0:00:02 > 0:00:08This programme contains some strong language
0:00:08 > 0:00:11This week, I'm back in America looking at some of the people
0:00:11 > 0:00:13and stories that were part of Whicker's World.
0:00:13 > 0:00:15I suppose it's a sort of land of make-believe
0:00:15 > 0:00:18in which you can be anything you like if you can pay for it.
0:00:18 > 0:00:23Americans, articulate, open and generous, make for great television.
0:00:25 > 0:00:29I'm told you can get someone killed around here for 500.
0:00:29 > 0:00:31Oh, yes. Any number of ways.
0:00:33 > 0:00:40And Whicker's World has covered their continent from coast to coast during more than half a century.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42Look right at the bottom of the can.
0:00:42 > 0:00:45- I did it. I did it.- You were great.
0:00:45 > 0:00:50It's a place you can go anywhere and ask anything... as long as you're polite.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54That's about a pound on each side, isn't it, you're carrying around?
0:00:54 > 0:00:57No, not quite a pound. I don't know for sure what it is.
0:00:57 > 0:01:00- Do you know how much you've got there?- No. I couldn't weigh them.
0:01:24 > 0:01:29Our first programme on cosmetic surgery in the US went out in '73,
0:01:29 > 0:01:34when even here in California it was not something you boasted about.
0:01:34 > 0:01:41Then Harley Street, which had seen it as piffling and unserious surgery, began to change its attitude.
0:01:42 > 0:01:48In Beverley Hills, the surgeon Kurt Wagner set the tone and we filmed him in action.
0:01:50 > 0:01:54Here in Hollywood, one sees a lot of women of a certain age who've
0:01:54 > 0:02:01obviously had a face job and one does detect there's a sort of grin where your skin is drawn back.
0:02:01 > 0:02:03It's poor workmanship.
0:02:03 > 0:02:07And as there is a Michelangelo and a Leonardo da Vinci,
0:02:07 > 0:02:11there are different individuals doing plastic surgery
0:02:11 > 0:02:17and I like to think that my patients don't have those tell-tell signs of cosmetic surgery.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21Don't you sometimes feel a bit like Dr Frankenstein?
0:02:21 > 0:02:27I like to think that I feel a little bit more like closer to God than that.
0:02:27 > 0:02:29I like that analogy a lot better.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33I don't like Dr Frankenstein, at all.
0:02:33 > 0:02:38Dr Wagner's most enthusiastic patient was his wife, Kathy.
0:02:39 > 0:02:42He decided that he would fix my chin.
0:02:42 > 0:02:46He would just add a little tiny silicone insert in there that went in through the mouth,
0:02:46 > 0:02:49just a tiny little snip in there and it would go right in.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51It would make the chin come out a little,
0:02:51 > 0:02:53make the cheek bones look better
0:02:53 > 0:02:57and then he'd pin back the ears and for doing that, I was able to have this done...
0:02:57 > 0:03:01- The breast.- ..which is my favourite. Yes. This is my very favourite.
0:03:01 > 0:03:06The sizes are small, petite, medium, large and extra large.
0:03:06 > 0:03:07I have the mediums
0:03:07 > 0:03:10and I think that they're plenty large enough.
0:03:10 > 0:03:11I love them very much.
0:03:11 > 0:03:13The point is, you see, when you had the wrong eyes,
0:03:13 > 0:03:18the wrong ears, the wrong chin and the wrong breasts, you got your husband.
0:03:18 > 0:03:20Well, I was lucky, I guess.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23Maybe when he looked at me, he figured that, after he married me,
0:03:23 > 0:03:26he could make these slight adjustments and I would look better.
0:03:26 > 0:03:31First of all, what he always says is that he'll never have to divorce me because he can change me.
0:03:31 > 0:03:33He can change me every year.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37Kurt was so pleased with our report
0:03:37 > 0:03:42that he offered operations to all my crew, to tidy us up a bit, you understand.
0:03:42 > 0:03:44There was plenty to be done.
0:03:44 > 0:03:49My researcher's protruding ears, the producer's weird nose and
0:03:49 > 0:03:53because they're not making mirrors the way they used to,
0:03:53 > 0:03:58I needed so much adjustment that Kurt didn't know where to stop.
0:03:58 > 0:04:03In truth, we were all scared of the size of his scalpels and knives, of course.
0:04:03 > 0:04:08So, missed the opportunity of becoming unbelievably gorgeous...
0:04:08 > 0:04:10for free.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13If I have it in my power...
0:04:13 > 0:04:17I received an enormous postbag after that 1973 programme.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20Most viewers wanting Kurt's address.
0:04:20 > 0:04:26Others suggesting that the only operation Kathy really needed was a brain transplant.
0:04:26 > 0:04:30Next will be my hips because they're very, very large for my frame.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33I've really tried to lose weight. I still have to lose more weight.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36For years afterwards, I was receiving letters
0:04:36 > 0:04:40from all corners of the globe, from viewers transfixed by the pair.
0:04:43 > 0:04:49Seven years later, I was back on the West Coast, where two out of every three marriages ended in divorce.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53Any union lasting ten years or more was for the record books.
0:04:59 > 0:05:03To my surprise, Kurt and Kathy were still together after 13 years.
0:05:04 > 0:05:09And Kathy was a walking, talking advertisement for her husband's scalpel.
0:05:09 > 0:05:12So, I thought it might be interesting to take a close-up look
0:05:12 > 0:05:15at marriage through the eyes of this unusual couple.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18What emerged was honest and revealing
0:05:18 > 0:05:24and, to a British audience unused to confessional television, quite startling.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27My second film about their thoroughly modern marriage
0:05:27 > 0:05:31was watched by a staggering 18 million viewers.
0:05:31 > 0:05:37A friend of mine says she finds it impossible to stay happily married in Beverly Hills
0:05:37 > 0:05:42because there's so much movement of beautiful and available people.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45Women no longer want to be subservient.
0:05:45 > 0:05:47They're looking for equality.
0:05:48 > 0:05:53They're right up there saying, "I want what's mine,"
0:05:53 > 0:05:56and of course, in California, it's very well defined.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59Half is hers.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02If you tell your husband how wonderful he is and how good he looks
0:06:02 > 0:06:07and how you're so pleased that he's helping to make your life better
0:06:07 > 0:06:11for you and your children and your animals and your homes and things,
0:06:11 > 0:06:15and if you keep yourself a nice, pretty cosy kind of person to be around,
0:06:15 > 0:06:20I think he can still look at all those other beautiful ladies that are about,
0:06:20 > 0:06:24but they don't always have such great things to talk about, either.
0:06:24 > 0:06:2830 years on, I wondered what had become of Kurt and Kathy.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32I left California to meet them in Florida,
0:06:32 > 0:06:35where Kurt, in his 50th year as a surgeon,
0:06:35 > 0:06:38is still at the cutting edge of his profession,
0:06:38 > 0:06:42still anxious to help me face the nation.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46My dear chap...
0:06:46 > 0:06:49you haven't changed a bit, except you're a bit younger.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52You look well and you're a bit... Well, I'd recognise you.
0:06:52 > 0:06:57- Yes, yes, yes. Well... - I've changed a little but not much.
0:06:57 > 0:06:58Not much. No. Wow. Wow.
0:06:58 > 0:07:03- So, how are you?- I'm fine. All the better for staying here. - Well, that's wonderful.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05This is a great establishment.
0:07:05 > 0:07:07Well, this is the spa.
0:07:07 > 0:07:12- This is the newest part of our establishment.- Yeah.
0:07:12 > 0:07:19We haven't seen one another for how many years? 1979? So it's almost 30 years, isn't it?
0:07:19 > 0:07:22Time passes even if you're not having fun.
0:07:22 > 0:07:27- Right? But it happens and, you know, I'm still alive. - And looking great.
0:07:27 > 0:07:32My arms and legs work and I know it's Monday and I can still dance.
0:07:32 > 0:07:34My teeth are still my own.
0:07:34 > 0:07:36- Excellent. - And some of my hair is my own.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39- And what about herself? - You'll see the queen.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42The queen looks better than I but she has an advantage.
