An acerbic, harsh, funny and moving novel of silent comedic actor Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle. I have not read author Jerry Stahl before and was unfamiliar with his penchant for the degenerative dark side of humanity and the humour he can pull from that. This unique caustic wit allowed Stahl to raise Arbuckle up from the dusty past and let his voice finally be heard. Stahl did extensive research, as the bibliography shows, and places Arbuckle back up among the great comic pioneers where he belongs. But Stahl seems to get heavy handed with Abuckle's alleged drug addictions, to heroin (legal at the time and marketed by Bayer) and morphine, even using it as a device to force Fatty to tell his life story. There is no doubt he was an alcoholic and did use drugs to control pain after a horrifically botched job on a leg injury but no indication of this level of abuse. Since this is historical fiction, the author can take artistic license and include his required use of heroin that he jokes at his readings has to be included in all of his books. This never holds up the story just muddies it a bit. Now that the questionable drug use issue is out of the way, I can get to the meat of this review. If you want a time capsule of the turn of the century and early Hollywood, then hold on for a wow of a ride. Starting with Roscoe's birth at a hefty 16 pounds, he is ostracized for his size from then on and suffers harsh abuse by his alcoholic father. Finding himself abandoned by his father as a boy, he finagles his way onto the vaudeville stage as boy singer of illustrated songs. Along the way from singer to comedian, he does an act with the pitcher Cy Young about the benefits of health, gets caught in the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906 (the only time "he and the great John Barrymore played the same roll") and has a pie fight across the Rio Grande with Pancho Villa. His Mack Sennett years, where he helps in the fledgling careers of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, teams up with Mable Normand and introduces pie fights to the world are like being included into an exclusive club. These times are written with a captivating, naive innocence that I didn't want to end. How much fun is it learn while filming in New York Arbuckle meets and dines with Enrico Caruso who compliments him on his singing. All these tidbits from the times added to the realism and enjoyment for this history and old movie junkie. The touch of harshness and foreboding that Stahl layered in during Fatty's rise, added to the pull of the narrative although I admit I found myself not ever wanting to get to the night of the infamous party and his inevitable fall. Stahl does not shy away from explicit descriptions on what Arbuckle did try to do to revive Virginia Rappe. From here the reader is then pulled through the ensuing three trials in a horrified daze, shaking their head at the injustice of it all. Instances like Arbuckle walking up the steps of the court house for the second trial, where around 50 members of the Women's Vigilante Commission encircle him and, upon a signal and in unison, they all spit on him are dizzying yet mesmerizing. William Randolph Hearst's paper, which leads the relentless libelous pursuit against him, reported "Fatty made a most impressive centerpiece in the fountain." All of this culminates with the acquittal, along with the accompanying statement, after the third trial but sadly Arbuckle knows it doesn't matter. He valiantly tries to put his life back together, with support and help from Charlie Chaplin, Joe Schenck and his true friend Buster Keaton, but as a New York Times editorial said the day after his acquittal; "Arbuckle was a scapegoat, and the only thing to do... is to chase him off..." and they did. His response, "What do you do when the world thinks your a monster, and you know it's the world that's monstrous?", he did the best he could with the slices of pie he was given. It is the ending that fell flat and prevented this from being five stars. It just felt rushed and a bit confused. Despite that, it is a powerful read that will have you looking up other players involved in Fatty's story or wanting to rent one or more of his movies to see this giant (no pun intended) of the silver screen. In other words you won't be ready to shut this book and forget Roscoe Arbuckle anytime soon!
Als je iets over Stahl te lezen krijgt, dan wordt Hubert Selby, Jr. doorgaans ook vermeld. Die laatste was zo’n beetje Stahls mentor en de stilistische en filosofische overeenkomsten tussen hun oevre lijken dan ook gelijklopend. Het leven is een hel en voor het bestaan aan de zelfkant van de maatschappij geldt dat dubbel. En toch, toch is I, Fatty een van de plezantste boeken die ik dit jaar las; een vlot geschreven, grappig, meeslepend werk dat je alleman wil aanraden (bij deze). I, Fatty is de fictieve autobiografie van Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle (1887-1933). Intussen is de man bijna volledig vergeten, maar hij was een van de grootste helden van de stille film en naar verluidt de eerste acteur die een miljoen dollar op een jaar verdiende. In die begindagen van Mack Sennett en Keystone (rond 1915) was het ook Arbuckle die ervoor zorgde dat zowel Buster Keaton als Charlie Chaplin nieuwe kansen aangeboden kregen en vervolgens zouden uitgroeien tot iconen van de Amerikaanse film. Met Arbuckle, een dikke kolos met een opmerkelijke lenigheid, en eigenlijk ook de uitvinder van het slagroomtaartengevecht, had het eigenlijk net zo kunnen vergaan, ware het niet dat zijn carrière begin jaren ‘20 geruïneerd werd door een gemediatiseerd schandaal dat van hem een verschoppeling zou maken tot het einde van zijn leven. Tijdens een uit de hand gelopen feestje zou Arbuckle een vrouw verkracht hebben, wat haar dood zou betekenen (door zijn enorme gewicht zou haar blaas gescheurd zijn). Op z’n minst opmerkelijk, want volgens Stahl zou Arbuckle impotent geweest zijn. Er kwamen drie processen van, en pas bij het derde zou Arbuckle vrijgesproken worden en eerherstel krijgen. Er was echer onherstelbare schade aangericht. Jarenlang werden zijn films nergens getoond en kon hij zich niet vertonen om toch niet uitgejoeld te worden als pervert. In I, Fatty schildert Stahl een prachtig en tragisch portret van een man die sukkelde met z’n gewicht, drank, drugs en vrouwen, maar steeds z’n waardigheid wist te behouden. Het is een aandoenlijk, empathisch portret dat vol zelfspot zit, een mooi beeld van de filmindustrie uit de beginjaren schetst en leest met de vaart van een misdaadroman. En hey, Johnny Depp is fan van het boek! (****)
Do You like book I, Fatty (2005)?
