Hello Roscoe: The Fate of Fatty Arbuckle

This was an extra on the Hollywood Cavalcade DVD. In the movie, a heavyset man is walking on a movie set and is seen from behind. Someone on the set greets him by saying, "Hi, Roscoe!" That man walking on the set is supposed to represent Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. The woman who discusses him on the extra mentions his three trials for manslaughter of which he would eventually be exonerated but the public seemed to turn against him as Buster Keaton discovered when he met his former mentor at the train station and saw the unruly crowd there. She then discusses his return to vaudeville, his turning to just directing, and then a comeback to making shorts for Vitaphone-which was owned by Warner Bros.-before signing for a feature contract before dropping dead just after that. If you want details on the man's life and career, this too-short extra isn't recommended but it provides enough info to anyone a little curious about this once-popular comic.

Hello Roscoe: The Fate of Fatty Arbuckle (2008)

*** (out of 4)

This featurette can be found on the Hollywood CAVALCADE disc and features an interview with Patricia Eliot Tobias about the career of Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle. Considering this thing runs a very brief six-minutes there's really nothing discussed in great detail. We're basically told Fatty was at the top of his game when everything came crashing down due to a party where actress Virginia Rappe died. We hear about the three trials, him being found guilty but Hollywood turned their back on him as did the public until making a quick comeback at Vitaphone. As you can tell, even if you know very little about Arbuckle it's doubtful you're going to learn anything new here but I must admit that I enjoyed the interview and getting to see anything newly published on the man. I wish that the featurette had gone into more details but as it stands it's basically just a starting off point for new people to perhaps gain an interest in the man and then check out his films.

The DVD for "Hollywood Cavalcade" has three very short special features included on the disc. Together, the three probably would have worked a bit better because they just weren't very complete on their own. However, they are still worth seeing.

Of the three featurettes on the disc, "The Fate of Fatty Arbuckle" is the strangest. That's because the character of Fatty Arbuckle is never really seen in the film in an obvious way. In one BRIEF scene, a man is shown from behind and as he walks by another you hear "How's it going, Fatty?"---and that is it!! From this, the featurette discusses VERY briefly the career and sad turn in Roscoe Arbuckle's life. While it's good for someone NOT familiar with the man, for anyone familiar with the Arbuckle rape trials and his work, it's a case of way too little information. Not bad but just not enough.