Studio 54 was a safe space for groups who would have been marginalised in the late 70s. Right: People wait in line outside of Studio 54 in 1978. Once they did, a "mad sexual orgy" started. 29 Wild Photos From The Drug-Fueled Heyday Of Studio 54. Nobody knew him in those days. Their knocks went unanswered. Not something you see every day, but you could see it at Studio 54. Studio 54 is a shadow of its former self. Diana Ross serenaded the owners from the DJ booth, and Liza Minnelli sang New York, New York. Rubell, donning a Sinatra-like fedora, piped in with a spirited rendition of My Way, which played on repeat during the night, as did Gloria Gaynors Studio 54 anthem I Will Survive. From a mechanical platform high above the dance floor, Rubell addressed his guests with an emotional speech. The employee, stoned out of his mind, forgot to unlock her and went back to work. Then, step inside the 1990s rave scene at its neon zenith. This type of thing wouldnt have been allowed in just any nightclub. Left: A performer on stilts manages to bust a move in 1981. We had big wine barrels we filled with corn. We still don't know even half of what went on behind those hallowed walls, but some people have been willing to spill a few details in interviews or memoirs. He was never on the dance floor, Studio 54 busboy Richie Notar recalled in a 2017 BBC radio documentary. 29 Pictures That Show Just How Insane Studio 54 Really Was. This photograph comes just before the release of Off the Wall, when he was still remembered most for his youthful vocals in The Jackson 5. Even so, it gave visitors a rush of adrenaline to watch them twirl in the air from below. Somebody yelled out, Hey! I had a farm wagon we brought in and piled with hay. With someone like Diana Ross at your venue, you wont be hurting for attendees. A woman in a bustier and garters finds her partner the "punk" behind her, at Studio 54's 1977 Halloween party. In 1977 the club made millions yet reportedly paid just a paltry $8,000 in taxes. Studio 54 was the place to be in its heyday. People came back time and again during the life of Studio 54 for this openness and acceptance. Skimming was standard practice in the cash-flush world of restaurants and nightclubs, but this was an order of magnitude greater than most offenders. With famous and wealthy people as the main guests of the venue, expensive drugs were seemingly in ample supply at all times. We were like the first. One of the most memorable soirees was held in honor of Dolly Parton. He was not there for the drug-fueled disco deliria. It seemed as though thrill-seekers young and old wanted nothing more than to get a taste of Studio 54s soaring reputation. What Gene has is a very different sensitivity, McCarthy says. Another thing it often had, as a result, was strange performances. According to a New York Times article from the time, one night they were finally figured out and told they couldn't serve booze. There were few places in history crazier than Studio 54. Bodies sag, make-up is melted, and glamour gives way to fatigue. Behind The Velvet Rope Line Of Studio 54 S Short Sordid Life. The brainchild of Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager, the club opened in a onetime CBS soundstage on April 26th, 1977, and immediately became the epicenter of nightlife in New York City and the world. One guy fell and had to be stretchered away. But we can still try to piece together some of the most messed up stuff that ever happened at Studio 54. Capote is the author of books like Other Voices, Other Rooms, Breakfast at Tiffanys and In Cold Blood. One night a rejected hopeful came back and brandished a gun. Dressed in their best and taking stock of the nightclub, famous actresses Farrah Fawcett and Shirley MacLaine are photographed with club owner Steve Rubell. Four women in shimmery dresses sit in the club's lounge area. Up above the balcony, there was the rubber room, with thick rubber walls that could be easily wiped down after all the powdery activity that went on. This guy got stuck in the vent trying to get in, Jones confirmed. It was a place of secrets and secretions, the in-crowd and inhalations, sucking and snorting., Studio 54s fast and loose accounting would ultimately contribute to its downfall. He infamously walked around wearing a padded coat that hid his stash of cocaine, Quaaludes, and poppers. She is seen here in colorful 70s makeup, big hair and a risque lace top. In this picture, Robin Williams is with his then-wife Valerie Velardi and Studio 54s own Santa Claus. Schrager was released on $50,000 bond and the disco was open the next night. Suddenly the IRS were interested