0:07:42 > 0:07:44She has a good plastic surgeon.
0:07:44 > 0:07:46He'll never have to divorce me.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49He can just change me every year or every few years.
0:07:49 > 0:07:51Wait a minute. Come on in.
0:07:51 > 0:07:53- Ah-h!- Hello!
0:07:53 > 0:07:57- My goodness sake.- Excuse me. - You still look fucking great.
0:07:57 > 0:07:59Don't have that B on!
0:08:01 > 0:08:03When we first met, you told me,
0:08:03 > 0:08:09- "He'll never have to divorce me, he can always change me."- Exactly.
0:08:09 > 0:08:11- It still works?- It's still working.
0:08:11 > 0:08:15He'd done your eyes, your chin, your face and your breasts.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18- And he'd pinned back the ears. - What was there left to do?
0:08:18 > 0:08:20I decided that I needed
0:08:20 > 0:08:24the entire face, the eyes, the body, the everything done.
0:08:24 > 0:08:30When I got down to a size eight, it was the most beautiful I'd ever been in my entire life.
0:08:30 > 0:08:35When we came into the parties, I felt like a true princess.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38The prettiest girl I had been ever in my whole life.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41What would you have done if you hadn't married your own surgeon?
0:08:41 > 0:08:43Hmm...
0:08:43 > 0:08:46I still would have wanted to have things done.
0:08:46 > 0:08:48It just wouldn't have been quite as much.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51All right. Here we go.
0:08:51 > 0:08:56Some of Kurt's machines reveal more than his unsuspecting patients expect to see.
0:08:56 > 0:09:00My wrinkles are better than they should be for my age
0:09:00 > 0:09:03but I've also had a facelift and I've had some work,
0:09:03 > 0:09:07but you can see that there's some skin changes here
0:09:07 > 0:09:13that ultimately will necessitate some kind of aggressive treatment.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16What is your definition of middle age now?
0:09:16 > 0:09:18Who is middle aged?
0:09:18 > 0:09:23- Anybody who's about five years older than me.- OK.
0:09:24 > 0:09:26A good answer. A good answer.
0:09:26 > 0:09:30By the time I say goodbye and you say goodbye,
0:09:30 > 0:09:35a middle-aged person will probably be 80, so there we go.
0:09:35 > 0:09:39- He tried to make me have a facelift, I remember, when I was there. - Well, would it be bad?
0:09:39 > 0:09:45That was the only promising thing that you said to me and that you'd come and look after me if I had it.
0:09:45 > 0:09:46- I nearly did.- OK.
0:09:46 > 0:09:48Well, it could still happen.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51Any time you want.
0:09:51 > 0:09:57- I'm absolutely fascinated by what I could do to you in about three or four hours.- Really?
0:09:57 > 0:09:59- Absolutely.- Give me a quick rundown.
0:09:59 > 0:10:01A quick rundown. Your eyes.
0:10:01 > 0:10:06- Incidentally, you probably would see better if your upper lids were fixed a little bit.- Yes.
0:10:06 > 0:10:10And, of course, I don't have as much, but of course I've cheated before.
0:10:10 > 0:10:14But you're doing terrifically well. It gives me hope for the future.
0:10:14 > 0:10:18What a relief. It gives me hope for the future. Like next week!
0:10:18 > 0:10:21Next week? Well, you know something, you know where I am.
0:10:21 > 0:10:23You can see I've had two facelifts.
0:10:23 > 0:10:27Almost three, I guess, including the laser one in my lifetime now.
0:10:27 > 0:10:30I don't have that tight-tight look.
0:10:30 > 0:10:31I've a natural look.
0:10:31 > 0:10:37That's what you want. I'll keep on having surgery until my 90s.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40I think I'll live till way in my 100s.
0:10:40 > 0:10:44I've done something with Kathy that I think is truly difficult to do.
0:10:44 > 0:10:49And that is I took a woman who was very pretty and I made her beautiful.
0:10:49 > 0:10:53Can you be unfaithful to Kathy and would you worry if she was unfaithful to you?
0:10:53 > 0:10:57I'm sure I could do practically anything that I wanted to do.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00OK. Maybe your husband wants to leave for a while,
0:11:00 > 0:11:04or wants to go away, or has to know what other ladies are like,
0:11:04 > 0:11:07or has to feel other things, that's all right.
0:11:07 > 0:11:09How would you fare without Kathy?
0:11:11 > 0:11:15I must tell you that I feel that I'm relatively self-sufficient.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19And the trouble with my life, until recently, was I was always
0:11:19 > 0:11:24looking for my good friend outside of me, but my good friend is me.
0:11:24 > 0:11:26I'm my own best friend.
0:11:26 > 0:11:30And you want to know something, that makes my life worthwhile.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34- This has got something to do with self-satisfaction.- I would think so.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37If I could say what's real, I'd be getting a divorce tomorrow
0:11:37 > 0:11:40because I hate this BLEEP man that I'm living with.
0:11:40 > 0:11:45Godammit, he's a BLEEP goddamn pain in the ass, who thinks he's Dr God.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48On our last interview, when I was getting a little drunk there
0:11:48 > 0:11:49as you were helping me...
0:11:49 > 0:11:53It was my fault too. I thought I could keep up with you, but...
0:11:53 > 0:11:56..I just... It's better now.
0:11:56 > 0:12:02I have a new respect, a new love for him since we came here. There's been a magic kind of existence.
0:12:02 > 0:12:04How long have you been married now?
0:12:04 > 0:12:07- 41 years.- Now that must be a record.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10It almost is. We have met a few people around
0:12:10 > 0:12:16who've had their 50th anniversaries, but not so many back in LA any more because it's a different world.
0:12:16 > 0:12:21Last time you left us, we were a lot younger, but we still looked good,
0:12:21 > 0:12:24thanks to plastic surgery for both of us
0:12:24 > 0:12:27and feeling good about each other and our lives.
0:12:27 > 0:12:29Well, I like her. I like her.
0:12:29 > 0:12:31She's good. She's a nice person.
0:12:31 > 0:12:36- I love you. You're lucky to have me. - Yes. I'm lucky to have you.
0:12:36 > 0:12:39- That's for sure.- I tell everybody how lucky I am to have you.
0:12:39 > 0:12:43- And I tell them how lucky I am to be with you, too. - So I guess we're both lucky.- Yeah.
0:12:43 > 0:12:48- I believe that.- OK.- Love you. - Know that's true.
0:12:48 > 0:12:49God, that's quite enough of that.
0:12:49 > 0:12:51Oh. Sorry.
0:12:51 > 0:12:52LAUGHTER
0:12:52 > 0:12:55I just thought that would be... HER VOICE TRAILS OFF
0:12:55 > 0:12:58Thank you, both. That was very, very...
0:12:58 > 0:13:00- sickening.- Oh.
0:13:00 > 0:13:02Any time.
0:13:02 > 0:13:08After filming with them during 30 years, Kurt and Kathy are as entertaining and candid as ever.
0:13:08 > 0:13:10A true American story.
0:13:11 > 0:13:17My first major tour of the United States was in 1961,
0:13:17 > 0:13:21with a director, a cameraman, a recordist, with camera gear,
0:13:21 > 0:13:25film stock and luggage, we squeezed into one station wagon and
0:13:25 > 0:13:32set off from Houston to film our way through Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and into California.
0:13:33 > 0:13:38In ten weeks, we drove 7,274 miles...
0:13:39 > 0:13:43..and at least earned an approving smile from the car rental office.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47Could we have done a tour like this today, in a world where accountants
0:13:47 > 0:13:51rule and unavoidable permissions must be sought?
0:13:51 > 0:13:53Probably not.
0:13:53 > 0:13:58We met the scientist responsible for the first nuclear bomb at Los Alamos
0:13:58 > 0:14:02and penetrated a murder trial in Texas.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05This is Houston in Texas.
0:14:05 > 0:14:08The murder capital of the United States, it's been called,
0:14:08 > 0:14:11where, among a population of just over a million,
0:14:11 > 0:14:13there are as many murders each year
0:14:13 > 0:14:18as there are in the whole of Britain, with a population of 53 million.
