Deadliest Nightclub Fire……
November 28, 1942…….
A fire at the Coconut Grove nightclub in Boston kills 491 people. This was the deadliest U.S. nightclub fire and the second deadliest single-building fire in U.S. history (1903 Chicago Iroquois Theater fire was the deadliest single-building fire, killing 602). The fire spread quickly, filling the building with flames and smoke in less than five minutes. The main entrance was a revolving door which became jammed and then broke when the crowds tried to push through it. When the door broke, the oxygen-starved fire shot flames through the air gap, incinerating anyone in it. All but one of the other exits were either non-operational or hidden in non-public areas. Some were bolted shut and some opened inwards and were rendered useless as the crowds piled up against them. It is believed the fire started when a 16-year-old busboy used a match for light while screwing in a light bulb that had been unscrewed by a patron. Moments later, flammable decorations nearby caught on fire, spreading to a fabric-covered false ceiling which burned rapidly. The fire led to numerous new fire codes, including the requirement for revolving doors to have an adjacent outward-swinging door and for exit signs to be visible at all times.
Natalie Wood Drowns……
November 29, 1981……
Actress Natalie Wood drowns at the age of 43 off the side of her yacht while it was anchored near shore. She was on board with her husband Robert Wagner, Christopher Walken, and the yacht’s captain. How she ended up in the water was not determined, but she had bruises on her body and arms and an abrasion on her left cheek. Her blood alcohol content was 0.14% and there were traces of a motion-sickness pill and a painkiller in her bloodstream, both of which increase the effects of alcohol. According to Wagner, he and Wood had been arguing earlier and Wood went to bed first. When Wagner went to join her, he noticed that both she and the yacht’s small inflatable dinghy were missing. A witness in a boat nearby said that around 11 p.m. she heard a woman calling out, “Somebody please help me, I’m drowning.” Her body was found about a mile from the yacht with the dinghy beached nearby. Her sister, Lana Wood, said Wood had a fear of water and would never have tried to enter the dinghy alone, especially only wearing a nightgown. Wood’s fear of water started as a child, when she almost drowned while filming The Green Promise (1949). She had recently starred in the TV movie The Memory of Eva Ryker (1980), in which a character she played drowned. Her death was initially ruled accidental, but the case was reopened in 2011 and the cause of death was changed to “drowning and other undetermined factors.”
Thriller……
November 30, 1982…….
Michael Jackson‘s Thriller album is released. It became the world’s best-selling album (65,000,000 copies) and won a record-breaking 8 Grammy Awards. It was one of the first albums to successfully use music videos for promotion. The videos for “Thriller“, “Billie Jean”, and “Beat It” all received regular rotation on MTV.