Self. My mom came from a political family. But the fact Taylor did work while the other bartenders partied made him invaluable to his coworkers, and they demanded he stay. 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. Still, the impact of Gagas sequined going-out top endures, a little disco lure to reel butts into seats. But even if you worked at McDonalds and you liked to come and just dance, and you had good energy, you could get in. Or Michael Jackson, or theres Mick Jagger. He gave us nicknames: his was Biff, and my nickname was Bunky. Hed show up with Cheryl Tiegs and Christie Brinkley, and all the models of the day, and I let them all in for free. Being young, pretty, and in New York City, this of course meant a lot of them were wannabe actors and singers. For 33 short months the club was the height of cool in Manhattan, with club goers who managed to get past the velvet rope falling into a deluge of drugs and debauchery. Each EDITION property is completely unique, reflecting the best of the cultural and social milieu of its location and of the time. It's no fun to be 53 at Studio 54. He said he told him, Well, you know America was discovered by an ItalianThe front of Studio 54 was decorated like the front of a boat. People would dance, get to know each other, do a little coke, and then go up to the balcony because it was an old theater, you could hardly see up there and hook up. Studio 54. It smelled like a cat had died. Not a subscriber? But back in the day, she would dance nonstopfrom midnight to 5:00 a.m. many nights a week, taking only bathroom and cocaine breaks., As New York magazine reported at the time, A tiny, 77-year-old lawyer named Sally Lippman was mourning the death of her husband when she happened upon the disco scene and changed her life. It still is," Schrager told "CBS This Morning: Saturday" co-host Anthony Mason. (The downside the drugs became a serious problem until he finally realized years later he needed to sober up.). "(I'd) back off a little bit and feel the vibe, and then document things," he said. It was sex all over the place with various people, and it was full-tilt boogie: work, pleasure, cocaine. 2016 The Incomparable Rose Hartman (Documentary) (as Mark Benecke) 2015 ON the ROOF (TV Series) Self (2016) (as Mark Benecke) 2012 The Secret Disco Revolution (Documentary) Self (as Mark Benecke) 2008 70's Fever (TV Movie documentary) Self - Studio 54 Doorman (as Mark Benecke) Troye Sivan and More of the Bestest Party Pics This Week. He started out as a janitor earning $3 an hour and worked his way up to becoming the club's general manager. People were really tired of war and people just wanted to have a good time, and we did. He frequented the other clubs of the era, such as Paradise Garage, Infinity, Max's Kansas City, and Mudd Club, but Studio 54, which he attended from opening night, was different. He was so elusive, he was often described as a "silent partner" in the business. He said he had to explain to Valentino why he was doing it that way. This is how I met my wife Elizabeth. Since everyone knew, at least vaguely, what was up, this made it easy for an unhappy employee, mad about his treatment by the club, to squeal to the feds. Much different. Privacy Policy and Yet for some reason, the owners treated them like they were an inconvenience. 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. And the two resident DJs, Nicky Siano and Richie Kaczor, were indeed two of the best. Steve Steckel - head of security. (This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.). According to The Guardian, the balcony, with its slightly secluded nature, was covered in easy to wipe down materials for any body fluids that got spilled up there. So this guys standing out there for probably half an hour, Steve comes out and he looked at me and he said, I think that might be one of the Bee Gees. I said, Really, you think so? And he said, Thats how they dress. He walks up and he says, Are you one of the Bee Gees? And he goes, Yeah Im Barry Gibb.. People felt like the key to happiness was maybe not getting married, but maybe having multiple partners. Terms of Service apply. She sent out some invites, and opening night saw big names like Cher, Henry Winkler, JFK Jr., and Warren Beatty show up. Studio 54 is known for having been one of the world's most high-profile, exclusive discotheques during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Like Studio 54 itself, Tyrnauer's doc thrives on access. And then they redid the Palladium, and that was happening. When he wasn't gatekeeping New York City's clubs a job that he handled capriciously and according to however he was feeling that day, per"Factory: The Story of the Record Label" Haoui Montaug was providing them with musical acts, or "roving cabaret" shows, as it were. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images. And people felt incredibly comfortable therebecause we did the selection process at the door. '", Instead of informing this nobody that there were a million young, attractive men in New York City who would kill for his job, Rubell decided this was a great idea. Schrager was all business, happy to stay behind the scenes and run things that way. [laughs] The Post was already doing its thing back then. We had kind of a language at the door, certain words we used to describe who was approaching, that kind of thing. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. But the moment that really explains how the door worked, the moment that stands out in my mind is, I was out at the rope and there were three straight couples, very well-dressed and obviously monied, who wanted to get in. It was a drug that kept you up and dancing for hours and hours, and made you very chatty. Everybody was in awe. I have the 12" of the Dana & Gene version - I haven't listened to it in years though. 