The Plot To Murder Nick

If you want to listen to all of the episodes of this series right now, early release and ad-free, plus a whole host of extra fan club benefits, head to museum of popculture.supportingcast.fm or if that's too much of a mouthful, just click on it in the show notes, which is the description That no one reads. Hello and welcome. I am Josh Wittercom. For today I'm the curator of a place of incredible artifacts and exhibitions, a place that stores the greatest thing on earth. This is my archive of pop culture. Welcome back to part two of the Chip and Dales. Coming up in this episode, something for everyone. More murder plots and a Chipandales calendar misprint costing those involved $700,000. Welcome back to LA, Susie. Welcome back to the late 70s. Welcome back to Sodom and Gamorra. Sex and violence. Here we are. So Ray is Ray Colon, should we say, is about to commit a arson for Steve. So Steve's ask him to burn down his two rival nightclubs, which are called, um, Let me remind myself. Because they don't really matter. Oscos and Moody's. Mm-hmm. And uh Ray has pocketed the seven grand so he's had to do the crime because obviously uh that was a mistake to take the money in the hope it would blow over. So Ray asks a friend if he knows of anyone that could do arson for him. He says, Do you know a couple of street people with big balls and tiny brains? Who are not connected. And he suggests a guy called Jerry Molina. And his mate Paul. And Jerry and Paul, uh, they hang out at the seven eleven, which is exactly the kind of people you want, isn't it? Which is essentially like hanging out in the UK at a co op. Yes. Or a one stop. Or a one-stop. You know those two guys that hang out at the spa down the road? They seem like the kind of guys we could trust. Burning down some rival clubs. Exactly. Few days later, March the sixth, nineteen seventy nine, Ray, Colon, Jerry, and Paul go to Moody's to commit the arson, right? Mm-hmm. Raise notice there's no burglar alarm at Moody's, just bars over the windows for security. So Jerry has got a crowbar. And a can of va uh gasoline. I almost said Vaseline, that's the That would connect you to the Chipandale show. Yeah, that's actually what makes it gaseline here. It must be the Chipandales, guys. That's actually the Chipendales late. When they need a crowbar and some Vaseline. Paul's just brought some extra tools just in case, right? They they go there. Ray stays in the car to look out. So he says if he sees anything that's a threat, he'll blink the car's lights. What do you think his signal is if the police are coming? Blink blink. Blink blink. Blink blink. No, he's going to do one long honk of the car horn to distract them. Which I'm gonna say it. Is One of the worst if the police turn up and you do one long you are putting yourself in the frame. You really are. Oh, sorry, officer. I was just honking my car horn for a long time. Is there two people committing arson that are completely unrelated to me just across the road? So they Fail to break down the door, Jerry and Paul, while while um Ray Colon's in the car. Then Jerry spots a hose. So what he does is he puts it through a hole. In the window. And he attaches the other end, he smashes off the side of a gas meter, so there's gas going through our hose. Just through the window. Quite clever? Yeah, like I I wouldn't know how to do that. And you know, let's be honest, nor would I want to. No, of course. You know, I wouldn't necessarily think that every guy that hangs out outside of seven eleven could do that. No, exactly. They basically do that, shout run, and then Paul runs back towards the car. Jerry lights a load of lit newspapers, throws them in. They start the car and they drive off. Mm-hmm. Basically Ray's not happy with that. He's like, I wanted you to burn down the building, not blow it up. And they ask if they'll still get paid and Ray says no way. Ray's attitude to money is wild. They look gutted, so Ray relents and he pays them one hundred dollars each. for blowing up the place. Surely burning down and blowing up. It's the same, right? Yeah. Two sides of the same coin, surely. The bad news is, Susie, uh later that morning Steve calls right because he's just heard on the radio there was a fire up Moody's and there was no damage caused. So it's a complete Failure. There's a window that was broken and there was a hose pipe that was used wrongly. Steve says um he's gonna give Ray another chance to show his loyalty. He wants to burn down Oscar's the other one, right? I feel like Steve really isn't considering. how much he's putting himself in the frame. It's wild, isn't it? If there's three nightclubs and two of them have been burnt down. Or attempted burning down. You're not going to think gosh, I guess these are all unrelated. Well, as it goes on, with Steve's raid of terror, you are like Mate. what is going on in your head. Cause also you're running a successful business. You can't Run a successful business and have no one in