Speaker 1: Ridiculous crime. It's a production of iHeartRadio Zaren Elizabeth Zarn.
Speaker 1: I'm so glad that you decided to grace this with
Speaker 1: your presence.
Speaker 2: Thanks Claude.
Speaker 1: I've had to do the last four shows all by myself.
Speaker 2: I know, I saw the sock It's kind of cool, though.
Speaker 2: You must have done a good job. Was about sending
Speaker 2: me emails with photos of the sockbuck the show?
Speaker 1: It was cool. It was really cool. Dirty socks. But
Speaker 1: that's okay. Listen, buddy, you know it's ridiculous.
Speaker 2: Oh my god. I do you know when you know
Speaker 2: that you would be friends with the celebrity?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Right here had that feeling. There are two that I
Speaker 2: know what I would be friends with. They're both gone,
Speaker 2: so I can't be friends with them. But yeah, most
Speaker 2: of the celebrities I think I could be, like have
Speaker 2: an affinity for a friendship with are all gone. I'm like,
Speaker 2: why is that? What does that say? Do I not
Speaker 2: fit in these times? Anyway? Both of them loved each other,
Speaker 2: but the funny thing is is neither one of them
Speaker 2: could understand each other. They're two of my favorite people ever.
Speaker 2: Lee Marvin and Toshiro Maffuni. Wait, so this story. Yeah,
Speaker 2: the actor Marvin, right, yeah, and the actor to Shiro Maffuoni.
Speaker 2: They were like best friends. But this is a story
Speaker 2: we have from Betty Marvin, obviously Lee Marvin's wife. She
Speaker 2: says the story and I quote Lee and I always
Speaker 2: from the beginning would see Japanese films. He'd love to
Speaker 2: Shiro Maffuoni so much. He used to call him on
Speaker 2: the phone. Couldn't understand a word of Japanese BUFFOONI spoke
Speaker 2: no English. They'd have these long conversations.
Speaker 1: About what wait, isn't that the best?
Speaker 2: Just sitting there drunk on the phone because they were
Speaker 2: both big drinkers, right, so I'd be billing about his
Speaker 2: nighttime phone calls they're for at least one of them,
Speaker 2: probably a morning phone call for the other because the
Speaker 2: time difference. But they're drunk sitting there on the phone.
Speaker 1: Oh man.
Speaker 2: Because I was saying that to John borhim the other.
Speaker 1: Day, love me, what are you doing? We was just talking?
Speaker 2: So how great is that two people have a conversation
Speaker 2: with another person who doesn't speak their language or my people?
Speaker 2: That is.
Speaker 1: It's ridiculous too, right, But you know what else is ridiculus?
Speaker 1: No keeping perfect criming records.
Speaker 2: Oh that's so you.
Speaker 1: I know, this is Ridiculous Crime, a podcast about absurd
Speaker 1: and outrageous capers, heists, and cons. It is always ninety
Speaker 1: nine percent murder free and one hundred percent ridiculous.
Speaker 3: I know you heard that.
Speaker 1: Nightclubs zaren, Yes, one of my favorite places. Do you
Speaker 1: like to go to night clubs?
Speaker 2: I used to? Yeah, I mean I did. I like
Speaker 2: really more like jazz clubs. Nightclubs are going to have
Speaker 2: like a comic. I don't want, like a burlesque.
Speaker 1: Show people snap and appreciation of things.
Speaker 2: No, but like the old school and nightclubs like we're
Speaker 2: like a Dean Martin where you're going to see a show.
Speaker 2: I don't want to go to, like you know, see
Speaker 2: someone like you know, reading their death comedy stuff.
Speaker 1: And then I like a nightclub, like to go dancing,
Speaker 1: Oh like that.
Speaker 2: Cat of nightclub, like a dance club, a dance area. Yeah,
Speaker 2: in this dancery like dancer dancery. So that's what we're
Speaker 2: talking about. Yeah, I love dancery. You do all freak
Speaker 2: of freaka floor I do not really you don't like dancing.
Speaker 1: I like dancing. It's not like like nightclub dance.
Speaker 2: But do you like go with your friends and just
Speaker 2: like dance with your friends, you don't have to dance
Speaker 2: with strangers.
Speaker 1: You're a long time ago. Sarah TACIONI a goddess among humans.
Speaker 2: Great great persons.
Speaker 1: She and I used to go to two different like
Speaker 1: dance nights in the city. One was at the cat
Speaker 1: club called sixteen on Sunday night. Sure I never went,
Speaker 1: but I know it was like all rock and roll whatever.
Speaker 1: And then there was like sort of a similar one.
