Virginia Rappe
Hollywood Forever
As a young actress, Virginia Rappe
appeared in small roles in four forgettable silent films. As the victim in the sensational
murder trial of comedian Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Rappe achieved Hollywood immortality.
Rappe's career began as a model. When producer Mack Sennett saw her
picture on the sheet music for "Let Me Call You Sweetheart," he offered her a job
with his Keystone Film Company, and she appeared in small roles in several films. Rappe
What happened behind that door will probably never be known for sure.
But when the door opened again, Rappe was writhing on the bed, crying out in pain.
Within a few days, she would be dead -- the coroner determined that her death was
caused by a ruptured bladder, which led to peritonitis -- and Arbuckle would be
charged with her murder. After three trials, Arbuckle would be found not guilty
of all charges, with the jury even going so far as to apologize to him, but
his career as a performer would be over.
The sensationalistic press made the most of the trial. There
were reports that Arbuckle, who weighed nearly 300 pounds, caused the injury
to Rappe when he was on top of her during a forced sexual encounter. Other
stories claimed he had raped her with a foreign object, perhaps a champagne
bottle. Most of these stories included the most lurid, graphic detail possible.
Arbuckle first went on trial in November 1921. The prosecution
claimed that, when Arbuckle brought Rappe into the bedroom, he said, "I've been
waiting for this for a long time," and witnesses reported hearing Rappe's
screams from behind the locked door. Arbuckle's version of the story was
that, shortly after they entered the bedroom, Rappe became ill and vomited
several times. He led her to the bed, then returned to the party. When he
went back to check on her, he discovered her moaning in pain and barely coherent.
The sensational trial was front-page news for weeks. In the
press, Rappe was presented as an innocent, naïve starlet, and Arbuckle was
assumed to be guilty. The press didn't mention that Rappe's bladder may
have been damaged in a recent abortion, or that in the weeks prior to the
party she had exhibited symptoms of a bladder infection, and the contractions
of her abdominal muscles while she vomited might have caused her diseased
bladder to rupture. In the press, and to the public, Arbuckle had become
a symbol of Hollywood's immorality. Across the country, theaters stopped
showing his films.
After the first trial, however, when Arbuckle took the witness
stand in his own defense, the jury was unable to reach a verdict, though
they voted 10 to 2 for acquittal. At the second trial, Arbuckle did not take
the stand, and the jury might have seen this as his admission of guilt. Again,
they could not reach a decision, but this time they voted 10 to 2 for conviction.
At the third trial, which began in March 1922, Arbuckle again took the witness
stand. At the end of the trial, the jury deliberated only a few minutes before
finding Arbuckle not guilty of all charges. In fact, the jury wrote a note
of apology to Arbuckle: "Acquittal is not enough for Roscoe Arbuckle. We feel
that a great injustice has been done him. We feel also that it was our only
plain duty to give him this exoneration. There was not the slightest proof
adduced to connect him in any way with the commission of a crime. ... The
happening at the hotel was an unfortunate affair for which Arbuckle, so the
evidence shows, was in no way responsible. We wish him success and hope that
the American people will take the judgment of 14 men and women who have sat
listening for 31 days to the evidence that Roscoe Arbuckle is entirely innocent
and free from all blame."
Unfortunately, the public and the Hollywood establishment
thought otherwise. Paramount cancelled Arbuckle's contract and, in April 1922,
less than a week after Arbuckle was cleared of all charges, the newly formed
Hays Office banned Arbuckle from making any films. Though the ban was lifted
a few months later, Arbuckle's career never recovered from the incident. For
years, Arbuckle could not find a job in Hollywood. He eventually began
working as a director of comedy shorts, using the name William B. Goodrich,
based on Buster Keaton's suggestion that he use the name Will B. Good. Arbuckle
died in 1933.
Before her death, Rappe appeared in small roles in four films
-- "Paradise Garden" (1917), "The Foolish Virgin" (1917), "A Twilight Baby"
(1920) and "An Adventuress" (1922), which starred Rudolph Valentino, and
was released after her death. During Arbuckle's trials, theaters across
the country began to show these films, in an attempt to take advantage of
the sensational circumstances surrounding her death. Eventually, a national
association of theater owners voted to ban the showing of her films in an
effort to stop the exploitation.
Rappe's grave is one of two locations at Hollywood Forever
said to be haunted. (The other is the area around actor Clifton Webb's crypt
in the Abbey of the Psalms mausoleum.) Some visitors to Hollywood Forever
have reported what sounds like a woman sobbing or crying out in pain near
Rappe's grave.
Rappe was born Virginia Rapp in 1895 (some sources say 1896)
in New York City, NY. She died on Sept. 9, 1921, in San Francisco, CA.
1895 - 1921
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