WEBVTT - Timothy Scott: Death of a Dancer 0:00:12.119 --> 0:00:14.880 Growing up in the Maryland suburbs outside of d C, 0:00:15.760 --> 0:00:19.880 Broadway was just far enough away to seem like another world, 0:00:20.360 --> 0:00:24.319 a magical one. So it's no surprise that some of 0:00:24.360 --> 0:00:27.760 my fondest memories are of the train trips i'd take 0:00:27.800 --> 0:00:31.920 with my parents to go and see Broadway shows. First 0:00:32.040 --> 0:00:36.880 was the musical Barnum starring Jim Dale. Joined the third 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:43.279 just like hi Wan when I was a killed. After that, 0:00:43.440 --> 0:00:47.760 I think it was Annie. I don't mean anything by you. 0:00:49.240 --> 0:00:52.199 Both were great shows, but the trip we took in 0:00:52.320 --> 0:00:57.920 February was next level. We were going to see a 0:00:57.960 --> 0:01:02.840 show that was nothing short of an event. I loved 0:01:02.880 --> 0:01:06.720 Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Cats even before I saw it, 0:01:07.080 --> 0:01:10.920 and not in an ironic way. I played that original 0:01:10.959 --> 0:01:15.240 Broadway cast album until the vinyl almost melted. The song 0:01:15.400 --> 0:01:28.080 memory instantly unforgettable junior Face. My friend Mario and I 0:01:28.120 --> 0:01:30.880 would listen to it over and over on the stereo 0:01:30.959 --> 0:01:34.160 in his family room, and when Betty Buckley would hit 0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:37.400 that big note, I would grab the nearest sofa pello 0:01:37.800 --> 0:01:49.480 and bite it. Look, I was only thirteen years old. 0:01:49.640 --> 0:01:52.520 I honestly didn't know how else to channel the urges 0:01:52.600 --> 0:01:58.120 it tapped into. When I finally saw the show as 0:01:58.160 --> 0:02:02.360 a much more sophisticated four year old, my expectations were 0:02:02.400 --> 0:02:09.240 actually exceeded. That's set, the costumes, and that dancing. My 0:02:09.360 --> 0:02:11.880 parents and I sat in the very last row of 0:02:11.919 --> 0:02:15.000 the balcony, so the cats who came into the audience 0:02:15.080 --> 0:02:18.120 didn't come anywhere near us. But so what, It was 0:02:18.240 --> 0:02:22.760 still impossibly exciting. Afterwards, I went back home to Bethesda, 0:02:22.840 --> 0:02:26.560 Maryland with an official cat's sweatshirt, the one with the 0:02:26.560 --> 0:02:29.280 two yellow cat eyes on the back. I wore that 0:02:29.360 --> 0:02:32.560 sweatshirt to Pile Junior High almost every day for the 0:02:32.560 --> 0:02:35.680 rest of the winter. I ended up writing a letter 0:02:35.960 --> 0:02:40.000 to every member of the cast twice. I only received 0:02:40.040 --> 0:02:43.960 a couple of responses, but I was absolutely thrilled that 0:02:44.080 --> 0:02:48.400 one of them was from Mr Mustaphel's himself, Tim Scott, 0:02:49.080 --> 0:02:54.240 this dancer. When he did twenty four consecutive weets, he 0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:57.520 took my breath away. I didn't know that those wild 0:02:57.520 --> 0:03:00.640 spins were called forwetas, or even how spell the word. 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:03.800 All I knew was that I was watching someone defy 0:03:03.960 --> 0:03:07.800 the laws of physics. Tim Scott's letter to me was short, 0:03:08.120 --> 0:03:11.440 but gracious. I was just so happy that he answered. 0:03:12.760 --> 0:03:15.839 But back then I had no idea of the offstage 0:03:15.960 --> 0:03:19.800 drama that was quietly building for Tim Scott and for 0:03:19.840 --> 0:03:22.880 many in the cast of Cats, for the Broadway community 0:03:22.919 --> 0:03:26.120 at large, and especially for the gay men who were 0:03:26.160 --> 0:03:30.280 in essential part of that community. AIDS was discovered first 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:33.120 and young homosexual meant there is no cure and it 0:03:33.200 --> 0:03:37.600 is often fatal. By the fall of two when Cats 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:42.360 opened on Broadway, AIDS had become a health crisis. By 0:03:42.360 --> 0:03:44.920 the end of the decade, it would claim the lives 0:03:45.040 --> 0:03:49.320 of over one hundred thousand Americans