WEBVTT - Episode 8: Until Further Notice 0:00:03.440 --> 0:00:12.879 This is an I Heart original. On August, a Hailey 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:17.800 police officer named Jason Jones gets a call. The dispatcher 0:00:17.840 --> 0:00:20.479 tells him he needs to report to the Liberty Theater, 0:00:20.840 --> 0:00:23.759 the movie palace owned by Bruce Willis and Demi Moore. 0:00:24.560 --> 0:00:29.600 There's a problem. There's a disturbance, a possible fight in progress. 0:00:32.600 --> 0:00:35.920 When Officer Jones arrives, it takes him some time to 0:00:36.000 --> 0:00:38.760 make sense of the scene. There are a number of 0:00:38.760 --> 0:00:43.000 men he recognizes employees of Willis's, including members of his 0:00:43.080 --> 0:00:47.560 security team. They appear to be visibly angry. Their anger 0:00:47.720 --> 0:00:51.479 is being directed at two men. Officer Jones doesn't recognize. 0:00:51.960 --> 0:00:56.640 One of those men is holding a camera. Officer Jones 0:00:56.640 --> 0:01:00.320 squeezes himself in between the two parties. He take one 0:01:00.360 --> 0:01:03.200 of the strangers aside and asks him what's going on. 0:01:03.960 --> 0:01:08.959 The man identifies himself as Keith. Standing nearby is his partner, Brian. 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:11.760 The two had been deployed to Haley to film a 0:01:11.800 --> 0:01:15.480 segment for the cable channel i f C. They're reporting 0:01:15.600 --> 0:01:18.959 on Bruce Willis's business dealings in the area, and so 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:23.440 far it's not going great. Brian will counts what happened 0:01:23.480 --> 0:01:27.360 before Officer Jones arrived. They were filming from their car 0:01:27.480 --> 0:01:31.560 when two men in a silver vehicle began following them. 0:01:31.600 --> 0:01:34.679 When Brian and Keith pulled over, the car circled the 0:01:34.720 --> 0:01:38.839 block and then pulled over right behind them. That was weird, 0:01:39.560 --> 0:01:42.959 but it got weirder when Brian and Keith drove to 0:01:43.000 --> 0:01:46.560 the Liberty Theater. The car followed them. As Brian and 0:01:46.680 --> 0:01:49.440 Keith got out and began to film, some of the 0:01:49.480 --> 0:01:52.400 men ran up and tried to wrestle away their camera. 0:01:53.080 --> 0:01:55.960 In the police report, Brian said one of the men 0:01:56.120 --> 0:02:00.200 had insisted he was a licensed security officer who had 0:02:00.240 --> 0:02:05.880 a right to quote obtain them. So the security officer 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:09.840 wasn't a stickler for the English language, but he still 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:14.160 felt entitled to approach the filmmakers and attempt to confiscate 0:02:14.200 --> 0:02:18.399 their equipment. When questioned, the security guys said they were 0:02:18.440 --> 0:02:25.120 responsible for protecting Bruce Willis's properties from what from anything? 0:02:25.720 --> 0:02:31.120 Even Cable channels Officer Jones referees the situation for a 0:02:31.160 --> 0:02:34.520 bit before sending the filmmakers in one direction and the 0:02:34.600 --> 0:02:38.160 locals in the other. Jones tells the filmmakers that the 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:41.480 security men have promised not to follow them out of 0:02:41.520 --> 0:02:48.359 Haley how reassuring. As strange as it sounds, this wasn't 0:02:48.400 --> 0:02:54.639 an isolated occurrence. Leash Lender, a lawyer practicing in Haley, 0:02:54.680 --> 0:02:58.079 recalls that another journalist had once run into his office 0:02:58.520 --> 0:03:02.080 obviously distraught. He said, when I got out of my 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:06.200 car down downtown on Main Street, a couple of guys 0:03:06.240 --> 0:03:08.600 gave up to me and said get out of here 0:03:08.639 --> 0:03:13.880 with those cameras. Mr Willis doesn't like your newspaper type 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:21.240 people are out here. He was incredulous. I said, well, 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:23.919 what's this all about. I have no idea what you're 0:03:23.919 --> 0:03:29.240 talking about. Well, he said that happened, and I said, oh, 0:03:29.280 --> 0:03:32.280 come on, he said it yeah. I said, well, why 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:33.920 