0:14:18 > 0:14:24Here, the law is regarded with a casual nonchalance and life is cheap.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27In a few moments, a man will be sitting there,
0:14:27 > 0:14:31waiting to learn whether he shall live or go to the electric chair.
0:14:38 > 0:14:42The most sensational Houston police case of the year followed an unusually brutal murder
0:14:42 > 0:14:45in the office of an suburban estate agency.
0:14:45 > 0:14:50Two young killers shot the middle-aged owner Fred Tones to death, set fire to his body
0:14:50 > 0:14:55and left it burning in a roadside ditch as they escaped in his car.
0:14:55 > 0:15:00And the first lead for the police came with the discovery of the missing car in New York.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03Carolyn, would you describe for us what happened in Tones' office?
0:15:03 > 0:15:07- Oh, no. - Was there a fight there?- Yes.
0:15:07 > 0:15:09And how many shots were fired, do you know?
0:15:09 > 0:15:11Well, the newspaper said six.
0:15:11 > 0:15:13Were you firing the shots?
0:15:13 > 0:15:15I fired five of them.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18- Who fired the first one? - I did it, accidentally.
0:15:18 > 0:15:22And then what happened after the shots were fired?
0:15:22 > 0:15:23Well, he was dead.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27The trial of Carolyn Lima, a teenage prostitute,
0:15:27 > 0:15:32and Leslie Douglas Ashley, a female impersonator, was a bizarre drama.
0:15:34 > 0:15:37At the outset, the judge set a time limit.
0:15:37 > 0:15:42The trial must last no longer than three hours.
0:15:42 > 0:15:47The air conditioning whips away the judge's cigar smoke.
0:15:47 > 0:15:51The iced water machine gurgles and throbs.
0:15:51 > 0:15:56The attorneys posture and persuade and plead before their chosen 12.
0:15:56 > 0:16:01Proceedings in the Houston courtroom were as dramatic as any Hollywood film.
0:16:01 > 0:16:08This real life-and-death drama was unfolding, not just in front of us, but in front of millions of viewers.
0:16:09 > 0:16:12By then, what was Douglas doing?
0:16:12 > 0:16:14- After he already fell down?- Yes.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17Douglas was in panic and everything else, as I was.
0:16:17 > 0:16:21We both got real scared and I went and checked him to see if he was dead.
0:16:21 > 0:16:27Right on cue, the jury, all men you'll notice, came back with their verdict.
0:16:27 > 0:16:31- Chairman of the jury, have you reached a verdict in this case? - We have.
0:16:31 > 0:16:33Stand up, please.
0:16:34 > 0:16:39We, the jury, find the defendant Leslie Douglas Ashley guilty of murder with malice aforethought
0:16:39 > 0:16:41and set his punishment at death.
0:16:41 > 0:16:44Both were sentenced to death.
0:16:45 > 0:16:51In a subsequent retrial, Lima entered a plea bargain and received a reduced sentence.
0:16:51 > 0:16:57As for Ashley, he was sent to a mental institution, but was later pardoned.
0:16:57 > 0:17:04On release, he underwent a full sex change and became a gay rights activist.
0:17:04 > 0:17:06..absolutely no demonstration...
0:17:06 > 0:17:13Gun culture reigned supreme in Texas and I wanted to find out what ordinary people felt
0:17:13 > 0:17:17about this throwback to the wild days of Wyatt Earp.
0:17:20 > 0:17:24I took my camera into the Houston streets one morning
0:17:24 > 0:17:29and stopped passers-by at random to ask whether they owned a handgun.
0:17:30 > 0:17:35Every one of them did, including a newspaper seller who had a dozen,
0:17:35 > 0:17:39a priest who wouldn't leave home without his automatic
0:17:39 > 0:17:45and a couple of nuns who carried theirs in the glove box of the convent car.
0:17:46 > 0:17:52Sadly, this footage has disappeared into a black hole in the BBC archives.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59Revisiting Houston in colour in 1974,
0:17:59 > 0:18:01it still had the same frontier flavour.
0:18:03 > 0:18:09Riding into town at high noon, across a prairie, deep in the heart of Texas.
0:18:09 > 0:18:15From here on the range, the Wild West seems tame enough, yet it's earned its frontier reputation.
0:18:15 > 0:18:20We're heading for one of the best places in America to get yourself murdered.
0:18:20 > 0:18:26Rich and eager and going places, Houston has grabbed all those Texan superlatives.
0:18:26 > 0:18:28America's fastest growing city,
0:18:28 > 0:18:32the most air-conditioned, richest, the energy capital, the city of tomorrow.
0:18:32 > 0:18:37Despite its 21st century air, this is still a "whiskey and trombone town",
0:18:37 > 0:18:39cherishing old saddle-sores.
0:18:39 > 0:18:41HE PLAYS HOEDOWN TUNE
0:18:50 > 0:18:52A chilli cook-off.
0:18:52 > 0:18:56Texas, after all, has a common frontier with Mexico.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59This traditional dish is served by 76 cowboy cooks
0:18:59 > 0:19:03in a variety of Wild West ways, under a variety of titles,
0:19:03 > 0:19:06some of them, highly resistible.
0:19:15 > 0:19:16GUNSHOT
0:19:16 > 0:19:21The fastest guns in the West leap out of Joe Bowman's metal-lined holsters.
0:19:24 > 0:19:29He's probably the last American hero to make an honest living out of gunslinging.
0:19:31 > 0:19:36Now watch this very carefully because this is gonna happen so fast, you won't even see it,
0:19:36 > 0:19:40but it'll be three shots, it'll sound like one. There you go.
0:19:40 > 0:19:41Joe, you're fantastic.
0:19:44 > 0:19:49The American gun lobby's strongest in Texas where bumper stickers warn,
0:19:49 > 0:19:53"If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns."
0:19:54 > 0:19:59Many respectable Houstonians would sooner leave home without their trousers than their revolvers.
0:19:59 > 0:20:01Stand yourself over.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05- Hey, how about that? - I did it! I did it!
0:20:05 > 0:20:06You were great.
0:20:08 > 0:20:11Having filmed one of the last of the Texan gunslingers, we drove
0:20:11 > 0:20:16a couple of miles uptown to discover a disturbing new American phenomena,
0:20:16 > 0:20:18the serial killer,
0:20:18 > 0:20:22years before that chilling phrase became part of our language.
0:20:23 > 0:20:26A youth called Wayne Henley lived in this suburb
0:20:26 > 0:20:31and set out upon a most terrible endeavour from this house.
0:20:31 > 0:20:36The space-age, city of tomorrow character of Houston can change rapidly.
0:20:36 > 0:20:41Here, I'm only two or three miles from the elegant high-rises downtown,
0:20:41 > 0:20:46in a small clapboard house area known as Houston Heights.
0:20:47 > 0:20:54The Heights, as it's called, boasts the largest gathering of churches in the city,
0:20:54 > 0:20:58but today it also holds another record.
0:20:58 > 0:21:00Along these streets,
0:21:00 > 0:21:06lived the young victims of America's biggest and most lurid mass murder...
0:21:08 > 0:21:13..a horror story even more dreadful perhaps than Britain's Moors murders.
0:21:14 > 0:21:20Just before dawn, on the scorching morning of August 8th, 1973,
0:21:20 > 0:21:23a young ex-pupil of that school,
0:21:23 > 0:21:28The Helms Elementary School, between 21st and 22nd Street,
0:21:28 > 0:21:34this young 17-year-old drop-out shot and killed Dean Corll.
0:21:35 > 0:21:37Corll was 33 and homosexual.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40He was also a sadist and a murderer...
0:21:41 > 0:21:48..and that killing revealed the deaths of 27 Texas teenagers.
0:21:48 > 0:21:53In a confession, afterwards retracted, Henley told a chill tale
0:21:53 > 0:21:58of two years of homosexual orgies and torture acts,
0:21:58 > 0:22:01of strangulations and shootings,
0:22:01 > 0:22:03of burials.
