The Ghost of Fatty Arbuckle

If one believes that ghosts haunt places where they had unfinished business, the old Vitaphone studio building would certainly qualify. Fatty Arbuckle made a series of highly successful "comeback" Vitaphone two-reelers for the 1932-33 season, following eleven years of being banned from on-camera work due to the 1921 Virginia Rappe scandal. While acquitted, Arbuckle's performing career was essentially over until Vitaphone studio head Sam Sax signed him for sound shorts in 1932. Arbuckle had just signed to make features for Warner Brothers, but sadly died on the night following completion of TOMALIO (1933), his last Vitaphone short. With things were finally going his way, Arbuckle clearly was not ready to leave this earth yet. The longtime engineer for As the World Turns (shot in this building from 1999-2010), saw Fatty’s ghost several times in the old studio building.