Hollywood's First Sex Scandal: The Story You Didn't Expect
Sex scandals happen regularly in Hollywood. It is quite clear that the very first one took place at some time. It can be assumed that he was associated with some kind of harassment or betrayal among the stars. But it is not. In the first scandal of a sexual plan, there was a lot of everything, from a sex orgy with illegal substances, ending with a corpse. True, the culprit was not a hot macho, but a comedian with the role of a provincial fool.
Comic actor Roscoe "Fat Man" Arbuckle was incredibly popular in the early 20th century. Nobody remembers him now, but a hundred years ago he was the second biggest star in the US after Charlie Chaplin. Short and stout, Arbuckle played in the movies funny fat slobs. He did not avoid noisy parties, drinking and women, but he was not seen in any scandals.
September 5, 1921 was Labor Day in the United States. Roscoe Arbuckle and his friend Fred Fischbach decided to celebrate properly, for which they went to San Francisco. There, a large room was waiting for friends in the St. Francis Hotel, which already had a supply of alcohol and snacks. It must be said that this event was illegal, since at that time Prohibition was in effect in the United States and such drinking parties were strictly prohibited.
But the rich and famous actor did not pay attention to such trifles. The room was crowded with guests, available women and musicians. The noisy celebration lasted almost a day. The host of the party and the guests did not deny themselves anything - the luxurious room was simply destroyed. Almost everything that could be broken, smashed or damaged was damaged.
Towards the end of the drinking party, among the wreckage of furniture, a girl was found in an inadequate condition. Her clothes were torn, and she herself was soaked through with alcohol, delirious and convulsing. Someone heard her say "Arbuckle." The hotel employees suggested that the guest had delirium tremens. She was placed in a bath of cold water, but the girl's condition only worsened. Then she was taken to the hospital, where she died two days later.
The model and actress Virginia Rupp has died. An autopsy showed that the cause of death was a bladder rupture that caused peritonitis. It is worth saying that the deceased had an unimportant reputation. 30-year-old Rapp was a frequenter of parties, where she regularly got drunk and undressed in public. She also had many clandestine abortions.
Roscoe "Fat Man" Arbuckle, as we have already said, had an impeccable reputation. But that didn't save him. The comedian's career collapsed in one day. His films were taken out of theaters and contracts terminated. Journalists picked up this story and competed among themselves who would give it the dirtiest. Most agreed that the 140-pound Arbuckle simply crushed the girl while having sex with her.
The main witness in this case was a certain Bambina Maud Delmont. This person, with a reputation no less dubious than that of Virginia Rapp, attended celebrity parties in order to find an excuse for blackmail. She told the police that she heard women screaming from the room where the deceased was. Then Arbuckle allegedly got out of her and said to someone: “Go dress her and take her back. She makes too much noise."
The trial of Roscoe Arbuckle consisted of three sessions. The first and second lasted a total of 40 hours. But during the third judge, in just 6 minutes, he was cleared of all charges relating to the death of Rapp. Arbuckle was found guilty only of illegal drinking and fined.
Relatives and friends of Virginia Rupp were shocked by Roscoe's acquittal. The groom of the deceased after the court session gave an interview to the press, in which he said:
As for Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle himself, despite the charges being dropped, his reputation has been completely destroyed. He could no longer act and worked as a director under the name William B. Goodrich. He could not regain his fame and influence. At 46, Arbuckle died of a heart attack in his sleep.
Although more than a century has passed since the tragedy at the St. Francis Hotel, its circumstances have remained a mystery. To this day, no one knows whether Rapp Arbuckle or someone else was responsible for the death of Virginia. It remains only to note that Hollywood took this incident as an insult. The first sex scandal did not become an epic story with heroes lovers. He looks more like a cheap tabloid detective with a fat comedian and a lady of easy virtue.