Room 1219: Fatty Arbuckle, the Mysterious Death of Virginia Rappe, and the Scandal That Changed Hollywood (75 page)

“No, Will, let the Association …”
Ibid., 361.

“Even that early in the game …”
Ibid.

against a Massachusetts referendum …
Gregory D. Black,
Hollywood Censored: Morality Codes, Catholics, and the Movies
(New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996) 32-33.

claimed to reject 125 proposed movies …
Ibid., 33.

until divorcing his wife in 1929 …
“Movie Czar Granted Divorce,”
Chicago Tribune,
June 22, 1929.

the Motion Picture Production Code …
Information on the formation of the Code and its principles via de Grazia and Newman,
Banned Films,
32-34.

19. Exile: 1922-25

“Suddenly we all realized…”
Minta Durfee, unpublished manuscript, 81, Minta Durfee Arbuckle Collection, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, Beverly Hills, CA.

He was deeply in debt…
Inside Stuff on Pictures,
Variety,
May 28, 1922.

he owed his trial attorneys …
“Fatty Arbuckle Broke, Is Report,”
Star Journal
(Sandusky, OH), June 12, 1922.

“The question of the release… “
“Arbuckle Bows to Ruling of Film Dictator,”
Los Angeles Times,
April 23, 1922.

California Congress of Women and Parents …
“Mother Clubs After Fight Vote Down Films,”
San Francisco Call and Post,
April 26, 1922.

San Francisco Federation of Women’s Clubs …
“Arbuckle Film Condemned as Women End Meet,”
San Francisco Call and Post,
April 29, 1922.

Doris Deane, a minor actress …
Picture Personalities,
Oakland Tribune,
March 5, 1922.

Ed Roberts, a former editor …
Introduction,
Taylorology
30 (June 1995):
www.public.asu.edu/~ialong/Taylor30.txt
.

ruled “too scurrilous”…
“Bars ‘Sins of Hollywood,’”
New York Times,
May 24, 1922.

“To the boys and girls … “
Ed Roberts (“A Hollywood Newspaper Man”),
The Sins of Hollywood: An Expose of Movie Vice
(Los Angeles: Hollywood Publishing, 1922), reprinted in
Taylorology
30 (June 1995):
www.public.asu.edu/~ialong
/Taylor30.txt.

“Rostrand, a famous comedian …”
Ibid.

“Fatty Arbuckle says he is broke …”
Editorial,
Chehalis Bee-Nugget,
June 23, 1922.

He wrote a short comedy script …
“Arbuckle Writes Comedy for Buster,”
Los Angeles Times,
May 19, 1922.

Arbuckle was also set to direct …
“Fatty Arbuckle Becomes Motion Picture Director,”
Wichita Daily Times,
June 3, 1922.

“You can be of real service …”
“The Six ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle Vitaphones,”
Griffithiana: Journal of Film History,
October 1993, 55.

Senator Henry Lee Myers … Congressional Record
62, pt. 9 (June 14—29, 1922): 9657.

Minta Durfee left that colony …
“Mrs. Arbuckle Leaves Again,”
Los Angeles Times,
July 1, 1922.

Al St. John later remembered …
“Another Big ‘Speak’ Opens,”
Youngstown Vindicator,
December 15, 1932.

known as “Arbuckle parties”…
Jefferson Williamson,
The American Hotel: An Anecdotal History
(New York: Knopf, 1930), 143.

“Once when we were both …”
Screen Life in Hollywood,
Sandusky Register,
July 2, 1933.

“I need a rest… “
“Arbuckle Sets Sail From S.F. on World Tour,”
Oakland Tribune,
August 16, 1922.

after slipping down steps and cutting…
“‘Fatty’ Arbuckle Has Infected Finger,”
Oakland Tribune,
September 2, 1922.

He said his time in the Orient…
“‘Fatty’ Back from Trip to Orient,”
Oakland Tribune,
September 27, 1922.

“‘Fatty’ Arbuckle was a movie ‘goat’…”
Editorial,
Stevens Point Daily Journal,
November 22, 1922.

reported that his index and middle fingers …
“‘Fatty Loses Use of Finger After Injuries,”
Oakland Tribune,
October 31, 1922.

“handsome Walter”…
Roberts,
The Sins of Hollywood.

Hollywood’s worst-kept secret broke …
“Wallace Reid Critically Ill, ‘Dope’ Blamed,”
Chicago Tribune,
December 16, 1922.

Will Hays visited Reid…
“Hays Visits Sick Actor,”
Los Angeles Times,
December 20, 1922.

