Studio 54

Studio 54 is a former and popular nightclub and disco in the New York arts sector of Broadway, located on West 54th Street in Manhattan, New York, famous in the late 1970s for being frequented by high-profile celebrities from the United States and Europe.

The nightclub was opened in 1927 as Gallo Opera House, and over the years it changed activities and names, being also used by CBS for the recording and broadcasting radio programs, under the name CBS Studio 52.

Under the name Studio 54 the theater converted into a nightclub opened its doors on April 26, 1977 and was closed in February 1980 due to legal problems of its founders. Its heyday coincided with the fever for disco music and with a time of sexual freedom that was cut short by the appearance of AIDS. Later it returned to being a theater on the Broadway circuit.

History

Opera theater and TV studio

The building is around the corner from the CBS network's Studio 50, known as the Ed Sullivan Theater. It was built with a theater structure and opened under the name Gallo Opera House in 1927, as the headquarters of the San Carlo opera company, owned by the Italian businessman Fortune Franco. It was inaugurated with a production of the opera La Bohème. However, its operation as an opera coliseum was brief and it became a theater and variety venue. It changed its name several times and even offered dinners as a restaurant with performances.

In 1942, CBS bought the property and used it for radio broadcasts, until the advent of television gave it new uses.

From the '50s to the middle of the '70s, the space had been studio 52 of said channel (not 53, as has sometimes been believed), a radio stage and television from which programs such as What's My Line, The Jack Benny Show, I've Got a Secret were broadcast. > and Captain Kangaroo. The soap opera Love of Live was produced at that location until 1975.

When CBS sold television studio 52 and it was converted into a nightclub, it was renamed after the number of the street on which it is located.

The place of the stars

Beginnings

Studio 54 was managed by the American businessman Steve Rubell, a striking character, and his friend and partner Ian Schrager, a low-profile businessman. Together they had run another establishment in the Queens area and It was Carmen D'Alessio, public relations officer for the couturier Valentino, who suggested they "take the leap to Manhattan" by opening a club for the city's most chic circles. She put them in touch with Andy Warhol, who would attend the pre-inaugural dinner, as would Calvin Klein.

Carmen D'Alessio had valuable contacts among the European and American jet-set, and for the opening of the establishment she sent invitations by mail to 5,000 people chosen from her lists of friends and acquaintances illustrious

Opening

Diana Ross, Mick Jagger and his then wife, Bianca, Salvador Dalí, Liza Minnelli, Halston, Donald Trump and his wife Ivana, Debbie Harry, Brooke Shields and a long etcetera attended the inauguration. Several stars such as Warren Beatty, Cher, Woody Allen and Frank Sinatra wanted to enjoy the celebration, but could not enter; It is said that several of them were rejected by the despotic control that was exercised at the door.

A week after the inauguration, Studio 54 opened exceptionally on a Monday, for the birthday party of Bianca Jagger, who arrived riding a white horse. Events like this boosted the venue's reputation among celebrities and gave rise to other parties that brought together audiences of different ages and tastes.

In the premises you could frequently see the Algerian designer Yves Saint Laurent, the artist Andy Warhol, the actor John Travolta, the model and singer Grace Jones (who sang there her version of La vie en rose), and several famous musicians and actors such as Alice Cooper, Farrah Fawcett, Donna Summer, David Bowie, Eartha Kitt, the model Gia Carangi, Al Pacino. It was also frequented by stars of the 50s and 60s such as Elizabeth Taylor, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Gloria Swanson and Bette Davis. In those years, Amanda Lear recorded a song on Studio 54 that satirized several of her illustrious clients.

The establishment achieved such success that Rubell declared in 1979 that he had earned 7 million dollars in one year, adding that "only the mafia" had a more profitable business than his.

Structure and events

Studio, as it was called, was adapted from the old theater that existed until the 1950s. The boxes were maintained and became known for the frequent sexual encounters that took place in them.. The use of drugs such as cocaine and marijuana was unlimited inside the venue. The wall of the dance floor was decorated with the image of a Moon with the face of a man, who snorted cocaine with a spoon.

Entry into the club was chaotic, and only VIP guests could afford to enter without standing in the huge line that was usually seen at the entrance of the venue. The hedonistic Rubell was known for selecting clients as he pleased, choosing them from the gigantic crowd of people waiting outside, on the other side of the club's security tape, which was guarded by security guards.

The fact is confirmed by the reporter Daphins: Rubell chose at will people who were good looking or eccentric (such as drags) but who were not famous and put them together with his high-profile guests, since he followed the logic that the extremes or excesses are the path to perfection, or as he said: «The path of excess leads to the palace of wisdom», quoting the well-known maxim of William Blake.

In reality, the purpose of such a mix of audiences was more carnal than spiritual: Rubell offered his VIP clientele a "in tune" atmosphere, full of young aspiring sexually accessible and all away from the hassle of the press and paparazzi. Despite this, Andy Warhol carried his Instamatic camera and photographed everything he could. The few reporters who were allowed in were prohibited from taking photos and those that were taken were not published unless those portrayed were posing and will authorize its publication; the latter due to the intimate relationship between the editors with the club owners and their guests.