the same sphere as you. Do you know what I mean? You you have to allow people to have other businesses that might Get patrons that might have come to your business. Otherwise It's like Adidas blowing up Nike and every other sportswear firm because they feel they want to make the only sportswear. There is room for more than one nightclub. And I feel like and I'm sure we'll get into this, but Steve's getting greedy. If the most you can get in is 300 people and you've got in 600, just enjoy your life. What else do you want? Enjoy your life. But instead Ray agrees to blow up the second place. Or burn it down, sorry. Oh my gosh, you guys. But do you remember when Ray was hoping it would blow over? Oh what with the seven grand? Yeah. He stalls for a few months. And then Steve does forget about it. And they just kind of move on. Do we think there's lots of drug use? I don't think so. I just think they're just plus. I think that's the kind of Ray is hat plus and I think Steve is clearly a psychopath of some sort. Of course, yeah. So Ray basically is left looking for a new career and amazingly he decides to become a reserve police officer. So that is Ray moves into being a yeah. His career has been Stealing Playboy and thrown at the air force. Coming up with the idea of a discotheque in Steve's club committing an arson and now he's in the police. Taylor's oldest time. It's a Taylor's oldest time. It's a classic career path, Susie. One night he takes some police officers to the Chipandales. Steve says to them, Well I used to see Ray more, but now Ray's a cop. He thinks he's too good to associate with a lowly club owner, and Steve then pours a drink over Ray's head. It's all very dramatic, Susie. It's all lovely and dramatic. Very, very Albert Square, isn't it? Oh, yes. So then Steve to further the Chipandales in a normal way a businessman would by trying to make the product better. Okay. Not by just attacking your other people. And you know what? Good on him. Good on him. Though this does lead to the darkest chapter in the Chipendale. So in nineteen eighty one, Steve Hires Nicholas Nick DeNoya. So Nick DeNoya is I Emmy award winning Broadway choreographer and TV producer. You're seeing, Susie. You're same. Sure. He does like a lot of uh kids shows. So he's produced and directed. See if you know any of these. They've all got great names. The magic hat. The Maltese Unicorn? No. Big apple birthday. Nice. Alex and the wonderful do while amp Again, no. No, fair enough. I don't know that I'm across You know, late seventies, early eighties, children's TV in the States, seeing that I wasn't born and I have always lived in England. It would be weird if you were in a way. It would be quite creepy if you were. But he has got a connection to this. He he's also produced and directed an exercise video called Muscle Motion. Even the hottest romance starts out with something small. A gesture, a look. In aerobics, it's called the warm-up. Down up down corner down corner And he goes to the club and he's not impressed with the club, right? Early on. This is before the Chipandales. The first he sees of the club is a female mud wrestling show that was on before they did the Chipandales, right? And he walks out saying, You've got to be kidding me. But this is that's the fault of this guy called Paul Snyder. So Paul Snyder is the early M C of the Chipandales, right? Mm-hmm. Colleagues describe him as these are the words, a terrible MC. Neither likable, funny, nor interesting. We both know L to C's like that. His presence is described as and this is something amazing with the Chippendales. People say he brings a sleazy atmosphere to the club. Which is the last thing you want at the chip and dials. No, and also the idea that the guy that doesn't get his kit off is making it sleazy. This guy is bringing the tone down, isn't he? No, thank you. I'm just trying to get my ass out for some women. Yeah. And you are bringing this down. So Steve wants to transform it. He offers Nick a thousand dollars a week. And so he Nick decides he's gonna polish the show, make it brilliant. So Mud wrestling has to go. He demands complete control over the show, Steve agrees. He insists the customers will won't be called women, they'll be called ladies at all times. He orders the dancers, when they select the women from the audience to bring onto the stage, never to choose the best wood looking women in the audience. They must choose these are the words, big, homely, beautiful women. 