![]() 'I would HATE myself for being like this': Jurgen Klopp insists he is NO xenophobe and that City's accusation 'is miles away from my personality' but with McCoist shining their Premier League service remains solid Show your footballing knowledge (and beat your mates!) in our EASY predictorĪmazon Prime score an own goal after fans are riled over 'Notts Forest' reference. There is more to grieve for here than the enduring questions surrounding her death.Can YOU pick the winner of the Qatar World Cup? She overcame a tough childhood and made a name for herself, championing causes such as women's rights and pacifism through her work – all by the age of 30. Raised first by a single mother, Rappe, who never knew her father, was essentially orphaned at 11, when her mother died. Rappe was, according to Merritt, “entrepreneurial, idealistic, and outspoken”, dedicated to important causes. Still, it’s worth considering why so many versions of this story present it primarily as the tale of a man who lost his career, when it began, first and foremost, with a woman losing her life. And yes, this is in part because she died at a younger age (Arbuckle died aged 46 of a heart attack), and because she was less famous than him. Whether you subscribe to that version, or you believe Arbuckle was 100 per cent to blame, or none at all is up to you.īut it is telling that, while several books have been written about Arbuckle, none have been written squarely about Rappe. #Death of a starlet full#His narrative doesn’t entirely redeem Arbuckle, nor is it a full indictment. #Death of a starlet series#Merritt offers up a version of events in Room 1219 that doesn’t absolve Arbuckle of all responsibility, but opens the door to the possibility of a more or less accidental series of events leading to Rappe’s death. ![]() None of these elements have anything to do with Arbuckle attacking, or not attacking, Rappe, and that they were even brought up casts an irrevocable shadow on the proceedings and their outcome. According to an account by the Smithsonian Magazine, witnesses not only “testified that Rappe had suffered previous abdominal attacks”, which can be considered relevant information in the context of the trial, but also that she “drank heavily and often disrobed at parties after doing so was promiscuous, and had an illegitimate daughter”. This led Dr Shelby Strange, who performed a post-mortem examination on Rappe’s body, to believe the rupture had to have been caused by external force.Īnother element worth considering: Rappe’s character was attacked in precisely the unfortunate, profoundly unfair ways you would expect in the 1920s. Not only that, but the medical community, even at the time, recognised that spontaneous ruptures of the bladder were exceedingly rare. Her version of events was supported by two other witnesses, who both signed statements for the prosecution to that effect. Speaking of Delmont – she testified that Rappe had stated that she had been “hurt” and that “ did it”. By Arbuckle’s own admission, Maude Delmont, an attendee who would later become a star witness at his trial, told him to get out and leave Rappe alone, to which he replied by telling her to “shut up or I would throw her out the window”. In this version, too, he tries to help her, which involves giving her a glass of water and laying her down on a bed. Rappe, according to Arbuckle’s testimony, was “holding her stomach” when he got in. This time around, he said he had found Rappe on the floor of a bathroom, clearly in pain, moaning. “Cancel culture” has often been depicted, usually negatively, as a new phenomenon, but if anything, in this case it was much more powerful a century ago than it is now.Īt trial, however, Arbuckle presented a new narrative. ![]() According to Merritt, “less than a week after his arrest, his films had been pulled from every screen in America”. ![]() ![]() It’s worth noting that the accusations against Arbuckle prompted a swift ban of his movies. #Death of a starlet free#The statement went on to praise Arbuckle for being “manly throughout the case”, adding: “We wish him success and hope that the American people will take the judgment of 14 men and women that Roscoe Arbuckle is entirely innocent and free from all blame.” Extraordinarily, a statement read to the press and attributed to the jury (author Greg Merritt disputes the origins of the statement in his detailed book on the case, Room 1219: The Life of Fatty Arbuckle, the Mysterious Death of Virginia Rappe, and the Scandal That Changed Hollywood) claimed that “acquittal is not enough for Roscoe Arbuckle”. This time around, after just a few minutes, a jury acquitted Arbuckle. It was the third trial, taking place between March and April 1922, which sealed Arbuckle’s fate. ![]()
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