0:22:03 > 0:22:07And the boys who were killed, these youngsters, were not
0:22:07 > 0:22:11the riff-raff and the runaways, as at first reported.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15They were youngsters aged only 13 and 14.
0:22:15 > 0:22:20At least 17 of them were Henley's ex-school mates.
0:22:20 > 0:22:22They were his neighbours.
0:22:22 > 0:22:26They died a horrible death and they were all the boys next door.
0:22:29 > 0:22:33The remains of many of them were dug up along this beach.
0:22:35 > 0:22:37A few hours after he'd shot Dean Corll,
0:22:37 > 0:22:43using a car telephone to tell his mother what he'd done, Wayne Henley confessed to murder.
0:22:43 > 0:22:45Is Momma there?
0:22:45 > 0:22:47- Who?- Mom.
0:22:47 > 0:22:49- Who's this?- This is Wayne.
0:22:49 > 0:22:53- Yes, this is Momma.- Mom?- Yes.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56- I killed Dean.- Oh, God.
0:22:56 > 0:22:58Where are you?
0:22:58 > 0:23:01I'm with the police, Momma.
0:23:01 > 0:23:06After that confession of murder, Wayne Henley went on trial in San Antonio.
0:23:06 > 0:23:12He's just been found guilty of six murders and received a typically Texan sentence...
0:23:12 > 0:23:14594 years.
0:23:16 > 0:23:21It is no surprise Wayne Henley remains in a Texas jail to this day.
0:23:24 > 0:23:28In 1977, we took a look at American cities.
0:23:29 > 0:23:33Charleston, South Carolina, for its history.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36Anchorage, Alaska, for its pioneering spirit
0:23:36 > 0:23:40and Salt Lake City for its Mormon roots.
0:23:42 > 0:23:45A couple of hundred miles south of Salt Lake City, I was
0:23:45 > 0:23:50entertained by a remarkable woman with a life straight out of legend,
0:23:50 > 0:23:52a direct link to the old Wild West.
0:23:53 > 0:23:59This log cabin at Circleville was the birthplace of Lula Parker Betenson and her brother,
0:23:59 > 0:24:00Butch Cassidy,
0:24:00 > 0:24:05both children of a good Mormon family, from Preston in Lancashire.
0:24:05 > 0:24:09When we met, she was 94 and sharp as a pin.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12She knew that her brother didn't die with Sundance
0:24:12 > 0:24:17in the South American shootout, made famous by that superb film.
0:24:17 > 0:24:22I mean, his reputation is that he liked children, he loved his mother,
0:24:22 > 0:24:24he robbed banks to help the poor.
0:24:24 > 0:24:28Banks and railroads, he was death on them, I'll say that.
0:24:30 > 0:24:35But he helped people that needed it, with what money he ever got.
0:24:35 > 0:24:39- He enjoyed doing it.- At least he never killed anyone, did he?
0:24:39 > 0:24:44Oh, no. He said there was better ways than killing people.
0:24:44 > 0:24:45America, United States,
0:24:45 > 0:24:49- got too hot for him and he had to go to South America.- Yes.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52And they decided to go straight.
0:24:53 > 0:24:56That's what they went for.
0:24:56 > 0:25:01They made their last big haul and they left and they intended to go straight.
0:25:01 > 0:25:06Now, 16 years after that, he came here in 1925.
0:25:06 > 0:25:10What sort of a man was he? You'd never seen him before, had you?
0:25:10 > 0:25:12No. Never seen him before.
0:25:12 > 0:25:13Oh...
0:25:13 > 0:25:16I don't know. He was so...
0:25:16 > 0:25:18We were so happy to have him
0:25:18 > 0:25:24and father said, "I'll bet Lula that she don't know who this is.
0:25:24 > 0:25:27"This is Leroy."
0:25:28 > 0:25:31And of course I was... My knees just shook.
0:25:31 > 0:25:35You know, I had that feeling of just like I was going to collapse.
0:25:36 > 0:25:42But, oh, he took me in his arms and he was just one of us, always.
0:25:42 > 0:25:45When he left you, after two weeks, you never saw him again?
0:25:45 > 0:25:47No. No.
0:25:47 > 0:25:51- Now, today, you know where Butch Cassidy is buried.- Yes.
0:25:51 > 0:25:55My father said they hunted him all his life.
0:25:55 > 0:25:57Now he's going to rest in peace.
0:25:58 > 0:26:02And that never never yet has been told.
0:26:02 > 0:26:04My children don't know.
0:26:04 > 0:26:08My father always said, "If you want to keep a secret, don't tell it."
0:26:08 > 0:26:10And I find that's the truth.
0:26:11 > 0:26:17- Have you ever visited his grave? - No. No. No, I haven't.
0:26:18 > 0:26:20And would you like to?
0:26:20 > 0:26:22I may, sometime. I don't know.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26I don't know.
0:26:26 > 0:26:27I doubt it.
0:26:29 > 0:26:34Shortly after our conversation, we lost that last link with the past.
0:26:34 > 0:26:39Lula joined Butch, taking his secret with her.
0:26:40 > 0:26:46Both had lived through lawless days when old age was the most unusual condition, when Butch,
0:26:46 > 0:26:51everybody's favourite outlaw, rode out into the pages of legend.
0:26:54 > 0:27:00Leaving Lula's log cabin, we went to meet another Mormon whose home life was rather more...
0:27:00 > 0:27:02How can I put it?
0:27:02 > 0:27:04..complicated.
0:27:04 > 0:27:10Alex Joseph, an ex-cop from LA, had substantial success in the marriage market.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14Most men find it hard enough to handle one wife.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17Alex had been married 16 times,
0:27:17 > 0:27:23though when we met, he was living more conventionally with a modest 12.
0:27:24 > 0:27:28How does it differ, this marriage, to just living together?
0:27:28 > 0:27:33It differs a great deal in that we're under a contract of marriage.
0:27:33 > 0:27:37Each one of us has entered into a contract of marriage
0:27:37 > 0:27:40and our behaviour is regulated by that contract.
0:27:40 > 0:27:45In other words, we're a moral family to start with.
0:27:45 > 0:27:49All of our family activities are confined to the family.
0:27:49 > 0:27:51I'm talking about sex.
0:27:51 > 0:27:53Yes. Yes.
0:27:53 > 0:27:57You see, to the outside world, since you are talking about sex,
0:27:57 > 0:28:01this would look more like a harem than a happy and celestial group.
0:28:01 > 0:28:05I never have worried too much about the outside world.
0:28:05 > 0:28:09You seem to have missed the most obvious truth here.
0:28:09 > 0:28:11And the most obvious truth is this,
0:28:11 > 0:28:16that more women than men go for this lifestyle.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19But what are the advantages for your wives?
0:28:19 > 0:28:21The advantage of independence.
0:28:21 > 0:28:26The advantage of getting away from the conventional emotional things
0:28:26 > 0:28:30that are nothing but sand to build a marriage on
0:28:30 > 0:28:32and building it on fact.
0:28:32 > 0:28:34The advantage of having a husband
0:28:34 > 0:28:38who's vastly superior in intelligence and ability at governing a family,
0:28:38 > 0:28:41and being a husband, than any monogamous could ever imagine to be.
0:28:41 > 0:28:46I get the advantage of his relationship with every other girl in the family which makes him
0:28:46 > 0:28:48a better husband for me.
0:28:48 > 0:28:54Alex Joseph died in 1998, leaving behind nine wives.
0:28:54 > 0:29:00Four of them have since remarried but admit to a certain nostalgia for the freedom and independence
0:29:00 > 0:29:04they experienced in their days of polygamy.
0:29:12 > 0:29:14Our next stop was Charleston.
0:29:14 > 0:29:20From here, we drove 70 miles south to discover a rather alarming group...
0:29:21 > 0:29:23..practising voodoo.
0:29:29 > 0:29:35They were willing, almost anxious, to curse anyone to death for the going price of 500.
0:29:35 > 0:29:38And, apparently, it worked.
