S5 Ep5: How the Beverly Hills Supper Club Fire Forever Changed Civil Litigation

Crimes of the Centuries

Amber Hunt and Audioboom

True Crime, Documentary, Society & Culture, History

4.6 • 3.8K Ratings

🗓️ 24 March 2025

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As the audience was settling in for an evening of entertainment in one of the swankiest nightclubs in the Midwest, a busboy approached the mic and asked everyone to exit the sprawling building. Soon, the place was engulfed. The May 28, 1977, fire at the Beverly Hills Supper Club was a deadly disaster that subsequent investigations found was not only preventable, but had been predicted, too. The lawsuits that followed changed the landscape of class-action litigation in America.

"Crimes of the Centuries" is a podcast from Grab Bag Collab exploring forgotten crimes from times past that made a mark and helped change history. You can get early and ad-free episodes on the Grab Bag Patreon page.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The weather. Tomorrow, expect a biting cold front. Hmm, how naughty. I wonder what I'll be
0:06.8	wearing or taking off. The night will be wild and untamed. Expect heavy, lashing rain
0:13.0	that'll soak you to the skin. By Monday, temperatures will rise slowly but surely reaching
0:18.7	their peak in the afternoon.
0:23.0	Not in the mood for miserable weather?
0:25.8	Fly cheaply to Turkey with Sun Express.
0:28.7	Sun Express, non-stop sunshine.
0:38.4	Some crimes are so heartbreaking or shocking.
0:44.6	They change laws, change society, or even earn the label Crime of the Century.
0:50.8	But the stories that made headlines and decades past aren't necessarily remembered today.
0:56.4	I'm Amber Hunt, a journalist and author, and in each episode of this show,
1:02.0	I'll examine a case that's maybe lesser known today, but was huge when it happened.
1:30.1	This is Crimes of the Centuries. On the night of May 28, 1977, the comedy team, Teeter and McDonald, was about 10 minutes into their usual warm-up act for the headliner in the cabaret room.
1:34.5	They had started almost a half hour late because club personnel had been busy trying to fit
1:39.5	as many people as possible in the room to see this big attraction.
1:46.7	The headliner was a hot commodity,
1:54.0	fresh-faced 70s sensation John Davidson. He was backstage shaving, getting ready to entertain the overbooked crowd in the main room at the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, a northern
1:59.6	Kentucky suburb of Cincinnati just across the Ohio River.
2:03.6	Davidson had told audiences earlier in his engagement that he was breaking all attendance records held at the club.
2:10.6	That was met with huge applause. The region loved this Pittsburgh boy done good.
2:16.6	The crowd this night was still piling in when an 18-year-old busboy The region loved this Pittsburgh boy done good.
2:24.1	The crowd this night was still piling in when an 18-year-old bus boy, a guy paid just $1.65 an hour,
	...

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