I, Fatty by Jerry Stahl brings some much deserved notice and attention to Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, one of the greatest silent film comics to ever grace the screen. Stahl has written a fictionalized account of Roscoe's reminiscing over his life, the beginning, the ups and downs and the tremendous fall he took for a crime he didn't commit, and Hollywood turning its back on its once Golden Boy. Stahl's writing is fresh, funny, tragic and full of appropriate terms and slang for the early 20th century. You'll relive the glory days of early cinema, before income taxes, before world war, when actors, although considered lowly, were still gods and goddesses of their universe. As a reader, you will become entranced by Roscoe's story, even fictionalized - - this big man, so full of talent and yet lacking self-esteem, giving so much to the industry and becoming their censorship scapegoat. But at the same time, it is clear this is a work of fiction. Roscoe Arbuckle was never a heroin addict. And this one creative license puts a slight taint on the whole tale, lest Mr. Arbuckle be remembered as a poor heroin addict. At least Mr. Stahl makes it clear that Mr. Arbuckle was an innocent victim in Virginia Rappe's death. Overall, this book was a pleasure to read, despite the heroin allegations. Real gems from the silent era, such as Mabel Normand, Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Joseph Schenck, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Gloria Swanson and even Bob Hope come alive in the pages. It's a quick and easy read and worth every moment spent turning the pages. Even knowing the sad outcome of Mr. Arbuckle's career and life after that Labor Day of 1921, the book will still keep you anxious to turn the page and read on. Hopefully this book will help to shed light on the previously untapped genius of Roscoe Arbuckle, and give him some well deserved new fans. Recommended for fans of the golden age of Hollywood and 1920s buffs.
—Lori
I recognize the sensationalism and problems with this book, but if that makes it a guilty pleasure, so be it. I am fascinated by the celebrity of early Hollywood, and Fatty Arbuckle in particular. I can't quite understand his charm, but Stahl re-imagines him successfully enough that I begin to. It's such n interesting story, so filled with grim and wonderful details, and so relevant to America's relationship with celebrity as a rise and fall kind of mythology. In Fatty's case the stakes were so high (pardon the pun) that imagining it from a first person perspective is great fun. All the facts are there, and now I want to go read a biography, and rent some his films.It is an utterly amazing piece of history and begs to be a movie. Where are you Chris Farley!
—tim
I read this book because I read a very positive review about it by James Franco, the actor in "127 Hours". Since I liked his performance in that movie so much, I thought he must also be an insightful movie critic too! Wrong. This book is interesting in an historical context. As the author explains in the beginning, it is told in the first person by Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle to his manservant in exchange for doses of drugs. It is a fictional biography of this early silent film star from his birth through the 3 trials of his alleged murder of starlet Virginia Rappe in a San Francisco hotel room through bizarre circumstances in the 1920's. The book is interesting in that it paints a picture of the earliest days of Hollywood, when respectable vaudevillians wouldn't be caught dead making films. Fatty Arbuckle's hayday was in the late teens and early 20's, and we don't have many films from that time. His discription of life captures the prohibitionist fervor that was sweeping the nation, how the movie producers basically owned their stars, and how Fatty squandered his fortunes in immediate gratification, but not of the sexual variety. If you want to know the meaning of the word "galoot", it is Fatty Arbuckle. The descriptions of his abuse as a child at the hands of his father were a bit over the top, and when the author has the man urinating on his sleeping son's head, I had to say to myself "enough!" This is fiction, remember? But, if you ever wondered what happened to him in his fall from grace, and the outcome of all the charges against him, this book is an intriguing presentation of how it might have happened.
—Marsha
