The Fatty Arbuckle case (1962)

Of course, Friedman had a whole series of witnesses again who testified that Virginia was a healthy girl who never knew what a sick day was. The strange part of the medical testimony is that neither side called Virginia's aunt to the stand. Having lived with her niece for a long time, she certainly would have made a strong witness whatever way the testimony would have gone. It was rumored that she was ill and asked to be excused from the trials, but it was also rumored that she knew of Virginia's illness but hated Arbuckle and therefore didn't want to give testimony that could help him. Whatever the reason, she never appeared of her own volition and neither the defense nor the prosecution used any pressure to make her appear in court The operator of a large motion picture studio gymnasium testified that Virginia was in perfect health, could and did swim twenty lengths of the pool almost every day and never complained one minute of not feeling well. Brady even went so far as to show that in the last two years of public school Virginia hadn't missed a day because of ill health. Brady also introduced several letters Virginia had written to friends in which she stated, in effect, that she felt fine as usual and was happy in Hollywood. Then McNab introduced a Los Angeles Examiner gossip column in which Virginia was quoted as saying, "111 start my 'Sun' picture as soon as I feel better. I've had a series of colds and weakness because of them so I'm going to rest for a few days until I'm well again." McNab and Friedman argued fiercely over what the definition of "sick" was. Friedman believed (and had a medical witness to prove it) that everybody has colds, and that having a cold wasn't specifically "sick." It was concluded— though it convinced no one— that a cold with a fever was "sick," but with a normal temperature it was just a malaise. Constant references were made to transcripts of trial 128