Комик-насильник или жертва клеветы? Роско Арбакль.

Even before the triumph of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, the name of Roscoe Arbuckle shone on the posters. For the impressive complexion, and Roscoe weighed 150 kilograms, Fetty, that is, Fatty, was always added to his name. American film actor, comic, director and screenwriter, Roscoe Conkling, Fatty Arbuckle was born in Smith Center, Kansas. He was one of the nine children. Molly and William Goodrich's parents, Arbuckle, had the usual complexion, but Roscoe weighed as much as 6 kilograms at birth. This was the reason for the very first serious trouble in Arbuckle's life. William Arbuckle suspected that Roscoe was not his child. For this reason, he named his son in honor of a political figure, whom he despised, the Republican Senator Roscoe Conkling. However, in childhood, Roscoe was extremely mischievous and had a beautiful singing voice. At the age of 8, he played in a theater, until his mother died in 1899. The father, who was always sharp with him, refused to support him, and Arbuckle was forced to work part-time at a hotel. Roscoe had a habit of singing at work, and one day a waitress listened to him, who turned out to be a professional singer. He invited him to an amateur talent show. Arbuckle sang, showed several parodies, but did not make a big impression on the audience. During the performance, a hook flew at him, suspended to the ceiling, and in order to avoid injury, Roscoe panicked and fell into an orchestra pit. Kubit impressed and amused the audience so much that he not only won the competition, but also began his career in Adeville. A personal life was also established. On August 6, 1908, Roscoe Arbuckle married Minty Durfee. Durfee starred in comedies and often with her husband. Arbuckle and Minty were a very strange couple, because Minty was small and fragile, and Arbuckle was tall and very tall. Guests at the wedding were comforting Roscoe, joking about the upcoming wedding night. This night really turned out to be unsuccessful. Roscoe was not a virgin, but to Minty he had an affair with only one woman, a dancer from Adeville. Roscoe and Minty, or, as Arbuckle called her, Minty, spent the whole night hugging each other. For at least a week before Roscoe felt comfortable enough to fall in love with his wife. Arbuckle's close acquaintances claimed that he never cheated on Minty and kept her faithful for a long time, even after they divorced. Later, the newspapers wrote that Arbuckle was probably the wisest man in Hollywood. The more terrible what will happen to him later will look. Roscoe's career in cinema began with the Selig Polyscope Company, which later transformed into the Keystone studio, where he worked with Mabel Norman and Harold Lloyd. Arbuckle was a teacher of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Bob Hope. Being one of the most popular movie stars of the 1910s, he also became one of the most highly paid actors. Despite his physical size, Arbuckle was as agile as an acrobat. Film director and producer Max Ennett, recalling their first meeting, said that Roscoe went down the stairs as easily as Fred Astor did. And the comedies in which he starred were always dynamic, contained a lot of scenes of persecution. At the same time, Roscoe never tried to use his weight to make the viewer laugh. Although the weight added humor, Arbuckle managed to take it out of the joke. Charlie Chaplin came to the Keystone studio in 1914 and fell under the influence of Arbuckle. He, in fact, guided them, and Chaplin created his image of a tramp with Roscoe's help, taking his wide pants, huge shoes and a tiny pot. Roscoe first starred in the film Buster Keaton, in the film Helper. So they became permanent partners on the screen, and then close friends. And in honor of the latter, it must be said that when Roscoe suffered a tragedy in the zenith of his career, Keaton did not leave his teacher and friend, giving him constant support. In 1914, Roscoe made an unheard-of offer of $ 1,000 a day, plus 25% of all profits and complete freedom of action. The films with his participation are so profitable and popular that in 1918 the comic signed a three-year contract for $ 3 million. An unheard-of amount at that time. But not everything was so cloudless. By 1916, Arbuckle's weight and alcohol addiction caused serious health problems. He caught an infection, a carbuncle on his leg. Arbuckle was so bad that doctors threatened to amputate him. But he still got out, although he lost 36 kilograms and began to weigh 120. In a professional sense, Arbuckle was doing well. He was at the peak of his fame. Films were released one after another. And sometimes he had to work on three films at the same time. The actor was exhausted and devastated. And then he decided to take a three-day vacation and go to San Francisco on Labor Day. The day before the departure, an accident occurred. Arbuckle was injured. He asked the mechanic to examine his car. During the examination, Roscoe sat down on an old box next to the car and immediately jumped in with a scream. The mechanic left a rag soaked in acid on the box. The acid burned the actor's pants and left second-degree burns on his buttocks. Despite the injury, he did not refuse to go. He got a bottle of whiskey and went on a trip with two friends, Lowell Sherman and Fred Fischbach. Arriving in San Francisco, his friends rented three suites. Roscoe Arbuckle and his friends arranged a party on September 5, 1921. Among those invited to the party was a young actress Virginia Rappé. Virginia's fate was not easy. She was born out of wedlock. And the word illegitimate was perceived at that time in a different way than cursive. Her mother, Mabel Rappé, lived in Chicago. But during her pregnancy, to hide her shame, she moved to New York. Mabel died when Virginia was only 11 years