History Creator / FattyArbuckle

Roscoe Conkling "Fatty" Arbuckle[[note]]He preferred "Roscoe" in a casual environment; calling him by [[YouAreFat the nickname he was given by cinema which also happened to be about his weight]] was something he considered to be uncomfortable and impolite[[/note]] (March 24, 1887 – June 29, 1933) was a silent film star in the 1910s, a pioneering film comedian and one of Hollywood's biggest stars during UsefulNotes/{{The Silent Age|OfHollywood}}. Today, however, he's best known for being the TropeMaker for celebrity scandals, and for being partly responsible for the development of UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode.

Roscoe Conkling "Fatty" Arbuckle (March 24, 1887 – June 29, 1933) was a silent film star in the 1910s, a pioneering film comedian and one of Hollywood's biggest stars during UsefulNotes/{{The Silent Age|OfHollywood}}. Today, however, he's best known for being the TropeMaker for celebrity scandals, and for being partly responsible for the development of UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode.

* {{Acrofatic}}: Arbuckle was a nimble dancer and juggler. In ''Fatty and Mabel at the San Diego Exposition'' he dances a neat hula with some Hawaiian girls. He was also an excellent physical comedian and extremely agile despite his size.

A {{biopic}} about Arbuckle has been stuck in DevelopmentHell for nearly thirty years, and [[http://movies.about.com/od/artschoolconfidential/a/artschool042006_2.htm some]] have suggested that the project is cursed. The first actor they had lined up to play the original "live fat, die young" comic was Creator/JohnBelushi... in 1982. Then Creator/JohnCandy was attached to it... in 1994. And then Creator/ChrisFarley stepped up... in 1997. (The film version of ''Literature/AConfederacyOfDunces'' seems to be condemned to the same fate because those same actors had also been considered to play Ignatius J. Reilly before they died.)

[[IfItBleedsItLeads You have three guesses as to which version of events was picked up by the media, and the first two don't count.]]

* ProductionCurse: For years, Hollywood has tried to make a biopic about Fatty. Unforunately, the attached comedic actors were Creator/ChrisFarley, Creator/JohnBelushi and Creator/JohnCandy, all of whom ended up dying young like Fatty.

* PieInTheFace: Arbuckle's ''A Noise from the Deep'' (1913) is believed to be the first ever example of this trope, possibly the TropeMaker. Wiki/TheOtherWiki credits a 1909 Ben Turpin film called ''Mr. Flip'', but notes that the pie in that film was hand-held, not thrown. In any case, Arbuckle would use this trope many, many times in later films.

* {{Acrofatic}}: Arbuckle was a nimble dancer and juggler. In ''Fatty and Mabel at the San Diego Exposition'' he dances a neat hula with some Hawaiian girls.

* In Creator/JohnMFord's short story "Chain Home Low" (a piece of FanFiction written about ''ComicBook/TheSandman''), Fatty Arbuckle is inspired by a dream to do a film about the victims of the "Sleepy Sickness" (a condition caused by the imprisonment of Morpheus for nearly 70 years). Arbuckle films it under a pseudonym, and in the modern day its considered "a noir classic."

A {{biopic}} about Arbuckle has been stuck in DevelopmentHell for nearly thirty years, and [[http://movies.about.com/od/artschoolconfidential/a/artschool042006_2.htm some]] have suggested that the project is cursed. The first actor they had lined up to play the original "live fat, die young" comic was Creator/JohnBelushi... [[ActorExistenceFailure in 1982]]. Then Creator/JohnCandy was attached to it... in 1994. And then Creator/ChrisFarley stepped up... in 1997. (The film version of ''Literature/AConfederacyOfDunces'' seems to be condemned to the same fate because those same actors had also been considered to play Ignatius J. Reilly before they died.)

-->--The jury's statement during Arbuckle's third trial

->''"Acquittal is not enough for Roscoe Arbuckle. We feel that a great injustice has been done him... there was not the slightest proof adduced to connect him in any way with the commission of a crime. He was manly throughout the case and told a straightforward story which we all believe. We wish him success and hope that the American people will take the judgement of fourteen men and women that Roscoe Arbuckle is entirely innocent and free from all blame."''