and would devastate the 0:03:49.440 --> 0:03:53.440 arts world. In the original cast of Cats alone, AIDS 0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:56.600 would cut down four dancers at the very top of 0:03:56.600 --> 0:04:00.800 their careers and in peak physical form. The tragedy of 0:04:00.840 --> 0:04:03.640 the whole thing, isn't it. That's a microcosm of the 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:06.960 big picture. You've got to show that's about youth and vitality, 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:09.320 and these are people who were taken down in the 0:04:09.400 --> 0:04:12.800 prime of their lives. This is the story of one 0:04:12.840 --> 0:04:18.360 of those dancers. It's a story of talent, beautiful, beautiful dancer. 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:21.280 You can't imagine all of the tricks that he did. 0:04:21.480 --> 0:04:25.000 It was just absolutely incredible. It's a story of dreams 0:04:25.480 --> 0:04:27.520 I'll never begin, he said, you know what, I just 0:04:27.560 --> 0:04:29.600 want to be the best dance so I could possibly 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:33.120 be and be on Broadway. Most of all, it's a 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:36.400 love story. One night he turned and looked at me, 0:04:36.480 --> 0:04:39.159 and I looked back at him, and there was this long, 0:04:39.279 --> 0:04:43.320 meaningful moment. So I like to say that I fell 0:04:43.360 --> 0:04:45.359 in love with him when he was dressed as a 0:04:45.440 --> 0:04:51.839 cat from CBS Sunday Morning and I heart I'm Morocca 0:04:52.000 --> 0:05:00.520 and this is mobituaries, this moment. Timothy Scott, February eight, 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:14.880 death of a dancer. My parents splurged and they brought 0:05:14.920 --> 0:05:19.240 me the five dollar souvenir programs and inside there's an 0:05:19.279 --> 0:05:26.320 autograph best Ken page. Oh my goodness, oh wonderful look 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:29.040 at that. And I had to thank you for stopping 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:32.760 on Seventh Avenue when it was really cold in February 0:05:33.120 --> 0:05:36.359 signing my souvenir program. Uh, we'll see, we didn't know it, 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:41.360 but this day was gonna happen. I'm talking to well, 0:05:41.480 --> 0:05:45.400 really gushing over actor Ken Paige, who played the role 0:05:45.440 --> 0:05:49.040 of Old Deuteronomy in the original Broadway cast of Cats. 0:05:58.080 --> 0:06:00.839 When I saw Ken Paige and Cats, I was already 0:06:00.839 --> 0:06:03.960 a fan of his from the musical review ain't misbehaving. 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:13.880 I'm going right now and write you might know Ken 0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:17.000 Paige best as the voice of the evil Oogie Boogie 0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:21.279 in Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. It's good book 0:06:23.160 --> 0:06:29.440 and attention now, bogie Man. But I'm talking to Ken 0:06:29.480 --> 0:06:33.960 today because of his connection to CATS co star Timothy Scott. 0:06:34.880 --> 0:06:37.719 You see, Cats wasn't the first time Ken and Tim 0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:42.000 worked together. They both began their professional stage careers as 0:06:42.080 --> 0:06:47.080 teenagers at the legendary St. Louis Municipal Opera Theater commonly 0:06:47.120 --> 0:06:51.560 known as the Muni, the oldest and largest outdoor musical 0:06:51.600 --> 0:06:55.120 theater in North America. He was in the dance ensemble 0:06:55.160 --> 0:06:57.440 and I was in the singing ensemble. He danced. I 0:06:57.480 --> 0:06:59.840 don't say I moved well, and I will never be 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:02.480 At this day. There's a beautiful fountain between a rehearsal 0:07:02.520 --> 0:07:04.960 space and the backstage, and he was sitting up at 0:07:04.960 --> 0:07:07.360 the top and the water was sort of running through 0:07:07.400 --> 0:07:10.720 his feet and everything. And he said to me, he said, 0:07:10.760 --> 0:07:12.440 you know what, I just want to be the best 0:07:12.560 --> 0:07:15.400 dance so I could possibly be and be on Broadway. 