I, Fatty by Jerry Stahl is about Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, one of the first silent film stars from the early 1900s. He was the first actor to make millions of dollars a year, and at his peak was more popular than Charlie Chaplin. What makes Roscoe a interesting topic is the fact that he was charged with the rape and murder of a young woman in a hotel room. Roscoe was supposedly hosting a depraved orgy at the time. He was acquitted of the charges, but the scandal and subsequent demonization of Fatty ruined his career and life. The trial and backlash was the first of its kind- a media feeding frenzy over a fallen Hollywood celebrity.
Stahl’s approach is unique in that he writes the book in the first person from Roscoe’s point-of-view. Obviously, this creates sympathy for the character. The guy was innocent. He was extremely naive, and at times the first person point-of-view gets old. I wanted to shake good ol’ Fatty at times and tell him to quit being an idiot. For example, he chose to try to revive a naked, dying lunatic of a woman by rubbing a cold wine bottle on her clitoris, a technique Buster Keaton lovingly referred to as ”ringing her doorbell.” Apparently Buster used this technique to wake up passed out lovelies he wanted to get rid of. Now if that doesn’t make you want to read the book, I don’t know what else to tell you. It’s a classic scene.
Stahl did a great job of capturing the magic and insanity of the newly budding film business. The actors were creating the culture as the went. They did their own stunts. They improvised and did their own stunts without any safety equipment. After reading the book, I wanted to watch the old films because I had a new appreciation for the art behind it all.
I imagine Stahl was looking for that classsic first sentence – “Call me Ishmael,” ”It was the best of times…” Here’s what he came up with, “Daddy reffered to my mother’s reproductive organs as ‘her little flower.’” If that didn’t make you want to read the book, Johnny Depp wrote a blurb for the jacket. I don’t think he does that very often, guys and girls.
Stahl’s best book is Permanent Midnight. I, Fatty is his second best. It’s a good read. You’ll laugh; you’ll get little angry. You’ll want to keep turning the pages.