0:29:38 > 0:29:41The witch doctor would point the bones at some unfortunate
0:29:41 > 0:29:44and, before the money was in the bank,
0:29:44 > 0:29:46he'd have walked under a truck...
0:29:46 > 0:29:47terminally.
0:29:47 > 0:29:52Their chief, who was also the senior witch doctor, liked England.
0:29:52 > 0:29:55I believe he'd been a GI during the war
0:29:55 > 0:29:58and he was full of Southern hospitality.
0:29:58 > 0:30:01He offered me a freebie curse
0:30:01 > 0:30:04which would take care of anyone I didn't like.
0:30:04 > 0:30:06A sample, on the house, you understand,
0:30:06 > 0:30:08a sort of loss leader.
0:30:08 > 0:30:12Trouble was, having made me an offer I couldn't refuse,
0:30:12 > 0:30:15I had to produce a suitable victim.
0:30:15 > 0:30:20And people I didn't like suddenly seemed, well, not too bad.
0:30:21 > 0:30:24And a snuff job can be so final.
0:30:24 > 0:30:28I am told you can get someone killed around here for 500.
0:30:28 > 0:30:30How would that be done?
0:30:30 > 0:30:33Oh, yes. Any number of ways.
0:30:33 > 0:30:38- Just as there are many ways in real life to get rid of people.- Yes.
0:30:38 > 0:30:42First thing, of course, is take a reading on the individual,
0:30:42 > 0:30:45then find out what type of world he lives in,
0:30:45 > 0:30:47which God rules over the world that he lives in,
0:30:47 > 0:30:49and then make sacrifices to that God.
0:30:49 > 0:30:52- Do you mean to say you could kill a man in New York?- Certainly!
0:30:52 > 0:30:57- South Carolina?- Certainly. - Without his knowing about it? - Without his knowing about it.
0:30:57 > 0:31:00He'll just walk out in the street and get smashed by a truck.
0:31:00 > 0:31:03It's cheaper than going to a hitman.
0:31:03 > 0:31:06Well, it's much more discreet.
0:31:06 > 0:31:12I thought I'd better check this coven with the local sheriff, down at Beaufort.
0:31:12 > 0:31:19Sheriff Ed McTeer turned out to be a white witch doctor with a flourishing practice.
0:31:20 > 0:31:25He refused to advise me about his neighbour's black magic
0:31:25 > 0:31:30because he said it would be unethical for one doctor to criticise another.
0:31:32 > 0:31:34Put one finger in the bottom of that cup.
0:31:34 > 0:31:36Just put one finger in the bottom.
0:31:37 > 0:31:43I am known to be one of the most powerful witch doctors in the United States...
0:31:43 > 0:31:45maybe the world.
0:31:47 > 0:31:49Put your hand on that.
0:31:51 > 0:31:53Hold this in your right hand.
0:31:53 > 0:31:56Close down to get warm.
0:31:56 > 0:31:58It takes a little time.
0:31:58 > 0:32:03No-one is going to be able to put a spell back on you.
0:32:03 > 0:32:05All the spells from you are removed.
0:32:05 > 0:32:10And if anyone tries to, it's going to turn on them.
0:32:10 > 0:32:14Now I'm going to seal your force and my force in that amulet.
0:32:14 > 0:32:16Give me that.
0:32:16 > 0:32:18That should be hot. It is.
0:32:18 > 0:32:24But these people who come here, are they really in danger or are they just mentally sick?
0:32:24 > 0:32:29They are entirely normal but their genes from hundreds of years back
0:32:29 > 0:32:33have carried their superstition and adversity has brought it out in them.
0:32:36 > 0:32:38Hold this in your right hand.
0:32:39 > 0:32:41This is a hex doll.
0:32:41 > 0:32:44Keep it pointed towards this hex doll there
0:32:44 > 0:32:48because that's where your kinetic force is going to come through
0:32:48 > 0:32:51and we'll see what happens... if we get it in.
0:32:53 > 0:32:56You came in here filled with trouble, filled with evil.
0:32:56 > 0:33:00Now every piece of evil has gone from you.
0:33:00 > 0:33:02Your aura is as clear as my own is.
0:33:02 > 0:33:04It'll stay clear as long as you believe.
0:33:04 > 0:33:12I suppose the unkind might say, Sheriff, that this amulet and that mumbo-jumbo would impress a child
0:33:12 > 0:33:17but I can't imagine many college professors being impressed by it.
0:33:17 > 0:33:25It's a collection of mumbo-jumbo that comes down from the last four or five centuries.
0:33:25 > 0:33:31Driving back from Sheriff McTeer, I was stopped for speeding by a local patrolman.
0:33:31 > 0:33:35Confused by my Jersey driving licence, he sighed,
0:33:35 > 0:33:41"I'd like to give you a ticket, Alan," he said, "but to be honest, I wouldn't know how to do it."
0:33:41 > 0:33:48So, maybe after all, the Sheriff's mumbo-jumbo had lifted the black magic curse.
0:33:54 > 0:33:58Leaving voodoo behind, we flew straight to Palm Beach, Florida,
0:33:58 > 0:34:01the ultimate, elegant, party town.
0:34:02 > 0:34:05The culture shock could not have been greater.
0:34:09 > 0:34:14I believe television looks best when it ventures where no cameraman has trod.
0:34:14 > 0:34:17Into Papa Doc's study, say,
0:34:17 > 0:34:20or running the tar and feather gauntlet
0:34:20 > 0:34:25through the tough Australian union town of Broken Hill.
0:34:25 > 0:34:33Displaying bravado beyond the call of documentary, I got in and out of Palm Beach, Florida,
0:34:33 > 0:34:37a closed society behind high hedges, if ever I saw one.
0:34:37 > 0:34:45This improbable sand bar lies 65 miles north of Miami, but in another world.
0:34:45 > 0:34:52Once its hedges had been breached, its rare and exotic inhabitants could be fascinating.
0:34:52 > 0:34:59For a century, the sand bar had been the Mecca of the super-rich who faced only one money problem -
0:34:59 > 0:35:01how to spend it -
0:35:01 > 0:35:05and felt improperly dressed without a yacht.
0:35:10 > 0:35:14Palm Beach shows what God could do, they say, if he had money.
0:35:23 > 0:35:27On this elegant sand bar, people ask each other, where do you live in real life?
0:35:27 > 0:35:32Everybody's rich here. They're all just run-of-the-millionaires.
0:35:34 > 0:35:38Nobody who's anybody goes to the beach on this preposterous island
0:35:38 > 0:35:42which stands for achievement in a society that invented success.
0:35:42 > 0:35:45The wealthy here are not an endangered species.
0:35:45 > 0:35:52They can build £2 million homes like this, with 26,000 mosaic tiles in the pool and only one bedroom.
0:35:52 > 0:35:57I suppose it's sort of land of make believe in which you can be anything you like if you can pay for it.
0:35:57 > 0:36:01We don't have any old people down here, what we call "old".
0:36:01 > 0:36:03There's nobody old in Palm Beach.
0:36:03 > 0:36:05And you must be white,
0:36:05 > 0:36:11preferably Protestant, you know, but money is the chief thing.
0:36:17 > 0:36:23I went, not to tease them, but to enjoy the glittering entertainment of their pageant.
0:36:23 > 0:36:28Viewers' usual reaction was, "Why can't they act their age?"
0:36:28 > 0:36:32As though wishing wheelchairs upon them.
0:36:32 > 0:36:36I know people say to me once in a while, "Just how old are you, Helene?"
0:36:36 > 0:36:42And I say, "Well, I'm between 21 and death," because that's my old private little secret.
0:36:42 > 0:36:47- Women don't give in easily to the ageing process here.- No.
0:36:47 > 0:36:51Palm Beach, in its insular way, ignores the passage of time.
0:36:51 > 0:36:58If it is ever forced to acknowledge that it is marching on, it uses the most personal of calendars.
0:36:59 > 0:37:04Now, just as China has the Year of the Snake and the Year of the Ox,
0:37:04 > 0:37:09Palm Beach has the Year Mrs So-and-So's facelift fell.