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:17.720 And I said, yeah, me too. I want to be 0:07:17.800 --> 0:07:20.200 I want to be on Broadway too. You know, I 0:07:20.280 --> 0:07:24.880 was eighteen, so he must have been probably seventeen. As 0:07:24.880 --> 0:07:28.840 it turns out, their dreams of Broadway were not far fetched. 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:38.240 Timothy Scott Schnell was born on September in Morton Grove, Illinois, 0:07:38.560 --> 0:07:41.920 a suburb of Chicago. Tim had something of a late start. 0:07:42.240 --> 0:07:45.040 A lot of dancers start training as early as four 0:07:45.120 --> 0:07:48.960 years old. Tim Scott didn't start taking dance lessons until 0:07:49.000 --> 0:07:51.960 he was a teenager, but it was clear from the 0:07:52.000 --> 0:07:55.760 get go he was un natural. He went straight from 0:07:55.840 --> 0:07:59.960 high school into show business. After the Muni, Tim Scot 0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:05.120 moved to New York City. Success came quickly. Broadway impressario 0:08:05.280 --> 0:08:09.280 Michael Bennett cast Tim in the first international company of 0:08:09.480 --> 0:08:16.880 a chorus line. Soon after, Tim was touring nationally in 0:08:17.000 --> 0:08:21.680 Bob Fosse's smash musical review Dance Him. We Got Spent 0:08:21.840 --> 0:08:25.720 Sleeps joke Scott Whils another incredible bonny gigs, but I 0:08:25.760 --> 0:08:30.160 am not allowed to mention on television. Tim was what's 0:08:30.200 --> 0:08:34.400 called an ensemble dancer. Back then, they were called gypsies, 0:08:34.760 --> 0:08:39.040 which actress Bonnie Franklin defined at the nine Tony Awards 0:08:39.679 --> 0:08:42.960 maybe I'd better explain to the audience at home and 0:08:43.000 --> 0:08:47.600 that the term gypsy lovingly applies to all danswers in 0:08:47.600 --> 0:08:51.080 the Broadway theater. They were called that because they traveled 0:08:51.120 --> 0:08:54.280 from company to company, from chorus line to chorus line, 0:08:54.640 --> 0:08:58.760 constantly auditioning for their next gig. This was and is 0:08:59.040 --> 0:09:08.320 the life of a dance sir. In Tim toured with 0:09:08.360 --> 0:09:12.680 the popular comedy Mine duo Shields and Yarnell. Yes, and 0:09:12.760 --> 0:09:16.599 this was the time when mimes could be superstars. To 0:09:16.760 --> 0:09:22.200 be a Pepper Pepper all you gotta do. The next year, 0:09:22.360 --> 0:09:27.480 Tim danced on a ceiling in a big Dr Pepper commercial. Yeah. 0:09:28.200 --> 0:09:33.760 Then in came the casting call for Cats. I think 0:09:33.800 --> 0:09:35.600 we all had a sense that it was a really 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:38.720 big deal. We didn't really know what the show is about, 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:41.280 you know. I asked my agent, so, what can you 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:44.520 tell me what it's about? And she goes, Cats, and 0:09:44.559 --> 0:09:47.480 I'm like, yeah, but what's the store And she goes, 0:09:47.559 --> 0:09:50.760 it's about cats. That, my friends, is the one and 0:09:50.880 --> 0:09:54.480 only Betty Buckley, the woman who caused me to bite 0:09:54.480 --> 0:09:57.320 that sofa pillow all those years ago when she hit 0:09:57.440 --> 0:10:05.600 that note, Oh I love that. When I first met 0:10:05.640 --> 0:10:07.439 you and you told me that story. I was so 0:10:07.520 --> 0:10:10.920 touched by that. That's amazing to me, so great. She 0:10:11.000 --> 0:10:14.360 was called in for the pivotal role of Grizabella the 0:10:14.360 --> 0:10:18.280 Bedraggle to pass her prime glamour cat. And so I 0:10:18.320 --> 0:10:23.280 went into audition and they told my agent that they 0:10:23.320 --> 0:10:26.680 weren't going to consider me because I radiated health and 0:10:26.720 --> 0:10:30.160 well being and they wanted someone who radiated death and dying. 