Room 1219: Fatty Arbuckle, the Mysterious Death of Virginia Rappe, and the Scandal That Changed Hollywood (74 page)

the first trial cost…
Ibid.

For its last two issues …
Minta Durfee, “The True Story About My Husband,”
Movie Weekly,
December 24, 1921; Roscoe Arbuckle, “Roscoe Arbuckle Tells His Own Story,”
Movie Weekly,
December 31, 1921.

speaking with reporters in a corridor …
“Arbuckle Fears to Lose Public Liking,”
Evening News
(San Jose), January 17, 1922.

“It was the day before …”
Dashiell Hammett, “Seven Pages,” 1926 manuscript, Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin.

“The whole thing…”
Ibid.

Voir dire proved more difficult…
“Woman, 11 Men in New Rappe Trial,”
San Francisco Examiner,
January 12, 1922.

The very definition of a reluctant witness …
Blake testimony via “Miss Rappe’s Friend Is a Poor Witness,”
San Francisco Chronicle,
January 19, 1922.

A photo of her appeared…
“Her Memory Gone,” photo,
Providence News,
January 26, 1922.

On cross-examination, McNab focused…
“Attorneys for Film Star Confuse State’s Witnesses,”
Pittsburgh Press,
January 19, 1922.

Prevost was even less of an asset…
Prevost testimony via “Arbuckle Girl ‘Hostile Witness,’”
San Francisco Call and Post,
January 19, 1922.

“The case against Roscoe … “
“Arbuckle Witness Fails Prosecutor,”
New York Times,
January 20, 1922.

Rumors that Brady would drop the case …
“Lack of Memory Is Owned by Witness,”
Evening Herald,
January 20, 1922.

“The Roscoe Arbuckle manslaughter trial… “
“Second Arbuckle Show Falls Flat; Not So with Actor,”
Milwaukee Journal,
January 22, 1922.

When Heinrich returned…
“Identifies Fingerprints as Made by Arbuckle and Girl,”
Bakersfield Californian,
January 23, 1922.

Warden Woolard, the Los Angeles Times reporter …
“New Arbuckle Testimony,”
Los Angeles Times,
January 24, 1922.

the defense brought forth two experts …
“Finger Prints Were ‘Faked’ Says Expert,”
San Francisco Examiner,
January 26, 1922.

she grew embroiled in a new legal subplot …
“Refuses to Bar Story of Woman,”
Bakersfield Californian,
January 26, 1922.

New witnesses spoke of Rappe’s …
“Arbuckle Case Defense May Close Today,”
San Francisco Chronicle,
January 27, 1922.

“That Roscoe (Fatty) Arbuckle will be acquitted… “
“Arbuckle’s Acquittal Is Freely Predicted,”
Pittsburgh Press,
January 27, 1922.

“excellence of health” …
“Rappe Girl’s Health Stirs Controversy,”
San Francisco Examiner,
January 29, 1922.

a large story appeared …
“Nero’s Orgies Rivaled on Coast Folk,”
Border Cities Star
(Windsor, Ontario), January 28, 1922.

U’Ren began the state’s closing argument…
“Arbuckle Case to Jury Late Today,”
Bakersfield Californian,
February 1, 1922.

“Whatever you do is all right”…
“Jury Quits for Night, 11 to 1 for Arbuckle,”
Chicago Tribune,
February 2, 1922.

“If the court please …”
Ibid.

“This is the end…”
Ibid.

William Desmond Taylor lay on his back …
Body discovery and aftermath via Ed. C. King, “I Know Who Killed Desmond Taylor,”
True Detective Mysteries,
October and November 1930; Rick Geary,
Famous Players: The Mysterious Death of William Desmond Taylor
(New York: ComicsLit, 2009).

“nervous breakdown” …
“Mabel Normand Better,”
Variety,
November 11, 1920.

running the banner headline …
“Women Feature Film Murder,”
San Francisco Chronicle,
February 3, 1922; “Arbuckle Jury Still Out, 10 for Aquittal,”
San Francisco Chronicle,
February 3, 1922.

“Taylor was the best fellow …”
“Taylor Best Man on Lot, Says Arbuckle,”
San Francisco Bulletin,
February 2, 1922.

a statement attributed to Arbuckle…
“Fatty Philosophizes on Taylor Case,”
Los Angeles Record,
February 15, 1922.

In its front-page story …
“Arbuckle Abandons Hope,”
Los Angeles Times,
February 3, 1922.