Speaker 1: I remember the old Covered Wagon. Oh yeah, Bordello Night
Speaker 1: was amazing music, and so we would go to that
Speaker 1: and kind of google walk around and you know, talk
Speaker 1: to people and get down. But like that, like I
Speaker 1: don't know, I don't think of myself as a nightclub
Speaker 1: disco person.
Speaker 2: I can see how you might not see that because
Speaker 2: it you also like to go to bed early.
Speaker 1: I got it.
Speaker 2: So there's that.
Speaker 1: Every day it gets earlier than earlier, and I love it.
Speaker 1: The big dog, let's talk about nightclubs. Let's get back
Speaker 1: on it. Back on the big dog of all nightclubs
Speaker 1: has to be Studio fifty four in New York City.
Speaker 2: Oh my god. The legendary Kramela Crown, the top.
Speaker 1: Of the Mountain City, the Big Potato. Yes, Studio fifty
Speaker 1: four relatively short lived.
Speaker 2: I understand.
Speaker 1: Yeah, like the first I never got to go. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the First Iteration opened in nineteen seventy seven. I was
Speaker 1: forty eight years old and I was the deputy mayor
Speaker 1: of New York City. Huh No, it was I'm just kiddings.
Speaker 2: Are now You're still in Minieapolis at that point.
Speaker 1: So that First Iteration, right, thirteen seventy seven, that closed
Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty.
Speaker 2: Okay, so that's like the disco era, wor Yeah.
Speaker 1: It burned out, it did not fade away. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: let's set the stage for you. Nineteen seventy seven. Yes,
Speaker 1: you told us recently you're punk broke. That was how
Speaker 1: That was the year that punk ro was sex pistoles,
Speaker 1: you know, a very avant garde music scene. So was disco,
Speaker 1: totally dance music. It was played in disco texts. It was.
Speaker 1: That was a French phenomenon. Yeah, I love a good
Speaker 1: disco tech. The backstory on that, when my brother opened
Speaker 1: his bar, we were at a family function and we
Speaker 1: saw our like second cousin, like our dad's cousin, who's
Speaker 1: this crazy like New York socialite, eccentric. Yes, and she
Speaker 1: was an older, older gap woman of a certain age,
Speaker 1: very certainly like getting up there and my brothers, I'm
Speaker 1: opening this bar. And she turns to him with her
Speaker 1: like her vivid red lipstick and dark black hair, says,
Speaker 1: I love a good disco tech. So that's what we call.
Speaker 2: And this is like clearly not the seventies or the
Speaker 2: eighties when this is oh no, this was not.
Speaker 1: At all so but she loved a good disco tech.
Speaker 1: The French love a good disco tech. That phenomenon of
Speaker 1: the disco tech came from France to the States in
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty and it was placed in New York called.
Speaker 2: La Club Club that sounds like a place.
Speaker 1: You go Manhattan. Of course, Studio fifty four, like I said,
Speaker 1: was the big dog when it came to disco nightclubs.
Speaker 1: Lots of drugs and hedonism and like just letting go
Speaker 1: into the buget all my favorite things, oh totally lights,
Speaker 1: loud music, DJs, and dance. Expressing yourself through dance, telling stories,
Speaker 1: standing in your truth through dance.
Speaker 2: Speaking through the language of your body.
Speaker 1: Physical communications through dance. That was the point. So people
Speaker 1: they showed off their moves, which tended to be like
Speaker 1: really smooth and saucy, a little six sexy, very sexy,
Speaker 1: very seat. And there was the fashion. It was a
Speaker 1: huge part of it. There's like polyester for days.
Speaker 2: I've seen Saturday Night few.
Speaker 1: So glamorous, spend a lot of time on my hand,
Speaker 1: like flowy yet like skimpy dresses made to show off
Speaker 1: the moves, shiny suits, Saturday Night fever with like tight
Speaker 1: flared pin open collars. Yeah, his in hers high heels, oh.
Speaker 2: My god, yes, right, chunky high.
Speaker 1: Heels, yes, so much glitter, gold, lemm a cost satins, yeah, gold, jewelry,
Speaker 1: body paint, dress, body paint, gold body paints. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: but like that became huge. It was and peak hockey
Speaker 1: and outlandish and early punk guards totally art scene type.
Speaker 2: Thing and going against the mood of the time or
Speaker 2: the mainstream, like what was going on at the time
Speaker 2: in terms.
Speaker 1: Of esthetic, right. And then there were drugs of course, yes,
Speaker 1: always the drugs avant garde. Yeah, so that was right
Speaker 1: up there in importance with the music. In the clothes.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, it's like a kind of a mix. There
Speaker 2: are three angles of the triangle.
Speaker 1: There were three main drugs common in disco text like
Speaker 1: adare council, Yes you do. So there's the cocaine. Yes, cocaine.