0:10:30.679 --> 0:10:33.800 Lucky for us, she got the role, joining a cast 0:10:33.960 --> 0:10:38.360 that included Ken Paige and Tim Scott. So the first 0:10:38.440 --> 0:10:41.120 day of Cats, I walked up to him and I said, well, 0:10:41.240 --> 0:10:43.679 I guess you're officially one of the great best dances 0:10:43.720 --> 0:10:47.320 on Broadway, and particularly in that role. That was a very, 0:10:47.400 --> 0:10:52.080 very coveted role. Tim was cast as Mr Mustapheles, the 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:58.720 conjuring cat. Here he is singing, we can die like 0:10:58.800 --> 0:11:03.240 a flying tuck me. In a show that was focused 0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:07.240 on spectacular musical numbers and not a whole lot on plot, 0:11:07.800 --> 0:11:11.400 Tim's role was one of the most challenging. It required 0:11:11.400 --> 0:11:15.560 a dancer with extraordinary technique, but Tim had something more 0:11:15.600 --> 0:11:20.240 than that. He had presence. He had these amazing eyes. 0:11:20.800 --> 0:11:24.200 His eyes were like blue beans. He also had this 0:11:24.360 --> 0:11:27.720 sort of mysterious nous about him and he was always there. 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:30.720 The first time I saw him dance, I found it 0:11:30.840 --> 0:11:34.319 un Kenny that I had this rush of joy through 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:37.679 my body that was completely spontaneous and it was not 0:11:38.040 --> 0:11:41.920 an intellectual experience of like, oh that guy dances really well. 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:47.640 It was like this kind of breathless, exquisite joy watching 0:11:47.720 --> 0:11:50.960 him and I was like, who's that kid, you know, 0:11:51.000 --> 0:11:54.560 I mean, why is he able to do that? Okay? 0:11:54.640 --> 0:11:59.160 Sidebar Cats is more than anything a dance show for 0:11:59.200 --> 0:12:02.520 the actors who had limited background and dance, like Betty 0:12:02.600 --> 0:12:06.520 Buckley and Ken Paige. Rehearsing for Cats was like Marine 0:12:06.559 --> 0:12:11.160 Corps basic training. The Winter Garden Theater was there Paris Island. 0:12:11.679 --> 0:12:14.040 There were five of us that were like normal people, 0:12:14.559 --> 0:12:17.400 you know, and the rest of them were like amazing. 0:12:17.800 --> 0:12:19.680 Betty and I both had to do the full on 0:12:20.120 --> 0:12:23.120 dance class, you know, and you had to do it. 0:12:23.400 --> 0:12:25.640 I had to do cart wheels across the floor in 0:12:25.679 --> 0:12:29.040 front of this incredible company of dancers and Cats and 0:12:29.360 --> 0:12:31.920 Campaige and I just clung to each other and I 0:12:31.960 --> 0:12:34.240 was like I'm going to die and he was like, 0:12:34.679 --> 0:12:38.240 I'm right with you. And it was like so humiliating 0:12:38.600 --> 0:12:42.760 old Deuteronomy and Chris Sabella are not cartwheeling cats we 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:48.160 should be clear about. No, that's we should be clear. Well, 0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:51.840 you have no idea now. When the show finally opened 0:12:51.840 --> 0:12:56.440 in October two, it didn't get great reviews, But so 0:12:56.480 --> 0:13:00.200 what reviews are about? The here and now cats? As 0:13:00.240 --> 0:13:04.439 the commercial tagline pointed out, was now and forever. Catch 0:13:04.600 --> 0:13:09.480 now and forever At the Window Garden Theater, it was 0:13:09.679 --> 0:13:13.199 the show to see and be seen at Andy Warhol, 0:13:13.480 --> 0:13:18.080 Diana Ross, Frank Zappa, Carrie Grant, Mary Tyler Moore. Those 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:20.559 are just a few of the big names who showed up. 0:13:21.320 --> 0:13:25.360 Then it swept the Tony's Betty Buckley one for Best 0:13:25.440 --> 0:13:28.160 Featured Actress in a Musical. I want to thank my 0:13:28.280 --> 0:13:30.560 mom and my dad and my brother no him and 0:13:30.600 --> 0:13:35.640 my other brothers and that brother. She thanked Norman, even 0:13:35.640 --> 0:13:38.880 though he wasn't in the show, his life was about 0:13:38.920 --> 0:13:41.839 to be changed by it. Oh. I was very much 0:13:41.840 --> 0:13:45.240 a country boy. I probably still am at heart, you know, 0:13:45.360 --> 0:13:48.760 my most essential self. It was an exciting time for me, 0:13:48.840 --> 0:13:52.559 but I was also a little lost amongst all the hubbub. 