

In this context, Sennett's phrase, "call me Fatty!" struck me as a little heartbreaking. It stuck in my head, and as I was working on a musical about Arbuckle's life, it seemed perfect for the title of the big Act One number about Arbuckle's days at Keystone--a song that has Arbuckle good-naturedly telling his colleagues to "call me Fatty, cuz 'Fatty' suits me just fine!"

The phrase then became the title of the show itself--a production that ends with Arbuckle finally setting the record straight, making it clear that the only name that could ever suit him just fine is "Roscoe."