Details of statements by witnesses to Fatty Arbuckle’s “drinking party” are leaking. He supposedly pulled Virginia Rappe into a room, saying “I’ve waited for you five years, and now I’ve got you.” There were screams, and when Fatty finally emerged, he was wearing pajamas and Virginia’s hat at an angle, showing his “foolish screen smile.” Rappe, moaning, said “Arbuckle did it.” I should say the witness, Bambina Maude Delmont, will turn out to have a record of blackmail and extortion. And she’s being paid, at least her hotel bills, by Rappe’s finacée. She called in a doctor, who, after Rappe’s death, performed a post-mortem without official authority, which is weird, right?
If some of this is open to doubt, we do get the definitive answer to the question: how fat was Fatty? His booking info says he is 5 foot 5 and 3/8 inches tall and 266 pounds. He’s 34.
Movie theaters are withdrawing Fatty Arbuckle movies. And in at least one town, the mayor banned them. It is explained that an actor “with a questionable reputation might be acceptable in a sophisticated drama, but not in a simple, frolicsome comedy that will be watched by thousands of young people and children.”
Henry Lehrman, Virginia Rappe’s fiancée and a director of several of Arbuckle’s films, says he’ll kill Fatty if he’s released. He says Fatty is “the result of ignorance and too much money” and had to be warned to keep out of the women’s dressing rooms, like a common Trump.
Rep. Isaac Siegel (R-NY) writes to Pres. Harding about the unfair way the new immigration law is being carried out, such as sending back a 10-year-old Polish girl – her father came to the US years ago intending to bring his family over but the war broke out, them he heard they were dead, but he finally located them, then his wife died just before they were to come, so the daughter came alone – because the Polish quota for the month had been reached. Harding responds blaming “dishonest steamship agents.” Oh no, not his mortal enemies the dishonest steamship agents!
The California Supreme Court overturns the alien poll tax, an annual $10 tax on alien male residents between 21 and 60, passed this year to put into effect a November ballot measure. It not only violates the 14th Amendment’s equal protection, the court rules, but the treaty between the US and Japan.
Russia declares war on Romania over Bessarabia, which the Allied Supreme Council gave to Romania, with what authority is unclear.
The governments of Poland and Bavaria both resign.
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