ROSCOE "FATTY" ARBUCKLE - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 176071

ROSCOE "FATTY" ARBUCKLE. Photograph signed: "Sincerely/Roscoe". Sepia, 10x8. Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle (1887-1933) is standing to the right behind the camera. Written on the back, in pencil, in an unknown hand is "Roscoe (Fatty) Arbuckel (sic)/Nipper Lane/Baron Houck-camerman (sic)". Arbuckle wrote and directed Fighting Dude (1925) and His Private Life (1926). LUPINO "NIPPER" LANE starred in each film. BYRON HOUCK was cameraman on each silent. The six men and four women in this photograph were connected to one of these films. Joining Mack Sennett's Keystone Kops in 1913, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle quickly rose to stardom in a series of short comedies with such co-stars as Mabel Normand, Charlie Chaplin and Chester Conkling. From 1916, he wrote and directed many of his own films as well as some of the other stars of comedy. In 1921, while at the peak of success, Arbuckle's career was ruined by a scandal. A young starlet died after allegedly being sexually assaulted by the 320-pound actor. He was charged with manslaughter. Twice, the trial ended in a hung jury and in a third trial he was acquitted, but public opinion forced Arbuckle's retirement from the screen. Studios stayed away from Arbuckle, but several friends in the industry helped Arbuckle to find work as a director under a pseudonym. Fighting Dude and His Private Life were two of those films. Lightly creased. Notes on verso (no show through, unknown hand). Fine condition.