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When the original investor bailed, D'Alessio recruited Schrager and Rubell, who managed to essentially buy the idea off Harden for a few thousand dollars, making the project theirs and theirs alone. But he had a distant cousin who was hired to be bouncer at Studio 54, and after having lunch together one day, they wandered over. Actor Al Corley was a doorman during the late 1970s. As mentioned previously, Haoui (sometimes spelled "Howie") Montaug's heyday was in the years before the AIDS epidemic became a thing. Their uniform was apparently various stages of undress. Theres a solar eclipse in Aries, Taurus season begins, and Mercury goes retrograde once again. Absolutely. In most cases, there was no serious hiring process, and many employees had no relevant experience or, indeed, any experience whatsoever before they were tasked with running the world's most amazing club. For the new exhibition, Pittman reflected on the night of actress Elizabeth Taylor's birthday. The group's members Ad-Rock, Mike D, and MCA also got big a few years later. After 40 years in the family business, Jeanie Buss is looking to conquer a new arena: womens wrestling. Exclusively men, it's unclear if any of them owned a shirt. And the two resident DJs, Nicky Siano and Richie Kaczor, were indeed two of the best. It was my 15 minutes with Andy Warhol, I guess. I remember there was a couple who came and one of them would be on a leash, and I think the woman was topless. 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. To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. Pittman also noted the boundless "artistic exchange" that happened at Studio 54 parties -- it was a weekly meeting place for musicians, visual artists and other creative minds. Studio 54 The Documentary - Official Trailer. Beyond being just the bouncer, he was also the gatekeeper for the "look" of the club, and anyone who didn't fit his . Catherine Opie: 'Beauty has to encompass more about the human condition', "What was great about Studio 54 was that the unallowed was allowed," he added. He mixed with the celebs and partied just as hard as they did. I have the 12" of the Dana & Gene version - I haven't listened to it in years though. "People were able to let go of their inhibitions, let go of all their emotional baggage they had on the outside and just be who they were.". But before you went in there, you had to check your coat. Those people just looked at me and turned and walked away. He was all of 19-years-old. I was trying to get acting work, doing the occasional Off Broadway play. One year, we spent $50,000 transforming the main entrance hall into a haunted mansion that included live monsters jumping out at our guests as they made their way across rickety bridges through a graveyard, while howling and other very strange loud noises played in the background. Describing one party, former model Kevin Haley told Vanity Fair in 1996, As you came up the ramp in the foyer, you looked through little windows into little booths with midgets doing things. Getting into Studio 54 in the 1970s was a nearly impossible endeavor. People Magazine was barely three years old when Studio opened. [laughs] The Post was already doing its thing back then. Ahead, five outrageous anecdotes that paint a picture of Studio 54 in all of its gratuitous glory. They had to go against everything they knew about DJing to follow the strict rules the owners had. If somebody came up and they were really drunk and acting obnoxious, no they wouldnt get in. Benecke wanted to be a lawyer, according to the Edition Broadsheet. . Page Six was around, though! "Judi called the publicist for Studio 54 and got us on a list," she remembers, "then she became friendly with the doorman, Marc Benecke. The man did, but the doorman still didn't let him in. You\'ll receive the next newsletter in your inbox. For the first time since he and his business partner (Rubell) were forced to sell the discoteque in 1980, former co-owner Ian Schrager . One bartender stood out for being a bit different. I was having lunch with him and he was like, What are you doing the rest of the day, howd you like to come over to this new club were doing security for? We walked over there and I got interviewed by Steve Rubell. Benecke said, "One of the things I think that made me a good doorperson was that I can really feel [people's] energy and for the most part, where they're coming from." I lost Halston but I found him a little later eating a turkey leg, and he made me have some. He was standing by the bar, and Steve said, Andy, this is Bobby Sheridan, hes our new doorman. I said, How do you do? I shook his hand, and he just wouldnt let it go. (Photo by Allan Tannenbaum/Getty Images) Please note: images depicting historical events may contain themes, or have descriptions, that do not reflect current understanding. 