00:00It feels good. Just being able to talk. For a while I had talk with electric larynx. Now I can talk and I got an artificial like this T-tube. The guy at the doctor in Boston invented it, put it in. I'm getting along good with it. I feel good to be home and it feels good to be outside. I haven't been outside for about six months.
00:28The Dayton couple had dated for several months and on this night, Randy had planned to pop the question to Julie. He did. She answered yes. But the life they pledged to spend together almost ended before it began. From hospital beds, their voices hoarse from smoke and flames, they told of the horror inside the crowded cabaret room.
00:49We both fell down. We tripped over somebody that had fallen in front of us. And when I got back up, I had a hold of some other lady's arm. It wasn't Julie's. And right then, the black smoke just engulfed us. And the only thing I could think of was getting out.
01:06Randy and I got separated probably about 15 feet from the exit. And the boy that went on stage and started, he's the one that pulled me out.
01:16Life is better today. It's now Mr. and Mrs. Randall Ross. And they're expecting their first child.
01:22We've gone through a lot of things that weren't related to the fire that were, this last year, have been pretty hectic. But I guess as far as recovering from it physically, there, I can still tell that, you know, it has happened.
01:37My lung capacity and things like that aren't what they used to be, but it doesn't limit me very much.
01:44I used to come over to T with the messes in me. It's a real nice way to spend a day in Dayton, Ohio.
02:00Oh, lazy Sunday afternoon, 1903.
02:30... too, girl.
02:33Everyone coming in here, here on Friday, we can you see!...
02:35... ATT CIRCO
02:42...
02:44...
02:52...
02:54...
02:55...
02:56...
02:57...
02:58... and so jesse we have got the position to take the fall of the sun...
03:16... but the last few weeks the sun went up.
03:23The rest are all under here, the rest are all under here, but in there we will be a little bit
03:31But that, there will be another place, we are seeing a very desperate person, in the air, near the distance
03:39When they come out, you'll take the ship of us, to leave
03:44You're gonna ask us, don't ask us, don't expect
03:48You're real!
03:51Yeah!
03:52It's not!
03:53Thank you so much!
03:55Thank you so much for joining us and we're all in the fire!
03:58You're better!
04:00Please stand up!
04:02We're out!
04:03We're out!
04:04We're out!
04:05We're out!
04:06We're out!
04:07We're out!
04:08We're out!
04:09We're out!
04:10We're out!
04:11We're out!
04:12We're out!
04:13We're out!
04:48Oh my God.
05:18Within a minute, however, the diners began smelling smoke.
05:21Then they panicked and surged toward the exits, or at least to where they thought the doors were located.
05:27Most of the victims died from smoke inhalation.
05:31It all happened with incredible speed.
05:33By the early morning of May 29th, 134 bodies had been removed from the building and laid out, initially on the hillside surrounding the building, and then in a makeshift morgue inside the nearby Fort Thomas Armory.
05:52By the end of June 1st, 28 more bodies had been discovered, bringing the death toll up to 162.
05:59All but two of the dead were found in and around the cabaret room, with 125 clustered near the room's north exit and another 34 at the room's southern exit.
06:15Two bodies were removed from the Viennese room.
06:19A small number of fire victims died after being rescued from the scene, one on June 25th and one on July 2nd.
06:27The last victim of the fire, Barbara Thornhill, of Delhi Township, died on March 1st, 1978, nine months after the tragedy.
06:37This brought the number of verified deaths to 165.
06:46The investigation into the fire found the following deficiencies, as enumerated by the Cincinnati Inquirer.
06:541. Overcrowding.
06:55Although seating charts recovered from the club after the fire show that the cabaret room, the largest facility in the club, normally held between 614 and 756 people,
07:08a hostess who had worked at the club for several years estimated occupancy on the date in question to be well over 925.
07:182. Inadequate fire exits.
07:20Full occupancy of the entire complex was estimated to be roughly 2,750, which, under Kentucky law, would require 28 exits, one for every 100 people.
07:35The club had fewer than 17 exits, many of which were not clearly marked nor easily reached.
07:43Some exits could be reached only by passing through three or more interior doors and corridors.
07:503. Faulty wiring.
07:53Governor Julian Carroll's report on the fire called the club's wiring an electrician's nightmare and alleged multiple, wide-ranging code violations.
08:05Bridgetown electrician H. James Amend, who inspected the fire site at the request of a local attorney, Stan Chesley, a year and a half later, said,
08:15I cannot believe that any of this was ever inspected.
08:194. A lack of firewalls.
08:23This allowed the fire to spread and, in addition, allowed it to draw oxygen from other areas of the complex.
08:305. Poor construction practices.
08:33The club had been built piecemeal with inadequate roof support, no common ceiling space, and highly flammable components.
08:436. Extreme safety code violations.
08:47There was no sprinkler system and no audible automatic fire alarm.
08:527. Poor oversight by regulatory authorities.
08:57The local volunteer fire department is said by the Inquirer to have known of the deficiencies, but by law, at the time, did not have the authority to compel corrections.
09:077. This was the first lawsuit to use the concept of enterprise liability in one of the first disaster suits to be brought as a class action.
09:188. Chief litigation attorney, Stanley Chesley, raised millions through the class action, benefiting many survivors.
09:268. Richard Witt of the Louisville Courier-Journal was awarded the 1978 Pulitzer Prize for local general or spot news reporting for his articles on the fire.
09:399. His citation reads,
09:41For his coverage of a fire that took 164 lives at the Beverly Hills Supper Club at Southgate, Kentucky, and subsequent investigation of the lack of enforcement of state fire codes.
09:539. In a letter dated July 8, 2011, Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway ordered a retired Kentucky State Police forensic specialist to return 60 boxes of color slides taken in the days after the fire, including pictures of the club's basement during the aftermath, which the forensic specialist had taken personal possession of following his retirement from the state police.