The excesses were daily: for example in 1979 during a raid, the New York police found bags with money and illicit drugs inside the club and in its basements. The event triggered the fall of the club in 1980.

The reporter Marjorie Daphins, who managed to enter the club in 1979, narrated that all kinds of excesses were allowed inside the venue: According to her account, the few lucky ones to enter the Studio had to pay a very high cover. It was also common to see waiters with athletic and good-looking bodies, moving almost naked among the guests' tables, and who only had a small piece of clothing to cover their genitals. In fact, it was common for waiters to be touched by attendees and many of them had sexual encounters right there.

The weekday nights were cold and monotonous, but the atmosphere changed radically during the weekends, when high-profile private parties were offered, as the guest offered a themed party and the venue adapted to the host's discretion to such purpose. The club was famous among many parties, including the 30th birthday of the then wife of singer Mick Jagger, the Nicaraguan actress Bianca Jagger, who attended the event on a beautiful white horse. The party was held on Monday the 27th. April 1977, that is, the night after the opening of the discotheque.

Donna Summer, a regular customer and frequent performer, once requested that the dance floor be covered with feathers, but the audience members who were allergic to them made her uncomfortable to the point that at one point she stopped singing and quit. the stage after giving a loud scream. Another regular performer was the San Francisco group Village People, who performed one night for Latoya Jackson and Truman Capote. Grace Jones also performed there with the presence of the Spanish painter Salvador Dalí.

Sunset and closure

Shortly afterward, Rubell and Schrager were arrested for tax evasion of approximately $2.5 million. Rubell responded by accusing a high-ranking official in Jimmy Carter's administration of having consumed cocaine in the basement of the premises. After its closure in 1980, packages of cocaine and money were found hidden behind the walls of the nightclub.

The closing party of Studio 54 took place in February 1980 and was called «The end of modern Gomorrah»; Diana Ross, Ryan O'Neal, Jack Nicholson, Richard Gere and Sylvester Stallone attended. It is said that Stallone drank the last drink he served. Diana Ross was the one who closed the final show of the nightclub.

In 1981, the business was sold for about $2.2 million to another businessman, who in turn sold it to nightclub owner Mark Fleischman for twice as much money. Studio 54 reopened with guests including Calvin Klein, Cary Grant and Gina Lollobrigida. However, the context had changed and was less liberal than before.

Madonna, Duran Duran and Culture Club performed at the venue, shortly before becoming world stars. His clients in those years included Boy George, Janet Jackson, Alec Baldwin, Lionel Richie, Jean-Michel Basquiat, LaToya Jackson, David Lee Roth, Tatum O'Neal, Jennifer Grey, Cyndi Lauper, and film actresses pornographic Ginger Lynn and Traci Lords. When the lease expired in 1986, the premises closed again.

Reopening in 1994, closure and new uses

Finally in 1994, after becoming a strip club for a few years, Studio 54 reopened to much fanfare and a live concert by disco stars Gloria Gaynor, Vicki Sue Robinson and Sister Sledge. But it went bankrupt again the following year.

In 1998, the musical Cabaret was presented in this venue and continued to be offered there until 2004. More surprises awaited the old nightclub, which in a way returned to its origins as a theater and of varieties. That year, the club/theater served as the setting for two Stephen Sondheim musicals: Assassins and Pacific Overtures. In 2005 Studio 54 hosted Tennessee Williams' immortal drama A Streetcar Named Desire, with John C. Reilly and Natasha Richardson. In 2006, Threepenny Opera, by Kurt Weill, was presented, starring Alan Cumming and Edie Falco.

The club is still used as a nightclub in weeks when there are no plays, and Gloria Estefan performed there as a stop on her tour. In 2002, Paris Hilton celebrated his 21st birthday at the nightclub (his mother had done the same in 1978).

Legacy

In its heyday Studio 54 had a formative role in the growth of disco music and nightclub culture in general, and was one of the first to erase the distinction between nightlife homosexual and heterosexual.

The disco was depicted in the 1998 film 54, starring Ryan Phillippe and Mike Myers, and was parodied in the 2002 film Austin Powers in Goldmember, curiously enough. also starring Myers, under the name Studio 69.

He also makes a fleeting appearance in the episode of the series The Simpsons "Mypods and Boomsticks" (seventh episode of season 20), specifically in the show's cartoon known asItchy & Scratchy Show, in which Itchy (the mouse) appears parodying John Travolta's outfit in Saturday Night Fever and dancing to the rhythm of "I Love the Nightlife&# 34;, by Alicia Bridges.

In the music video for the song "New York City Boy", by Pet Shop Boys, the teenage protagonist enters Studio 54 and sees what life was like there. inside, and there is even a reference to Bianca Jagger entering on her white horse, among others.

Today, a venue by the name Studio 54 is located in Las Vegas and is always open as a nightclub. It features the familiar marquee as well as the poster of the moon with a man's face and the cocaine inhaler hanging on the wall.

In 2018, a documentary related to the club was released under the same title, Studio 54, directed by Matt Tyrnauer.