don't you do this, Why don't you go down there 0:03:33.919 --> 0:03:35.880 and drag your coming out and just stand around and 0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:38.440 see what happens and then come back and tell me 0:03:38.880 --> 0:03:42.920 because I didn't believe it. Well, he came back and 0:03:42.960 --> 0:03:46.360 about it. It It couldn't have been twenty minutes. He looked 0:03:46.520 --> 0:03:50.160 roughed up to her up and he said, they smashed 0:03:50.200 --> 0:03:54.480 my equipment, rough me up, but they told me to 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:59.160 get the hell out of town. And he wrote a 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:01.560 big piece of about it, and it was in one 0:04:01.600 --> 0:04:05.960 of your new York newspapers and the Eddie Know What 0:04:06.080 --> 0:04:09.680 was something like, um, you don't want to come into 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:15.800 Mr Willis's town. Mr Willis's town. Like everyone else, Lee 0:04:15.880 --> 0:04:20.560 thought he was living in Haley. So what exactly was 0:04:20.640 --> 0:04:24.159 Bruce Willis trying to hide? And why had the town 0:04:24.200 --> 0:04:29.200 of Haley suddenly become an impenetrable fortress where security idly 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:36.040 attacked anyone asking questions? Wasn't this idyllic Haleywood? Well? It was, 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:42.080 but not for much longer. For I Heart Radio. This 0:04:42.320 --> 0:04:46.279 is Haleywood and I heart original podcast. I'm your host 0:04:46.520 --> 0:04:51.039 Danish Schwartz, and this is our final episode. Until for 0:04:51.160 --> 0:04:59.720 their notice, it had all been so simple. A year prior, 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:02.679 when Haley was still in the throes of being Bruce 0:05:02.760 --> 0:05:07.200 Willis's pet town. His band Jammed at the Mint Shorties 0:05:07.279 --> 0:05:10.279 was serving up eggs well into the night. The Liberty 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:13.839 was putting on plays and hosting movie premieres. The E. G. 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:17.680 Willis Building was home to businesses and retail office space. 0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:22.799 Willis even owned a ski mountain, and after abandoning plans 0:05:22.839 --> 0:05:26.520 to resurrect his hometown of penns Grove, New Jersey, Haley 0:05:26.760 --> 0:05:31.159 was once again the sole object of his affections. Things 0:05:31.200 --> 0:05:36.720 couldn't be better on the surface anyway. Beneath the flashing 0:05:36.720 --> 0:05:40.440 marquees of the Mint and the Liberty, there were whispers 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:45.520 that things weren't going so well, that despite appearances, Willis's 0:05:45.560 --> 0:05:50.880 businesses were falling victim to mismanagement, that Willis himself was 0:05:51.000 --> 0:05:54.279 not quite the hands on boss he needed to be 0:05:54.279 --> 0:05:57.880 because he was busy being a huge movie star. Bruno 0:05:58.120 --> 0:06:04.320 was no longer minding the store. The first crack in 0:06:04.360 --> 0:06:08.200 the veneer came at Shorty's, the casual diner Willis had 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:12.360 put up in for two years. The place had been 0:06:12.400 --> 0:06:16.320 the premier greasy spoon in town. Hub Caps lined one 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:19.240 of its walls and the jukebox blare tunes from the 0:06:19.279 --> 0:06:24.640 fifties while patrons eight burghers and fries. Then in the 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:30.960 spring of Willis stormed in with a message, everyone was fired, 0:06:31.560 --> 0:06:36.240 go home. The words hit employees between the eyes in 0:06:36.320 --> 0:06:40.479 classic Willis fashion. There was no explanation offered. One day 0:06:40.640 --> 0:06:45.080 Shorty's was rocking out, the next it was shuttered. The 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:49.600 Mint was next that winter. In spring, people walking by 0:06:49.720 --> 0:06:53.000 were surprised to see a notice posted on its doors, 0:06:53.680 --> 0:06:58.640 closed for slack. It read slack is the regional phrase 0:06:58.760 --> 0:07:01.880 