An article in the 29 Jan 1921 Moving Picture World announced that Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle would star in Gasoline Gus for Paramount Pictures. As noted in the 28 Jan 1921 issue of Wid’s Daily, short story writer George Patullo was set to work with scenarist Walter Woods on the adaptation of Patullo’s short stories optioned for the film, “Gasoline Gus” and “Dry Check Charlie,” recently published in the Saturday Evening Post.
       Humorist and song writer Jean Havez was hired by Famous Players-Lasky Corp.’s scenario department to work on upcoming Arbuckle pictures at the studio, including Gasoline Gus, as noted in the 26 Mar 1921 Moving Picture World. However, the 22 Apr 1921 Var reported that Havez walked off the production, claiming it was “too highbrow” for his gag material.
       Moving Picture World listed an expected start date of 21 Mar 1921, while a 1 Apr 1921 Wid’s Daily brief noted that principal photography had not yet commenced, and would begin at the Famous Players-Lasky Studio in three days, on 4 Apr 1921. According to the 9 Apr 1921 Motion Picture News, sets included an oil town, with an “oil well primed to serve as a gusher,” built on the Lasky Ranch in San Fernando Valley, CA. On 25 Jun 1921, Exhibitors Herald announced the completion of principal photography.
       As of early Sep 1921, Gasoline Gus had been shown at a few pre-release screenings, including a Los Angeles, CA, run at a Sid Grauman-owned theater, according to items in the 24 Sep 1921 Moving Picture World and 22 Dec 1922 Var. However, release plans were halted after an incident on 5 Sep 1921, when Roscoe Arbuckle hosted a “drinking party” in his suite at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, CA. Actress Virginia Rappe attended the party and became ill. Four days later, she died of peritonitis, and testimony from some party guests implicated Arbuckle in her death and possible assault. Arbuckle was indicted for manslaughter, and the surrounding controversy led Gasoline Gus to be withdrawn from theaters across the U.S. in Sep 1921. Notably, the New York Theatre Owners Chamber of Commerce and members of the Motion Picture Theatre Owners of Southern California, in addition to Western PA, MO, and KS exhibitors, voted to remove Arbuckle pictures from theaters by late Sep 1921.
       Arbuckle was acquitted in Apr 1922. At the time, Will H. Hays, president of the recently formed Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA), announced that a ban on Arbuckle releases would remain in place. The 22 Dec 1922 Var reported that Hays had finally lifted the ban, and Famous Players-Lasky was readying Gasoline Gus for release. Based on his initial decision to keep the ban in place after Arbuckle’s exoneration, Var described Hays as the newly established “dictator of the motion picture industry.”