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FAME & INFAMY
Author: Lisa Coleman-Brown
Publisher: PGC
Format: ebook
Available From:
Description:

In the madcap days of turn of the 20th century Vaudeville and the slapstick world of the Silent Silver Screen the beloved, rotund yet dainty, actor comedian Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle comes to enjoy world renown. While he from boyhood achieves fame, Virginia Rappe from girlhood craves fame. Starting out as an artist’s model she is soon groomed into the world of prostitution by the evil madame, Maude Delmont, who uses Virginia as bait for tipsy millionaires set up for blackmail shakedowns. Fame turns to infamy when Roscoe’s and Virginia’s paths cross at a 1921 boozy party during the days of prohibition. Virginia takes sick, her bladder ruptures following an earlier illegal backstreet abortion, and she subsequently dies. The press has a field day vilifying Roscoe as rumours swirl accusing him of raping and squashing Virginia to death during the act. Infamy, resulting in a Hollywood sex scandal of 1920’s cancel culture, prevails and his career is destroyed in spite of two jury acquittals.

A “cast of thousands” featuring the likes of the Great Houdini, Buster Keaton, and Pancho Villa, the 62 characters can be played by as few as 8 actors, the maximum number appearing in any scene.

Keywords: large cast, historical drama, cancel culture, vaudeville, silent movies, Fatty Arbuckle, Virginia Rappe, Hollywood 1920s sex scandal

Genre: Drama

Picture of the Author Lisa Coleman-Brown
Author Details:

A member of the SWG since 2012, Lisa is also a member of the Playwrights’ Guild of Canada. She was born in Vancouver (vintage ’57) and raised in Montreal and Toronto. Following a successful blind date with beloved husband Joe Brown she has lived in Garson since 1989.

As a child Lisa was impressed by her late father’s ability to tell stories that he made up in the moment without a book in his hands. This inspired her and she began writing stories in Hilroy Notebooks to impress the boys (“The Clue in the Alley: A Rob Beanlands Mystery”) during her Grade 2 reign as the Kissing Queen behind the portables at Dallington Drive Public School in Don Mills, Ontario. When she was a teenager she helped senior citizens with their autobiographies. At U of T, and the Toronto Film Society she wrote film reviews, and she was the co-editor of Ryerson’s literary journal the White Wall Review in 1980.

During the ‘80s in Toronto, Lisa’s imagination, fueled by dreams and manic-depression hallucinations, found creative release in Super8mm, 16mm, and video, independent filmmaking. Her production company was called Trance Forms Productions, and her experimental film subject matter included: children performing fairy tales, an artist creating an aquatint, persons with disabilities, and gay erotica.

These days, standing six feet tall with snow on the roof and a twinkle in her eye, Lisa writes short stories, plays, screenplays, and limericks. Her works (and co-written stories) have been published in Laurentian University’s literary journal SULPHUR IV, VIII, IX, and the following anthologies: Creepy Capreol, Creepy Capreol Jr., Sudbury Ink, Creepy Capreol Jr. 2:Too Many Zombies, and the Zombie Digest.

She has collaborated, most often on horror stories, with fellow guild member Matthew Del Papa. Together they were commissioned by the Northern Ontario Railroad Museum and Heritage Centre, and Northern Screams to write the novella “Nightmare at the North Pole” published as a companion piece for the Terror Train 6077 2015 October haunt, and the radio play “Inferno 6077: Born Out of Fire” featured in the multimedia “Covid-safe” drive-in style 2020 October haunt.