Beverly Hills Supper Club Fire

[STsFirstmate]

Wow! Takes you back!
regards,
Mary

[Alanwench]

[Alanwench]

The untouched hilltop site has become overgrown with trees, shrubs and weeds. There have been many projects mentioned, but somehow nothing ever comes to fruition. According to a Cincinnati newspaper, the site is worth at least $3 million. Survivors, family members of victims and former employees are trying to establish a memorial garden at the top of the hill.

[Alanwench]

This picture was probably taken around 8:45 p.m. South Newport F.D. workers are depicted in foreground.

[Alanwench]

This pic was taken about ten to fifteen minutes after the preceding photo. The building was very quickly engulfed with flames and toxic, black smoke. People started to die from smoke inhalation before 9 p.m.

[Mammy]

Alanwench, thanks for keeping stuff added to this thread. I appreciate seeing new things added. I live in Kentucky and I am interested in famous fires, especially this one and The Station nightclub fire. I was really young when this fire happened and I don't remember much about it as it was happening. I have read a lot about it over the years. I always remember the date it happened because it is mine and my husband's anniversary. I just can't imagine what it would be like to be trapped in a pitch dark, burning building or have someone I love endure that. I didn't know that Bruce Rath had passed away. He was a true hero.

[Alanwench]

Thanks, mammyofthree. I was in the fifth grade when the Beverly Hills Supper Club burned. Every Saturday night, I was allowed to stay up to see "The Carol Burnette Show." That night, after a dance number to what was then called "Nadia's Theme" (it later became the theme for "The Young and the Restless", CBS cut in with footage of the flames leaping high into the air and the news announcer saying that people were trapped in the building. For years, I associated that song with the fire.
That fire probably turned me into a Death Hag. My worst fear is to be trapped inside a dark, burning building that's also crowded. You're absolutely right, Bruce Rath was a hero in the first degree. I felt sad to learn that he had passed away. Also included in the same article was the statement that his son is working in the same firehouse. He struck me as someone who was very devoted to his family, faith and his job.

[Mammy]

What gets to me about these fires is how quickly a person's life can change. The victims bought tickets to go see a show, dressed up to go out, were excited to be there, and I'm sure had looked forward to the night beforehand. None of these people could have ever imagined when they were getting dressed up to go out that this would be the last night of their lives or their loved ones lives. It is so just so random. The worst part of the big fires is that they could have been prevented, but the owners were too greedy to make improvements that would make the places safer. The Beverly Hills Supper Club was a huge, confusing maze that would have been easy to get lost in under the best of circumstances. I can't imagine trying to manuever around that place in the pitch dark, thick toxic smoke, and hundreds of our terrified people trying desperately to escape. Those poor people, what a nightmare!

[Alanwench]

What gets to me about these fires is how quickly a person's life can change. The victims bought tickets to go see a show, dressed up to go out, were excited to be there, and I'm sure had looked forward to the night beforehand. None of these people could have ever imagined when they were getting dressed up to go out that this would be the last night of their lives or their loved ones lives. It is so just so random. The worst part of the big fires is that they could have been prevented, but the owners were too greedy to make improvements that would make the places safer. The Beverly Hills Supper Club was a huge, confusing maze that would have been easy to get lost in under the best of circumstances. I can't imagine trying to manuever around that place in the pitch dark, thick toxic smoke, and hundreds of our terrified people trying desperately to escape. Those poor people, what a nightmare!

Mammyofthree, what you said reminds me of a statement made by Nick Clooney (broadcast journalist and father of George Clooney). He said that every time he got tired of doing the story on the news or got letters from people wondering why he was harping about the fire, he remembered seeing the body of a well-dressed woman.
She was covered with a sheet and was at the rear of the club where many bodies were placed on the grass. All Clooney could see were her silver shoes. He said, "I think about the woman and the anticipation she must have felt as she put those shoes on, getting ready for a show and a nice night out only to have that night result in her death and the deaths of others."

[Alanwench]

It's kind of eerie that the anniversary falls on a very warm, muggy Saturday, the same weather conditions as the day of the fire.

[Mammy]

I would love to be able to walk around the site of where the club once stood. It is hard to believe that it hasn't been redeveloped and there are still so many artifacts there.

[Alanwench]

I would love to be able to walk around the site of where the club once stood. It is hard to believe that it hasn't been redeveloped and there are still so many artifacts there.

I would like to walk around the site, too, mammyofthree. Apparently, after it rains quite a bit new artifacts are uncovered. Just about this time 34 years ago, a wedding party decided to leave the Zebra Room early, complaining about the heat and blaming it on air conditioner malfunction.