Speaker 1: You know what that is. You know it speeds. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it makes you think you're also makes you feel you well,
Speaker 1: it makes you think that your hair brained ideas are
Speaker 1: really clever, brilliant.
Speaker 3: Yes.
Speaker 1: Poppers, Yes, so you inhale the vapors of break it
Speaker 1: open and go, Yeah, exactly like h of the seventies,
Speaker 1: very dangerous and popular drug gives you a very short
Speaker 1: lived for it totally. And then quailudes the down lids. Yeah,
Speaker 1: those discos because they got you all loose and wobbly.
Speaker 2: Oh, I figured they're taking them afterwards.
Speaker 1: They called them disco biscuits.
Speaker 2: Biscuits, and they.
Speaker 1: Made sure they made your legs wobbly, and you just
Speaker 1: felt jubbly and it felt amazing interesting, gets you right
Speaker 1: in the Joe blues. So all of the aforementioned elements
Speaker 1: were present at Studio fifty four better believe. So let's
Speaker 1: start with the opening of the club. It actually starts
Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy six. There's this German by centennial picture
Speaker 1: of the world. Every one of their stars and Stripes
Speaker 1: tall ships in the New York. Then a German male
Speaker 1: model named Uva Harden, Uva Harden, Uva Harden Wow, which
Speaker 1: like right, how.
Speaker 2: Would you like your eggs?
Speaker 1: Harden surrounded by like Uncle Sam the Stars and Stripes Centennial.
Speaker 1: Un Hey, he wanted to open a nightclub in New
Speaker 1: York called Studio just play a studio like the club.
Speaker 1: So he and this Israeli dude, Joram Polani, they signed
Speaker 1: on to take over the old CBS Studio fifty two, Okay,
Speaker 1: And since that was on the recording space, yeah, like
Speaker 1: a big auditorium.
Speaker 2: The radio place that they would do shows and stuff.
Speaker 1: And have like audiences and orchestras. And since it was
Speaker 1: on fifty fourth Street, they decided to call it Studio
Speaker 1: fifty four. And so Harden and Polani they formed a
Speaker 1: corporation for ownership of the place. But for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: they couldn't get a liquor license. They needed more cash too,
Speaker 1: so they sold almost all of their corporate stock to
Speaker 1: the operators of the Marlborough Gallery, which was just like yeah,
Speaker 1: So with that cash on hand, Harden then he meets
Speaker 1: with these two entrepreneurs, Steve Rubel and Ian Schrager, I
Speaker 1: know those names, you know those names. They agreed to
Speaker 1: operate the club for them and then delays though continued
Speaker 1: to mount Harden and Polani they left their own project.
Speaker 1: They're like, I guess this isn't going to work. Schreger
Speaker 1: and Rubel they took over and they're like the publicity guys, right,
Speaker 1: they know how to work things. So November of nineteen
Speaker 1: seventy six, Billboard magazine said that they were the ones
Speaker 1: who planned to open the nightclub called Studio fifty four.
Speaker 1: They spent four hundred thousand dollars to get the place
Speaker 1: disco ready. So they were going from this old studio
Speaker 1: to a nightclub.
Speaker 2: This is a great expression being disco ready.
Speaker 1: Some disco ready. And so they had to build a
Speaker 1: dance floor, a balcony, a disco booth like, putting in mirrors,
Speaker 1: light bars, floating vinyl platforms.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 1: The lighting system required three people to run it. Oh
Speaker 1: it was that, yeah, because.
Speaker 2: You're running like track. The lights were going, they're sweeping
Speaker 2: up and down the music.
Speaker 1: They could fill the place with fog, dump a bunch
Speaker 1: of confetti. Whoa tailor it all over the Yeah, there
Speaker 1: was seating for two hundred and fifty people in the
Speaker 1: orchestra area, and the balcony held five hundred seats. And
Speaker 1: also the balcony was covered in rubber so that it
Speaker 1: could be hosed down at the end of the night.
Speaker 1: Make of that which you build, So either way the
Speaker 1: place was bathhouse. Yeah, pretty much. There was a thirty
Speaker 1: by forty foot cyclorama on the ceiling, the project images
Speaker 1: of galaxy volcanoes, sunrise, sunset, and then they had this
Speaker 1: like sort of logo, this like icon for the nightclub
Speaker 1: that was a giant moon with a spoon.
Speaker 2: Yes, and so for on supporting cocaine. But I like
Speaker 2: the branding, the aesthetic.
Speaker 1: For the opening, the guys sent out eight thousand invitations.