0:13:53.240 --> 0:13:56.360 On the other side of the break, Grizabella's younger brother 0:13:56.920 --> 0:14:15.920 and Mr Mustaphile's meat. What was it like having your 0:14:15.920 --> 0:14:19.480 little brother backstage with you at Cats? Well? At first, 0:14:19.600 --> 0:14:21.440 I mean I was really happy that he was there. 0:14:21.560 --> 0:14:24.240 And my brother and I, you know, have been at 0:14:24.440 --> 0:14:28.760 points in our lives very close. That's Betty Buckley talking 0:14:28.800 --> 0:14:32.320 about her little brother, Norman Buckley back in the early 0:14:32.400 --> 0:14:35.920 eighties when she was starring in Cats. Norman was new 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:39.240 to New York. Sister and brother may have been close, 0:14:39.760 --> 0:14:43.400 but Betty didn't know that Norman was gay. We grew 0:14:43.440 --> 0:14:46.040 up in Texas with a military father, and you know, 0:14:46.120 --> 0:14:50.520 it wasn't something that was certainly discussed or we even considered. 0:14:50.840 --> 0:14:54.600 So he was staying at my apartment when he first 0:14:54.600 --> 0:14:57.240 came to New York and was coming out as a 0:14:57.280 --> 0:15:00.120 gay person, and I didn't know what was going on. 0:15:00.720 --> 0:15:03.320 So he left some of his journals out for me 0:15:03.360 --> 0:15:07.760 to see, and I read some entries and was shocked, 0:15:08.120 --> 0:15:10.280 was like, what is this? And so there was some 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:13.840 big confrontations between he and I, and I can freely 0:15:13.880 --> 0:15:16.200 admit that I don't think I handled those very well. 0:15:16.680 --> 0:15:20.320 Norman describes himself as a country boy back then. What 0:15:20.360 --> 0:15:22.480 was he like? Was he innocent? Was he very boyish, 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:26.520 totally innocent. Oh my god, that's why I was scared, 0:15:27.080 --> 0:15:32.040 wet behind the ears, delicate artistic boy. Yeah, I knew 0:15:32.040 --> 0:15:34.520 he was twenty seven, but still to me, he was 0:15:34.560 --> 0:15:39.840 always my little baby brother who was a vulnerable, sweet kid. Today, 0:15:40.000 --> 0:15:44.000 Norman Buckley is an accomplished TV director, having worked on 0:15:44.040 --> 0:15:48.040 over forty shows, including The o C, Gossip Girl, and 0:15:48.160 --> 0:15:53.680 Pretty Little Liars? Does It Not Really? But the Sluttier 0:15:53.720 --> 0:15:57.640 than Better? Back then, Norman was working as an editing 0:15:57.720 --> 0:16:01.680 room assistant on the movie Easy Money, just across the 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:05.760 street from the Winter Garden Theater. I would generally, uh, 0:16:06.040 --> 0:16:08.680 just visit with her earn her dressing room until she 0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:11.920 had to go back on stage. Norman's favorite place in 0:16:11.960 --> 0:16:15.000 the theater was the cat walk high above the stage. 0:16:15.400 --> 0:16:17.800 That's where he'd watched the end of the show when 0:16:17.840 --> 0:16:21.840 Grizabella ascends on a giant tire to the heavy side 0:16:21.920 --> 0:16:25.800 layer the equivalent of cat Heaven, at least I think 0:16:25.840 --> 0:16:28.680 that's what it is. That's actually the first time I 0:16:28.760 --> 0:16:31.680 had an encounter with Tim Scott, because that was where 0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:35.280 he would make his big entrance for his big number 0:16:35.320 --> 0:16:38.640 as Mr Mustapoles. He was lowered on a rope from 0:16:38.680 --> 0:16:41.840 that same cat walk. For a long period of time, 0:16:41.920 --> 0:16:45.360 he didn't even register that I was up there with him. 0:16:45.440 --> 0:16:48.000 And then one night he turned and looked at me, 0:16:48.080 --> 0:16:50.760 and I looked back at him, and there was this long, 0:16:50.880 --> 0:16:54.560 meaningful moment. Tim may have been dressed as a cat 0:16:54.800 --> 0:16:59.440 with lots of cat makeup, but Norman was spellbound. He 0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:04.360 had very intense eyes. He was kind of otherworldly looking. 