[STsFirstmate]

I would like to walk around the site, too, mammyofthree. Apparently, after it rains quite a bit new artifacts are uncovered. Just about this time 34 years ago, a wedding party decided to leave the Zebra Room early, complaining about the heat and blaming it on air conditioner malfunction.

And a group of black churches were holding a charity fashion show in the basement function room to raise money for their choirs.
http://www.enquirer.com/beverlyhills/lives2.html
Regards,
Mary

[Alanwench]

One of the women who organized the fashion show, Sharlene Matthews, died in the fire while trying to help models in the second floor dressing room escape. Their remains were found two days later.

[Mammy]

I have read and reread every story that I can find on the internet about this fire. I can imagine that this place was quite a sight to see in it's glory days. It was probably an exciting and fun place to work. What are some of your opinions on accidental versus arson? I think a compelling case was made for arson by some of the former employees. Why else would anyone want to demolish the site before it even stopped smoldering.

I hate to imagine what those victims endured before they died. The panic and pain are hard to think about. What a horrible way to die! Just this past week (May 24) a man I have worked with for over 13 years was pulled from his burning mobile home by a former coworker who just happened to be driving by at the time. The man who rescued my coworker (a hero, I think) suffered some burns, none life threatening. My coworker is covered in third degree burns and has extensive lung damage and is now in a medically induced coma. He is in critical condition. It is scary how quickly a person's life can change.

[Alanwench]

A large number of the articles I've read point to the aluminum wiring and the unapproved materials that were haphazardly used in constructing and expanding the building. I've read what some of the former workers posted about the mysterious air conditioner workers who allegedly appeared on the afternoon of May 28, 1977 and I really don't know if I believe those stories or not.
Maybe the site was torn down to find victims' bodies? I hope your coworker pulls through.

[Alanwench]

[Alanwench]

[Alanwench]

This is firefighter Bruce Rath's turn-out coat and helmet now on display in a museum in either Ft. Thomas or Wilder, KY. This is part of an artifacts from the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire display.

[Alanwench]

[Alanwench]

[Mammy]

I think the fire was most likely caused by faulty wiring, but I did find the worker's statements interesting. There are a lot of videos about this fire on You Tube if anyone is interested.

[STsFirstmate]

Just this past week (May 24) a man I have worked with for over 13 years was pulled from his burning mobile home by a former coworker who just happened to be driving by at the time. The man who rescued my coworker (a hero, I think) suffered some burns, none life threatening. My coworker is covered in third degree burns and has extensive lung damage and is now in a medically induced coma. He is in critical condition. It is scary how quickly a person's life can change.

Mobile homes have come a long way and make for affordable housing but they can be adeath trap in a fire. I lived in one for 8 months while I built a house in Ohio. I was terrified, particularly during the winter with the furnace going.
Burns are such an unforgiving illness. Nurses here on the forum posted a lot about the challenges of burn victims during their fight for survival and long road to recovery on the thread about the kid set on fire in Deerfield Florida. You might find their comments an interesting read.
I hope your friend recovers.
Regards,
Mary

[STsFirstmate]

From what I can gather there is a controversy in Joplin because they did not set up a traditional temporary morgue to allow victim identification by direct viewing of the various bodies by those missing people or even photos.They are instead opting for a much slower but, in the professionals opinion, humane and dignified way of identification through forensics and narrowing who they will show pictures etc to from different families.
At Beverly Hills and the Ct. Circus Fire and others people were permitted to review remains to find loved ones.
I am on the fence with this one. Be totally traumatized by row after row or burned horrific bodies and the smell etc or a slower process that contains exposure to the horrific to a minimum.
I think I would be dying a thousand deaths until I knew and I would walk through hell to find my spouse or child.
Just my opinion.
Regards,
Mary

["What Tha....?"]

Since Alanwench and others have been so good to post their "booty" about the Beverly Hills supper club, I'd like to thank them by posting a link my friend from Indiana sent me. It is an article that was in the Cincinnati Enquirer on the anniversary of the fire. Be sure to click on the link about the photo gallery in the article.
http://nky.cincinnati.com/article/AB...0103/105290334

[Alanwench]

Thanks so much for the link, What Tha...? http://www.fox19.com/story/18032525/...clipId=7112980 This is a link to a news broadcast about a new book published about the Beverly Hills Supper Club Fire. The author maintains that the fire was arson and that vital evidence was ignored or glossed over. Perhaps in fear of mob retaliation?

[Mammy]

There is a website that talks about the new book. It better be an awesome book for $44.95 plus tax plus $12.50 shipping and handling!

http://www.beverlyhillssupperclubfire.com/

[Alanwench]

Thanks for the heads-up, Mammy. You're right, that's a lot of cash for one book. From the video clip I posted, it looks like there are all sorts of pics (several pages).