'Customer who needed I mean is that Really sweet. Or is it really uh Well, Susie. Can it be both? I need a little a little bit of column A, a little bit of column B. I know, 'cause in a way you're like, Do you know what? That'd be much worse if he said, Get the fitties on stage. Do you know what I mean? That would be worse. Yeah. But obviously, really he should be saying Don't judge a woman by what she looks like. But instead they're saying she needs a pack and also she'll come back. She wants to imagine that you fancy her, even though we know, to use my words, she's too homely. We know what he means by homely. But basically, all his ideas, next to ideas, they transform it to the next level from a local hit. Into a national phenomenon, right? Isn't it gay? I don't know if Nick's gay actually. Michael, can you check if Nick DeNoya is gay? Do your gay check. So it goes massive. And by the kind of mid-1980s, there's Chippendale's mugs, key rings, calendars, teddy bears. its peak. It is grossing. thirty five million dollars a year. And Steve Banner wants to take it even further. He wants to do this is incredible. A Chipendale's ride at the Disney theme parks. Oh that is a change of pace, isn't it? Yeah. For the kids. Absolutely. Scream if you want to go faster. Well exactly. So Problem comes though, Susie. The denoia. starts to hog the limelight. And he's regularly seen as the man behind the Chippendales. He gets seen as Mr. Chipandale. creator of the Chip and Dales, and he appears on chat shows with the Chipandales, and Steve doesn't like this. So by this point when you're saying they're bringing in thirty five million a year, obviously They are now. Globally touring? By the mid eighties they're globally touring and um we've got news just in. Michael's put his g bar out there. Yeah. Married to a woman but alleged to be bisexual, possibly even closeted homosexual at the time. Well, there we go. There we go. But I think it's very interesting because I think The reason that I asked if he was gay It's that that whole thing of like finding someone that's homely and making it What is he is bringing to it is the opposite of what a man would potentially want a straight strip show. You know, a man going to watch a woman. Would not care about the decor. They wouldn't care about the vibe. No, exactly. Yeah. He wouldn't want to the let's call them ladies, not women. I don't say this for experience, just to be clear, but if you're a man going to watch a strip show, I don't think you'd be going, I do hope they refer to me as a gentleman at all times. And I would agree with that. So By the time they're earty five million, that's kind of the mid eighties, but this is the start, that is the peak of it, right? And you'll see how it takes over. So Nick has created the Chippendale show, basically, but he's taking too much of the credit. Steve doesn't like it. Let me run you through what happens in the Chipandale show. So curtain begins to rise and basically According to writers who are there, women's voic ring out through the auditorium chanting, We want meat. We want meat. We want meat. And then it says, welcome to the Chipandales. Right. The show starts with MC and then the opening act. is five dancers in jeans, cut off jerseys, showing their six packs. And they strip down to G strings. as music goes through the club, and then there's a series of set pieces that follow. There's one called Fantasy Night. Which is like welcome to the Hotel Chippendales where we satisfy all your needs. And s six dancers stride out in bell boy uniforms and dance and act like servants for the women. And then there's a breakfast in bed scene which follows where the dancer simulates climax, lights a cigarette and blows a smoke ring. Then there's a Tarzan scene. with a plastic banana used by the dancer as if he's wanking, and then lotion spurts out of the banana. Too rich for my blood? You're genuinely shocked, aren't you? I do think that's quite shocking, yeah. But you know me, I am one of those people that referred prefer to be referred to as a lady. Of course, of course. You wouldn't be chanting we won, mate. And then there's an apocalypse now scene with dancing army fatigues and explosions in the background. And then there's the most famous scene, which is the shower scene, where five Chipandales dancers are each in a sh shower stall, lathered up in their thongs, and then showering off using strategically positioned shower uh towels to cover themselves. But then they've got actual water that comes through. They must have had actual Well they do because one night, just before the show, a crew member quits. And so there's no water or towels. And so basically lathered up in soap on the stage and they just have to exit. Because they've been left with no towels of water. And also during these scenes, each dancers move around the edge of the stage and do the the tip and kisses with the audience as well. Offer kisses and make loads of money. Do they actually kiss them? Think they probably do, Susie. Well, I'll tell you why I say that. One of them, Scott Marlowe, was twenty three, was an ex Marine. And his route in was he basically was one of the people men who came after ten PM trying to pick up women. But then he jacks in his job in Wall Street. where he's training to a currency trader to become a Chipandale's dancer. I wonder what his mum and dad thought when they received that missive. Wow, C not everyone is as judgmental as you. Maybe they were delighted he was following his dreams. In