Deliberation was cut short …
“Arbuckle Jury Still Debates,”
St. Petersburg Times,
February 3, 1922.

engaged to marry a vaudeville actor…
“Arbuckle Witness Will Wed Thespian,”
Telegraph-Herald
(Dubuque, IA), February 3, 1922.

A buzz of shocked mutterings …
“Comedian Will Be Tried Again, Brady Asserts,”
San Francisco Chronicle,
February 4, 1922.

“The jurors believed that the defense’s failure … “
“Arbuckle’s Story Not Believed: Jurors Tell Why They Decided,”
San Francisco Examiner,
February 4, 1922.

“The defense presented a very weak case …”
Ibid.

“From the reading of Arbuckle’s testimony …”
Ibid.

some creative accounting…
“Comedian Will Be Tried Again.”

“Had the majority of the jury …”
Ibid.

”In this life you’ve got to take a punch … “
“Will Retry Arbuckle,”
Los Angeles Times,
February 4, 1922.

17. Third Trial

a deposition from a “surprise witness” …
“Arbuckle to Los Angeles,”
Aurora Daily Star,
February 8, 1922.

“A young woman thought by police … “
“Waited for Zeh Prevost,”
New York Times,
February 14, 1922.

after the questioning of fifty-one citizens …
“12 in Jury Box for Retrial of Arbuckle,”
San Francisco Examiner,
March 16, 1922.

juror Edward Brown …
“Juror Sworn to Try Fatty Under Fire,”
San Francisco Examiner,
March 21, 1922.

they delved into the health …
Nat Schmulowitz, closing statement of third Arbuckle trial, in
Classics of the Bar: Stories of the World’s Great Legal Trials and a Compilation of Forensic Masterpieces,
vol. 8, ed. Alvin V. Sellers (Washington, DC: Washington Law Book, 1942), 56—58.

Blake couldn’t recall seeing…
“Breaks Down on Stand,”
Los Angeles Times,
March 23, 1922.

Her telegram to Brady …
San Francisco court records, People v. Arbuckle, quoted in Eric Dean Budnick, “Directed Verdict: The Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle Trial Discourse” (PhD dissertation, Harvard University, 2000), 58.

Arbuckle hung his head …
“Miss Rappe’s Death Fills Trial Record,”
San Francisco Examiner,
March 23, 1922.

“I don’t think I’ll answer … “
“Actor’s Trial Continues,”
Los Angeles Times,
March 25, 1922.

“I don’t see why … “
“Arbuckle Broke Now, He Declares,”
Boston Daily Globe,
March 26, 1922.

applying the word “shyster”…
“Arbuckle Judge Roused,”
Los Angeles Times,
March 27, 1922.

Brady had a surprise final witness …
Breig’s testimony via “Surprise Witness

Heard,”
Los Angeles Times,
March 28, 1922.
It came to thirty-four dollars …
Leo Friedman, closing statement of third Arbuckle trial, in
Classics of the Bar,
119.

“trying to blacken …”
“Declares Past of Arbuckle Demands Probe,”
Vancouver Sun,
March 27, 1922.

Chicago nurse Virginia Warren …
“Past of Rappe Girl Bared by Chicago Nurse,”
San Francisco Chronicle,
March 31, 1922.

“I first saw Virginia Rappe …”
“Arbuckle Defense Built in Chicago,”
Milwaukee Sentinel,
November 1, 1921.

Friedman treated her very name …
Friedman, closing statement, 131.

“according to her own testimony …”
Ibid., 109—10, 131.

he could speak to Norgaard’s morals …
“Fresh Problem in Fatty Case,”
Los Angeles Times,
March 31, 1922.

a woman named Helen Whitehurst testified…
“Virginia Rappe Tore Clothing Say Witnesses,”
San Francisco Chronicle,
April 1, 1922.

Fred Fishback could no longer recall…
“Fishbach [sic] Loses Memory on Stand,”
Telegraph-Herald
(Dubuque, IA), April 2, 1922.

described as “less enthusiastic”…
“Arbuckle Takes Stand,”
Los Angeles Times,
April 6, 1922.

Arbuckle retold the tale …
Ibid; “Arbuckle on Stand, Fights Wordy Battle,”
San Francisco Chronicle,
April 6, 1922.

In its rebuttal, the state …
“Deny Miss Rappe Ill,”
Los Angeles Times,
April 8, 1922.

In surrebuttal, the defense …
“Fatty’s Case Near End,”
Los Angeles Times,
April 11, 1922.