10:2110. Conway's decision was that these documents were public records and must be handled and made available to the public in accordance with Kentucky's Open Records Act.
10:3210. In 2020, a private developer reached a deal with the city of Southgate to build a mixed-use development on the site.
10:44The development will include a memorial to the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire.
10:4811. First responders, families of fire victims, and others filed a lawsuit in September 2020 to halt the project, but came to an agreement in November 2020 following the project to move forward.
11:0211. Author Robert D. Webster, along with co-authors David Brock and Thomas McConaughey, in their 2012 investigative history, Beverly Hills Supper Club, The Untold Story of Kentucky's Worst Tragedy.
11:1711. Except, of course, for Mitch McConnell.
11:2012. While we're still talking about the GOP tax bill, it should be noted that back when it was first proposed, the Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that it would add $1 trillion to the deficit,
11:3112. To which Mitch McConnell claimed, and it's a quote,
11:3412. I'm confident this is not only revenue neutral to the government, but actually it's very likely to be a revenue producer.
11:4113. He was wrong!
11:4314. And Mitch is often wrong, and also bad, about a lot of things.
11:47I'm not just talking about the more divisive viewpoints like gay marriage or abortion, but more specifically about how he doesn't actually care for doing his job.
11:5514. And that his number one goal is to gain and then hold on to power.
11:5914. And for some reason, he remains in power, despite being very bad and wrong about all of the things he was elected to do.
12:0715. Few of us expect to be at the center of world-changing events when we first file for office, and personal ambition usually has a lot more to do with it than most of us are willing to admit.
12:1715. That was certainly true for me.
12:2015. It's a depressingly telling admission that not only did he go into politics for personal gain,
12:2615. But he assumes everyone around him feels the same way.
12:3015. And in fair and balanced-edness, TMCR-edness, this certainly does seem like the case for Mitchie's wife and Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao,
12:4015. Even here, next to our president as he defends Nazis.
12:4415. So, you know, as far as I'm concerned, that was a horrible, horrible day.
12:4815. Wait a minute. I'm not finished.
12:5016. I'm not finished, fakeness.
12:5216. Mitch McConnell is very rich and has close ties to other people who want to stay very rich.
12:5816. And by multiple accounts and interviews over the years, it's clear that Mitch McConnell's number one political technique is to acquire money from rich people in exchange for political favors.
13:0816. Like, no foolin', Mitch seriously loves money.
13:1417.
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13:1918.
13:2018.
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13:57money on the chalkboard he has raised nearly 220 million dollars as a senator often for other
14:05senators who later rewarded him with support alleges that the fire was actually set deliberately
14:11by the mafia in retaliation for the supper club's owners refusing to sell the venue to them
14:17webster and mcconaughey began their investigation at the behest of david brock who had been a bus
14:23boy at the venue on the night of the fire and claimed to have seen unidentified quote maintenance
14:30men working in the building of one of the party rooms shortly before the fire broke out webster
14:37was awarded a 2013 kentucky history award for his work on their book brock's allegations had
14:44previously been presented to kentucky governor steve beshear in 2008 by a group called beverly
14:52hill survivors for justice beshear appointed a special governor's review team which reviewed
14:58the allegations and evidence with assistance from the office of inspector general of kentucky public
15:04protection environments and energy and labor cabinets this review team's final report on
15:11the matter described the allegations as quote a very tiny shred of evidence of arson and a huge
15:18mountain of conjecture unsupported speculation and personal opinion which falls many miles short
15:25of the kind of proof that would be needed to justify a reinvestigation a state historical marker
15:33commemorates the fire although off limits to the public the site is a popular destination for
15:40urban explorers many of whom found relics from the club
15:44ig новыхieves the perplexed cycle of ll Dal trailer
15:49called german nova
15:50german earth
15:52mark
15:53heavenly
15:53new
15:54in
15:56michari
15:58white
15:59an
16:01and
16:02meet
16:0324
16:03time
16:04w
16:06toward
16:10even
18:42The base of a toilet.
19:12So, it was here, in the cabaret showroom, where singer John Davidson was shaving in a dressing room and preparing to appear minutes away on stage on May 28, 1977, approximately 9.05 p.m., hero busboy Walter Bailey, age 18, went on stage on his own volition, was handed Teeter's microphone, and announced the fire to the audience.
19:42He pointed out the exits and asked for patrons to calmly exit.
19:47Although there was a steady stream of patrons evacuating, others quoted him as saying,
19:53it was a small fire in the front of the building, was probably nothing, and that Teeter and McDonald's comedy act would continue in a few minutes once the fire was extinguished.
20:05Many patrons thought this was part of the comedy act and remained seated.
20:09They did not wish to leave their best seats in front of the stage.
20:13Patrons in the lowest pit area, before the stage, were the least likely to survive.
20:18Here's some plates.
20:19Gonna rip right in.
20:21Case is in.
20:22This is an old Pepsi can.
20:33It's been melting from the car to the top of it.
20:36200 years of feeling free.
20:39The 1976 Bicentennial Pepsi can.
20:43Perfect.
20:45That's really cool.
20:48More good.
20:49Here's this list, I guess, of all the people that died.
20:59Beverly Hills Supper Club.
21:00Satan is free.
21:08Satan is free.
21:09It's lucky.
21:10You're weak.
21:11You're weak.
21:12You're weak.
21:13He can tell you.
21:14Let's leave you free.
21:17Oh.
21:18Oh.
21:19Oh.
21:20Oh.
21:21Oh.
21:22Oh.
21:23Oh.
21:24Oh.
21:25Oh.
21:26Oh.
21:27Oh.
21:28Oh.
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