“Every man in the right way … “
“Storm Breaks on Arbuckle,”
Los Angeles Times,
December 21, 1922.

“It was not my wish …”
Will H. Hays,
The Memoirs of Will H. Hays
(Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1955), 360-61.

“cancelled all showings…”
“Ban Put on Arbuckle,”
Los Angeles Times,
April 19, 1922.

Hays later professed …
Hays,
Memoirs,
361.

“stammering so badly …”
“Storm Breaks on Arbuckle.”

“Mr. Hays has made his decision …”
Ibid.

“I cannot say …”
Ibid.

Around the time Schenck said that …
Initial reactions to Arbuckle’s reinstatement via ibid; “Storm of Protest at Hays Restoring Arbuckle to Films,”
New York Times,
December 22, 1922.

Illinois theater owners reversed it…
“Arbuckle Will Get His Chance,”
Los Angeles Times,
December 22, 1922.

“that under no circumstance … “
“Directors Not for Arbuckle,”
Los Angeles Times,
December 23, 1922.

Hays responded with telegrams …
“Hays Insists Stand Right,”
Los Angeles Times,
December 24, 1922.

“All I ask is the rights … “
“Appeal Made by Arbuckle,”
Los Angeles Times,
December 25, 1922.

“of those who brazenly violate …”
“Club Women of S.F. Area Plead Ban on Arbuckle,”
Oakland Tribune,
December 28, 1922.

Arthur Hammerstein offered Paramount…
Arthur Hammerstein, letter to Adolph Zukor, December 16, 1922, Adolph Zukor Collection, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, Beverly Hills, CA.

“The crowd was so anxious … “
“Million Bid for Arbuckle Films,”
Los Angeles Times,
December 27, 1922.

McNab and financiers organized a company …
“M’Nab Backing Arbuckle Film,”
Los Angeles Times,
December 30, 1922.

he disagreed with their resolution …
“Hays’s Committee Opposes Release of Arbuckle Films,”
Hartford Courant,
January 5, 1923.

his “final statement”…
“Hays Gives Final Word on Fatty,”
Los Angeles Times,
January 6, 1923.

“a little obscure cabin in Hollywood”…
“Fatty Starts Upon $750,000 Comeback Film,”
Ogden Standard-Examiner,
January 10, 1923.

“I just want to work …”
Ibid.

acting in Handy Andy …
“No Pies in Arbuckle’s Comeback,”
Eau Claire Leader,
January 23, 1923.

“a chance to make good…”
“‘Fatty’ Arbuckle to ‘Come Back’; New Role,”
Joplin News Herald,
January 31, 1923.

“He was very bitter …”
“Fatty Arbuckle Is Starting Over,”
Appleton Post-Crescent,
July 5, 1924.

“It was a superbly forcible touch … “
Robert E. Sherwood,
The Best Moving Pictures of 1922-23
(Boston: Small, Maynard, 1923), 78-85.

Arbuckle’s appearance was applauded…
“Fatty Arbuckle Quietly Enters Filmland Again,”
Sioux City Journal,
September 23, 1923.

a guaranteed $2,500 per week …
“Fatty Arbuckle to Dance in Cabaret for $2500 Per Week,”
Telegraph-Herald
(Dubuque, IA), May 13, 1923.

“This is the first smile …”
“Fatty Arbuckle Stages Comeback in Chicago Cafe,”
Traverse City Record-Eagle,
June 6, 1923.

The show’s producer remembered…
“Pioneer Fair Revue Producer Was 50% of What Today Is MCA,”
Billboard,
February 28, 1948, 91.

“The people have been very kind”…
“Arbuckle Fails in Cabaret Act but Keeps Hope,”
Syracuse Herald,
June 17, 1923.

“Our women are lean and fat…”
“Fatty Arbuckle in Revue House of David Burlesque,”
Chillicothe Constitution,
June 6, 1923.

he pulled in $6,000 weekly …
“About Roscoe Arbuckle,”
Oakland Tribune,
July 29, 1923.

“She stood by me …”
“‘Fatty’ Arbuckle Smashes Up Cabaret, Socks Manager, to Meet His Wife at Train,”
Evening Independent
(Massillon, OH), July 19, 1923.

“Well kid don’t get discouraged… “
Roscoe Arbuckle, letter to Minta Durfee, November 18, 1923, manuscript from the estate of Charles Williamson and Tucker Fleming, auctioned April 20, 2011.

“We were about to start …”
Buster Keaton with Charles Samuels,
My Wonderful World of Slapstick
(Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1960), 194.