used for the decrease in business when it's too warm 0:07:01.960 --> 0:07:06.240 for skiing but too cold for summer tourism. Some businesses 0:07:06.279 --> 0:07:10.080 were seasonal just to avoid slack, but the Mint had 0:07:10.120 --> 0:07:13.680 never been a tourist dependent destination. It was a rock 0:07:13.720 --> 0:07:17.920 and roll joint. To some Haley locals, closed for slack 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:22.880 rang false. It was too pat too easy. It was 0:07:22.920 --> 0:07:27.560 a little foreboding, and sure enough there was another wave 0:07:27.640 --> 0:07:31.680 of layoffs. The Mint staff got pink slips and no 0:07:31.760 --> 0:07:35.559 indication of when or if they'd be asked to come back. 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:40.840 Willis's big plans were put on hold. Two He'd had 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:46.400 buildings earmarked for a recreation center for fitness and other pursuits, 0:07:46.440 --> 0:07:50.880 but those projects sold. Plans for a Willis owned hotel 0:07:51.160 --> 0:07:55.520 went by the wayside. The offices of Valley Entertainment, his 0:07:55.640 --> 0:07:59.840 local company handling Haley business, put up black sheets on 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:05.200 its windows, blocking out all natural light. Doesn't exactly scream hey, 0:08:05.200 --> 0:08:08.720 we're in business. He even stopped paying for the annual 0:08:08.800 --> 0:08:13.640 Fourth of July fireworks show. Only the Liberty remained fully open. 0:08:14.120 --> 0:08:17.600 It's still played Bruce Willis and Demi Moore movies and 0:08:17.720 --> 0:08:21.560 Moore's Victorian house was still stocked with two thousand dollars, 0:08:22.360 --> 0:08:25.400 but locals who drove by the local airport, craning their 0:08:25.440 --> 0:08:29.080 necks looking for Willis's private jet, were claiming they weren't 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:33.200 seeing it. As often the slack excuse was tossed around. 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:37.079 People thought that the businesses would rebound when the tourists 0:08:37.120 --> 0:08:43.280 came back, except in the winter of and into when 0:08:43.360 --> 0:08:46.600 you'd expect the Mint and shorties to open their doors, 0:08:47.160 --> 0:08:51.400 they didn't, not for long, anyway. The Mint reopened, but 0:08:51.559 --> 0:08:55.559 only briefly. Vacant spaces in the E. G. Willis Building 0:08:55.960 --> 0:09:00.079 remained vacant, and that's when Haley began to think something 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:05.080 was a miss in Haleywood. At first, it was just 0:09:05.200 --> 0:09:09.520 the local press who peppered employees at Willis's Valley Entertainment 0:09:09.559 --> 0:09:13.960 with questions. Mostly they got the brush off. Willis, they said, 0:09:14.160 --> 0:09:17.280 was a fixture of Haley and would remain so he 0:09:17.440 --> 0:09:21.600 wasn't going anywhere. But if he wasn't going anywhere, why 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:25.960 were his businesses locked up? And why did anyone outside 0:09:25.960 --> 0:09:30.520 of town looking for answers get followed, harassed or confronted 0:09:30.559 --> 0:09:34.200 and told to leave? What is it? They were afraid 0:09:34.280 --> 0:09:40.079 of someone finding out. As the months went on and 0:09:40.160 --> 0:09:44.440 Willis remained silent, the national entertainment media began to pay 0:09:44.480 --> 0:09:47.480 attention to the story about the movie star who had 0:09:47.520 --> 0:09:50.600 swept Haley off its feet, only to leave it at 0:09:50.600 --> 0:09:53.000 the altar. Well, I'll tell you, I'll tell you everything 0:09:53.040 --> 0:09:55.559 that happened. One of the first journalists to head out 0:09:55.600 --> 0:09:59.320 to Haley was Nancy Rammelman. So I had gone from 0:09:59.320 --> 0:10:03.040 my first story for bonap a team magazine. Um, I 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:06.200 guess in like the well, I don't know, winter of 0:10:06.320 --> 0:10:08.920 nineties seven or something like that, I can't remember. And 0:10:09.000 --> 0:10:11.800 when I was there, um, a lot of people were 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:15.880 talking about Bruce Willison Haley, and you know, he'd come 0:10:15.920 --> 0:10:17.600 and maybe he wasn't there