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In 1913, he signed with Mack Sennett’s Keystone Film Company and became one of the Keystone Kops. The Keystone Kops was a slapstick comedy sitcom of the silent era that featured Arbuckle and a handful of other actors as a squad of incompetent police officers. In the show, Arbuckle’s weight—which hovered between an estimated 250 and 300 pounds—was often part of the comedic act. Though he despised the nickname “Fatty,” it stuck.

Arbuckle continued to do well in his career, and then in 1921, he signed a 3-year, $1 million contract with Paramount. The size of this contract was unheard of in this era. Furthermore, he had just been paid for completing 18 silent films for the studio, and his most recent film, Crazy to Marry, was in theaters across the country. Arbuckle seemed at the top of his career, and his friends planned a party to celebrate his success and let loose on Labor Day weekend.