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:07.640 I was much taller than him. Norman was six one, 0:17:07.920 --> 0:17:11.159 Tim seven. We looked a little bit like Mutt and Jeff. 0:17:12.040 --> 0:17:15.280 Some days later, after the show, Norman and his sister 0:17:15.359 --> 0:17:19.040 Betty shared a big Checker taxi cab with Tim. During 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:24.400 the ride, Norman and Tim experienced another wordless moment of connection. 0:17:25.840 --> 0:17:29.240 This was a much more profound encounter. At that moment, 0:17:29.280 --> 0:17:31.879 I thought, oh, this person is going to be significant 0:17:31.920 --> 0:17:35.840 in your life. You really thought that there very much, 0:17:35.880 --> 0:17:38.639 so I can remember it as though it happened yesterday. 0:17:38.800 --> 0:17:41.679 I looked at him, I took him in, he was 0:17:41.720 --> 0:17:45.280 taking me in, and I thought, this is it. The 0:17:45.400 --> 0:17:49.520 very next night, Norman mustered his courage and stood in 0:17:49.520 --> 0:17:53.120 the doorway of Tim's dressing room at intermission, and I said, 0:17:53.160 --> 0:17:54.680 do you want to have dinner, and he said, yes, 0:17:55.320 --> 0:17:58.240 it was like great, and that was it? Is that 0:17:58.320 --> 0:18:00.320 the kind of thing you could have imagined your self 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:04.240 doing even six months before. I can't even imagine myself 0:18:04.280 --> 0:18:08.560 doing that now. So it's I think I met him 0:18:08.600 --> 0:18:10.919 the next night on the corner. I still didn't want 0:18:10.960 --> 0:18:13.520 to tell my sister that I was seeing somebody in 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:18.280 her show. Norman says. The chemistry was instant. Was he funny, 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:20.919 very funny. He had a great sense of humor. I 0:18:21.040 --> 0:18:24.960 laughed a lot his jokes. It's got to be at 0:18:25.040 --> 0:18:29.359 least one laugher in the relationship. But Betty was concerned. 0:18:29.840 --> 0:18:33.760 In New York City, the whole gay scene in the nighties, 0:18:33.840 --> 0:18:37.600 you know, was wild, and I was terrified for him. 0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:41.200 I was just basically scared, and we didn't know what 0:18:41.320 --> 0:18:45.159 AIDS was quite yet. In fact, when AIDS was first reported, 0:18:45.359 --> 0:18:48.719 it wasn't even called AIDS. A mystery disease known as 0:18:48.760 --> 0:18:52.159 the gay plague has become an epidemic unprecedented in the 0:18:52.280 --> 0:18:56.640 history of American medicine. The lifestyle of some male homosexuals 0:18:56.960 --> 0:18:59.840 has triggered an epidemic of a rare form of cancer. 0:19:00.000 --> 0:19:04.720 A mysterious, newly discovered disease, which affects mostly homosexual men. 0:19:05.320 --> 0:19:09.000 When did the disease become real to you? Well, you know, 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:12.119 it's that trajectory that you see so wonderfully portrayed in 0:19:12.240 --> 0:19:14.879 Long Time Companion. It really was the thing where people 0:19:14.880 --> 0:19:18.280 started whispering, and things started popping up from the newspaper, 0:19:18.880 --> 0:19:21.679 and people started making calls saying, did you hear about 0:19:21.680 --> 0:19:25.800 this thing that's going around? That's ken page again. He's 0:19:25.840 --> 0:19:31.520 referring to the nine movie Longtime Companion, directed by Norman Renee, 0:19:31.560 --> 0:19:35.280 who ultimately died from AIDS himself. The film opens on 0:19:35.320 --> 0:19:39.679 the morning of July three. The characters wake up to 0:19:39.720 --> 0:19:43.120 the ominous New York Times article by Lawrence k Altman, 0:19:43.600 --> 0:19:46.800 the first in a mainstream publication to make reference to 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:50.560 the disease that would be called AIDS. They immediately begin 0:19:50.640 --> 0:19:54.600 phoning each other, Hello, have you seen the paper? Oh? 0:19:54.640 --> 0:19:58.320 I was just shipped to help. Have you got it? Yeah, 0:19:58.800 --> 0:20:03.439 the page, you can't miss it. Did you see the paper? 