anymore, and it was just 0:10:17.640 --> 0:10:21.320 sort of like a topic of conversation. Roman also wrote 0:10:21.400 --> 0:10:24.920 for l A Weekly, a well respected and influential newspaper 0:10:24.960 --> 0:10:28.040 that covered a lot of Hollywood stories. It was full 0:10:28.040 --> 0:10:32.040 of fists up, no old barred kind of journalism. So 0:10:32.080 --> 0:10:33.480 when his back in l A, I was talking to 0:10:33.520 --> 0:10:36.520 my editors at the l A Weekly, and he said, Nancy, 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:39.000 don't you think that's a story. So I did. I 0:10:39.000 --> 0:10:41.720 went out to Haley probably about eight months after I 0:10:41.720 --> 0:10:47.280 had been there originally and reported on the ground. So 0:10:47.360 --> 0:10:51.760 there was Nancy approaching Haley residence about the sudden disappearance 0:10:51.800 --> 0:10:57.720 of their benefactor. Some seemed agitated, cautious, like they were 0:10:57.800 --> 0:11:02.680 afraid of something or someone. But Nancy was used to 0:11:02.679 --> 0:11:06.120 getting reticent people to talk. She's a real pro. I 0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:09.160 happen to do stories that sometimes they're around really difficult topics. 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:10.760 I wrote a book a couple of years ago, called 0:11:10.800 --> 0:11:12.680 to the Bridge, about a woman that threw you know, 0:11:12.760 --> 0:11:14.840 children off a bridge and killed one of them life. 0:11:15.520 --> 0:11:18.400 I interviewed John Wayne Gacy like I'm used to walking 0:11:18.400 --> 0:11:21.080 into places where you're not just asking like how's the 0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:24.760 grilled cheese today? Turns out it's somewhat easier to talk 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:28.400 to people about John Wayne Gayzy than about Bruce Willis. 0:11:30.280 --> 0:11:33.160 When Nancy arrived in Healey, she found a fair amount 0:11:33.240 --> 0:11:38.600 of Willis apologists, still in awe and weary of criticizing him. Like, 0:11:38.720 --> 0:11:40.880 think about it. You've lived in this town or maybe 0:11:40.880 --> 0:11:43.480 fifteen years, maybe your whole life, maybe generations of your 0:11:43.480 --> 0:11:45.080 family have lived there, and all of a sudden, there's 0:11:45.080 --> 0:11:48.160 a movie star that comes and says, I want to 0:11:48.800 --> 0:11:52.160 be part of this community. Well, you're gonna take them 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:54.960 at face value, right, And this is pretty exciting in 0:11:55.000 --> 0:11:56.800 a sense. I mean you you can't help but be 0:11:56.920 --> 0:12:00.079 sort of starstruck. So I think people really want it 0:12:00.200 --> 0:12:03.600 to appreciate that. And of course there's you know, the 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:06.280 reflective sunshine. You'd go home and you say, oh my god, 0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:08.600 I saw to me in the store today with your girls. 0:12:08.640 --> 0:12:10.880 They were buying tuna fish. I was buying tuna fish too. 0:12:11.280 --> 0:12:13.880 You know. It's it's sort of like maybe you're having 0:12:13.920 --> 0:12:17.000 this shared experience, but in reality, or at least the 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:20.360 way it turned out in this case, you really weren't. 0:12:21.679 --> 0:12:25.360 Nancy said that many of Haley's denizens were also fed up. 0:12:25.840 --> 0:12:29.000 I would say the majority of people I spoke with, 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:30.679 and this could be the case. Just like we know 0:12:30.760 --> 0:12:34.800 from you know, Twitter or yelp, unhappy people like to complain. 