First Arbuckle Trial

[Bruce Long]

Jim Jam Jems was a small monthly magazine of editorial comment. The January 1922 issue included an anti-Hollywood summary of the first Arbuckle trial, including this wry comment:

Enter the "medical experts" after having duly bombed Moviedom's treasury. They are headed by Dr. George F. Shiels, veteran of the Thaw trial and Government expert in the sanity investigation of poltroon slacker Bergdoll. Can bladders spontaneously explode when not in healthy condition? Certainly and of course they can! May they be burst through coughing, vomiting, sneezing? Sure they can! According to these subsidized medicos bladders spontaneously exploding are popping all over the landscape!

The complete editorial can be read at
http://archive.org/stream/JimJamJemsJan ... 3/mode/2up" target="_blank"

[anny]

Wow. That's a fascinating (albeit heartbreaking) read.

I had read that one of the mistakes was hiring a lawyer from Hollywood, which I could not understand...until now. If all the "press" was like this, it's easier to see why it took three trials to set Arbuckle free. People WANTED him to be guilty!

So sad. And just a mere few years earlier, he was given a key to the city.

[Frederica]

Jim Jam Jems was a small monthly magazine of editorial comment. The January 1922 issue included an anti-Hollywood summary of the first Arbuckle trial, including this wry comment:

Enter the "medical experts" after having duly bombed Moviedom's treasury. They are headed by Dr. George F. Shiels, veteran of the Thaw trial and Government expert in the sanity investigation of poltroon slacker Bergdoll. Can bladders spontaneously explode when not in healthy condition? Certainly and of course they can! May they be burst through coughing, vomiting, sneezing? Sure they can! According to these subsidized medicos bladders spontaneously exploding are popping all over the landscape!

The complete editorial can be read at
http://archive.org/stream/JimJamJemsJan ... 3/mode/2up" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank"

That is a fabulous thing. Bruce, do you know anything more about this publication? The publisher is one (cranky) man, from Bismarck SD. I wonder what kind of circulation the mag got, local or nationally, and what kind of influence (if any) it had? This is the same attitude that Terry Ramsaye expressed in A Million and One Nights, and the preceding Photoplay articles, although he was less detailed (and less heavy-handed) about it. Ramsaye's primary interest was in Will Hays, hiring thereof, but he was not at all fooled by the smoke and mirrors.

Oh, I did so enjoy the references to the "bi-sexual" jury. And akshlly, Dr. Shiels did say exactly that.

[Frederica]

Wow. That's a fascinating (albeit heartbreaking) read.

I had read that one of the mistakes was hiring a lawyer from Hollywood, which I could not understand...until now. If all the "press" was like this, it's easier to see why it took three trials to set Arbuckle free. People WANTED him to be guilty!

You're referring to Frank Dominguez, who was replaced as lead counsel after the preliminary hearing. Dominguez was Milton Cohen's law partner. Milton Cohen was Arbuckle's personal attorney. Milton Cohen was EVERYBODY'S personal attorney. Cohen was out of town on September 9th, and Dominguez was called in to cover for him. Dominguez was one of the best (and best known) criminal advocates in California, so Arbuckle didn't lose by it. Dominguez probably saved his bacon.

Actually, it took three trials because it was extremely difficult for the juries to come to an agreed conclusion.

[Bruce Long]

...That is a fabulous thing. Bruce, do you know anything more about this publication? The publisher is one (cranky) man, from Bismarck SD...

Not really. It looks like somebody with a lot of strong opinions decided this was his platform to shout from. That issue heralds its 10th anniversary, and the comment that

Our success has brought many imitators. Right now there are a dozen or more on the news stands. In size and style and appearance they are real imitators. But between the covers there is no similarity. Smutty poems, suggestive and risque and even downright dirty stories have no merit and there is no excuse for their publication except to catch the coin of those who regale on filth.

seems aimed at publications like Capt. Billy's Whiz Bang. The collection inventory at the University of North Dakota
http://webapp.und.edu/dept/library/Coll ... og109.html" target="_blank
has issues as late as 1924.

I had previously uploaded the April 1922 issue at
http://archive.org/details/JimJamJemsApril1922" target="_blank
which contains his anti-Hollywood recap of the Taylor murder.

[Frederica]

I had previously uploaded the April 1922 issue at
http://archive.org/details/JimJamJemsApril1922" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank
which contains his anti-Hollywood recap of the Taylor murder.

Wow. That's even better than the Arbuckle article. With the added bonus of the racism.

