Rubell was the exact opposite. It still is," Schrager told "CBS This Morning: Saturday" co-host Anthony Mason. A visitor watches an archive photo of Grace Jones performing on display at the Studio 54: Night Magic exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum during the media preview March 11, 2020. After a spate of troubles finding housing, The de la Mottes, a family ensemble of nine kids who all play string instruments, have landed in Harlem. He was hanging off the DJ booth. 54 was like the window right after the Vietnam War ended and right before the AIDS epidemic took hold, so there was like this three-year window where people just had a crazy time. But people who were in the main industries of New York, finance, fashion, entertainment, it was considered normal. ". 2023 Cond Nast. You never said anything, youre not supposed to talk, youre supposed to walk up and be recognized. I mean, we had major stars like Elizabeth Taylor, Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson, Mick Jagger. After making it past the velvet rope, partiers at Studio 54 entered what one hostess called "The Corridor of Joy," according to Another Man. Steve and Ian, the owners of Studio 54, came in looking for another doorman, a preppy doorman, to help out Marc. I brought the preppy thing to Studio 54, Marc enjoyed that about me, so we would talk in exaggerated, WASP-y accents. We were all really serious about creating a great show.". From comedy classics to underseen dramatic gems, your next binge is waiting. If somebody came up and they were really drunk and acting obnoxious, no they wouldnt get in. He had this drag queen muse. Studio 54 is known for having been one of the world's most high-profile, exclusive discotheques during the late 1970s and early 1980s. But successful businesses don't just happen. I lost Halston but I found him a little later eating a turkey leg, and he made me have some. If Pittman was taking a portrait, he liked to make it more collaborative, capturing the whole of their personality in a single shot. A lot of art-world personalities went to Studio 54, but was Studio 54 a part of the art world? Im not even going to attempt to convert that to 2021 dollars, but was that a lot of money for the industry and the job?No not really, I was making more working at McMullens. Is Prince Harry going? You were welcomed in. Studio 54 is a Broadway theater and a former disco nightclub at 254 West 54th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. But the fact Taylor did work while the other bartenders partied made him invaluable to his coworkers, and they demanded he stay. Anything Went. When Studio 54 opened, Pittman was working as an editorial photographer for publications like W magazine and The New York Times. But they did it so professionally, and to the nines. I said, Hi, Rod, and he walked in. Schrager was all business, happy to stay behind the scenes and run things that way. It wasnt a barroom, it wasnt a discotheque, it was a cultural moment., Okay, yes, incredible how do I get in? He asked what I was doing for the summer and was like, How would you like to work here? And Im like, Okay. Thats basically how it started! To underscore the Studio 54 doormens influence: Andy Warhol once described their reign over the entrance as a dictatorship, while Benecke says the New York Times once called him the most socially powerful person in the city. Doorman Mark Benecke was charged with deciding on the chosen ones. Show Schedule. Or Michael Jackson, or theres Mick Jagger. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. He basically fell over the thing at one point, Roger Parenti says. Page Six was around, though! After it all came crashing down and the club closed, Benecke took a much-needed West Coast hiatus. I think about 54 as the end of the 60s, in a way. It was sex all over the place with various people, and it was full-tilt boogie: work, pleasure, cocaine. The photographer credits this to the late Rubell, who died in 1989, and Schrager. "Judi called the publicist for Studio 54 and got us on a list," she remembers, "then she became friendly with the doorman, Marc Benecke. It was a festival of light and music, and the effects were incredible. Even after the original owners went to . 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Everybody they hired was an artist.". This email will be used to sign into all New York sites. Therefore, celebrities and people in general were willing to let their hair down a lot more. (Synonymous with wealth, style, power, to borrow from Gaga.) Nobody believes that so I never say it, but I didnt experiment until I moved to California. Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Coronation. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. (It involved bodily fluids expelled competitively in the Studio 54 basement. How the Owner of the Los Angeles Lakers Gets It Done. In any case, the owner taught him everything about how to get a great mix of people in Studio 54 every night. For a nightclub that only lasted a few years and closed more than four decades ago, the strength of Studio 54's sustained cultural influence astonishes me. Each EDITION property is completely unique, reflecting the best of the cultural and social milieu of its location and of the time. Once you were in, you could find yourself doing a million different jobs or getting a sudden and unexpected promotion. On one night, Pittman recalled, the club's ascending and descending revolving floor featured a performance from the entire cast of the musical "A Chorus Line," as glitter and balloons rained down. And not everybody had an entourage. . Health warning over viral TikTok trend which sees sweet-flavoured powders and syrups added to water to make it taste better. If I can be emotional for a secondone of the things I think that made me a good doorperson was that I can really feel [peoples] energy and for the most part, where theyre coming from. Sally Lippman, also known as "Disco Sally", was a 77-year-old widow and regular . Halloween was always the biggest night of the year, drawing crowds of over 2,500, recalled Fleischman. In the movie 70s Fever, live footage inside Studio 54 depicts this old lady who liked to get freaky along with the scene's major players like Studio 54 Doorman Mark Benecke and club co-owner Steve . The next morning, he woke up furious, threw everyone out, and instead took 20, the final chapter in the life of one of the New York LGBTQ+ community's most beloved members. At 19 you were one of the youngest on staff at Studio 54. That probably kept me out of a lot of stuff. We went up to the balcony and just sat and talked, I told him about my background. But the person who almost certainly got the most offers for sex was the doorman Marc Benecke, when people offered up their bodies just to get inside. Everybody was pretty toasted. There are a bunch of gay guys in Day-Glo construction helmets, dancing with Bianca Jagger. The music scene was different81 was that New Wave, New Romanticism era of music, groups like ABC and A-Ha and punk by that time as well. What good was owning the coolest club in the world if you didn't party in it yourself? His position as the gatekeeper made him socially the most powerful man in the city, according to no less an authority than The New York Times. Absolutely unacceptable. Some of the social and political issues of the time must have played out at Studio 54? You couldnt buy your way in, you know? Everybody was in awe. On April 26, 1977, Studio 54 opened its doors and introduced the world to a new era of nightlife. Studio 54 defined clubbing, disco, and celebrity in the late 1970s. Getting into Studio 54 in the 1970s was a nearly impossible endeavor. (Photo by Allan Tannenbaum/Getty Images) Please note: images depicting historical events may contain themes, or have descriptions, that do not reflect current understanding. He was all of 19-years-old. I tripped the light with Jackie O. I danced all night with Brooke and Bo. Though the door was notoriously challenging due to the sheer number of people lined up each night, inside there was no hierarchy. How exactly the music at a disco could interfere when it's literally called "disco" is unclear. How do Brits feel about King Charles? There he met one of Warhol's inner circle of "superstars," the actress known as Ingrid Superstar, and she took him downtown to the Factory to meet the famed Pop artist. Studio 54 was the first club that worked with a strict door policy. The club was even planned with that in mind. At around the same time, three young lads from New York were trying to make it big in rock, or punk, or hip hop, or whatever you would call the Beastie Boys'genre. In Halston the designer learns of a person who died in an air shaft while trying to sneak into Studio 54. Of course you had a lot of people burning out and most unfortunately, a whole lot of people died. The law was willing to look the other way on that stuff. Of course, we took him inside, gave him the royal treatment, made up for it a little bit. It was the last breath and last hurrah before the AIDS epidemic. He was so elusive, he was often described as a "silent partner" in the business. One bartender stood out for being a bit different. Like Halstons boyfriend, Victor Hugo, often wore backless chaps. All rights reserved. . He mixed with the celebs and partied just as hard as they did. She was blitzed. Warhol was known to capture the spirit of the era, and all of his friends, through snapshots on instant film. In the three short years of Studio 54s heyday, Marc Benecke was who you had to get past to enjoy the hedonistic other side. It was a haven of illicit sex, illegal drug use, and the wildest parties the city had ever seen. Was it as extreme as its been written about? Montaug didn't just manage the crowds at New York City's hottest clubs he was also a promoter in his own right, managing roving cabarets showcasing new talent. I remember there was a couple who came and one of them would be on a leash, and I think the woman was topless. There was a lot of media, especially on nights when there were parties, like when Dolly Parton showed up we had decorated the inside of the club like a barnyard, there were animals, bales of hay. But he wouldnt sit on a banquette and do coke in front of people. I was nervous. However, the notorious New York City nightclub encountered a fair share of obstacles while party-goers ravaged the dance floor . It was kind of a celebration of people from the arts, dance, fashion, music, theater, entertainment, the gay world; this incredible mix of Manhattanites in the late 70s, before the AIDS epidemic basically wiped out at least half of the creative people in New York. The last place you want to eat meat from is a discotheque, but later I saw Stevie eating the turkey, too, so I guess it was okay., For Christmas, according to Inside Studio 54, Schrager put together disco-appropriate holiday gifts: baggies of cocaineeach one had a ribbon on it, along with cards addressed to such famous names as Calvin Klein, Bianca Jagger, Andy Warhol, Halston, and so on., The night before Rubell and Schrager went to prison for corporate tax evasion, the duo threw a party at which Rubell wore a Frank Sinatrastyle fedora and serenaded the club with I Did It My Way. When I look back at it now, Schrager said in 2018s Studio 54 documentary, it was so preposterous. And then they redid the Palladium, and that was happening. The city had moved on. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images. But, like so many creatives, he found such a traditional job confining and decided he had a better idea, which he presented to the club's owner after less than one shift. Paolo M. 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