0:12:34.920 --> 0:12:37.800 So I think I did get my share of sort 0:12:37.800 --> 0:12:42.000 of unhappy people. Uh. Speaking in the in the article too, 0:12:43.080 --> 0:12:47.520 one resident who went unnamed, said Haley was quote a 0:12:47.600 --> 0:12:50.480 definite case of before and after, like you see in 0:12:50.520 --> 0:12:54.360 those magazine ads for plastic surgery, and it was Willis 0:12:54.400 --> 0:12:58.320 wielding the scalpel at least, Nancy wasn't followed in her 0:12:58.320 --> 0:13:02.080 car like the filmmakers who'd run out of town earlier. No, 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:06.520 but I was told to be careful about that. Now, well, 0:13:06.679 --> 0:13:09.120 you know, I just have to highly doubt there was 0:13:09.160 --> 0:13:13.560 a squad of Willis informants. But you know what there 0:13:13.600 --> 0:13:16.320 could have been the you know, the people like hey, 0:13:16.400 --> 0:13:18.360 my pal, Hey, you know, listen to me a favor, like, 0:13:18.400 --> 0:13:19.680 you know, just keep an eye out, you know, we 0:13:19.679 --> 0:13:21.280 want to keep this kind of private. Like you know, 0:13:21.320 --> 0:13:22.960 if you think, if you see that someone's around her 0:13:22.960 --> 0:13:24.839 sniffing round, just let me know. It's like something like 0:13:24.920 --> 0:13:26.720 if you're in good Fellows or something. It's like, oh, 0:13:26.760 --> 0:13:28.719 you know, the guy likes me, I better like I 0:13:28.840 --> 0:13:30.960 better do maybe what he wants. I have no idea. 0:13:31.000 --> 0:13:35.560 This is completely you know, conjecture. And the informants or 0:13:35.640 --> 0:13:39.400 security guys or whatever they were hadn't just accosted Brian 0:13:39.480 --> 0:13:43.000 and Keith, the duo from the i f C. Andrew Gumbel, 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:46.280 a reporter for The Independent out of England, was also 0:13:46.400 --> 0:13:49.840 followed in his car, this time by two car loads 0:13:49.960 --> 0:13:53.760 full of supposed surveillance experts. They refused to offer him 0:13:53.800 --> 0:13:57.319 any explanation. Why he was being tracked and photographed as 0:13:57.320 --> 0:14:01.319 he weaved through town. When Gumble lagged down a police officer, 0:14:01.679 --> 0:14:05.120 they ran the license plates of his pursuers, and that's 0:14:05.120 --> 0:14:09.440 when speculation about the motives of these men turned into fact. 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:17.079 The plates were registered to Bruce Willis. A security detail 0:14:17.360 --> 0:14:21.280 had set themselves up as a century around Haley, warding 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:25.960 off anyone posing uncomfortable questions. Brian and Keith had been 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:29.240 lucky to leave town with their footage escaping like two 0:14:29.320 --> 0:14:33.360 journalists evading a banana republic in a foreign country, but 0:14:33.480 --> 0:14:36.600 the i f C chose not to air it, preferring 0:14:36.680 --> 0:14:41.800 not to risk angering Willis. When journalists left town, they 0:14:41.880 --> 0:14:47.200 left without an answer. Willis wasn't talking, but he hadn't disappeared. 0:14:47.960 --> 0:14:52.200 Just the opposite, Bruce Willis was about to make a 0:14:52.320 --> 0:15:05.800 rather dramatic reappearance in Haley. It's September of ninety nine, 0:15:06.640 --> 0:15:10.440 and Willis's movie The Sixth Cens is in theaters across 0:15:10.480 --> 0:15:14.000 the country. You've probably seen it. It's about the kid 0:15:14.040 --> 0:15:17.960 who sees dead people. Naturally, it's playing in Haley at 0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:22.400 the Liberty Theater. Even though Willis had been evasive about 0:15:22.400 --> 0:15:25.240 his plans for Haley as of late. It's no surprise 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:28.600 his big movie is playing in his opulent theater. What 0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:32.920 is surprising is that Willis is there, not on screen, 0:15:33.040 --> 0:15:37.880 but in the flesh, handing out popcorn to bewildered audience members. 0:15:40.200 --> 0:15:43.960 Willis still owns the Liberty, hasn't given that up, and 0:15:44.040 --> 0:15:47.840 apparently one of his employees called in sick, so Willis 0:15:47.880 --> 0:15:52.160 stepped in to hand out concessions. Did anyone ask Willis 0:15:52.200 --> 0:15:55.680 what his plans were in Haley beyond handing out soft pretzels. 