0:37:09 > 0:37:14Or the Year Madam X had her bottom ribs removed.
0:37:14 > 0:37:20That's done to give a wasp waste and provide an outstanding figure.
0:37:20 > 0:37:26Or even the Year Madam So and So went to Paris and had all her blood changed.
0:37:26 > 0:37:29You look in the mirror and see this...
0:37:30 > 0:37:33..this old creep that comes around when you get older.
0:37:33 > 0:37:37If you look at yourself and you look old, you think, "Oh, dear God, why even bother?"
0:37:37 > 0:37:40I have so many friends who will not tell one thing.
0:37:40 > 0:37:44They haven't had anything done, they've just grown old younger!
0:37:44 > 0:37:45THEY LAUGH
0:37:45 > 0:37:47I, of course, would just love to lie down
0:37:47 > 0:37:50and have them lift everything from my feet on up to here
0:37:50 > 0:37:54and whatever's left over, tie a little bow on the top.
0:37:54 > 0:38:01I said to Anne one day, "You have all these things done and you don't mind talking about it,
0:38:01 > 0:38:05"but why, then why, dear, please don't tell your age any more."
0:38:05 > 0:38:11- And Anne says, "How can I lie about my age when my son needs a facelift? "- That's my older son.
0:38:12 > 0:38:15# And at the balls are dazzling gowns
0:38:15 > 0:38:19# With diamonds, emeralds and handsome men. #
0:38:19 > 0:38:24In a town with an average age of 60, life was an endless round of parties.
0:38:24 > 0:38:28I mean, I get pretty drunk at most parties at Palm Beach.
0:38:28 > 0:38:32In fact, I've never seen a town where people drink more than they do in this place.
0:38:32 > 0:38:34- Really?- It's unbelievable.
0:38:34 > 0:38:38- I mean, when you go to count the bottles...- The bodies.
0:38:38 > 0:38:41Not the bodies. The bottles.
0:38:43 > 0:38:47God, I can always rely on you to look great.
0:38:47 > 0:38:50A man who's paying for it all doesn't often get in the picture,
0:38:50 > 0:38:54but tonight's fling'll cost him £10,000.
0:38:54 > 0:38:58Victor, nobody wants you anywhere but on the organ.
0:38:58 > 0:39:02- Right, Mary?- We want his organ. - We want his organ.
0:39:02 > 0:39:05There's no answer to that question except perhaps a quick flash
0:39:05 > 0:39:10and Victor Farris, inventor and industrialist, is now authentic.
0:39:10 > 0:39:14Come in the middle. You may come in the middle.
0:39:14 > 0:39:16The most noticeable aspect of life
0:39:16 > 0:39:21amid such rich and rewarding reconstruction was the shortage of escorts.
0:39:21 > 0:39:25Ageless matrons, overdressed and over-decorated,
0:39:25 > 0:39:33waited in solitary splendour to emerge from their soft lighting, needing only an arm to hold,
0:39:33 > 0:39:39a hand to raise them out of the shadows of the Cadillac, into the fluorescence of life.
0:39:39 > 0:39:42It was said a man only needed a dinner jacket
0:39:42 > 0:39:46and a little smiling small talk to become a social success.
0:39:46 > 0:39:49Why, even I was in demand...
0:39:50 > 0:39:53..though that was a few years ago.
0:39:53 > 0:39:56At the heart of Palm Beach society, it's clubs.
0:39:56 > 0:40:00The harder to join, the more prized the membership.
0:40:00 > 0:40:02The Beach Club confronts the only Jewish club
0:40:02 > 0:40:04where it's said you'll not be considered
0:40:04 > 0:40:07unless you've donated a million dollars to charity.
0:40:07 > 0:40:14Despite such discouragements, each club has a waiting list of anxious applicants longing to get inside.
0:40:16 > 0:40:21You can be stymied here most easily by your race or your religion.
0:40:23 > 0:40:29Now, it's one thing to say that you can't have a Jewish member to your club and they'll blackball him,
0:40:29 > 0:40:33but you can't have a Jewish friend to lunch or to dinner.
0:40:33 > 0:40:36And what I think was staggering, being a musician,
0:40:36 > 0:40:40is that when Leonard Bernstein came here with the New York Philharmonic,
0:40:40 > 0:40:45they couldn't have a dinner party for him at the Everglades Club. That's just savagery.
0:40:51 > 0:40:55Juliette de Marcellus is still living in the family home
0:40:55 > 0:40:59and she offered to give me a whistle-stop tour of Palm Beach.
0:40:59 > 0:41:04I remember one or two friends of yours were refused admission and you said, "That's savagery."
0:41:04 > 0:41:06Well, it is. It is. It's ridiculous.
0:41:06 > 0:41:13What you find in Palm Beach are these cells of society that work in among each other,
0:41:13 > 0:41:19rather like the inner workings of a clock that go round and round and round and never really meet.
0:41:19 > 0:41:23And you can have people live here for 20 years and never
0:41:23 > 0:41:27have understood quite where some of the other people are.
0:41:27 > 0:41:30Most people live here very quietly,
0:41:30 > 0:41:35rather old-fashioned lives and belong to the Garden Club and play bridge.
0:41:37 > 0:41:42But the whole town has been taken over by developers - and most of them speculators.
0:41:42 > 0:41:46This house is the one that's been bought by the Russians for a hundred million,
0:41:46 > 0:41:48behind this hideous hedge.
0:41:48 > 0:41:52The reason it's so much money is, A, I suppose the Russians just would buy anything
0:41:52 > 0:41:55and the second is because the property's immense.
0:41:55 > 0:42:02And everything that is slightly artificial is now called Mc something and these are McMansions.
0:42:02 > 0:42:04Here's a McMansion on the left.
0:42:04 > 0:42:08You see how ugly it is, huge and clumsy and pretentious.
0:42:08 > 0:42:12Palm Beach has been invaded by money you're not quite sure where it came from.
0:42:12 > 0:42:15- But you'll never know where the Russian money comes from.- No.
0:42:15 > 0:42:18Probably we'll never know where the Russian money came from,
0:42:18 > 0:42:20but even the American money, a lot of it,
0:42:20 > 0:42:24one sort of wonders where it came from. That's what's changed in Palm Beach,
0:42:24 > 0:42:28because in the old days, you knew where it came from by the names.
0:42:28 > 0:42:31There was the Pillsbury, from Pillsbury Flour.
0:42:31 > 0:42:34There was Mrs Post from the Post Toasties.
0:42:34 > 0:42:36There were the Lynches from Merrill Lynch.
0:42:36 > 0:42:39And everyone had a trade name, like the Fords.
0:42:39 > 0:42:44You knew exactly where the money came from because you were buying their products all the time.
0:42:44 > 0:42:51A great deal of this new money appears with rich men and they always show up with trophy wives.
0:42:51 > 0:42:57And the trophy wives are very beautiful and they've usually had a modelling career and they
0:42:57 > 0:43:03think it's absolutely smashing to have married a rich man and come to such a famous place as Palm Beach.
0:43:03 > 0:43:06But when they get here, they don't know what to do,
0:43:06 > 0:43:12because we don't have a brilliant nightlife and nightclubs or anything of that nature.
0:43:12 > 0:43:17And they go shopping on Worth Avenue and they look about...
0:43:17 > 0:43:20After a year or so, they can't bear it any longer
0:43:20 > 0:43:24and their husbands take them away again and the houses are put up for sale.
0:43:24 > 0:43:30So what we've seen in Palm Beach is old names and old money, what there is left of it, pulling out.
0:43:30 > 0:43:34I'm beginning to think I won't buy a house here.
0:43:34 > 0:43:36No, don't. Come and stay with me.
0:43:37 > 0:43:40It's cheaper. THEY LAUGH
0:43:40 > 0:43:46Palm Beach is a girls' town, run by girls for other girls of a certain age.
0:43:46 > 0:43:49So its excitement centres upon the frivolous,
0:43:49 > 0:43:54shopping, dressing up, parties and going out.
0:43:54 > 0:43:57It's impossible to be overdressed.
