The connection between TV sitcom 'Cheers' and the 1973 murder of Roseann Quinn
Roseann Quinn's murder inspired the 1977 film 'Looking for Mr. Goodbar'
“…it was a place, dare I say it, where everybody knows your name. It was that kind of place.” -James Burrows, co-creator of Cheers. Burrows also produced and directed Friends (co-starring Matthew Perry), Will & Grace, Taxi, and Frasier.
Roseann Quinn, a schoolteacher, was stabbed to death in 1973 by a man she met at a bar. Her murder inspired Judith Rossner's best-selling 1975 novel Looking for Mr. Goodbar which was turned into a film of the same name featuring Diane Keaton and other notable actors such as Richard Gere.
The apartment building where Quinn lived (and died) is one I knew well during my time in the real estate industry. I met some of the people who rented her tiny place at 253 West 72nd Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Renters are a transient group in New York City—moving in and out for various reasons—so Quinn’s former pad had a lot of turnover. It’s a little eerie, but frankly, something horrific has happened in almost every building in the Big Apple—and, no, it’s not haunted.
Across the street from Quinn’s apartment building was a bar named W. M. Tweeds which she regularly frequented after work. She’d sit and either read a book or talk to a man and, at times, take one back to her apartment.
The bar has a lot of interesting connections, and as I said, it inspired the incredibly popular TV sitcom we know as Cheers.
Co-creator, James Burrows, drank here regularly (although he lived downtown in the Village) and was nicknamed Uncle Gig. Around the days of filming Footloose (1984), actor Kevin Bacon, nicknamed The Chip whose father, Edmund Bacon, is known as the Father of Modern Philadelphia) waited tables here. Bacon was given the nickname by Burrows and other patrons for his role in Animal House (1978). Animal House was produced by my abuser’s best friend John Landis who also directed Michael Jackson's music videos including "Thriller" (1983).
The name of the bar was changed from W.M. Tweeds after the gruesome murder to The All State Café—although everyone just called it All State (it closed in 2008).
Quinn, who taught deaf children, knew how to lip read and often eavesdropped on conversations people were having on the other side of the room. When she wasn’t busy reading a book, or talking to a man, she’d “listen” to other patrons by lip reading. On New Year’s Eve at the age of 28 she met John Wayne Wilson, 23, at the bar. After midnight at around 2am—officially New Year’s Day—she took him back to her place.
It’s still a surprise to me that he went home with her because he was gay. He’d left his wife and kids moving in with his male lover a year earlier. When he failed to get an erection Quinn made a comment that set him off. In a blinding rage, he stabbed her 18 times and afterwards inserted a candle into her vagina. He subsequently trashed her place, smeared blood on the walls and took a shower before leaving. This reminded me of Arlis Perry who was murdered at Stanford Memorial Church (located on the campus of Stanford University) on October 12, 1974 where a candle had also been inserted into her. Keep in mind there are certain days of the year that hold significance for Satanic Ritualistic murders. Among these is New Year’s Day.
Cheers bartender Woody Boyd was played by Natural Born Killers (1994) actor Woody Harrelson.
Oliver Stone’s film was co-produced by Mossad spy Arnon Milchan. Harrelson’s father is assassin Charles Harrelson.
Charles murdered Judge John H. Wood, Jr. (appointed by Richard Nixon) on May 29, 1979. Wood was the first U.S. judge assassinated in the 20th century. Hitman Harrelson was also rumored to be one of the three tramps mysteriously arrested and then let go on November 22, 1963 after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
In September 1982 Harrelson, while high on drugs, confessed to shooting both JFK and Wood.
Writer Tony Hiss, son of Alger Hiss, accused in 1948 of being a Soviet spy and convicted of perjury, bartended at the bar without pay, as a volunteer, to get to know the patrons.
All the regulars had nicknames like The Chip and Uncle Gig. There was Glenn (The Inspector) Johnson of the NYPD. Michael (Shorthands) Roberts, a lawyer. Owner Stephen (Rosie-lee) Resnick. Bartenders Bill (Junior) Cherry and John (The Shark) Lafayette. "Where everybody knows your name."
What happened to Quinn’s murderer? Wilson was arrested on January 11—shy of two weeks later and was sent to The Tombs prison in Lower Manhattan. In May 1973, a guard suggested he hang himself while pushing bed sheets through the iron rails of his cell door. On May 5th he was found unresponsive on the floor with sheets tied around his neck. His death was labeled a suicide.
Burrows' father was Abe Barrows (Borowitz); a pioneer in the "'Golden Age" of television, specializing in the sitcom. Indeed, he was responsible for "Duffy's Tavern" which I suspect was recycled by James Burrows with his "Cheers." Borowitz father and son repurposed Sabbatean mind-control for mass TV consumption. I wrote the definitive study "Nervous Laughter" (1989) on the TV sitcom. "Looking For Mr. Goodbar" struck fear in a generation of women being transformed by the revolution in gender relationships, which itself was engineered by corporate intelligence agents as seen in "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" or "MTM" as we used to call it. That show had a huge impact on the larger society as did "Friends," which featured the late Matthew Langford Perry as "Chandler Bing." Kirby puts it all together.
That movie haunted me. I drew a picture of her and had it on my wall for a long time. I had stopped to clubs by that time. But...it shook me.