0:15:56.360 --> 0:15:59.560 It's hard to know, but they had to be wondering, right, 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:03.880 I mean, his other businesses had shuddered. There was a 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:07.040 kind of whiplash. It seemed like Willis was done with 0:16:07.080 --> 0:16:10.440 Hay late until he wasn't. I think it's sort of 0:16:10.480 --> 0:16:14.520 like when you have a breakup with someone, journalist Nancy Rommelman. Again, 0:16:14.800 --> 0:16:16.720 let's say you break up with someone but you really 0:16:16.760 --> 0:16:19.320 still kind of want to be with them, and like 0:16:20.360 --> 0:16:22.320 you think you're broken up, but there could still be 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:25.080 a chance, and then there's the port where you know 0:16:25.120 --> 0:16:27.560 there's no chance. Well, they were sort of in between 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:30.040 the could be a chance on the no chance stage, 0:16:30.200 --> 0:16:34.200 like the s He's not coming back, but I think 0:16:34.200 --> 0:16:37.040 they still sort of wanted to keep a smile on 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:40.360 their faces, keep the possibility that they could come back. 0:16:40.520 --> 0:16:44.280 But it was sort of like not in denial so much. 0:16:44.320 --> 0:16:46.560 There was just a little bit of hope still alive, 0:16:47.360 --> 0:16:50.720 that that they would be coming back, and that maybe, 0:16:51.400 --> 0:16:54.040 you know, maybe the town had done something wrong, like 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:58.280 maybe they hadn't performed exactly well enough, Like what could 0:16:58.360 --> 0:17:01.440 they have done better to make this work? And I 0:17:02.160 --> 0:17:06.080 think that's probably the wrong question, um, But if you're 0:17:06.160 --> 0:17:09.720 these people, then you could understand them asking themselves that 0:17:11.160 --> 0:17:15.280 The answers came pretty quickly. A few months before Willis 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:17.919 was behind the popcorn counter at the Liberty. He had 0:17:18.000 --> 0:17:21.920 let go of something else, Shorties, the fifties style diner 0:17:21.960 --> 0:17:25.399 he had opened three years earlier, after rumors that it 0:17:25.480 --> 0:17:28.160 might become a pancake joint. It turned out the new 0:17:28.200 --> 0:17:32.400 operator was a local businessman named Jacob Greenberg, who pledged 0:17:32.560 --> 0:17:36.720 to keep the fifties aesthetic intact. Pretty soon, other properties 0:17:36.720 --> 0:17:39.920 were coming up for sale, all will Is owned, all 0:17:40.000 --> 0:17:44.760 located in Haley or nearby. Catchum, that's when Haley really 0:17:44.760 --> 0:17:49.960 started to take notice. This wasn't a trial separation this 0:17:50.119 --> 0:17:58.760 was a divorce and not Willis his only one. In June, 0:17:58.800 --> 0:18:02.680 Bruce Willis and Demi More announced their separation after over 0:18:02.760 --> 0:18:06.800 a decade of marriage. The reasons varied depending on which 0:18:06.880 --> 0:18:11.199 supermarket news outlet you chose to believe, but in Moore's 0:18:11.200 --> 0:18:15.399 own words, it was just time. Willis moved into their guesthouse. 0:18:15.760 --> 0:18:19.680 More stayed in their home. Eventually, Bruce bought a property 0:18:19.760 --> 0:18:25.000 ten miles away in nearby Catchum, and suddenly things started 0:18:25.040 --> 0:18:29.360 to make a bit more sense In Haleywood, Willis had 0:18:29.400 --> 0:18:31.720 fallen in love with the town around the time he 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:34.960 had fallen in love with More. Maybe Haley was the 0:18:35.000 --> 0:18:37.600 home that once belonged to both of them, and it 0:18:37.640 --> 0:18:40.760 didn't feel like home to Willis anymore. Maybe it was 0:18:40.840 --> 0:18:46.439 just cleaner this way. Was this why Haley was being ghosted? Willis, 0:18:46.480 --> 0:18:52.280 true to his nature, would never say time passed, the 0:18:52.359 --> 0:18:58.359 millennium ended without a bank. Gradually, Haley became more of 0:18:58.400 --> 0:19:01.680 a vacation destination than a full time home for Willis. 