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. Perhaps it was the blank slate Benecke offered that Rubell liked. All rights reserved. It was six nights a week, from 10 at night until 4 in the morning. Caravan to Oz says they were picked for "their beauty, youth, energy and style." I tripped the light with Jackie O. I danced all night with Brooke and Bo. A lot of art-world personalities went to Studio 54, but was Studio 54 a part of the art world? He worked on Wall Street and he used to dress up in this semi-drag outfit. As an editor who worked in the . I said, Hi, Rod, and he walked in. Steve had this amazing talent to converse with anybody and make you feel like he was your best friend. Now, people used to tip us occasionally on the way out, and my tips often came in cocaine and quaaludes. He could have killed himself.. It was sex all over the place with various people, and it was full-tilt boogie: work, pleasure, cocaine. He basically taught me everything: what to look for, what not to look for. The dancing and fun continued until the early hours, the atmosphere heavy with the stench of poppers and Elizabeth bebopping with a bevvy of gay porn stars, until Warner put his foot down and said that they were leaving., Andy Warhol also wrote a less-than-flattering recap of the shindig in his journal. The two men were very good friends, despite being incredibly different personalities. Orlando Perez - security. The outside was really a show in itself. (She'd made a deal with the limo company that if she recommended them to celebs, she could use them for free.) Like Berlin's Berghain today, Studio 54 was very famous for its door policy, which was: fun-loving. Were you interested in the club scene then? The club keeps coming up in pop culture, from Netflix to House of Gucci. Jobs at Studio 54 were extremely fluid. But at Studio, it was limitedPaloma Picasso used to go there, Salvador Dal. Its fascinating that he could create this whole empire around him while being so reserved. I was right behind him, and he got on the floor and they put his album on. Studio 54. The fall of Rome, let me tell you. In the three short years of Studio 54s heyday, Marc Benecke was who you had to get past to enjoy the hedonistic other side. Marc Benecke, doorman for the disco club, would stand on a stepping stool and select club candidates from the crowd. Studio 54 Radio is the Ultimate Classic Dance Experience. Michael Overington, the club's general manager, explained to New York Magazine, "Maybe a few busboys like Lenny [Miestorm] partied, but the doormen, the people who dealt with money, the technical people handling sets in the back, they didn't party. It was the last breath and last hurrah before the AIDS epidemic. According to a prosecutor (via MarketWatch), the owners were skimming up to 80% of the club's revenue. Youre there, youre there at a private party in the South of France, youre there in Vegas, youre in L.A., youre seeing all these people that you read about. Yeah, I actually told this one guy to go buy this blazer that I had on at Bloomingdales. Here, Vogue presents the best looks from Studio 54. Theyd get in. Schrager was all business, happy to stay behind the scenes and run things that way. The girls could also go hang around the club themselves for a bit, then come back with all the gossip. She became friends with Michael Jackson, wore $1,200 shoes, and took limos to the disco at midnight every night. Reinaldo Herrera, who was there with Carolina, says, It was rather moving. People were really tired of war and people just wanted to have a good time, and we did. "Studio 54 only ran for 33 months, which is outrageous -- you'd think it ran longer because people are always trying to reinvent (it)," he said. But no one ever came with anybody other than themselves and whomever they were with. That sort of spectacle is what made Studio 54 intoxicating for partygoers. In just a minute, I want to go back to the secret language at the door.Well, we would identify certain people that we wouldnt let in, like we would say, BBQ house party if, say, eight straight white guys dressed like John Travolta showed up at the door. Bob was watching Bianca [Jagger] take poppers and he said to Diana Vreeland, It really becomes more like pagan Rome every day, and she said, I should hope soisnt that what were after?, That would be Disco Sally, a sprightly thing in her late seventies who danced like a thirty-year-old, and was accompanied by a handsome young man named John on her arm, wrote Mark Fleischman in Inside Studio 54. It was a festival of light and music, and the effects were incredible. No Big Apple nightlife venue of the last half of the 20th century ever made as big a splash on the popular culture as Studio 54, which opened 40 years ago this week. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. On any given evening, it was an extraordinary event. Opened by Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager in 1977the same year Saturday Night Fever came outtheres never been a club like it since, with celebrities, socialites and scene- makers clamoring for a ticket in. It was a haven of illicit sex, illegal drug use, and the wildest parties the city had ever seen. 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. But successful businesses don't just happen. He was all of 19-years-old. And I just got opened up. He could have been so generous and spending so much, and he just wasnt. Who do you particularly remember? Madonna And The Beastie Boys Owe Their Career To A Studio 54 Doorman. Howd you start working at Studio 54?I was tending bar at Jim McMullens on Third Avenue, a very hot restaurant owned by the male model. On a Wednesday night, packed with people. And people felt incredibly comfortable therebecause we did the selection process at the door. In France, the slower pace of life and resistance to American-style productivity culture can be as effective as medication. Enter the coat check girls. There are a bunch of gay guys in Day-Glo construction helmets, dancing with Bianca Jagger. So while these people were giving me, you know, guff, he rolled up and he said, Hi Bobby! I let him right in, he gave me a kiss on the cheek. Therefore, celebrities and people in general were willing to let their hair down a lot more. According to The Hollywood Reporter, she basically created a new job when she mentioned to them she had a subscription to Celebrity Bulletin, which, in the days before the internet was how one found out where celebs were staying. He was like Superman, hiding and putting on his costume in a phone booth. I'm going to entertain your guests. In any case, the owner taught him everything about how to get a great mix of people in Studio 54 every night. The whole disco scene really wasnt what was happening at the moment. This may sound nave, but were people happy back then? The owners of Studio 54 became as well-known as the celebs who partied there. He was able to turn people away with a smile. I heard you would tell people who were desperate to get in to go buy the same jacket that you were wearing and then youd let them in? But even if you worked at McDonalds and you liked to come and just dance, and you had good energy, you could get in. Not at all. This article originally appeared on Vogue US. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. There are varying stories of how Scott Taylor was hired, but New York Magazine says he just showed up on opening night and asked for a job. Sally Lippman, also known as "Disco Sally", was a 77-year-old widow and regular . Nearly 35 years after her underappreciated romantic comedys release, the Oscar nominee returns to the Lower East Side. When people got to know me, they realized I wasnt like that. Rubell, who often insisted that photographers hand over their images for approval, didn't ask the same of Pittman, he said. People felt like the key to happiness was maybe not getting married, but maybe having multiple partners. Both Rubell and Schrager were arrested and accused of skimming $2.5 . It was New Year's Eve, 1977. She sent out some invites, and opening night saw big names like Cher, Henry Winkler, JFK Jr., and Warren Beatty show up. Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards, the twin founders of the New York disco and R&B group Chic wandered down to West 54th Street in Midtown . According to Studio 54 documentary filmmaker Matt Tyrnauer, the club owners "cleverly paid doorman Marc Benecke more than anyone else to make sure he wasn't tempted to take bribes. He launched into an enthusiastic rendition of I Did It My Way. A bit too enthusiastic, in fact. They are provided in a historical context. Simone Kessell Wants to Throw a Very Kiwi Dinner Party, Living Abroad Helped Me Cope With My Tourette Syndrome. Studio was a reflection of all of that.. I went down to 54 to meet with Steve. This made it easy for the owners to skim profits, but they didn't take just a little bit off the top they took everything else and just left that little top bit. Or maybe because it really was that good, though as a person who will only ever experience Studio 54 in facsimile, I dont have any idea about that. People got off on that. Somehow, the pairing worked, and when Rubell died in 1989, Schrager said, "I'll never have that kind of friend again. Is Prince Harry going? The photographer credits this to the late Rubell, who died in 1989, and Schrager. Even Andy and Divine now seem a bore. The Upper East Side socialites were doing cocaine. Jennifer Aniston Shares Wild and Wonderful Memories of Hanging Out at Cher's House as a Teenager, News that the Netflix series will conclude with season five comes on the heels of similar moves by, Hollywoods Most Infuriating Movie Drought Is Finally Over, New on Netflix: The Best Movies and TV Shows Coming (and Leaving) in April 2023. Yet for some reason, the owners treated them like they were an inconvenience. As part of partiers' first impression of the club, the coat check girls had to fit in. 