old. She was sent to Chicago to be raised by her grandmother. Virginia was a beautiful young woman with thick dark hair. Journalists of the yellow press, who pursued Arbuckle until his death, tried to portray her as such a snow-white, innocent and unhappy. But the true image of Virginia, to put it mildly, was different from this. Her childhood after the death of her mother was unstable and lonely. She grew up early and was forced to look for support in life. This made her enter numerous sexual relations. And at a time when the means of contraception were too imperfect, the consequences did not make them wait. It is believed that at the age of 16, she at least 5 times interrupted pregnancy. And when she turned 17, she gave birth to a child out of wedlock. Realizing that she could not raise the child herself, Virginia gave him to an adoptive family. Even in her teenage years, Rappé began her career as a model. She moved to San Francisco, where she posed as an artist. A thin, slim, young woman posed naked. In the same period, she met a clothing designer, Robert Moskowitz. The couple began to date and, apparently, the matter went to the wedding. But Moskowitz suddenly died in a car accident. Virginia was left alone again. But the loneliness did not last long. In 1917, she began dating director and producer Henry Lerman. At the same time, Virginia got a job in the cinema. Her first roles were small. Her name was often not even mentioned in the credits. There were rumors that in order to pay her bills, Virginia was engaged in prostitution. However, at that time there was nothing unusual about it. It is noteworthy that in one of the interviews, Rappé discussed the meeting with Roscoe Arbuckle. She called him disgusting, vulgar, disrespectful and rude to women. However, this statement does not agree with the reviews about Arbuckle, which were left by other women, who called him charming and polite gentleman. Most likely, Rappé's negative comments to Roscoe were caused by a desire to please her boyfriend, Lerman, who had long been hostile to Arbuckle. Relationships between Lerman and Rappé were constantly tested for strength. They were both ill with venereal diseases. Virginia Rappé came to the San Francisco hotel in the light of a very colorful person named Bombina Maud Delmont, who had many clashes with the police. At different times, she was accused of extortion, fraud and double-crossing. Repeatedly getting married, she eventually hired a private detective, who was entrusted with finding a compromise for her husband, so that Maud could blackmail her lover and get a big kick in the form of a ransom. Seeing Rappé and Delmont, Arbuckle, as they said, present at the party, expressed concern. Nevertheless, he did not take any action, possibly assuming that it would be worse to kick them out than to let them stay. Many people came to the party. Many came and left. Guests joked, told funny stories, flirted. There was a lot of food and drinks. According to eyewitnesses of the tragedy, the host of the party was consuming smuggled gin and whiskey from the very outbreak of the dry law, and the consequences of the noisy holiday were an intimate scandal that took place between Roscoe and Virginia. It is known that the actor locked the girl in one of the hotel rooms and sweared at her, literally crushing the poor girl, falling on her with all her weight. Four days after what happened, the victim died from a bladder rupture. This is the first time in the history that such a scandal has occurred. It was after the publication of the details of Arbuckle in the media that the concept of sexual harassment appeared. During a closer look, some details appeared in the case. It is reported that Arbuckle held a party in his hotel room in San Francisco, and then he locked Ropé in another private room and allegedly penetrated it Arbuckle said that the guests were drinking alcohol, despite the strict prohibitions. According to some data, the amount of alcohol in the blood of Virginia and Ropé could have forced the girl to leave the room herself, causing a lot of accusations. Delmont said in her testimony that Ropé had only three drinks, and then she felt bad and the girl went to look for a bath. Later, Delmont said that she heard Ropé's screams in the room, but when she tried to open the door, she realized that the room was locked from the inside. It was Arbuckle, he did all this to me. According to eyewitnesses, it was later that Ropé managed to tell his friends what exactly happened in the hotel room in San Francisco that evening remains a mystery. 30 minutes later, Arbuckle came out of the room and met his manager. He was in a pijama hat of Virginia. We rushed into the room and saw her on the bed, crying and moaning in torn clothes, said the party witness. At that moment, Virginia could not formulate anything specific. The girl was taken to the hospital, where she later died. Arbuckle's death was caused by complications due to previous pregnancy interruptions, but this was refuted after the body was revealed. In addition, large bruises on the hands, legs and stomach of the deceased were captured in the photos of the actress from the morgue. Unfortunately, the photo from the morgue on which all this was captured was lost at the time of editing, the scandal caused an unprecedented resonance, after which the wife of the detainee filed for divorce. Arbuckle was dragged through three court hearings. The third one ended with the verdict that he was not guilty. However, the process of discrediting Russian Arbuckle began. The logic was simple. Even if Arbuckle was not guilty of violence, he organized a disgusting drinking party. He had to sell his house and expensive car. Only 10 years later, in 1932, Ruska managed to make six short films with him in the lead role. After finishing this work, he died of a heart attack.