0:43:57 > 0:44:00The chicest French hat I've ever seen.
0:44:00 > 0:44:03Mary, thanks for all you did for us tonight.
0:44:03 > 0:44:07Palm Beach, it seems, is no longer the party town that I remember,
0:44:07 > 0:44:11with its caste system of queens and aspirant princesses.
0:44:11 > 0:44:15I think the first requisite would be having been here a long time.
0:44:15 > 0:44:20Somebody can't come in one year and expect to be the queen the next year.
0:44:20 > 0:44:23It's been tried and it doesn't work.
0:44:23 > 0:44:26Tenure is a very important thing.
0:44:26 > 0:44:28Um, a big name...
0:44:29 > 0:44:31..also makes a big difference.
0:44:31 > 0:44:35I mean, somebody with no name, at all, isn't going to make it,
0:44:35 > 0:44:39simply because she doesn't have the clout that goes with it,
0:44:39 > 0:44:42to accomplish what a queen would have to accomplish.
0:44:42 > 0:44:46You can't hide your light under a bushel and become the queen of Palm Beach.
0:44:46 > 0:44:49You'd better watch your grapefruit juice.
0:44:50 > 0:44:5330 years on, long-term resident Julie Schraft
0:44:53 > 0:44:58is aware that the only thing about life here that hasn't changed
0:44:58 > 0:45:00is her passion for enormous dogs.
0:45:00 > 0:45:05The queens don't exist any more. There doesn't seem to be a queen.
0:45:05 > 0:45:06No queen any more.
0:45:06 > 0:45:09And no-one's even competing to be queen any more.
0:45:09 > 0:45:14Looking back, there seems to me that people don't have quite as much fun these days.
0:45:14 > 0:45:18- People don't drink as much, for one thing.- That's probably it.
0:45:18 > 0:45:20Everybody's on some sort of a health kick.
0:45:20 > 0:45:25It's always said about Palm Beach, that the police used to take such good care of Palm Beachers
0:45:25 > 0:45:27who weren't able to drive themselves home.
0:45:27 > 0:45:31The police would drive them home and leave their cars where they were
0:45:31 > 0:45:35and pick them up the next day. But that doesn't happen any more.
0:45:35 > 0:45:40I mean, there's sort of a joke about Palm Beach where people will go to great lengths
0:45:40 > 0:45:42to have a magnificent dinner party,
0:45:42 > 0:45:46and at ten o'clock, the whole thing empties out.
0:45:46 > 0:45:49Everybody goes home so we don't miss the 11 o'clock news.
0:45:49 > 0:45:51It's kind of come to that.
0:45:58 > 0:46:02There's one final story from the American continent that I want to tell,
0:46:02 > 0:46:05but to do so, I'm returning to London.
0:46:11 > 0:46:17In 1968, I was filming a series about the various rulers of South America,
0:46:17 > 0:46:22starting with Alfredo Stroessner of Paraguay.
0:46:22 > 0:46:27And the President of Ecuador, whose name escapes me, although I remember his avenue of volcanoes,
0:46:27 > 0:46:31stretching away from Quito.
0:46:31 > 0:46:36Touching down in Miami, I bought a ticket on to Haiti.
0:46:36 > 0:46:38Everyone thought I was mad.
0:46:38 > 0:46:40And I probably was, a bit.
0:46:40 > 0:46:42Just a few hundred miles from Florida,
0:46:42 > 0:46:47Haiti was the poorest, most dangerous place in the western hemisphere,
0:46:47 > 0:46:51held under the lash of its tyrannical president,
0:46:51 > 0:46:55Francois Duvalier, known as Papa Doc.
0:46:55 > 0:46:59Filming was an anxious time, with the constant fear
0:46:59 > 0:47:03that at any moment, things could go fatally wrong.
0:47:03 > 0:47:10But we came away with an extraordinary insight into life with a real Bond villain.
0:47:10 > 0:47:15In 1971, Papa Doc died of natural causes.
0:47:15 > 0:47:20Such an unusual achievement in such a violent country.
0:47:20 > 0:47:24But Haiti has never recovered from his nightmare rule.
0:47:24 > 0:47:28Still the most violent island in the Caribbean,
0:47:28 > 0:47:32and the kidnap capital of the world.
0:47:32 > 0:47:38Now, do I really want to pay a return visit to that place?
0:47:38 > 0:47:40I think probably not.
0:47:49 > 0:47:51You feel his menace in the pit of your stomach.
0:47:51 > 0:47:55You hear his presence in the silence of his subjects.
0:47:58 > 0:48:03'On arrival in Haiti, I was uncomfortably aware that the airport
0:48:03 > 0:48:07'had just experienced a slaughter of three of the regime's opponents.
0:48:07 > 0:48:14'They'd been gunned down following the sign from Papa Doc, in full view of the horrified passengers
0:48:14 > 0:48:17'of a flight en route from Puerto Rico to Miami.
0:48:17 > 0:48:21'I'd not yet obtained the President's permission for my film,
0:48:21 > 0:48:26'so first, we had to get to the remote and inaccessible Papa Doc.
0:48:26 > 0:48:28'By a stroke of good luck,
0:48:28 > 0:48:33'we discovered that he was making a very rare excursion outside his palace that day.
0:48:33 > 0:48:34CACOPHONY OF CAR HORNS
0:48:34 > 0:48:38'We followed and pushed our way through lines of troops and Tonton Macoutes,
0:48:38 > 0:48:41'Papa Doc's fearsome militia,
0:48:41 > 0:48:45'which you can do if you don't speak the language and are sufficiently polite.'
0:48:45 > 0:48:52'"Do you mind, British television, excuse us, we must push by. Sorry. I'm so sorry. Just one moment."'
0:48:53 > 0:48:58'In the scrummage, I got to Papa Doc and explained we'd crossed the world to see him.
0:48:58 > 0:49:04'He agreed to our request, and told us to return to the palace next day.
0:49:04 > 0:49:05Hello.
0:49:05 > 0:49:10It seemed that at least we were not going to be shot...for now.'
0:49:10 > 0:49:16I just heard the most eerie story which does, to a degree,
0:49:16 > 0:49:20illustrate the complete unpredictability of President Duvalier.
0:49:20 > 0:49:24And it may be caused, I've heard it said, because he is a diabetic
0:49:24 > 0:49:27and therefore subject to extreme fluctuations in mood.
0:49:27 > 0:49:33Anyhow, the other day, he was on the telephone himself to a local airline
0:49:33 > 0:49:36to enquire about a certain flight.
0:49:36 > 0:49:41He spoke not to the airline official but to a young Haitian who worked in the office.
0:49:41 > 0:49:45And he found this boy so helpful that he enquired...
0:49:45 > 0:49:50and there's no doubt about it, Papa Doc is a most courteous man...
0:49:50 > 0:49:52may I know to whom I'm speaking, he said.
0:49:52 > 0:49:58And the boy said "My name, Excellence, Dupont", let's say.
0:49:58 > 0:50:03And the President said "Dupont, Dupont, does that name mean something to me?"
0:50:03 > 0:50:06And the boy hesitated and then said,
0:50:06 > 0:50:12"Excellence, I am the son of Major Dupont of the Presidential Guard
0:50:12 > 0:50:15"who disappeared 11 years ago."
0:50:15 > 0:50:21It was, incidentally, exactly 11 years ago that Dr Francois Duvalier was elected President.
0:50:21 > 0:50:24And Papa Doc said yes, yes, I remember, I remember.
0:50:24 > 0:50:26Well, thank you so much for your help.
0:50:26 > 0:50:32I'm so pleased to hear that you've got a good job, with a foreign company and that you're doing well.
0:50:32 > 0:50:35Thank you very much. Put the receiver down.
0:50:35 > 0:50:37That was that.
0:50:37 > 0:50:42Except, the next morning, Major Dupont returned home.
0:50:42 > 0:50:47For 11 years, he had been a prisoner in one of Papa Doc's jails.
0:50:47 > 0:50:51And all I can assume is that having put the receiver down,
0:50:51 > 0:50:55the President said, "Incidentally, what happened to Major Dupont?
