Fatty Arbuckle and the Morality Police
Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle was one of America’s first silent film stars dominating the industry from 1914–1920. Despite his obesity, he was graceful and acrobatic and a talented dancer. He was a purveyor of the pie-in-the-face slapstick routine that came to embody early silents. He portrayed a country hayseed struggling in the big city, co-starring in several films with Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin.
Arbuckle, born in 1887, weighed 13 pounds at birth. His mother suffered injuries during childbirth that later contributed to her death. His father was convinced he was illegitimate and beat him. After Arbuckle’s mother died when he was 12, his father kicked him out of the house.
Arbuckle had a beautiful singing voice. He won a local talent show and joined a traveling vaudeville company. In 1908 he married actress Minta Durfee and a year later appeared in his first movie Ben’s Kid. He joined the Mack Sennett Company and became a performer in the Keystone Cop comedies.
Arbuckle’s weight was part of his comedic appeal but he refused to use it to get cheap laughs. He wouldn’t allow himself to be stuck in a doorway or a chair. When someone called him “Fatty” he said, “I’ve got a name, you know.”
By 1914, Paramount paid Arbuckle $1000 a day plus 25 percent of profits. They gave him complete artistic control. By…