0:19:02.800 --> 0:19:05.719 He played a few dates with his accelerators, but the 0:19:05.720 --> 0:19:08.600 house he had shared with More seemed to be occupied 0:19:08.640 --> 0:19:12.560 mostly by More and their kids. Their divorce was finalized 0:19:12.560 --> 0:19:17.720 in two thousand and so it began for Haley. After 0:19:17.840 --> 0:19:21.800 over a decade of being Willis's personal project, the town 0:19:21.920 --> 0:19:25.200 had to prepare for life without him. There would be 0:19:25.520 --> 0:19:29.399 no more big movie premiers, no more announcements of Warren 0:19:29.440 --> 0:19:37.240 buildings being resurrected, no more excitement, no more Haileywood. After 0:19:37.359 --> 0:19:40.840 reopening a couple of times, the Mint went up for sale. 0:19:41.280 --> 0:19:45.120 Soldier Mountain was donated to a nonprofit. The liberty went 0:19:45.160 --> 0:19:48.200 to Company of Fools, the theater group will Is imported 0:19:48.200 --> 0:19:52.719 from Virginia. Through it all, he never, at least publicly 0:19:53.119 --> 0:19:56.600 offered a reason why anyone wanting to know was getting 0:19:56.680 --> 0:19:59.800 strong armed out of town. But if you talk to 0:19:59.840 --> 0:20:03.200 an tough people, the answer can be found back where 0:20:03.200 --> 0:20:14.840 it all started at the Mint. So I moved to 0:20:14.880 --> 0:20:18.280 New York. I probably had my my jeep stolen, my 0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:23.239 wallet stone, my passport stolen New York. Even though I'm 0:20:23.280 --> 0:20:25.960 originally from New York, I grew up in Florida and 0:20:25.960 --> 0:20:28.119 then moved back to New York. And it it ate 0:20:28.200 --> 0:20:32.159 me for lunch. In the beginning. Rob Cronin's life in 0:20:32.200 --> 0:20:34.320 New York City got off to a rough start in 0:20:34.359 --> 0:20:38.080 the nineties, but as the New head bartender a Planet 0:20:38.160 --> 0:20:41.159 Hollywood in Times Square. The job Perks made up for 0:20:41.280 --> 0:20:47.000 it perfectly. Example, on our grand opening party, at one point, 0:20:47.119 --> 0:20:49.840 you know, we had the cast of Saturday Night Live 0:20:50.040 --> 0:20:53.159 sitting at the bar, and you went down and it's like, 0:20:53.280 --> 0:20:59.240 oh my Adam Sandler, David's Bay, Chris Farley, all those 0:20:59.280 --> 0:21:02.639 guys who I got to know you better over the years. 0:21:03.560 --> 0:21:07.280 Uh there as well. And then the next morning, after 0:21:07.320 --> 0:21:09.840 the gred opening party, I came and to set the 0:21:09.880 --> 0:21:14.119 bar up for regular business and Sylvester Stallone was sitting 0:21:14.880 --> 0:21:17.560 at the bar with we just filled in doing a 0:21:17.600 --> 0:21:21.439 live feed, and you know, I'm behind the bar just 0:21:21.520 --> 0:21:24.560 setting up and he was just twenty four year old. 0:21:24.600 --> 0:21:29.480 Over all of me, it was pretty neat. Pretty soon 0:21:29.760 --> 0:21:34.040 Rob was commiserating with another bartender, Bruce Willis, who was 0:21:34.119 --> 0:21:37.159 then a partner in the Planet Hollywood chain, along with 0:21:37.200 --> 0:21:41.280 other stars including his then wife Demi Moore. The first 0:21:41.320 --> 0:21:45.800 time Demi ever came in the restaurant, her plane was delayed. 0:21:46.320 --> 0:21:50.920 Uh the closing the restaurant down. These three women walk in. 0:21:51.960 --> 0:21:54.120 I don't I've never seen them before, and I tell 0:21:54.200 --> 0:21:56.199 them what they're closed, and they asked if they can 0:21:56.280 --> 0:21:59.320 lurk around, and so I started trying to giving them 0:21:59.359 --> 0:22:02.360 a little out of tune. And then I looked closer 0:22:02.400 --> 0:22:04.919 and it was to me in a trench coat and 0:22:05.880 --> 0:22:09.240 dot Martin boots and her hair pulled back. I hadn't 0:22:09.240 --> 0:22:13.160 even recognized her. I was mortified. So I walked back 0:22:13.240 --> 0:22:15.080 up and said, well, since you owned the place, I 0:22:15.080 --> 0:22:18.359 guess we could throw yet burger and we became friends 0:22:18.400 --> 0:22:23.120 after that. She apparently was amused. It made a couple 0:22:23.119 --> 0:22:26.040 of different magazines where she had said, you know, they 0:22:26.040 --> 0:22:30.360 didn't even recognize me in my own restaurant, And eventually 0:22:30.400 --> 0:22:34.800 she introduced me to Bruce. Bruce and Rob were kind 0:22:34.840 --> 0:22:38.320 of bartender brothers. Bruce knew what that life was like, 0:22:38.840 --> 0:22:41.480 and pretty soon Rob was moving up the ranks of 0:22:41.560 --> 0:22:47.080 Planet Hollywood, opening locations in Chicago and Miami. Willis soon 0:22:47.200 --> 0:22:50.560 brought Rob to Haley to manage a restaurant Willis was 0:22:50.600 --> 0:22:54.240 about to open. Originally, it was going to be something simple, 0:22:54.720 --> 0:22:59.560 a steakhouse, but when Willis turned forty, well some men 0:22:59.640 --> 0:23:05.199 by convertible, others go bigger. It was it was his 0:23:05.280 --> 0:23:10.320 