this case his dream was a routine called the biker. Where he had to take his jeans off. Seductively, this is the quote, in order to fuck a motorcycle on stage. Do you know what? I take that back what I said about his mum and dad. You're right, they would have been proud. It's far more wild than I'd anticipated. I thought it was a bit of cheeky fun. No, it's more than cheeky fun. It's too rich for both of our blood. But he actually this Joking aside, he gets quite affected by the experience of being a Chip and Dale. Like it fucks him up a bit. He says, When was the last time you had to kiss three hundred people in a night? I had to do that night after night. It was dehumanising and disgusting. I mean, if people were literally shouting, We want meat Well He says he was sleeping with several women a day for several years and he basically goes off sex. He just doesn't have any interest in it anymore. And he says still today struggles with kissing because he just has a thing about it. Like it's just like fucked up his relationship with sex and kissing. That's sad. And do you know what? If he'd just become a currency trader, he could be kissing all he wanted now. Yeah. And isn't that a good lesson? He could be smooching from dusk till dawn. He can be smooching from dusk till dawn. But it is weird and sad and kind of Mad, isn't it? Yes. And then there's a really dark element to the Chipendell's story, so he's like Darker even than we've covered. Darker than not wanting to have a kissy anymore. Dark and I'm not wanting to have a kissy anymore, Susie. So The first related Chipendale's murder happens in nineteen eighty. It's wild, isn't it? It's so much more wild than you think. So basically Do you remember the MC? Yeah, talentless, not funny. No charm. I know the guy. Bringing down the tone of the club, yeah. So basically That's even more surprising now that we know that someone was stimulating sex with a motorbike. I know. And someone was pretending to wank off a banana. Oh God, he's gone too far. Do you know what the way that he brings this room down it really ruins my bit where I have to blow a smoke circle. After stimulating ejaculation. I'm an artist here and this guy's Come on guys. You've gotta How am I meant to work in these conditions? So he is just one of the worst people in the world, this guy, Paul Snyder. So he ends up murdering someone called Dorothy Stratton. So she basically meets him. She's a teenager. in Canada, late teens, just to be clear. Scooping ice cream in a Dairy Queen uh in Vancouver. He walks in. And he's like, Oh my God, she's beautiful. And there's a thing called the Great Playmate Hunt. Where they're looking for a centfold for the twenty fifth anniversary. Issue of Playboy. And he convinces her she's eighteen to pose nude, right? And when they say a shots. They fly her over, they're like, She's the future Playboy. And she basically becomes Playmate of the Year. She gets an act career. But he's kind of still hanging around and she's an incredibly innocent person in this. Like one of Snyder's friends says she didn't believe that everybody lied and all the liars came to Los Angeles. I said to him, If you really care about her, take her back to Vancouver. She doesn't belong here. This town will destroy her, right? He basically goes to the parties with her. And then she distances herself from him. And he basically ends up murdering her. And Mm. This has been many a girl's dream and certainly many of the playmates' dream, and it's been mine. Dorothy Strat, age twenty, here being named Playboy's Playmate for the year nineteen eighty. On this sunny afternoon at the peak of her promising career. Who has made me probably the happiest girl in the world today. Just four months after her afternoon in the Hollywood sun, Dorothy was shot and killed by the man in the white suit. Her estranged husband, Paul Snyder. Snyder was a former pimp and small time promoter. And Darwin with his basic meal ticket. It's awful, isn't it? Yeah, terrible. So basically she becomes involved with like Peter Bogdanovich, the director, and she's doing a film with him. And then basically he this guy kills her and tops himself and it's just Because he can't take her success. He can't take her success. He can't take her moving away from him. And so that is the bleakest moment of the Chippendale story, but it isn't incredibly the last murder. Steve is now Has all these run ins with the law. He agrees to affirmative action on the the racism thing, right? He agrees to get twenty five percent of all new Chippadell's employees would be African American. And obviously he agrees that there'll be no policy keeping African Americans out of the club. Then he has the fire department problem. So it's all kind of really successful, but he's just running it in a really bad way, if you know what I mean. He's not able to enjoy his success. He's Jealous of Dennoya and he's doing all this mad stuff and then the fire inspector uh closes the show down. in nineteen eighty