[Bruce Long]

Sorry to revive an old thread, but the May 1922 issue of Jim Jam Jems is now online and it includes their anti-Hollywood recap of the third Arbuckle trial.
https://archive.org/stream/JimJamJems05 ... 5/mode/2up

[Frederica]

Sorry to revive an old thread, but the May 1922 issue of Jim Jam Jems is now online and it includes their anti-Hollywood recap of the third Arbuckle trial.
https://archive.org/stream/JimJamJems05 ... 5/mode/2up

Gracious. Delicacy is not his forte, is it?

Not that I disagree with him, mind you.

[rudyfan]

I think my favorite part were the comments about Minta.

Who was this person? Very interesting little booklet. That’s not typical of the period regarding the Arbuckle case. So that in itself was very refreshing to read!

Thanks for sharing this Bruce!

[gentlemanfarmer]

Forgive me for going a bit off topic here, but this has been in my mind for a while and this seems like a good segue.

To those who know this issue of film history well, regarding the Arbuckle trial, which books or scholarly articles would recommend for the best information, in terms of historically accuracy, legal understanding of the various issues, fairness toward the principals, etc.

Also, what is the best source for understanding Arbuckle and Keaton's working relationship and friendship before and after the trail.

Thanks,
Eric

[kaleidoscopeworld]

Forgive me for going a bit off topic here, but this has been in my mind for a while and this seems like a good segue.

To those who know this issue of film history well, regarding the Arbuckle trial, which books or scholarly articles would recommend for the best information, in terms of historically accuracy, legal understanding of the various issues, fairness toward the principals, etc.

Also, what is the best source for understanding Arbuckle and Keaton's working relationship and friendship before and after the trail.

Thanks,
Eric

[gentlemanfarmer]

Now THAT is what I'm talking about!

HA!

[missdupont]

Actually, the most accurate, and the one with the access to the most reliable sources, is Greg Merritt's recent, "room 1219."

[gentlemanfarmer]

Thanks, I've been recently trying to improve my silent film reference library outside of books that on the musical traditions, and am concentrating on picking up the various Keaton titles that have been recommended over the years by Nitrateville posters. I was thinking about getting more specific info on the trial of Arbuckle's but so many titles have been criticised for their lack of accuracy, and I additionally wanted info specifically Keaton and Arbuckle's relationship, so this is what I was really looking for when this thread popped up.

[Frederica]

Now THAT is what I'm talking about!

HA!

Don't you love the cover art, though? Malevolent Arbuckle bobble-head, sixties hottie Virginia Rappe, carefully placed wine bottle. Paperback covers, a lost art.

As for the book itself, run away. Flee.

[Frederica]

Thanks, I've been recently trying to improve my silent film reference library outside of books that on the musical traditions, and am concentrating on picking up the various Keaton titles that have been recommended over the years by Nitrateville posters. I was thinking about getting more specific info on the trial of Arbuckle's but so many titles have been criticised for their lack of accuracy, and I additionally wanted info specifically Keaton and Arbuckle's relationship, so this is what I was really looking for when this thread popped up.

In your copious free time, you could also add Hilary Hallett's Go West, Young Woman, which deals with aspects of the Arbuckle case, and if you can find it, Dean Budnick's doctoral dissertation, Directed Verdict, which is about the press coverage of the case. It was not published but can sometimes be found in scholarly libraries. Gary Alan Fine's essay on the Arbuckle scandal is here at JSTOR.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3097179" target="_blank" target="_blank

[Robert Moulton]

I found this bit of background on Mr Cranky (aka Sam H Clark of Bismarck) in the Nov 04, 1911 Duluth Evening Herald on page 25.

[gentlemanfarmer]

Thanks, I've been recently trying to improve my silent film reference library outside of books that on the musical traditions, and am concentrating on picking up the various Keaton titles that have been recommended over the years by Nitrateville posters. I was thinking about getting more specific info on the trial of Arbuckle's but so many titles have been criticised for their lack of accuracy, and I additionally wanted info specifically Keaton and Arbuckle's relationship, so this is what I was really looking for when this thread popped up.

In your copious free time, you could also add Hilary Hallett's Go West, Young Woman, which deals with aspects of the Arbuckle case, and if you can find it, Dean Budnick's doctoral dissertation, Directed Verdict, which is about the press coverage of the case. It was not published but can sometimes be found in scholarly libraries. Gary Alan Fine's essay on the Arbuckle scandal is here at JSTOR.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3097179" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

That's great hints and suggestions, my first batch of Keaton books are enroute, and hopefully there references and citations will help as well.

Thanks so much!