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 Pittman also nodded to florist Renny Reynolds and event planner Robert Isabell, the latter of whom once dumped four tons of glitter on the dance floor when the clock struck midnight on New Year's Eve. Haoui Montaug went out in the most Haoui Montaug way possible: by throwing a suicide party. Or Michael Jackson, or theres Mick Jagger. By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive email correspondence from us. A double dose of Rachel Weisz is just what the doctor ordered. During this time, you can visit and enjoy the museum's. Next Airs Today at 3 pm. Across generations, photographers have provided eclectic answers. You had a really interesting mix of all different levels of society. The team that brought Studio 54 to life in just six weeks included architects Scott Bromley and Ron Dowd, set designer Richie Williamson, and lighting designers Jules Fisher and Paul Morantz. It was of the times, of that moment. 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. Per The Andy Warhol Diaries: Hearing how much money Steve actually had, he could have been treating us so wonderfully. There was an etiquette to Studio 54. How do you decide who gets in? To get into Studio 54, first you had to get past the doorman, Marc Benecke. It wasnt just a nightclub. Considering Studio 54 was a nightclub, and people tend to go to nightclubs to dance, you'd assume the DJs there would be close to royalty. Pro- and anti-Jordan protesters clashed with police trying to keep them out of the hearing room, while the chairman knocked Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg's crime policies. Realizing you really could pay for publicity like that, the job of celebrity wrangler was born. He was like a fairy godmother. "It's always in the air. This included the employees. A lot of stuff was going on in New York City that you just couldnt believe. After making it past the velvet rope, partiers at Studio 54 entered what one hostess called "The Corridor of Joy," according to Another Man. So what was the wildest thing you ever saw at Studio?The wildest thing was happening every night in the balcony. For even more privacy, there were mattresses in the basement, but assumedly the employees weren't cleaning those every night. The employee's tip would lead to prison sentences for the owners, and the club closed. He had this drag queen muse. Yes, very much so. The all-night shifts were "grueling and the work was extremely physical" and had some occupational hazards, namely accidental contact highs. They were very into social issues and I grew up being politically aware at a very early age. Terms of Service apply. 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. From classic dance and disco music and legendary DJ's to the original doorman who decided whether you got in or went home, Studio 54 Radio is the ultimate re-creation of dance music's greatest era. Every night, hopefuls crowded the rope outside Studio 54, masochistically waiting for the approval of a doorman (like Mark Benecke, seen here) or Steve Rubell. Club founders Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager provided premium guests with premium cocaine and spent up to $100,000 on a single nights party decor. You must have met a lot of amazing characters at the door. Health warning over viral TikTok trend which sees sweet-flavoured powders and syrups added to water to make it taste better. I can only wonder, as I ogle all the reproductions from my dumb little couch: Is this sufficiently swinging? I was a poli sci major in school, I wanted to become a lawyer. Hed have dinner in fairly large groups and you could get a sentence out here and there, but in general, he was more of an observer than a participant unless he knew you really, really well. Studio 54 has gone down in history as the ultimate nightclub, a place where everyone who was anyone went to get down, boogie, and be seen. 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. While there's no way of knowing if Studio 54 contributed to the AIDS epidemic in any real way, many regular clubgoers and employees would succumb to the disease. This is what it was like to work at Studio 54. Robin Platzer/Twin Images . 