“And that night Belshazzar … “
Milton U’Ren, closing statement of third Arbuckle trial, in
Classics of the Bar,
13-33.

First, Nat Schmulowitz reiterated…
Nat Schmulowitz, closing statement of third Arbuckle trial, in
Classics of the Bar,
33-62.

the emotional speech …
Gavin McNab, closing statement of third Arbuckle trial, in
Classics of the Bar,
62-98.

Countering for the state…
Leo Friedman, closing statement of third Arbuckle trial, in
Classics of the Bar,
98-135.

The third jury left the courtroom …
Details of Arbuckle’s acquittal via “Jury Sets Film Artist Free in 2 ½ Minutes,”
San Francisco Chronicle,
April 13, 1922.

“Acquittal is not enough for Roscoe Arbuckle …”
“Jurors Write Exoneration,”
San Francisco Examiner,
April 13, 1922.

“I am an American citizen …”
“Jury Sets Film Artist Free.”

“This is the most solemn moment… “
Ibid.

“I am going to take a good rest…”
“Remaining Arbuckle Charge Dismissed as Star Acquitted of Manslaughter by Jurors,”
Bakersfield Californian,
April 13, 1922.

“Our contract with Arbuckle … “
“To Release Fatty Film,”
Los Angeles Times,
April 13, 1922.

He pleaded guilty …
“Drops Second Charge Against Arbuckle,”
New York Times,
April 13, 1922.

It was reported that his defense …
“Arbuckle Expense Costly,”
New York Times,
April 15, 1922.

“I do not wish to capitalize …”
Ibid.

effectively banned from American theaters …
“Ban Put on Arbuckle,”
Los Angeles Times,
April 19, 1922.

18. Hays

there have been movie censors …
Information on local and state censorship boards via Lee Grieveson,
Policing Cinema: Movies and Censorship in Early-Twentieth-Century America
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004), 23.

National Board of Censorship of Motion Pictures …
Edward de Grazia and Roger K. Newman,
Banned Films: Movies, Censors and the First Amendment
(New York: R.R. Bowker, 1982), 10-11.

issued a unanimous decision …
Mutual Film Corporation v. Industrial Commission of Ohio, 236 US 230 (February 23, 1915).

filmmaker Robert Goldstein …
“The Unluckiest Man in Movie History,”
Slate,
June 13, 2000,
www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/chatterbox/2000/06/the_unluckiest_man_in_movie_history.html
.

an example of how draconian …
“Humanizing the Movies,”
New York Times,
January 18, 1922.

National Association of the Motion Picture Industry …
De Grazia and Newman,
Banned Films,
21-23.

“it was the only way to remedy … “
“Movie Censor Law Signed by Miller,”
New York Times,
May 15, 1921.

“I have listened with amazement…”
“‘Fatty’ Made Issue in Censorship Row,”
Los Angeles Examiner,
September 15, 1921.

“Censorship of motion pictures is a menace … “
William Taylor, “The Nonsense of Censorship,” September 14, 1921, reprinted in
Taylorology
88 (April 2000):
www.public.asu.edu/~bruce/Taylor88.txt
.

William Harrison Hays was born …
Details of Hays’s early life via Thomas J. Wolfe, ed.,
A History of Sullivan County, Indiana
(New York: Lewis, 1909), 1-3.

reportedly too frail…
“Will Hays: The Moses Who Hopes to Lead the G.O.P. Out of the Woods,”
Current Opinion,
September 1919, 156-57.

who suffered from “lifelong frailty”…
Will Hays Jr.,
Come Home with Me Now: The Untold Story of Movie Czar Will Hays by His Son
(Indianapolis: Guild Press of Indiana, 1993), 3.

First, it is no part of the primary business …
“Executive Changes Outlined by Hays,”
New York Times,
April 29, 1921.

second-class mail status to a socialist magazine …
“Hays Removes Ban on the Liberator,”
New York Times,
May 26, 1921.

“the Judge Landis of movies”…
“Will Hays to Quit Cabinet for Films; Harding Consents,”
New York Times,
January 15, 1922.

“As to censorship …”
“No Politics,”
American Cinematographer,
April 1, 1922, 14.

“The public is tired of seeing…”
“Pungent Hint from Experience,”
Continent,
March 30, 1922, 382.

“use your authority to intervene …”
“Alliance Asks Hays to Stop Arbuckle Films,”
Milwaukee Sentinel,
April 16, 1922.

“With hundreds of thousands … “
Will H. Hays,
The Memoirs of Will H. Hays
(Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1955), 360-61.