he died of sadness
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Pamfino — 21 years ago(August 12, 2004 03:03 AM)
Re Talia5's post above Buster also believed, of course, that his friend was totally innocent, and he always kept a picture of Roscoe above his work desk at home. Even if I hadn't bothered (like some!) to find out the facts re the spurious case against Mr Arbuckle, the fact that Buster believed him to be innocent would have been good enough for me, as Buster knew the man better than most. However, any intelligent, fair-minded person who takes the trouble to find out some of the details of what happened to Roscoe cannot fail to be appalled at the injustice that was done to him.
"I am not young enough to know everything." : Oscar Wilde -
wmorrow59 — 21 years ago(August 12, 2004 05:08 PM)
Anyone who is interested in the facts of this terribly sad case should read David Yallop's fascinating book
The Day the Laughter Stopped
. The book makes a damning case against Arbuckle's accusers, and paints a convincing portrait of Arbuckle himself as a decent man who was in the wrong place at the worst possible time.
On the other hand, message board trolls aren't interested in facts or research. I find that the "Ignore" button makes an effective troll-killer. -
Pamfino — 21 years ago(August 13, 2004 04:08 AM)
Another notable book is 'Frame Up' by Andy Edmonds she had many interviews in the late 1970s with Minta Durfee, Roscoe's first wife.
But to return to the title of this thread, I think that the final word to dismiss the idea that 'He died of sadness' should come from Addie McPhail; she always contended that Roscoe was a happy man when he died.
She told the Guardian newspaper in 2000: "I believe Roscoe died happy. He was with a girl who loved him, and Hollywood had forgiven him and welcomed him back."
I don't think there is anyone, alive or dead, who can be better qualified than Ms McPhail to comment on how Roscoe was feeling at the end of his life, as she was his wife at the time and was with him on the night he died.
"I am not young enough to know everything." : Oscar Wilde
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Pamfino — 21 years ago(August 13, 2004 08:12 AM)
By the way, thanks for the tip re the 'troll-killer' button, wmorrow59, I may use that soon! The only good thing about cyberspace pond life, such as the example above, is that it can give those of us with more than two brain cells to rub together a good excuse to present s16d0ome facts about matters such as the one in question here.
There is a lovely picture of Mr Arbuckle on
http://www.silent-movies.com/Arbucklemania/home.html
It's a colourised picture of him, standing with Buster and his other costar (and nephew) Al StJohn. It's a charming picture in which, I think, the true nature of the man shines through. It's an effective antidote to the widely seen, falsified pictures of him put out at the time of the court case and beyond. It's my personal favourite of this delightful and talented performer.
Quote: Minta Durfee - "My dear, we
never
called him Fatty."
(PS: The link no longer goes to the picture I described above; however, it does go to the Arbuklemania home page, which opens with another lovely colourised picture of Roscoe. Anyone interested in Mr Arbuckle and his career should take a look at the site.)
"I am not young enough to know everything." : Oscar Wilde
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wmorrow59 — 21 years ago(August 16, 2004 06:34 PM)
First, thanks Pamfino for the link to that nice picture. Today at the Performing Arts Library in NYC I happened to see a rare photo of Roscoe Arbuckle taken in June of 1933. He's standing with a Warner Brothers executive, grinning into the camera. Someone has written on the back of the photo that it was taken the day Roscoe died, and although I have no way of knowing whether that's true it could be assumed that this was pretty close to the end. I assume also that the photo was taken around the time arrangements were being made for Roscoe to commence a new series of feature-length comedies for Warners.
Roscoe doesn't look like a broken man in the photo. He's certainly older, but he's smiling, and he looks pretty happy. The years after the scandal were undoubtedly bad but the guy looks like he's ready for his comeback. Not a bad way to go out . . . -
wmorrow59 — 21 years ago(February 02, 2005 06:20 AM)
Virginia Rappe was doomed not by Roscoe Arbuckle but because of poor medical treatment, and, indirectly, because of her era's criminalization of birth control procedures. According to the medical records unearthed by David Yallop for his definitiv5b4e book
The Day the Laughter Stopped
, Rappe died as the direct result of a botched abortion that took place a couple of days after the party she attended at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco.
For his part, Arbuckle was doomed by a career criminal (and friend of Virginia's) named Maude Delmont, who attempted to blackmail him after the party. When he refused to pay hush money, Delmont took her story to the police, and Arbuckle was prosecuted for manslaughter in the death of Rappe. Arbuckle was thoroughly slandered in the tabloid press, especially the Hearst papers, and despite his eventual acquittal his reputation was ruined.
Ignorant bigots who were hungry to believe anything negative about Those Movie Actors bought newspapers by the thousands, and believed every ridiculous story they read. William Randolph Hearst himself later said that the Arbuckle scandal sold more newspapers than the sinking of the Lusitania. We haven't changed much, have we? Plenty of people would rather hear all about the Scott Peterson case than ponder the depressing news from Iraq.
I don't know how much hush money Maude Delmont demanded, but whatever the amount I guess Arbuckle should have paid her off. He certainly paid a much steeper price in the long run. As the previous post demonstrates, even 80 years after the fact there are people who believe only what they want to believe, truth be damned. -
theowinthrop — 20 years ago(June 23, 2005 06:44 PM)
The fact is that he was framed by ambitious politicians (including Mr. Hearst, who hoped to be able to use his newspapers to build up his political base in California - he failed to do very well in New York State or New York City). Arbuckle was a convenient target to claim as an example of the loose moral fibre in Hollywood and the nation in the 1920s. Few noted that Hearst happened to sell his newspapers (as Rupert Murdoch does today) on a huge diet of sex, violence, and scandal. Also few dared (in 1921 - 22, anyway) to comment on the married Mr. Hearst running around with his girlfriend/mistress Marion Davies.
I find it somewhat satisfying that in 1924 (and afterwards) Hearst found himself being pilloried as "questionable" regarding the fate of movie director and producer Thomas Ince on Hearst's yacht. Although he denied it, as did his hired flack Louella Parsons (who was on the yacht on the time that Ince died so "suddenly"), the public accepted the image of Hearst killing Ince purposely or accidentally. While there is no film about Arbuckle, except for a film called THE WILD PARTY with James Coco and Racquel Welch (actually that film is suggested by what happened to Arbuckle), there is a film about Ince's death by Peter Bogdonavitch, THE CAT'S MEOW. It treats Hearst and Davies pretty sympathetically, but it still suggests Hearst did kill Ince. Anyway it treats Hearst (Edward Herrmann in the film) better than Hearst's press ever treated Arbuckle. -
TheBreadGirl — 19 years ago(January 26, 2007 05:35 PM)
Hey I have nothing against his obesity and I don't disagree with you (although, I do think it's common sense that being fat isn't healthy considering you don't really feel at your best when you are so). Anyways, I was just responding to the original poster because it's ridiculous to think that people can die from sadness. People die from the actions they take as a result of sadness.
"Hill House, not sane, stood by itself for eighty years and might stand for eighty more." -
TheBreadGirl — 19 years ago(January 27, 2007 12:38 AM)
The guy weighed 300 lbs. I think it's a pretty safe to say that he didn't die of a HEART ATTACK because he was "sad."
"Hill House, not sane, stood by itself for eighty years and might stand for eighty more."