In 1921 Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle was charged with the murder of a young actress called Virginia Rappe. He stood trial 3 times and it destroyed his reputation and also his career as one of the highest paid stars of the silent movie era. Most writers in the intervening 100 years have argued Arbuckle was victimised - and quite innocent of the charges... But most writers have started from a point in which their anxiety to restore Arbuckle's reputation, has obscured their regard for the truth. Starting from first principles, let look again at that Labor Day party in the St Francis Hotel in San Francisco - and ask again: was Arbuckle guilty after all?
Mark John Maguire