54 was just electric, he told me, this carnival atmosphere where people felt free to just be absolutely who they wanted to be inside. On any given evening, it was an extraordinary event. For a nightclub that only lasted a few years and closed more than four decades ago, the strength of Studio 54s sustained cultural influence astonishes me. As Netflixs Halston reminds us, Studio 54 was a fever dream of excess. . For 33 months, Studio 54 was the giddy epicenter of 70s hedonism, a disco hothouse of beautiful people, endless cocaine, and every kind of sex. (Calling in sick on your second night of work is very Studio 54, though.) The prize: a paid trip to St. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Studio 54 Radio is the Ultimate Classic Dance Experience. They were very into social issues and I grew up being politically aware at a very early age. I was very young. 2hrs. Barts. 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. I have heard that, yes! In front is famous artist Andy Warhol. Like Halstons boyfriend, Victor Hugo, often wore backless chaps. Scantily clad dancers gyrated on an automated bridge that moved back and forth over the dance floor. Studio 54 The Documentary - Official Trailer. In France, the slower pace of life and resistance to American-style productivity culture can be as effective as medication. Haoui Montaug went out in the most Haoui Montaug way possible: by throwing a suicide party. And it wasnt about that. One Studio 54 bartender went onto much bigger things. Studio was a reflection of all of that.. We were all really serious about creating a great show.". It's no fun to be 53 at Studio 54. Once I get down, I can't get off the floor. Studio 54 was the hottest party spot in the world, defining the disco era in all its ecstasy and excess. Those people just looked at me and turned and walked away. Would any celebrity get in if they just walked up?Well, not necessarily. It was an easy interview, it didnt go into too much depth, it probably lasted for half an hour and then he offered me the job. Perhaps because, as Taylor put it, "Steve [Rubell] wanted all big, gay, muscle-bound bartenders, and I was, like, this Jewish straight boy from Queens," the owner was unimpressed when he noticed and tried to fire him. He could have been so generous and spending so much, and he just wasnt. All rights reserved. Kyle Richards, 54, explains HOW she stays so skinny after denying she uses weight loss drug Ozempic: '1 hour of alternating between walking at 3.5mph and running at 6mph' Teen spirit! A Studio 54 Doorman Tells Us How to Get In. Hes now back with a Studio 54 radio show on SiriusXM and a new position with Schrager, as the New York EDITIONs night manager. 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. Though the exhibition, "Studio 54: Night Magic," is temporarily closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, it crystallizes the glamorous nights set against gritty 1970s New York. Shortly before Studio 54 opened, Joanne Horowitz met owners Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager at their other club, Enchanted Gardens. The outside was really a show in itself. She was blitzed. You walked in and you were hit with this wall of sound, and youd look out there and thered be Diana Ross dancing to her own song. The club keeps coming up in pop culture, from Netflix to House of Gucci. The one that sticks out in my head had a midget family eating a formal dinner., Ahead of Thanksgiving in 1978, Rubell attempted an audacious holiday event for which Valentino footed the bill. You got up and you danced, and you might end up dancing with Catherine Deneuve or anybody, but there was a sense that different rules applied. Steve Rubell, a co-owner of the club, reveled in mixing beautiful "nobodies" with the glamorous by hand-selecting guests from the crowds outside the . The city had moved on. You see, Studio 54 wasn't just a place where illegal sex and drugs happened. 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. She was a retired Jewish lawyer who became a judge and suddenly went crazy due to the combination of cocaine and the Studio 54 Effect. I said, Hi, Rod, and he walked 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. The actor, artist, and certified beefcake chats with, Filming a geopolitical epic in Europe for seven months was the last thing on the. Theyd get in. What good was owning the coolest club in the world if you didn't party in it yourself? I remember there was a couple who came and one of them would be on a leash, and I think the woman was topless. Since then, the photographer said, there's never been another club like it, though many have tried to recapture the spirit (including Rubell and Schrager, who opened the nightclub Palladium after their stints in jail). You were welcomed in. Caravan to Oz says they were picked for "their beauty, youth, energy and style." Yeah, I actually told this one guy to go buy this blazer that I had on at Bloomingdales. . You couldnt buy your way in, you know? 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. Nothing sets the mood like dust and crochet shirts. Miestorm claims that later that same evening, he "snorted coke with Andy Warhol, Divine, and Halston. That sort of spectacle is what made Studio 54 intoxicating for partygoers. 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. Everyone wanted to get in, from ex-first ladies to drag queens. Lure to reel butts into seats the fact Taylor did work while the other bartenders partied him. 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