birthday weekend when he turned forty, and the famous party 0:23:10.359 --> 0:23:16.280 planner Colin Calie was in town and he, uh, you know, 0:23:16.400 --> 0:23:20.600 he and Bruce into me just started talking and uh, 0:23:20.680 --> 0:23:26.639 the concept literally changed in an afternoon. Went from you know, 0:23:26.680 --> 0:23:33.080 a casual locals steakhouse saloon sort of feel to a 0:23:33.320 --> 0:23:39.240 high end restaurant with a world class nightclub on top. 0:23:40.119 --> 0:23:45.080 And we turned that around. Unfortunately at Bruce's expense. You know, 0:23:45.119 --> 0:23:49.240 it was not cheap. The project was. The Mint turned 0:23:49.280 --> 0:23:53.960 that around from early May until we opened the week 0:23:54.160 --> 0:23:58.240 of fourth or July with you know, a couple of large, 0:23:58.920 --> 0:24:03.560 really well known Bruges bands, Bruce's band. It was the 0:24:03.600 --> 0:24:07.439 busiest weekend of the year in Haley, between the rodeo 0:24:07.560 --> 0:24:11.560 and the Fourth of July parade, and it was wild. 0:24:12.800 --> 0:24:15.640 It was a tall order, but Willis and Cronin made 0:24:15.640 --> 0:24:18.880 it happen. No expense was spared to open the Mint 0:24:18.960 --> 0:24:21.520 in a matter of weeks, and it turned out no 0:24:21.640 --> 0:24:25.400 expense was spared after it opened either. You know, when 0:24:25.440 --> 0:24:28.280 you've opened up business and you say you're not worried 0:24:28.280 --> 0:24:31.840 about it making a profit, that's a real fine line 0:24:31.880 --> 0:24:36.000 because you especially in the restaurant and bar business, all 0:24:36.080 --> 0:24:39.000 too quickly and easily that are thin margins. It goes 0:24:39.000 --> 0:24:43.840 the opposite direction. And that's actually what you know happened 0:24:43.880 --> 0:24:49.679 with the Mint. It was it became a monster. Bruce 0:24:49.720 --> 0:24:52.359 Willis treated the Mint like it was right in the 0:24:52.400 --> 0:24:56.119 middle of a busy metropolitan area flying in high ticket 0:24:56.240 --> 0:24:59.720 musical acts. But according to Rob it was not a 0:25:00.000 --> 0:25:04.680 product market fit. This community was not ready to support 0:25:05.720 --> 0:25:11.359 uh fifty person cover charge. So, you know, we we 0:25:11.440 --> 0:25:13.600 get to the point where, you know, all right, or 0:25:13.800 --> 0:25:17.240 ten dollars ahead and let's packed to joint and try 0:25:17.280 --> 0:25:22.080 and off set costs with liquor sales, and it just 0:25:22.440 --> 0:25:28.840 didn't work. You just don't have the volume in town. 0:25:29.520 --> 0:25:33.520 You have to to cover that kind of overhead. And 0:25:33.560 --> 0:25:36.000 by the time you get through it, you know, payroll 0:25:36.080 --> 0:25:39.480 and payroll, taxes and insurance and all that keeping a 0:25:39.600 --> 0:25:44.560 ten thousand scriptfort building open even in the highest species, 0:25:44.560 --> 0:25:47.760 and you're not going to pack it every night. You know, 0:25:47.760 --> 0:25:50.480 when we first opened it was it was packed, and 0:25:50.560 --> 0:25:54.440 it was never covering the costs of the high end entertainment. 0:25:54.480 --> 0:25:57.320 Was never about getting enough bodies. It was just, you know, 0:25:57.359 --> 0:26:02.240 once again, just get enough bodies at that initially budgeted 0:26:02.520 --> 0:26:06.960 cover charge, and the public just wasn't willing to go there. 0:26:08.200 --> 0:26:10.119 I was the one, you know, in my position, that 0:26:10.560 --> 0:26:13.560 had to drop the bomb on him that you know, hey, 0:26:13.600 --> 0:26:19.560 we need two dollars of more some months to cover 0:26:19.640 --> 0:26:24.320 the bills, primarily pay roll. Willis had always wanted to 0:26:24.359 --> 0:26:28.480 throw the biggest, best party possible as a bartender in 0:26:28.520 --> 0:26:31.880 New York, as a TV star in California, and now 0:26:32.000 --> 0:26:35.439 as an a list in Idaho. But throwing a bashed 0:26:35.600 --> 0:26:42.160 night after night is well expensive and unsustainable. In the end, 0:26:42.400 --> 0:26:47.159 Rob parted ways with the Mint amicably. It was my 0:26:47.400 --> 0:26:51.040 ending at the Mint a little rough, absolutely, but I've 0:26:51.240 --> 0:26:55.040 you know, what I've witnessed. It was, you know, maybe 0:26:55.040 --> 0:26:57.199 the road to hell is paved with good intentions, but 0:26:57.280 --> 0:27:00.240