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. A Studio 54 Doorman Tells Us How to Get In. "Y'all be in labor for hours, baby be sleep, women be sleep, we can't have a little peace at the hospital while we there everyday until it's time to go home come on" It wasn't their idea to open a new disco. He gave us nicknames: his was Biff, and my nickname was Bunky. And where it was okay, where it was welcomed. It was a short window of excess, wedged in just before the AIDS epidemic took hold. Did people try to bribe you to get in?Yeah, sure, people offered money, but you would never accept that, because if you did, then theyd show up the next night with all of their friends, everybody whod been in their wedding. The late 70s also saw the rise of celebrity culture, and Studio 54 . And the people who worked there. Each EDITION property is completely unique, reflecting the best of the cultural and social milieu of its location and of the time. Thats really what happened. Its really just about personality, Ive always been very outgoing. From comedy classics to underseen dramatic gems, your next binge is waiting. Weve been on this long journey to figure out what happiness is. IRS agents raided Studio 54 on December 14th, 1978, seizing garage bags of cash, financial documents and five ounces of cocaine. "When you walked in the front door, not only did you get the sound of the disco music, the smell of sex and taste the sweat, but you got the smell of all those live gardinias. "On a good night Studio 54 was the best party of your life," says Anthony Haden . In terms of the drugs, people had moved from looking inward to just straight up partying. A German male model, Uva Harden, originally found the location and brought on an investor plus a woman named Carmen D'Alessio to handle the publicity. We had him by the ankles. I was friends with them. "My style is the Andy Warhol Polaroid school of photography," Pittman said of the artist's influence on his work. Andy Warhol was one of the few well-known artists in the world [that came to Studio 54]. At that point my band mate made a flavorful declaration and we decamped to the trusty, attitude free, IHOP where we enjoyed a drama free stack . 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. Siano claims, "Steve [Rubell] wanted an invisible DJ, so that it wouldn't interfere with the club." Not everyone who worked at Studio 54 was just there to have a good time. In this case, it was one of their own employees that shut it down. How did you get involved at such a young age? Regardless of their physical state, it was the coat check girls' job to play it "cool" no matter how famous the star or how drugged up the person who lost their ticket was. He had every single song in his car., Ross prodded an even more trashed Rubell into singing himself. The scale went from $30 to $250 (she told New York Magazine Alice Cooper was worth $60 while Sylvester Stallone was $80), with $250 bonuses if pictures of the stars at Studio 54 made the papers. Steve liked the fact that I knew nothing about the whole nightclub scene. On any given evening, youd have, you know, Rudolph Nureyev, youd have Chuck Berry, Keith Richards. You were welcomed in. 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. Perhaps Studio 54s aura of fascination remains because it didnt last very long (the golden-age version closing due to tax evasion after about three years), or maybe because of the legions of slinky celebs who passed through its doors ( Liz Taylor seated on the dance floor, eating a cake with her face on it; Bianca Jagger riding that horse; Grace Jones all the time everywhere), or maybe because of a 70s revival pushing people back to flares and curtain bangs. I'm not going to do that. 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. Studio 54 defined clubbing, disco, and celebrity in the late 1970s. Halston, Andy Warhol, Liza Minnelli, Mick Jagger, Cher, David Geffen, Jack Nicholson, and Michael Jackson regularly packed the banquettes. And Studio 54 doorman Marc Benecke as his witness, looking the part above the neck went a long way. According to The Independent, he said that he "sometimes" took them up on it. "(I'd) back off a little bit and feel the vibe, and then document things," he said. Women would dance, showing their breasts, and guys would wear assless chaps, right? He said he . What were we thinking?, Steve Rubell and Diana Ross went up to control central, the DJ boothDiana Ross began to sing out over the crowd. I definitely did. Beyond being just the bouncer, he was also the gatekeeper for the "look" of the club, and anyone who didn't fit his definition of what that look was would find themselves at the end of the line. Troye Sivan and More of the Bestest Party Pics This Week. How the Owner of the Los Angeles Lakers Gets It Done. 1/20. According to Disco, Drugs & Decadence: The Rise and Fall of America's Premier Discotheque. Wed see them coming a half a block away and they already were not going to get in. People would come from out of town to come to the club, and it just wasnt necessarily a good fit. Perhaps not surprisingly, Siano only lasted four months at Studio 54, but Kaczor stuck it out for three years. I could never do that job now. I think the Village Voice put it best when they said you cant reheat souffl, and thats basically what the story was at 54. The photographer that captured the disco and diamond dust of legendary club Studio 54.

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