Thursday, June 29, 1933

I cut my foot today. Aunt Katie and Helen and Uncle Laten were by this evening. We all played ball.

Roscoe Conkling "Fatty" Arbuckle
(March 24, 1887 - June 29, 1933)

Born in Smith Center, Kansas, Arbuckle was an American silent film actor,
comedian, director, and screewriter. After getting his start in vaudeville, he wound up
at Keystone Studios, where he worked with Mabel Normand and Harold Lloyd. He mentored
 Charlie Chaplin and discovered both Buster Keaton and Bob Hope. Overweight and a very
heavy drinker, Arbuckle was given a screen nickname he hated - "Fatty."

In 1921, Arbuckle and two friends threw a party in a San Francisco hotel room. One
of the women they invited became ill and subsequently died. Rumors abounded and
Arbuckle was accused of rape and murder and went through three trials before being cleared
of all criminal charges. The scandal and trials pretty much wrecked his career, but he
eventually found directorial work under the name William Goodrich.

In 1932 Arbuckle signed a contract with Warner Brothers to star under his own name
in a series of successful two-reel comedies. He finished filming on June 28, 1933. The
next day he was signed by Warner Brothers to make a feature-length film. He reportedly
said, "This is the best day of my life." He suffered a heart attack that night and died
in his sleep. He was 46. Rosco Arbuckle was cremated and his ashed scattered in the
Pacific Ocean.