0:20:04.000 --> 0:20:08.920 I missed that? Oh well, just listen. Rare cants are 0:20:08.960 --> 0:20:13.080 seen in forty one Homosexuals. By the time Cats was 0:20:13.119 --> 0:20:18.119 in rehearsal, concern was burgeoning into a sense of alarm. 0:20:18.240 --> 0:20:20.679 Then you started to hear did you know so? And 0:20:20.760 --> 0:20:22.919 so I heard they're not well, they have they have 0:20:23.000 --> 0:20:27.200 that gay cancer. Right. There was fear everywhere. Ken remembers 0:20:27.240 --> 0:20:29.840 when early in the epidemic he was working in Los 0:20:29.920 --> 0:20:32.600 Angeles and went to pick up a friend at the airport. 0:20:33.359 --> 0:20:36.720 Ken was stunned by the friend's appearance. He was a 0:20:36.760 --> 0:20:39.800 good twenty five pounds lighter and blessing. He was saying, well, 0:20:39.840 --> 0:20:41.560 I got this rash. I want to get in the 0:20:41.600 --> 0:20:43.879 sun so I can get rid of this rash. And 0:20:43.960 --> 0:20:46.919 I feel bad about it to this very day, thinking 0:20:46.960 --> 0:20:49.240 to myself, I don't know do I want him staying 0:20:49.280 --> 0:20:52.960 in my house. He came to me for solace and comfort, 0:20:53.320 --> 0:20:56.760 but I was afraid of what that all meant. And 0:20:56.800 --> 0:20:59.320 I can honestly say that I don't think I handled 0:20:59.359 --> 0:21:01.159 it as well as I could have. But it was 0:21:01.240 --> 0:21:07.920 typical for what everybody was experiencing. Even after the generic 0:21:08.000 --> 0:21:13.480 sounding acronym AIDS Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome was coined in September 0:21:13.520 --> 0:21:16.879 of two, it felt like the full force of blame 0:21:16.960 --> 0:21:20.520 for the disease was being placed squarely on gay men. 0:21:21.000 --> 0:21:25.840 Of course, being gay was already stigmatized. The American Psychiatric 0:21:25.840 --> 0:21:30.719 Association had only removed homosexuality from its list of mental 0:21:30.840 --> 0:21:37.119 disorders in ninety three, and in two only one state, Wisconsin, 0:21:37.400 --> 0:21:39.919 had a law on the books making it illegal to 0:21:40.040 --> 0:21:44.320 fire people simply for being gay. Coming out of the closet, 0:21:44.720 --> 0:21:47.679 never easy to begin with, was even scarier when it 0:21:47.720 --> 0:21:51.800 seemed to carry a death sentence for me. Just realizing 0:21:51.800 --> 0:21:54.160 I was gay at the time. I was twelve years 0:21:54.200 --> 0:21:58.280 old when AIDS was first being widely reported, wasn't just fraught, 0:21:58.760 --> 0:22:02.320 it was frightening. I vividly remember a day in eighth 0:22:02.400 --> 0:22:05.439 grade when a teacher finally talked to us about AIDS. 0:22:06.080 --> 0:22:08.359 The girl who sat in front of me turned around, 0:22:08.640 --> 0:22:11.600 looked straight at me, and said, that's what you're going 0:22:11.680 --> 0:22:14.800 to get. Many years later she reached out to me 0:22:14.840 --> 0:22:18.040 on social media to apologize. Of course I forgave her. 0:22:18.119 --> 0:22:20.960 It was junior high. We were all incredibly mean to 0:22:21.000 --> 0:22:25.119 each other. Once Norman and Tim were officially a couple, 0:22:25.600 --> 0:22:29.840 Betty gave her blessing, so I was really relieved in 0:22:29.920 --> 0:22:32.720 so many ways that Tim was his first great love. 0:22:33.359 --> 0:22:35.920 When she did find out about the relationship with Tim, 0:22:36.320 --> 0:22:39.639 she was very approving, I told her, and she hesitated 0:22:39.680 --> 0:22:41.560 for a moment, thought about it, and she said, well, 0:22:42.040 --> 0:22:44.520 you picked the right one. She said, I can see this. 0:22:45.200 --> 0:22:47.639 I loved Tim, and of course I love my brother, 0:22:47.840 --> 0:22:52.320 so ultimately I was like, well, it's not money of 0:22:52.320 --> 0:22:55.000 my business, and I have to say I love them both. 0:22:55.080 --> 0:22:58.719 So there we go. But while Betty may have been relieved, 0:22:59.119 --> 0:23:03.320 Tim Scott him self was increasingly worried. Dates was always 0:23:03.359 --> 0:23:07.000 a specter that kind of hung over our relationship. Tim 0:23:07.040 --> 0:23:09.560 had actually been involved with someone who was one of 0:23:09.600 --> 0:23:14.280 the really early AIDS cases that young man was dying. 