SOMETHING THAT MIGHT INTEREST YOU
I commented today over at a film-oriented Substack about the death of the dreadful liar Kenneth Anger, author of the book full of lies titled “Hollywood Babylon” and mentioned his publication of the disproven lies about the trials of Fatty Arbuckle, mentioning I had written a documentary on the topic that was broadcast on Court TV around 25 years ago.
One of the other readers did a little research and discovered that “The Trials of Fatty Arbuckle” is still available, on YouTube.
So here it is, the true story of the first great “Hollywood scandal” (thyat wasn’t). My friend, documentary filmmaker Dorian Walker (the guy who restored the DH-4), hired me to write the script. The show was nominated for a Cable ACE Award (something that no longer exists).
And it turned out they managed to misspell my name in the credits! Oh well. They didn’t misspell my name on the paycheck.
So here it is:
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Well, he was tried and convicted in the court of public opinion fueled by the feckless media of the time. Sorta like Fox Noise and MAGA of the 20s preying on the mindless masses eating up the sensational aspects of a lurid news story and ignoring the facts behind the event…sound familiar?
the amazing thing to me is that Kenneth Anger only just died. like many people, I read "Hollywood Babylon" very eagerly in college and (needless to say) took it all as more or less gospel, except for the Fatty Arbuckle case, which I was convinced was a frame-up because I'd read more complete accounts of the case when I was in high school (yes, I was weird in my reading tastes in HS, but anything involving movie history has ALWAYS fascinated me). over the years, I came to discover that LOTS of it was just recycled gossip. I will say that the first time I saw "Scorpio Rising," I thought it was kinda cool...it was on a date during my freshman year of college.
these past ten years or so, I've become convinced that LOTS of people were already dead and that I'd seen their obituaries. then, when they've actually died, I've been amazed. it's become a sick joke between my friends and myself (as in "I buried that guy five years ago!"). I was SURE that Kenneth Anger passed sometimes before the beginning of the current century. and I realized I'd seen your documentary a long time ago (obviously, well before things like Substack). it's excellent.
the Fatty Arbuckle case was pretty vile. and back then, a lot of newspaper folks had no scruples at all. I realize I just sounded like I was saying things are now entirely different, which would (of course) be ridiculous.