in going clubbing. Diana Ross and Liza Minnelli sang, while Rubell blasted out My Way. He captured it fantastically the fun and wackiness, the sweetness. So we got to Studio 54 and there was nobody there. Copyright 2023 Penske Business Media, LLC. At the Purple magazine party, a naked couple in a clear bathtub perform for an audience in 1977. Right: During a Purple magazine party in 1978, a topless woman rides onto the dance floor on a white horse. . The 100 Best Albums of 2022. In this picture, well-known English actor Michael Caine is laughing and dancing with his wife Shakira, while partygoers frolic on behind them. Their trademark hedonism was still intact, but the values (or complete lack thereof) had shifted 180 degrees from Woodstock. Capote was an occasional visitor to Studio 54 and got down with the best of them. Alcohol was not the main thing people were after. One of Studio 54s main attractions was its complex lighting. Under Rubells ownership, however, the strange, the weird and the scary were given a place to flourish beneath the lights of the nightclub. At this time, Fawcett had recently hit it big with her role in Charlies Angels, while MacLaine had just starred in The Turning Point. According to friends, Warhol said it was the best present he had ever received. We were really totally dejected. The nightclub threw an annual Halloween party and expected guests to wear the most shocking, over-the-top costumes that you could think of. Studio 54 was crazy all year long, but things got especially wacky for Halloween. They bought a building at 254 W. 54th St. in New York and spent $400,000 on turning it into a nightclub that included a huge man-in-the-moon hanging over the dance floor. (A young Alec Baldwin was a busboy, and legend says he quit because he was too turned on by all the intimacy he witnessed.) 23,434 Studio 54 Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images CREATIVE EDITORIAL VIDEO All Sports Entertainment News Archival Browse 23,434 studio 54 stock photos and images available, or search for studio 54 moon or studio 54 1970s to find more great stock photos and pictures. It got the attention of the IRS, and the club was raided on suspicion of tax evasion. DJ Richie Kaczor dropped the needle on the first record of the night, Devils Gun by C.J. Having been used as a radio and television studio for CBS, the building was still full of TV sets and lighting equipment when Steve Rubell transformed it into a place for drinks, music and dancing. Desperately!. Steve had certain criteria, an insider later told Vanity Fair. A man wears a gold costume, eyeliner, and a headdress while dancing. ' Even so, would-be patrons often took rejection badly. Unlike Ron Galellas work which has been exhibited and is collected as fine art after Spatz died in 2003 the archive of images was inherited by his younger sister, Amy Lowen, and packed away in filing cabinets in her Kentucky home. Clubgoers dance amid light towers on the dance floor at Studio 54 on May 15, 1978. Fortunately, there were places they could go to do the most extreme stuff. Studio 54: Candid photography captures all the bacchanalian revelry, Oliver Reed as a prototype Alex from A Clockwork Orange in These are the Damned, I Have No Desire To Be Nico: Post-Punks Muse Of Manchester, Linder Sterling. In a jovial moment, revelers tipped the bucket over his head, showering him with money. By . One second the light bulb went on and I sang Aaaaahh, freak out! My favorite shots though, are post-party. But if that wasn't enough, above the balcony was the "Rubber Room." Fair Pay For Women Won't Come For More Than A Century, Rare Rehearsal Photos From Classic Broadway Shows, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. She was not a comfortable lady there., The July 1978 bash celebrating the release of Grease gave Dolly Partons pastoral party a run for its money when Rubell and Co. recreated the movies retro set. You can find instructions here as to how. A man dangles a cigarette inside Studio 54, 1977. When sex and money didn't work, people would get violent. At Studio 54, anyone with a good attitude (and good style) was welcome. We were with him literally until he took a car to go home and meet the authorities. The party was over. The head guy, Marc Benecke, was just 19, but his position made him one of the most important people in New York. Many of the staff of Studio 54 including Rubell died as a result of it. We stood there as long as we could take it, until our feet were just finally way too cold. Messed Up Things That Happened At Studio 54. Each morning, massive portions of the previous nights take would be stuffed