I, Fatty

inspired by a novel of the same name (Jerry Stahl), this is a painting of the prototype for the sad clown ( John Belushi, John Candy, Chris Farley) who has always been part of our cinema, making us laugh and cry because they are funny, which is hoax they all cope with their misery, it seems. The tragic dynamic illustrated by excess, great talent and a propensity for more than merely mischief. Fatty was nearly destroyed by a scandal that wrongly painted him as a drunken scoundrel when he attended a party in San Francisco where a young party girl died fro complications after a back alley abortion. Like everyone there, she was guzzling bath tub gin and offending the morality of the church ladies who were manipulated by media, which Randolph Hearst owned back then. Fatty, a popular player in Max Sennet comedies  had pissed off the moguls by expecting more money and better treatment as he evolved into and unlikely star with Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and other silent era pioneers. He was likely subjected to the ongoing ordeal for his insubordination as the accusations were baseless. He survived two hung juries, some acquittal and being blackballed by the American film censors. The British loved him and welcomed him ther, but by this time the sails of Fatty Arbuckle were sagging. He was able to direct a few films here before his addiction to opiates and sadness got the better of him