[Alanwench]

Attachment 42239

[Town Without Pity]

What a story Alan, thank you for sharing. I think some of the saddest stories on FAD are the big fire stories where several people lost there lives. The pictures kind of look like movie photos, to horrific to think they were real. I always look for the exits...although in this case would it really have helped to have paid more attention to the exits I don't know. Our neighbors house caught on fire, from a dryer and 2 of my school mates died in the blaze I watched from my bedroom window across the field...I think fire would be one way I would not want to die from. Thanks again Alan and everyone for the links and pieces. Great story.

[Alanwench]

Thanks, TownWithoutPity. Information in a new book about the fire (just a blurb that I saw) claims that the club's owner's son received a letter on the day of the fire that said, "If you keep building, we'll keep burning."

[Alanwench]

Attachment 42256

[Alanwench]

http://youtu.be/qA4OgqjyogY This is black and white footage with narration (kind of muffled) as people go through the ruins.

[Town Without Pity]

http://youtu.be/qA4OgqjyogY This is black and white footage with narration (kind of muffled) as people go through the ruins.

Thanks Again Alan, great video, if you can say that about such a sad thing. It really does look like a scrap heap...I just can't imagine. The birds chirpping in the background makes it a little erie. I forgot...it's like the anniversary of the fire, duh me....was on Memorial Day. How close was I paying attention..lol

[Alanwench]

http://youtu.be/s2YwqQ7pPmM This is the trailer for a documentary that's currently in the works. There's no release date mentioned on youtube.

[Alanwench]

Here's what was posted with the video. A feature film about the disaster is mentioned.
ploaded by VictoriaLaneStudios on Oct 24, 2011 On May 28th 1977 165 people perished in one of the nations worst nightclub disasters.
Go inside the Beverly Hill Supper Club one final time and see what mysteries remain unsolved to this day. With a long history of mob connections and famous stars of stage and screen gracing its stages find out why Beverly Hills was once called "The Showplace of the Nation" and what went terribly wrong that fateful day in 1977.
Directed by Eric Baird

Category:

[Alanwench]

Attachment 42269 The cover of the new book about the fire.

[Alanwench]

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SOUTHGATE, Ky - The lavish club sat high on the hill overlooking Campbell County. It was a time of powerful men with big money, beautiful cabaret dancers and fine dining available anytime day or night with a side of gambling. The plush dining rooms and private banquets brought in top musical and comedian acts on a nightly basis. It was the place to be in Northern Kentucky.
Ray Howcroft remembers the era well. He was the maître’d at the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, Ky. His job every night was to make sure that his guests had the best seats in the house, but on this night, the best seat would be outside.
"We were busy, John Davidson was there. The house had a lot of reservations and everything was going along fine,” said Howcroft, remembering the next sequence of events as they rapidly unfolded, unbelievably, in front of his eyes. “Rick Schilling ran by me real quick about 9 o'clock, I don't remember the exact time anymore, and said 'Where's the fire extinguisher.'"
"He said get everybody out of the dining room—get them out through the kitchen."
Howcroft thought only one thing. "I had a son working back in the Garden Room where the fire started, so my first instinct was 'Where's my son?'"
Thirty five years later, his memories are as vivid as the night tragedy and fire broke out at The Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, Ky.
"There were bodies stacked up about that high inside the cabaret door, and inside there, at the right side table there was just two people still sitting there. We pulled a couple of people out."
It was May 28, 1977.
The then-53-year-old maître’d, was in charge of getting folks the best seats in the house.
That night, however, proved that the best seat were not closest to the stage, but rather to the door.
"A couple of good friends, being maître’d, I got them front row seats--they didn't make it," said Howcroft, hanging his head down, shaking it.
He and his son made it out OK. His daughter, who was studying to be a nurse, came to the club searching for her father who was wearing his work shoes—black work shoes. She walked through the courtyard, peeking under each white sheet with black shoes sticking out from underneath of them. She was looking for her father’s body, but was relieved to find him directing traffic at the bottom of the hill.
Manager Wayne Dammert walked into where the Zebra Room once stood—it's where he was 35 years ago, when the fire started.
"Fire started right about here. It blasted in that room and flashed over everything in the room caught on fire," said Dammert, standing in what is now an overgrown wooded area, that now memorializes the once-hopping club with photos and signs showing where the rooms were, the garden, and where people perished.
"All these pieces... they're all parts to these chairs," he said holding up a piece of one of the left behind chairs from the dining room. Then he tossed it to the ground. As it hit the ground, it made contact with other pieces of miscellaneous metal, carcass, from the destroyed Beverly Hills Supper Club—making a loud clinking noise.
At one time, the rooms these chairs sat in were plush and colorful, bringing celebrities and gangsters.
But rusty chairs and memories that won't die are all that remain. Those memories were given new life Saturday afternoon, as former employees and family members of the 165 who died, and 200 who were injured in the fire, came together to remember their loved ones, in a memorial, recalling stories that they had lived through.
They shared their stories and their family’s stories and collected condolences and understanding from others who shared in their grief.
They made their way up the long driveway to look at where the club that perished once stood in all its glory.
Survivors consider themselves fortunate to reminisce about a time that put Northern Kentucky on the map.
"I made it through a war, and a big fire, yeah, I consider myself a very lucky person," said Howcroft with a smile beaming across his now-87-old-old face.
After the fire, investigators found that the building did not have enough fire exits, faulty wiring and no sprinkler system, however, according to Howcroft, the building was grandfathered in when sprinklers were not required. There is a lot of speculation surrounding the cause of the fire.
A new book, " The Beverly Hills Supper Club, The Untold Story Behind Kentucky's Worst Tragedy' "was released earlier this month.