Arbuckle was always very sensitive about his weight, and refused to let his size be used for cheap fat jokes (such as getting stuck in a doorway or chair). He [[EmbarrassingNickname disliked his nickname of "Fatty"]], which had been given to him in school, and discouraged people from addressing him as such off-screen. Eventually, his weight, along with his drinking, started to cause him health problems; in 1916 he got an infection on his leg that was so bad that the doctors considered amputating it. While Arbuckle recovered with both legs intact, he had lost 80 pounds and had become addicted to morphine.

Three highly sensationalized trials were held, but it was clear that the prosecution really didn't had much of a leg to stand on; most infamously, the prosecutor refused to have Delmont, the one who had made the accusation in the first place, testify before the court, as her testimony was simply too disjointed. Although Arbuckle was ultimately acquitted, with the case against him getting torn apart on the stand and the jury even apologizing for the injustice that had been done to him, the damage was already done. Arbuckle was the Creator/OJSimpson of TheRoaringTwenties, with the public feeling that [[ConvictedByPublicOpinion he was guilty no matter what the court said]]. He had gone over $700,000 in debt due to legal fees, and he lost his house and his cars to pay the debt. He had been blacklisted from the American film industry, with theaters refusing to show his films. MoralGuardians, including then-Postmaster General William H. Hays[[note]]If that name sounds familiar, it should. Hays would go on to chair the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America the following year; his efforts to "clean up" Hollywood led to the creation of UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode in the early 1930s.[[/note]], declared the Arbuckle case and other contemporary scandals (including a murder case involving former collaborator Mabel Normand) to be proof of the poor standards of morality in Hollywood, and started pushing for increased censorship.

Three highly sensationalized trials were held, but it was clear that the prosecution really didn't had much of a leg to stand on; most infamously, the prosecutor refused to have Delmont, the one who had made the accusation in the first place, testify before the court, as her testimony was simply too disjointed. Although Arbuckle was ultimately acquitted, with the case against him getting torn apart on the stand and the jury even apologizing for the injustice that had been done to him, the damage was already done. Arbuckle was the Casey Anthony of TheRoaringTwenties, with the public feeling that [[ConvictedByPublicOpinion he was guilty no matter what the court said]]. He had gone over $700,000 in debt due to legal fees, and he lost his house and his cars to pay the debt. He had been blacklisted from the American film industry, with theaters refusing to show his films. MoralGuardians, including then-Postmaster General Will H. Hays[[note]]If that name sounds familiar, it should. Hays would go on to chair the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America the following year; his efforts to "clean up" Hollywood led to the creation of UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode in the early 1930s.[[/note]], declared the Arbuckle case and other contemporary scandals (including a murder case involving former collaborator Mabel Normand) to be proof of the poor standards of morality in Hollywood, and started pushing for increased censorship.

Three highly sensationalized trials were held, but it was clear that the prosecution really didn't had much of a leg to stand on; most infamously, the prosecutor refused to have Delmont, the one who had made the accusation in the first place, testify before the court, as her testimony was simply too disjointed. Although Arbuckle was ultimately acquitted, with the case against him getting torn apart on the stand and the jury even apologizing for the injustice they had done him, the damage was already done. Arbuckle was the Casey Anthony of TheRoaringTwenties, with the public feeling that [[ConvictedByPublicOpinion he was guilty no matter what the court said]]. He had gone over $700,000 in debt due to legal fees, and he lost his house and his cars to pay the debt. He had been blacklisted from the American film industry, with theaters refusing to show his films. MoralGuardians, including then-Postmaster General Will H. Hays[[note]]If that name sounds familiar, it should. Hays would go on to chair the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America the following year; his efforts to "clean up" Hollywood led to the creation of UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode in the early 1930s.[[/note]], declared the Arbuckle case and other contemporary scandals (including a murder case involving former collaborator Mabel Normand) to be proof of the poor standards of morality in Hollywood, and started pushing for increased censorship.

Arbuckle was born on March 24, 1887 in Smith Center, Kansas. He had a birth weight of 13 pounds, causing [[InsaneTrollLogic disbelief]] in his father that he and his wife, who were both slim, could produce such a child. Consequently, his father named him after senator Roscoe Conkling, a man that he despised. This was only the beginning of a long and spiteful relationship between father and son.