three, because as we've said It's basically double sold, right? Uh so he closes the show down. nine thirty PM with five hundred and fifty women in there. Uh Can you imagine, Susie? Sorry, it's can't so another evening. Here is the classic scene you'd get in a sitcom. Another evening. A fireman. Stride onto stage. the female crowd are chanting, Take it off, take it off but It's not an exotic dance as Susie, it is a fireman. It's a classic. It's a classic. He's closing the club down to overcrowding. An awful job for that fireman. Those women would have been disappointed. Over five years the club is closed down thirteen times due to overcrowding. All the fines, Steve just says, every time I get sighted, I just come up with a new product to cover the fine. So he doesn't give a shit about all of this. And so the club then expands. It goes to New York, right? Since Denois taken over, like the artistic side of the club, Steve has been making a fortune and De Noya knows this and he basically wants a cut of the profits. Yeah? That's fair. He says cut me in or I'll walk. And he opens Steve with the idea of doing a second club in New York in a place called Magik. And Steve doesn't want Denoia to walk. So he said, All right, you could do that. Within a month of opening, it's absolutely cleaning up. It's got room for a thousand women. So it's way bigger than LA. And also with the way Steve books it, that's two thousand women, Susie. Yeah, right. And like they appear on daytime T V 'cause they're now a big thing in New York. It basically becomes a national phenomenon, Chip and Dales, at this point. But Steve and Nick. do not get on. It's a story as old as time. They've got to the top, Susie. And They hate each other. So the relationship is so bad, Steve and Nick, now. they now meet in restaurants so that the staff at the Chipandales won't have to hear them argue because they feel it's a bad scene. So they meet in restaurants so they can argue in private, basically. So Steve's jealous of Dennoya, obviously, for basically taking the credit. He's got the nickname Mr Chipendales. Denoia says, Well, if you don't like me, I'll just leave and I'll do my own show elsewhere. Steve threatens to sue Dennoya for breach of contract if he leaves for a rival show. Steve's got form. He's recently um sued a group of overweight dancers in a parody act called The Chuckendales. And got them closed down. Oh, that's a shame. I know. There's no need for that. It really feels like that, doesn't it? That's not stepping on your toes at all, is it? Talk about pulling up the ladder. Exactly. He's very selfish in wanting all the money, isn't he? It seems to have a very fragile ego. Yes, incredibly fragile ego. It needs to be him, he needs to be the guy, everyone needs to know it's him. He can be the only one that does it. To be quite frank, I'd quite happily t make the money and not take the credit for the Chipandales if it was me. Oh I'd say that's the best of both worlds. For sure. Basically, they make they agree a deal. This is known as the napkin deal because Noya makes an offer. He'll give up the right to the New York Show in exchange. for half of any touring profits, right? At this stage there is no tour. There's no tour, but he wants half potential future touring profits. So Steve is like Well this is a win. This is a win. Because I'm giving you half of nothing. I'm giving you half of nothing. So Steve grabs a napkin. And he writes down, I Steve Banagee, full owner and chairman of the board of Easable Corp, which is the people who do the Chipandales, do here by award. Nick De Noya. On the thirteenth day of november nineteen eighty four, fifty percent of all money's received from touring rights involving Chipperdale's dancers, minus any expenses, blah blah blah. Since they don't tour, Steve's like, I've absolutely done him here, right? Oh no. No, no, no, no, no. So Steve thinks the money's in the LA and the New York Club. And he's like, I'm just gonna open more clubs in other cities, it's not gonna talk. and uh to celebrate soon after the napkin deal. Steve calls Ray Colon. Mm-hmm. I remember him. Ray Colon by now. had planned to become a regular police officer in Palm Springs. But a physical revealed that he had polycystic kidneys and he has to quit the police force. So he goes back into Steve's orbit, sadly, for Ray Colon. He's really both feet in or both feet out, isn't he? He is. He can't there's gotta be a middle way, right? Where you're neither stopping criminals or being a criminal. Just be a regular guy. Obviously the Chip and Dales is the hottest club in town, but um There's another club now. Called Pearl Harbor. Which is in the basement of a restaurant called the Red Onion. And Steve once Pearl Harbor burns down. He's fucking mental, isn't it? Yeah, he really is. Rice says he doesn't want to do it. Steve reminds Ray that he's still taken seven thousand pounds for some arson, he's still never committed an arson for him. And you know what? We thought he'd