in garbage bags and hidden above ceiling panels, or smuggled home to Rubells apartment and concealed in a hidden compartment. After Lowen uploaded digital versions of the photographs to a secure vault, POBA staff helped crop and curate the material, highlighting the value of his artistic eye. Copyright 2023 Penske Business Media, LLC. Full of rollerskating Wall Street Bankers, tabloid fixtures and postwar frivolity, a new documentary reveals the social backdrop of the famous club. It peaked just about a decade after the Summer of Love - how far the Baby Boomers had come since their anti-materialist, hippie days! He had accepted it. The spectacle is complete with their revealing outfits, but by Studio 54 standards, their dress is modest. We had the kid who worked at McDonalds next to some movie star or some superstar model, he said in the E! ', Editors picks Studio 54 is immensely interesting just in terms of a sociological perspective. But soon the crowd started to build to ridiculous proportions. Relive some of Studio 54's most classic nights in the gallery above. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. Franco Rossellini and Steve Rubell (producer and owner, respectively) are pictured here in front of what appears to be a giant birthday cake. He told Rubell outright that his uniform was ridiculous for working, and instead he was going to hang out and entertain the celebrities. Id go there a lot with dates and with friends, and with lots of people, he told The Washington Post in 2016. Bokfrlaget Max Strm/Hasse Persson Studio 54. Studio opened on a Tuesday. And finally it hit Bernard. Studio 54's golden age came to an end when the federal government came after Schrager and Rubell for tax evasion. The move this woman pulls off seems to defy her age in every way shes flexible enough to wrap her legs around him and strong enough to hold herself up by his arms. One journalist who was there frequently said, "Even if you weren't having sex with someone every night, you felt like you could.". But two people we know were flat-out rejected were disco legends Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of the band Chic. Trans women were welcomed, while eccentrics such as Rollerina, a Wall Street banker by day who rollerskated on the dancefloor at night, and Disco Sally, a 78-year-old lawyer, were cult figures. Well, this was big-time. The club was a tabloid fixture. When she wasnt whipping her legs through the air to the music, she was brushing shoulders with the countrys most famous celebrities. She made appearances at the nightclub more than once throughout the years and was there on its last day of operation under Steve Rubell in 1980. It was, after all, her fun yet insightful personality that won over the hearts of her many fans. IRS agents raided Studio 54 on December 14th, 1978, seizing garage bags of cash, financial documents and five ounces of cocaine. His latest book, Studio 54, is a record of hedonism that includes actual swinging from the rafters and a literal procession of men in Dionysian drag. Lowen recognized some of the celebrities in the photos, but she wasnt sure what exactly her brothers archives contained or its value to the world. Each vehicle had to be taken onto the street, where its tank was emptied, and then pushed back inside by hand. See Rare Photos Inside Studio 54 Nightclub Photographer Gene Spatz captured celebrities - including John Lennon, Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger - at the iconic New York City 1970s nightclub By. A car whizzed by. These two people, covered in silver, dance for onlookers inside Studio 54. The packed dance floor was the place to see and be seen, but not everything people got up to at Studio 54 was necessarily intended for an audience. We walked out through the entrance where the garbage goes out. All the men had their dicks out the women were showing their tits everybody was feeling everybody else the crowd was moving in waves all of a sudden you would find yourself next to someone you didnt know., Meanwhile, the future president was up to less scandalous shenanigans inside. After those three years, the experience of partying at Studio 54 just wasnt the same. In the aftermath of the Vietnam war, Rubell said people were tired of being serious everyone went out and went wild. While the nightclubs lifespan may have been cut short, the memories made within its walls live on in countless celebrities and lucky visitors. Her hair is blonder and bigger than ever. The owners knew they needed celebrities to keep coming, and they knew celebrities liked free drugs. 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