Roscoe’s Ghost: The Story of Fatty Arbuckle & Virginia Rappe

It has always seemed a cruel injustice to me that the name Fatty Arbuckle, if people remember him at all, is forever and unjustly associated with a Coke bottle (an item manufactured out of thin air through William Randolph Hearst’s campaign of character assassination) supposedly used to rape and murder the helpless (and, it turns out, not-so-innocent) young starlet Virginia Rappe.

This man’s profound contributions to vaudeville and early cinema have been largely forgotten. To provide a short list: he discovered Buster Keaton and Bob Hope, many of his best gags were ripped off by Charlie Chaplin, he was the first star to earn a million dollars and have complete artistic control over his pictures, he pioneered many new developments in cinematography, etc.

After 3 gruelling trials, he was acquitted by a jury, but his public never forgave him for what they thought he did. He spent his last decade as a drunken, lonely pariah forever waiting for his second chance.

A vindication of Roscoe Arbuckle (his friends never called him “Fatty”) is long overdue. Roscoe’s Ghost is a tribute to a great man whose big heart was broken by scandal, intrigue, and out and out blackmail.

Tickets: $15. Available at The ARTS Project box office, 519-642-2767.
Pay-what-you-can matinee September 25.