0:23:14.960 --> 0:23:18.639 During previews of Cats, Tim would go from the theater 0:23:18.800 --> 0:23:22.240 sometimes to his hospital room and sit with him. Now 0:23:22.359 --> 0:23:27.080 bear in mind, in AIDS test was still three years 0:23:27.080 --> 0:23:32.280 away and any life saving treatment was fourteen years away. 0:23:32.560 --> 0:23:34.680 We had a hair dresser named Paul Lopez who worked 0:23:34.680 --> 0:23:38.520 on eight Misbehavior, and he got sick and he wasn't 0:23:38.560 --> 0:23:42.000 feeling well, like on Wednesday, Mattnee. He wasn't doing well. 0:23:42.440 --> 0:23:44.600 Thursday he came in. They said, you really aren't well. 0:23:44.600 --> 0:23:48.240 You should go home. Friday he went into the hospital Saturday, 0:23:48.280 --> 0:23:52.920 Sunday he was unconscious by Monday, and he died on Tuesday, 0:23:53.040 --> 0:23:56.280 and that was from Wednesday. Not even a week later, 0:23:56.359 --> 0:23:59.639 he was gone. The federal government wasn't slow to act. 0:24:00.240 --> 0:24:05.119 It didn't act at all. On October fifteenth, two, just 0:24:05.240 --> 0:24:09.840 a week after CATS opened, President Reagan's Press Secretary Larry Speaks, 0:24:10.320 --> 0:24:14.160 was asked about AIDS by a reporter named Lester King, Solving. 0:24:14.720 --> 0:24:19.240 Here's how that exchange went. Have any reactions with the 0:24:19.280 --> 0:24:23.159 announce from the Center for Disease Control Atlanta that a 0:24:23.600 --> 0:24:29.400 d S is now an epidemic in six six hundred cases. 0:24:32.280 --> 0:24:37.080 It's known as gay play. Yes, I mean, it's a 0:24:37.080 --> 0:24:39.800 pretty serious thing that one and every three people again 0:24:39.880 --> 0:24:42.280 this have died. And I wondered if the president where 0:24:43.320 --> 0:24:46.160 I don't have it? Are you do you? You don't 0:24:46.280 --> 0:24:51.000 have it? Well, I'm relieved to hear that you don't 0:24:51.000 --> 0:24:54.640 answer my question. How do you know? That's right? Speaks 0:24:54.760 --> 0:24:57.600 and much of the White House Press Corps, we're treating 0:24:57.640 --> 0:25:02.520 AIDS and its victims as a joke. President Reagan himself 0:25:02.680 --> 0:25:06.280 didn't utter the word AIDS, and then only in response 0:25:06.320 --> 0:25:11.520 to a reporter's question, until the fall of over four 0:25:11.600 --> 0:25:17.920 years into the devastation. When Tim's contract with CATS ended 0:25:18.000 --> 0:25:21.320 that same year, the couple decided to move west and 0:25:21.400 --> 0:25:25.080 begin a new chapter in Los Angeles. Not long after 0:25:25.119 --> 0:25:28.679 their move, they drove up to Malibu. We went out 0:25:28.720 --> 0:25:31.399 to Zuma Beach one day and he said to me, 0:25:31.560 --> 0:25:35.600 very tentatively, I really can't imagine my life without you, 0:25:35.640 --> 0:25:37.280 and I want to stay with you for the rest 0:25:37.280 --> 0:25:40.080 of my life. And I responded, I want to stay 0:25:40.119 --> 0:25:41.760 with you for the rest of my life. It was 0:25:41.840 --> 0:25:45.159 this really solemn moment. I like to think of it 0:25:45.200 --> 0:25:49.400 as a vows. I considered myself married to Tim. There 0:25:49.480 --> 0:25:52.119 was no legal way to do that at the time, 0:25:52.200 --> 0:25:56.439 and it was a commitment. And I'm so happy that 0:25:56.560 --> 0:26:01.320 had happened before he became ill, because there was no 0:26:01.400 --> 0:26:04.760 question but that I would see him through it. And 0:26:04.800 --> 0:26:07.320 I think he felt that on the other side of 0:26:07.320 --> 0:26:12.119 the break. Tim Scott's last show, the Ultimate tribute to 0:26:12.240 --> 0:26:21.840 the dancer What I did doing what we Love. That's 0:26:21.880 --> 0:26:35.080 her anthem, what I did for love. I'm visiting tonight 0:26:35.119 --> 0:26:38.439 at the home of Tim Scott. I'll knock on the 0:26:38.440 --> 0:26:45.199 door now, Hello, Hello, would you like to come in? 0:26:45.359 --> 0:26:49.840 I would like to come in. I'm watching home video 0:26:50.040 --> 0:26:54.160 of Norman Buckley and Tim Scott. It's sometime in late 0:26:55.400 --> 0:26:59.480 or early and they're joking around giving a tour of 0:26:59.520 --> 0:27:03.640 their so me two bedroom apartment in West Hollywood. Here 0:27:03.920 --> 0:27:08.959