0:50:55 > 0:50:57"Did we shoot him?"
0:50:57 > 0:51:01"No, Excellence, he was sent to prison."
0:51:01 > 0:51:02"Release him."
0:51:03 > 0:51:09Crouching behind his tanks and his fortress, the palace Haitian exiles tried to bomb
0:51:09 > 0:51:12before one of their abortive invasions,
0:51:12 > 0:51:15the palace many fear to enter, Papa Doc receives no-one for months.
0:51:15 > 0:51:21His own minister seldom see him which may be why he's often reported dying or dead.
0:51:21 > 0:51:24But from such seclusion, he has agreed to see me.
0:51:24 > 0:51:30So now to try and find out what sort of man is this, who can inspire such terror.
0:51:35 > 0:51:38To have peace and stability,
0:51:38 > 0:51:43you should have a strong man in every country.
0:51:45 > 0:51:48Not a dictator. Not a dictator.
0:51:48 > 0:51:50- But a strong man.- NOT a dictator?
0:51:50 > 0:51:53Not a dictator, but a strong man.
0:51:53 > 0:51:56Democracy is a word...
0:51:56 > 0:52:01is only a word, as philosophy's a conception.
0:52:01 > 0:52:06What you call democracy in your own country,
0:52:06 > 0:52:10another country can call that a dictatorship.
0:52:12 > 0:52:17Papa Doc's reign of terror was probably the most harsh in the Caribbean.
0:52:17 > 0:52:23Yet, he could be courteous. He inscribed a book of his poems to me.
0:52:24 > 0:52:29To the friend of the first black republic.
0:52:29 > 0:52:35He had created the Tonton Macoutes, his private militia, who could kill at will,
0:52:35 > 0:52:38since his regular army was neither loyal nor brave.
0:52:38 > 0:52:41The population was also too cowed,
0:52:41 > 0:52:46even to move the bodies of those who had been killed and left in the street.
0:52:46 > 0:52:49The killing of a Haitian was unimportant,
0:52:49 > 0:52:55but the death of a white man had to be agreed by the President himself.
0:52:55 > 0:53:01Getting to the President, up there, can be quite difficult.
0:53:01 > 0:53:05Mainly because everyone who surrounds him is so terrified of him
0:53:05 > 0:53:11and there's no doubt that this quiet-spoken man does generate considerable fear.
0:53:11 > 0:53:14When I left him the other day, he asked that I return this morning
0:53:14 > 0:53:19to see him once again, and I duly presented myself with my various credentials,
0:53:19 > 0:53:21armed indeed with a laissez-passer,
0:53:21 > 0:53:25signed by the President himself to all civil and military authorities.
0:53:25 > 0:53:29This laissez-passer got me through the sentries on the gate, here,
0:53:29 > 0:53:33through a gaggle of guards on various doors,
0:53:33 > 0:53:40up the stairs, along the corridor and right to the door of the presidential chambers.
0:53:40 > 0:53:45There, I was met by a group of captains and lieutenants of the presidential guard.
0:53:45 > 0:53:49And they said, although they'd seen me before and they knew me,
0:53:49 > 0:53:54and they knew that the President was expecting me, they had no authority to disturb him.
0:53:54 > 0:53:56He was inside his chambers.
0:53:56 > 0:54:00I was outside. And no-one had the authority to approach him.
0:54:00 > 0:54:04The only person who could approach him is his secretary.
0:54:04 > 0:54:08A rather formidable lady who is related to him.
0:54:08 > 0:54:10And she is away sick.
0:54:12 > 0:54:18So I stood outside and waited and he is presumably in his study there, waiting.
0:54:18 > 0:54:23And nobody has the courage to knock on his door.
0:54:23 > 0:54:26The only way out of this silent stalemate was for me
0:54:26 > 0:54:31to leave the palace and walk to the capital's telephone exchange.
0:54:31 > 0:54:35There, I called up the number that I had noted on Papa Doc's desk.
0:54:35 > 0:54:39349-0068.
0:54:39 > 0:54:44My message, direct as it was, to Dr Duvalier, was uncomplicated.
0:54:44 > 0:54:48Mr President, I am waiting outside your door.
0:54:48 > 0:54:50Well, it worked.
0:54:50 > 0:54:53It got me past a procession of sentries.
0:54:53 > 0:55:01On another day, he decided to show me the capital from the comfort of his Mercedes 600.
0:55:01 > 0:55:05'He carried with him, wads of brand new Haitian bank notes,
0:55:05 > 0:55:08'which he distributed to the nearest peasants,
0:55:08 > 0:55:12'who then carried away a year's wages in one publicised grab.'
0:55:16 > 0:55:21Sometimes, he'll scatter handfuls of money through the car window.
0:55:21 > 0:55:25Yes. It's well worthwhile trying to keep up with the Duvaliers.
0:55:27 > 0:55:30Believing himself secure from enemies,
0:55:30 > 0:55:34protected by gunmen and by the voodoo power lying within the number two,
0:55:34 > 0:55:38his presidential inauguration was on October 22nd,
0:55:38 > 0:55:42Papa Doc, hushed and curious with that sinister smile,
0:55:42 > 0:55:48seems unconcerned and unaware as his stricken nation sinks deeper into its zombie trance,
0:55:48 > 0:55:52watched by a critical but helpless world.
0:55:52 > 0:55:54There's no doubt about it, Mr President,
0:55:54 > 0:56:01you have had the worst international press of any president I have known.
0:56:01 > 0:56:05That's right. Yes. They consider me like a black sheep.
0:56:05 > 0:56:07HE LAUGHS
0:56:11 > 0:56:15'All we needed now was a climax to our film.
0:56:15 > 0:56:17'Next day, as we were approaching Christmas,
0:56:17 > 0:56:24'Papa Doc decided to go gift shopping around the jewellers' shops in his capital.
0:56:24 > 0:56:29'And when presidents start suggesting their own sequences for Whicker's World,
0:56:29 > 0:56:32'even I begin to feel confident.
0:56:32 > 0:56:36'The prospect of the terrifying dictator Christmas shopping
0:56:36 > 0:56:40'had to be the best sequence, the situation of a lifetime.
0:56:40 > 0:56:42'At that moment,
0:56:42 > 0:56:44'we ran out of film.'
0:56:45 > 0:56:51Papa Doc, the black sheep, was one of my most applauded films.
0:56:51 > 0:56:58It won the Dumont Award at the UCLA against 400 competitors from around the world.
0:56:58 > 0:57:05Later, I had to address the UCLA Faculty of Journalism, a most prestigious ceremony.
0:57:05 > 0:57:10The chapter of massed undergraduates were attentive and appreciative
0:57:10 > 0:57:14about what, to them, was a new form of signed documentary.
0:57:14 > 0:57:19The Dean, Charles E Young, made a few graceful remarks and called for questions.
0:57:19 > 0:57:22There was a long silence.
0:57:22 > 0:57:29Finally, a plump young woman, who had been absorbing every word and every scene intently, stood up.
0:57:29 > 0:57:35"Mr Whicker," she began, ponderously, as I waited nervously for her cumulated wisdom.
0:57:35 > 0:57:39"Is it true that you married an heiress?"
0:57:40 > 0:57:46Well, as it happens, it wasn't, but it was in keeping with our whole Papa Doc experience,
0:57:46 > 0:57:50which had been full of light and shade, triumph and fear,
0:57:50 > 0:57:53a black and macabre tragic comedy.
0:57:57 > 0:57:59'Next time, we're going east.'
0:57:59 > 0:58:03- Good morning, sir.- Good morning. - Whereabouts are you flying to, today?- Hong Kong.
0:58:03 > 0:58:06'Flying in the slipstream of my first ever world tour...
0:58:06 > 0:58:07Coming.
0:58:07 > 0:58:13'And revisiting some of the most exotic destinations on the Whicker's World flight path.'
0:58:13 > 0:58:17The sun shines all the time. It's an absolutely marvellous place to come.
0:58:41 > 0:58:44Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:44 > 0:58:46E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk