Studio 54

Studio 54 was a legendary New York City disco located on West 54th Street in Manhattan. It opened on April 26, 1977 and closed in 1986. It currently serves as a venue for the Roundabout Theatre Company -- a 900 seat theatre equipped with two full service bars.

Related Topics:
New York City - Manhattan - April 26 - 1977 - 1986

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From the 1950s to the mid 1970s, the space was CBS Studio 52 (not 53 as sometimes misidenitified), a radio and TV stage that housed such shows as What's My Line?, The Jack Benny Show, I've Got a Secret, and Captain Kangaroo. The soap opera Love of Life was produced there until 1975. (The building is around the corner from CBS-TV Studio 50, better known as the Ed Sullivan Theater.)

Related Topics:
CBS - What's My Line? - The Jack Benny Show - I've Got a Secret - Captain Kangaroo - Love of Life - 1975 - Ed Sullivan Theater

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When CBS sold TV Studio 52 and it became a disco, it was renamed for its street address -- at 254 West 54th Street.

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Studio 54 was operated by the flamboyant, openly gay, publicly visible Steve Rubell and retiring, straight silent partner Ian Schrager. Hedonistic Rubell was known for hand selecting guests from the always huge mobs outside, mixing beautiful "nobodies" with glamorous celebrities in the same venue. "Studio", as it came to be called, was inside of an old theater; the balconies were notorious for sexual encounters, and drug use was rampant. Its dance floor was decorated with a depiction of a man-in-the-moon that included an animated coke spoon.

Related Topics:
Gay - Steve Rubell - Straight - Ian Schrager - Coke

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In 1979, Rubell and Schrager were arrested and charged for skimming $2.5 million. Loads of cocaine and money were found in the club's walls.

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During its heyday it played a formative role in the growth of disco music and nightclub culture in general, and was one of the first nightclubs to blur the distinction between "straight" and "gay" nightlife.

Related Topics:
Disco - Nightclub

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The disco was depicted in the 1998 movie 54 and parodied in the 2002 movie Austin Powers in Goldmember as Studio 69. (Both films starred Mike Myers, interestingly.) Today, Studio 54 is located in Las Vegas, and is always open as a nightclub. It features the familiar marquee as well as that man in the moon with a coke spoon hanging on the wall. However, despite the club's success in its new Vegas locale, many feel that it isn't actually Studio 54, that it is only the club by name.

Related Topics:
1998 - 54 - 2002 - Austin Powers in Goldmember - Mike Myers - Las Vegas

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Some of the celebrities who frequented Studio 54:

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• Gilda Radner
  
• George Burns
  
• Karen Carpenter
  
• Mae West
  
• Salvador Dali
  
• Paul and Linda McCartney
  
• Betty Ford
  
• Frank Sinatra
  
• Deborah Harry
  
• avante-garde director John Waters
  
• Donna Summer
  
• supermodel Gia Carangi
  
• Sophia Loren
  
• David Bowie
  
• Cher
  
• heiress Kathy Hilton (mother of Paris)
  
• Woody Allen and Mia Farrow
  
• Olivia Newton-John
  
• Diane Keaton
  
• Gloria Gaynor (frequently performed at the club)
  
• John Travolta
  
• Bette Midler
  
• Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
  
• Geraldo Rivera
  
• Elton John
  
• Michael Jackson
  
• Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver
  
• Sylvester Stallone
  
• Dolly Parton
  
• supermodel Janice Dickinson
  
• fashion designer Gloria Vanderbilt
  
• Liza Minnelli
  
• Diana Ross
  
• drag queen Divine
  
• Rick James
  
• Andy Warhol
  
• Calvin Klein
  
• Dave Benson Phillips
  
• Jodie Foster
  
• Margaux Hemingway
  
• Lauren Hutton
  
• disco group Chic (frequently performed at the club)
  
• The Village People (frequently performed at the club)
  
• b-movie actor Joe Dallesandro
  
• Brooke Shields
  
• Ryan O'Neal
  
• Mick and Bianca Jagger
  
• Barbra Streisand
  
• Truman Capote
  
• Bo Derek
  
• Elizabeth Taylor
  
• Farrah Fawcett
  
• Grace Jones
  
• Christina Onassis
  
• Halston
  
• attorney Roy Cohn
  
• Liberace
  
• Donald Trump and Ivana Trump
  
• Warren Beatty
  
• Christopher Reeve
  
• Helen Gurley Brown
  
• socialite Jocelyne Wildenstein
  
• supermodel Jerry Hall
  
• John F. Kennedy Jr.
  
• Diana Vreeland
  
• Mary Tyler Moore
  
• Dick Cavett
  
• O. J. Simpson
  
• Margaret Trudeau
  
• Mikhail Baryshnikov
  
• David Rockefeller
  
• Norman Mailer
  
• William F. Buckley Jr.
  
• Martha Graham
  
• Muhammad Ali
  
• Mariel Hemingway
  
• Teena Marie
  
• Valerie Harper
  
• Robin Williams
  
• Eartha Kitt
  
• Gloria Swanson
  
• Dustin Hoffman
  
• Yul Brynner
  
• Diane von Furstenberg
  
• Zsa Zsa Gabor
  
• porn legend John Holmes
  
• Merv Griffin and Eva Gabor
  
• Tommy Hilfiger
  
• Vicki Sue Robinson (frequently performed at the club)
  
• Richard Gere
  
• Reggie Jackson
  
• Hugh Hefner
  
• porn legend Ron Jeremy
  
• Raquel Welch
  
• Bob Fosse
  

and many others

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The club reopened in 1981, when it was bought for $5 million by restaurant and nightclub owner Mark Fleischman. It still attracted the regular night life, and celebrities such as Boy George, Drew Barrymore, Madonna, Janet Jackson, Alec Baldwin, Lionel Richie, Jean-Michel Basquiat, LaToya Jackson, Jody Watley, David Lee Roth, Tatum O'Neal, Jennifer Grey, Cyndi Lauper, Ginger Lynn, and Traci Lords. It finally closed for good in 1986, due to changing tastes.

Related Topics:
1981 - Mark Fleischman - Boy George - Drew Barrymore - Madonna - Janet Jackson - Alec Baldwin - Lionel Richie - Jean-Michel Basquiat - LaToya Jackson - Jody Watley - David Lee Roth - Tatum O'Neal - Jennifer Grey - Cyndi Lauper - Ginger Lynn - Traci Lords - 1986

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In 1994, after becoming a strip club for a few years, the club finally reopened with much fanfare with a live concert by disco stars Gloria Gaynor, Vicki Sue Robinson, and Sister Sledge. The club again went into bankruptcy the following year until 1998, when a revival of the hit Broadway musical Cabaret opened there and stayed there until 2004. More surprises were in store for the former discotheque. That year, the club/theater hosted revivals of two Stephen Sondheim musicals: Assassins and Pacific Overtures. In 2005, Studio 54 housed a revival of Tennessee Williams's immortal drama A Streetcar Named Desire starring John C. Reilly and Natasha Richardson. 2006 will bring a revival of Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera starring Alan Cumming and Edie Falco.

Related Topics:
1994 - Gloria Gaynor - Vicki Sue Robinson - Sister Sledge - 1998 - Broadway - Cabaret - 2004 - Stephen Sondheim - Assassins - Pacific Overtures - 2005 - Tennessee Williams - A Streetcar Named Desire - John C. Reilly - Natasha Richardson - 2006 - Kurt Weill - Threepenny Opera - Alan Cumming - Edie Falco

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The club is still used as a nightclub on weeks when plays are not being staged. Gloria Estefan has performed there as a tour stop. In 2002, Paris Hilton celebrated her 21st birthday at the club (her mother had done the same thing in 1978).

Related Topics:
Gloria Estefan - 2002 - Paris Hilton - 1978

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