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In 1921, Arbuckle made 9 feature films for Paramount in 8 months. In September, he drove from LA to San Francisco for a vacation and took rooms on the 12th floor of the St. Francis Hotel.
On September 5, 1921, there was a party in Arbuckle's rooms (a really big party that went on for days). Among those who attended,
Virginia Rappe, (born Rapp, she added the "e" in Hollywood) her lover Henry Lehrman (who had been one of the principals of Keystone),
and Hollywood gossip columnist "Bambina" Maude Delmont.
During the party, Rappe became
extremely sick, but rather than seeking treatment for her, Arbuckle and the party guests left her alone in a bedroom and, on several occasions, helped her to the bathroom. Rappe continued to sicken and died on September 9. The cause of death was peritonitis from a ruptured bladder.
Arbuckle had spent time in the bedroom and bathroom with Rappe and Delmont claimed that she knew that he had sexually assaulted her (this may have been part of a scheme to extort money
from him). Delmont promoted the story to the Hearst newspapers. Hearst portrayed Rappe as innocent, sexually virtuous, and virginal (she was not) and Arbuckle as hideous, monstrous, and rapacious (he was not). However, the image of the monstrous Arbuckle brutalizing the young Rappe caught the public which demanded Arbuckle's arrest and trial.
Two high-profile trials ended in hung juries but ultimately Arbuckle was acquitted. The judgment of history is that he did not actively contribute to Rappe's death (though, by modern standards, he, and the other party guests may have been criminally negligent since they did not get her medical attention early enough). Exactly how Rappe died is not fully known and medicine 100 years ago was so different that we're unlikely to ever have a definitive answer. However, it's long been suspected that botched illegal abortions played a role in her demise.
Whatever the truth of Arbuckle's involvement with Rappe, public opinion turned savagely against him. The sensation surrounding his trial was directly linked to the establishment of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (better known as the MPPDA, and even better known as the Hays Office) an association created by studios to censor films.
William Harrison Hays created the following code for the MPPDA: 1) No picture shall be produced that will lower the moral standards of those who see it. 2) Hence the sympathy of the audience should never be thrown to the side of crime, wrongdoing, evil or sin. 3) Correct standards of life, subject only to the requirements of drama and entertainment, shall be presented. 4) Law, natural or human, shall not be ridiculed, nor shall sympathy be created for its violation.
One of Hays' first actions was to ban Arbuckle from film.
Arbuckle's friends particularly Mack Sennett and Buster Keaton provided support for Arbuckle who eventually returned as a director, often appearing under the name William B. Goodrich/Will B. Goode. He died in 1933, age 46.
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