It was Saturday night in Chillicothe, Aug. 24, 1918, and the Queen Theater on the corner of Paint and Water streets was screening “Moonshine,” a two-reel silent comedy starring Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle. At the time, the silent screen idol was second only to Charlie Chaplin in making filmgoers crack up laughing.
The story is set in the Virginia Hills and Fatty Arbuckle plays a revenue agent captain charged with raiding and destroying a cleverly camouflaged, well-guarded moonshine operation. Thankfully, Fatty has a lieutenant sidekick, played by a young Buster Keaton, to help him shutdown down the mountain moonshiners. The hijinks of Arbuckle and Keaton had audiences rolling with laughter.