[Alanwench]

http://www.wlwt.com/slideshow/news/1...1MftgkpU.email This is a link to a slideshow of images from post-fire Beverly Hills Supper Club and the morgue. Bodies in dark body bags were burned beyond recognition. I would imagine that the odor in the armory was horrible.

[Mammy]

It has always amazed me that nothing has been rebuilt on the site and there are still so many relics just left laying all over the ground. The property owners must not be too finicky about people walking around up there. I would love to go up there and look around. I think at one time the basement was still unfilled in and uncovered. It probably still is.

[Alanwench]

Mammy, you're correct about the basement being covered over. A former employee surmises that many vintage gambling machines are still down there. I'd love to explore the site, too, but unless permission is given by police or owners of the property, it's illegal to walk around up there.
Funny thing you should mention that nothing is up there to this day. A Cincinnati newspaper just had an article about how some people still want to develop something on the land because of its location and view of the Cincinnati skyline. The powers that be have accepted that the land will probably remain untouched because of emotions attached to the site of the club. Relatives of victims and some Beverly Hills Supper Club employees want the site to remain a memorial and hope that a bigger, permanent memorial is built at the top of the hill.

[Mammy]

I think a memorial should be built there, too. As long ago as this happened, it seems like a memorial would have been done already. The owners of the land must have some attachment to it because most land owners will sell to anyone if the price is right. I know over the years, there were at different times talks of a strip mall, office buildings, and even a nursing home, but none of that ever happened, obviously. I'm sure that down the road the land will be sold at some point and developed. Maybe they are waiting for the survivors, former employees, and family members of victims to all be gone and there be nobody to object to developing the land. I would have loved to have seen the club when it was at the peak of it's popularity. It sounded like quite a place and pictures just don't do it justice.

[maryd]

Since I came across this thread the other day, I have become obsessed. So I did some research and found a great site for pics. I hope this link works. Some great pics in there of the supper club, fire, and memorials.

http://community.fireengineering.com/photo/photo/next?context=user&id=1219672%3APhoto%3A498789

[Mammy]

I found a Facebook page dedicated to the fire. It is an open group and I saw several pictures that I had never seen before.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/Be...upperClubFire/

[maryd]

Great pics, Mammy. Thanks for posting this link!!! Several on this FB page were ones I'd seen on the link I'd posted earlier.

[Alanwench]

Thanks, Maryd.

[maryd]

OMG!!! I've been acknowledged by a RENOWNED death hag. What an honor!! Thanks Alan!! (And you're welcome, by the way.) I'd better get busy posting, or I'll be a "junior" forever!!

[Mammy]

You're welcome for the link. I saw another group on there about the fire and there seemed to be a lot of disagreements and people going off topic to insult each other and ended up not talking much about the fire. This group seemed more civil toward each other and actually interested in the fire.

[maryd]

And another "renowned" has blessed me!!! I really liked reading that FB page, Mammy. It was great seeing people write of their own or others' experiences and memories. Many of them seemed genuinely interested in each other as well.

[Mammy]

Since you are interested in this fire, what about The Station nightclub fire from 2003 in Rhode Island? There are some really well done Facebook pages dedicated to the victims and survivors of that fire, too. Also pages about the Carrollton bus crash that happened in Kentucky in 1988 when a drunk driver hit a church bus full of mostly children returning home from King's Island and the bus caught on fire and killed 27 people and seriously injured 30 more. I've always been really interested in the historical fires and they all have threads here. The Station is the one I'm the most interested in.