forgotten about that, but he hasn't. We thought he'd forgot about that, but no, that seven grand is still burning a hole in Ray's pocket. Steve says look. We'll call it quits if you burn down Pohar before me. Ray goes to Pearl Harbor. With him are a guy called Mike Alvarez from the Mexican Mafia and a guy who will come up later called Gilberto. Rivera Lopez, who's known as Louis, but he's also known as Louis Lopez, Andy Riviera, Louis Malacho, Malacada. He's basically got loads of aliases. He's a dodgy dude, right? Right, once again, I'll stay in the car, you two go and burn down Pearl Harbor. Alvarez and Louis scramble out the car, run out of the club, each carrying gasoline filled bottles with a rag. They throw it through the restaurant window, run back to the car. And they haven't burned down the club again. They've failed again, Susie. I mean and please A failing. Guys. It's the third failed arson. Well two, I suppose. Steve picks up Ray the next day, takes him to the Pearl Harvard Club. And shows him. Workers are removing a burned carpet from Pearl Harbor. And Red Onion is already preparing for the lunch crowd above them. No harm has been done. Ray walks into the nightclub and the carpet installers tell Ray that someone set fire to the hall leading to the club and the night janitor smelt the fire and put it out before it spread. It's going terribly, isn't it? A disaster, Susie. He's an absolute disaster. The only positive is Steve hasn't managed to commit any crimes. Like he's trying to commit crimes, but he's so shit at committing crimes that he hasn't committed any crimes. Things are about to go badly. Or well, depending on your view on Steve. Because Nick is gonna make good on the napkin deal and start touring. The Chipendales. And as we know, Josh. That's where you make your money. That's where you make your money, Susie. The owners of the nightclub in Philadelphia called Pulsations. That he brings the Chipandales. So there for f several nights a week, Steve basically says well that's not a show, you're just bringing it to their club. Nick's like, No, that counts as a tour. And he ignores him and after a r great run in pulsations, he takes it to Atlantic City, where they appear at a casino, and then he takes the shows around loads of other clubs in the north east across the country. Steve complains that he's cheating him by falsely inflating his expenses. Like they're just absolutely falling out over this huge tour. So Steve decides to start incredibly his own rival Chippendales tour to rival the Chippendales tour. That he is a half owner of. So more than five thousand people apply for the six dance positions. Wow. Cause I who wouldn't want to be a chip and hell at this point, Susie. Did you not hear? He can't do kissing anymore. He can't do kissing anymore. But at this stage they don't know how it'll affect your kissing, do they? That's true. That's true. So Steve launches a rival Chipandales to his own Chipandales, basically. This goes across Europe, South Africa, Hong Kong, Australia, Guam. The Philippines. And our good friends, Great Britain, Susie. Yeah. Where it plays in the strand theatre for months sold out. It sells out for months. There's times, right? When there's three Chipandales groups touring Europe at the same time. Each with seventeen performers. New dancers are getting like seven hundred and fifty dollars a week plus tips. Which is basically can add up to one thousand two hundred dollars a night. So they're getting over a hundred grand a year and the house in LA at this point costs one hundred and eighty grand a year. So it's so lucrative being a Chip and Dale. And they're like world famous. They appear on Oprah doing a kind of toned down version of their strip teeth. Of course. It's Chippendale Mania. It's like a an electric atmosphere where the women get wild and they play off of each other. Because there's something on stage happen that allows them to Share with each other the experience. We get a lot of bachelorette parties and birthday parties, so it's like girls night out and they have fun together. But Steve and Nick are at an all time low, right? Take the win, guys. I know, it's wild. You're absolutely coining it in. Oh my god, what is that? Is that like male ego, is it I think Steve's wild, right? I don't Nick's problem. No. Nick just wants to make money out of the Chipandales. Fair enough. So Steve wants to open new clubs in Dallas and Denver. and they've got these wealthy investors and they have a meeting with these wealthy investors halfway through the meeting. Nick and Steve have a blazing row in front of the investors. Nick pushes for more share of the licensing rights of Chippendale's products. Steve doesn't agree that And then Steve tells the investors that De Noya is a thief who would do anything to put more money in his pocket. And Denoia says that Steve is so money hungry that he had a safe in his house full of cash that he was hiding from the IRS. This is in front of their potential investors