In one of the two scenes …
David B. Pearson, “Playing Detective: Possible Solutions to the Production Mysteries of
Sherlock Jr.
,” in
Buster Keaton’s Sherlock Jr.
, ed. Andrew Horton. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 146.

“He hadn’t recovered from those trials …”
Kevin Brownlow,
The Parade’s Gone By …
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968), 486.
“I am taking my father’s name … “
Arbuckle to Durfee, November 18, 1923.

in 1910 the family …
US Census Bureau,
Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910,
population of Dubuque City, IA, sup. dist. 3, enum. dist. 126, April 18, 1910 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1912-14).

they lived in Butte, Montana …
“Arbuckle Again Sued by Former Butte Student,”
Montana Standard,
September 18, 1929.

her rumored engagement to Jack Dempsey …
“Jack Dempsey Reported Engaged,”
Appleton Post-Crescent,
December 16, 1922.

“Weeks ago I saw Fatty …”
“Fatty Arbuckle Is Starting Over.”

he was greeted by an eleven-minute ovation …
“Arbuckle Opens at Pantages,”
Los Angeles Times,
June 15, 1924.

”the only way an accused man …”
Ibid.

“I would rather build up … “
“‘Fatty’ Arbuckle,”
Ogden Standard-Examiner,
July 15, 1924.

“San Francisco’s reception of me …”
“Arbuckle Draws Capacity Crowds,”
Ogden Standard-Examiner,
July 17, 1924.

“I hope not …”
Ibid.

get in shape for his “reappearance …”
Patrolling the Sport Highway,
Ogden Standard-Examiner,
July 18, 1924.

“No, I don’t belong to either … “
“‘Fatty’ Arbuckle Wants Comeback,”
Ogden Standard-Examiner,
July 18, 1924.

“chance to live a clean …”
“Arbuckle Plea Defeats Ban in Kansas City,”
Oakland Tribune,
July 29, 1924.

British immigrant named Lester Hope …
Bob Hope and Pete Martin,
Have Tux, Will Travel: Bob Hope’s Own Story
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1954), 40.

He said he envied the creative freedom …
“‘Fatty’ Arbuckle Soon to Return to Movie Game, He Tells the Morning Press,”
Logansport Morning Press,
August 29, 1924.

“I did not know … “
“‘Fatty’ Arbuckle Would Preach Sermon but Minister Objects,”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,
August 13, 1924.

“Appeal to you as one of several… “
Untitled clipping,
Toledo Blade,
September 6, 1924, in scrapbook pages, Minta Durfee Arbuckle Collection, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, Beverly Hills, CA.

“I don’t claim to be … “
Untitled clipping,
Toledo Blade,
September 10, 1924, scrapbook pages, Minta Durfee Arbuckle Collection.

he mused on literary matters …
Roscoe Arbuckle, letter to Minta Durfee, September 13, 1924, auctioned at Bonhams, December 14, 2011,
www.bonhams.com/auctions/19431/lot/4001/
.

the Portland, Oregon, city council banned him …
“Fatty Arbuckle’s Films Opposed by City of Portland,”
Eugene Guard,
October 16, 1924.

forbade him from stages in Tacoma …
“‘Fatty’ Arbuckle Kept From Giving Tacoma Monologue,”
Twin Falls Daily News,
October 21, 1924.

Arbuckle wrote Durfee …
Roscoe Arbuckle, letter to Minta Durfee, September 4, 1924, document for sale on eBay, accessed May 15, 2011.

They agreed that he would pay …
“Amount of Arbuckle’s Wealth Brought Up; to Pay Ex-Wife $200 Week,”
Joplin Globe,
March 28, 1924.

the announcement that Arbuckle would marry …
“Doris Deane to Wed Arbuckle,”
Oakland Tribune,
December 5, 1924.

one acerbic headline …
“Doris Is Daring,”
Linton Daily Citizen,
January 31, 1925.

a March ceremony was scrapped…
“Arbuckle Wedding, Slated for Tonight, Halted Month by Law,”
Oakland Tribune,
March 24, 1925.

married at her mother’s home …
“Roscoe Arbuckle and Doris Deane Married,”
Albuquerque Morning Journal,
May 17, 1925.

“hidden away in the country” …
“‘Fatty’ Arbuckle and Doris Deane Are Wed,”
Titusville Herald,
May 18, 1925.

a contract worth $100,000 …
“Fatty Arbuckle Weds Doris Deane at Pasadena,”
Cook County Herald
(Arlington Heights, IL), May 22, 1925.

”It was their way of thumbing… “
David Yallop,
The Day the Laughter Stopped: The True Story of Fatty Arbuckle
(New York: St. Martin’s, 1976), 283.