Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle Book

[Paul E. Gierucki]

Louie kindly asked, in another thread, if there was anything that the group could do to help expedite completion of the Arbuckle book. In fact, there are several things:

The following photo was taken on the set of The Red Mill. I suspect that this was a key player in the production as he is prominent in most of the behind-the-scenes candids. Can anyone identify this man?



Anyone have access to any of the 1920 - 1922 Paramount Service magazines?

Too, if anyone has any other unusual Arbuckle related materials (photos, posters, lobby cards, memorabilia, scripts, trade ads, flyers, slides, early or late period news articles, anything else which might be of interest) please let me know. I will gladly provide a credit for anyone who is able to contribute. I would only need a high res scan or good quality snapshot for inclusion in the book.

That's it for the moment. Any help that can be provided would be deeply appreciated.

-- PG

[Louie Despres]

Paul,
May seem like a stupid question but is the guy whose photo you posted doing anything special in the pictures you have or is he just in the pictures sitting there? Is he holding a script, making some directing hand gestures, something like that?

[Paul E. Gierucki]

Not that I have seen. He is sitting with Arbuckle in one shot, chatting with him in another, standing (with hands in pockets) just right of Arbuckle during the shooting of a scene, and so forth. He is always near, but never seen doing anything beyond talking or observing. Frances Marion was the writer so that is out. The suit and tie leads me to think that he is an exec (even Arbuckle is sans jacket in every photo) but I don't know who it could be or for whom he works.

[Brent Walker]

Not that I have seen. He is sitting with Arbuckle in one shot, chatting with him in another, standing (with hands in pockets) just right of Arbuckle during the shooting of a scene, and so forth. He is always near, but never seen doing anything beyond talking or observing. Frances Marion was the writer so that is out. The suit and tie leads me to think that he is an exec (even Arbuckle is sans jacket in every photo) but I don't know who it could be or for whom he works.

Paul, could he possibly be a Hearst/Cosmopolitan exec or rep?

[Paul Penna]

Is the mystery man dressed identically in all the photos - perhaps indicating a one-off visit by a outsider and/or acquaintance - or does his garb vary, as would someone's who visited the production over time as a matter of course?

[Steve Massa]

Hi Paul
I'm pretty sure that that is M. K. (Millard K.) Wilson, who was an assistant director at MGM in the late 20s. There's a picture of him on the set of Lon Chaney's WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS on page 244 of Michael F. Blake's book Lon Chaney: The Man Behind the Thousand Faces. I'd post a scan of it here, but I'll still don't know how to post photos. I'll send it to your home email when I get home tonight.

Wilson was a friend of Chaney's, and it seems like Lon got him in at MGM. He may have been an assistant director on THE RED MILL. I checked the AFI catalogue but they didn't have a complete credit list for RM.

Steve

[Louie Despres]

He sure looks similar:



All I can say that if this turns out to be who Mr. Massa says it is, I bow before you Steve!

[Steve Massa]

Thanks for posting the shot Louie. I think that hangdog face is the same - just wish there was a larger version of the WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS photo around.

Steve

[Ian Elliot]

Wilson can be seen with Chaney and other luminaries here:

http://tsutpen.blogspot.com/2009/10/whe ... r-554.html

[Paul E. Gierucki]

I think we have a match! Great call, Steve. Thanks everyone!