they're trying to win over. Guessing those investors thought, Do you know what? Do you know what? I'm gonna step away this. There's no further meetings. Yeah, this is where I'm gonna pause. So guess what Steve does next? Tries to burn something down? He orders. For Nick to be murdered. Isn't that wild? But who does he order it through? Because if he's ringing Ray, it's never getting done. Well, I've got good news, C. He's ringing right. Okay, good news for Nick. So Denois company, UnicornTales, is Sue Steve's company. Right. Which owns the Chippendales, right? And he says that The creation of the rival Group. Rival Tor undoes the Napkin agreement. It doesn't count. And so he gets a restraining order on Steve's rival Chipendale's tour. And he wins. So Steve is livid. Also, there's more bad news for Steve, Susan, in nineteen eighty seven they print the Chipendale's calendars. With thirty one days on each month. Absolutely. Oh no. He doesn't know the rhyme, does he exactly. That cost him seven hundred grand, that misprint. Seven hundred grand 'cause they printed so many calendars with thirty one days on them. I mean, yeah, because at that point there would have been every single person in the country would had a calendar in their house. Of course. Ever calendar's a huge, huge business, of course. This is pre phone. Less so now. Less so now. Don't invest in calendars around the turn of the century. Have you got one? I haven't got a calendar, have you? I'm looking at a lioness calendar. Mais Adam brought me. Oh well there we go. Has it got the right numbers of days on each? He's got the currently the right amount of days, yes. On top of the fines, right? Overcrowding and legal fees, the IRS found that he's failed to do his income properly. Basically, incredibly Steve has mismanaged it so badly, he's heading for bankruptcy at this point. Despite it being the most popular thing on earth. But he he's trying to be optimistic. He says as long as women look at beautiful men and have fun, we will do well. But he, in truth, is desperate. And so he meets up with our old friend Ray Cole on Susie. Why? Can't he quit, right? I don't know. And he says, look, I hired Dennoya to revamp the show. Now he's cheated me. I can't fire him because of the napkin deal. I've been forced to partners with him, even though he's made the written the napkin deal himself. Close down my own Chipandles tours. He's attempted to buy Dennoya out for a million dollars. Dennoya won't have any of it. And so he says. Something has to be done. He says to Right, I want the ultimate to be done. And Ray asks. If Steve was saying that you wanted to know I killed and Steve slowly nods. And he says. that if Ray found someone to do the job, then Steve would never bother Ray again and would give him anything he wanted. Why he's going through Ray, I don't know. No, and why Ray would believe Steve. I know. It's wild, isn't it? So Steve gives Ray an envelope containing three thousand dollars. And denoyers. home and business addresses. Ray tries to decline. Steve shows Ray a notice from the government that says that Steve's name has appeared on a wiretap related to organized crime. He basically says to Ray, that implies that he has underworld connections. And it'll have Ray killed if Ray doesn't kill Denoia. Ray basically says, Well why don't you just get them to kill Denoia? Fair. But he Steve talks him into it. And he says How am I gonna contact you, Rice says? And he says call him and use the code babe. So that is their code between them. And then Ray. goes off. Babe. She says, Call me. Don't use my name. Call me babe. That's how. Ray and Steve will contact each other from now on. Like Pig in the City. Like Pig in the City, yeah, yeah. Like like babe pig in the city. Or like like a beautiful babe. Like uh babe station. Like babe station. So Susie, it's all set, is Ray Colong going to manage to commit a murder when he hasn't committed an arson? Next time. Ray Colon. is going to attempt to carry out. The murder of Steve's partner because Steve is unhappy at the way the Chip and Dales is going. Join me to see if that happens in a few days. Or If you're a member of the fan club, join us now and hear. whether Ray finally manages to commit a crime. I need a cup of tea after that. It's quite intense, isn't it? Yeah. The Spice Girls was a lot lighter. Oh yeah. At no point. When Jerry left the Spice Girls, did she consider just murdering the other four? Thank God. We wouldn't have bought Holly. I wouldn't have seen them on tour twice. That's it for part two. Coming up in part three. Authoriti won't discuss any possible motive for the alleged murder for higher buttons, but those who know Steve Banner G will. He thought that because he had so much money and was getting so much money that he had the power to do anything, get away with anything. If you want to listen to that now and get all the episodes for this series, you can at Museum of Popculture. As well as being the home Pop culture nostalgia.