Speaker 1: Now the occupant has eight thousand friends. I guess the
Speaker 1: occupancy was twenty five hundred. And they also crafted a
Speaker 1: kind of like an a list, and these were people
Speaker 1: who got specially tailored phone calls and on opening night,
Speaker 1: four thousand people share that.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 1: Yeah, half of the thousand people. And you know how
Speaker 1: nightclub culture puts the emphasis on like night right.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that's right there in the neck.
Speaker 1: You don't get there early.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I tried starting a day club. It did not go.
Speaker 1: Well, you imagine it's so bright here, like you don't
Speaker 1: you don't show up right when it opens late. But
Speaker 1: you know who was first in line at that opening night?
Speaker 1: He got there bright and early.
Speaker 2: Dum. What's the guy uh in the the Police Academy movie,
Speaker 2: Steve what's his name?
Speaker 1: Steve Gutenberg Guenberg? Steve Gutenberg, very very close. It's your boy,
Speaker 1: Donald Trump and his first wife Ivanna get out?
Speaker 2: Are you for real?
Speaker 1: They weren't invited, They just tag They tagged along with
Speaker 1: some friends who were. They were like at dinner with
Speaker 1: the socialite. She's like, are you going to Studio fifty four?
Speaker 1: He's like what's that?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 1: Come, you know, just come with and so they're like, well,
Speaker 1: it says ten o'clock is when it opens. So they
Speaker 1: knock on the doorlock only people outside. No one answers,
Speaker 1: and they stood there for fifteen minutes waiting, no one
Speaker 1: in line, just them, and then they're just about to
Speaker 1: leave and the door opens. The staff is like completely
Speaker 1: confused as to why anyone would be there that early,
Speaker 1: and like, yeah, it technically opens at ten, but like,
Speaker 1: no one there. So they go in and they wander
Speaker 1: around the place is empty, and they're just so clueless.
Speaker 1: And it wasn't until about midnight that the crowd starts
Speaker 1: to form outside. I know if Trump was still up
Speaker 1: in there by the time the crowd showed up. A
Speaker 1: bus boy named Richie no Tar told the BBC years later, quote,
Speaker 1: no one remembered him being there the first night. He
Speaker 1: was a non entity. He was never on the dance floor.
Speaker 2: Well, I can't imagine him dancing. I mean, I know
Speaker 2: he's known for dancing now, but I couldn't imagine it.
Speaker 1: Then he did eventually become a regular and trying to
Speaker 1: insert himself, like into any semblance of any kind of
Speaker 1: New York society established or friend. It makes sense he's
Speaker 1: in there.
Speaker 2: He's been shhorn for a while, right, And.
Speaker 1: Then there's a later connection you'll see anyway, the opening,
Speaker 1: so traffic stopped on fifty fourth Street. Really so many
Speaker 1: people were lined up to get in. One of the
Speaker 1: people who were stuck in traffic trying to get to
Speaker 1: the club and just couldn't get there, Frank Sinatra sor.
Speaker 2: My man Blue Eyes himself.
Speaker 1: He's like Warren Batty.
Speaker 2: That makes sense.
Speaker 1: But here's the thing. Warren Batty and actually Henry Winkler.
Speaker 1: They both got to the door, but they didn't get in.
Speaker 1: What they could they didn't get in. Warren Batty didn't
Speaker 1: get in, and the Fonds.
Speaker 2: I get that he's like a Yale actor when he's
Speaker 2: not wearing the jacket, but I mean, Warren Baty's Warren
Speaker 2: Baty out all the time.
Speaker 1: He let Warren Bady in, Margot Hemingway and.
Speaker 2: Share, Okay, that makes sense.
Speaker 1: Loving designers, I'm guessing yes, Dolly Parton, Andy Warhol, Robin
Speaker 1: Leach Kissinger, I figured inside. Robin Leach, later host of
Speaker 1: Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. He was a correspondent
Speaker 1: for CNN, and he brought a date. Date was Brookshields,
Speaker 1: who happened to be eleven years old at the time.
Speaker 2: I was really hoping, you're gonna say, like Grace Jones,
Speaker 2: like I was waiting for like a fun well.
Speaker 1: A couple of weeks after the opening, Halston calls the
Speaker 1: club and like, things have been kind of slow after
Speaker 1: it opened, but he wanted to have Bianca Jagger's birthday parties.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, on.
Speaker 1: A Monday night, and they're like, that's not really a
Speaker 1: big club night. Like these are the coolest people wanting
Speaker 1: to have a super cool party, so they jump into
Speaker 1: action and it was it was exclusive. It was not
Speaker 1: the four thousand like.
Speaker 2: The opening Jagger's birthday.
Speaker 1: Only one hundred and fifty people were invited or allowed in,
Speaker 1: and the place was filled with white balloons. They went
Speaker 1: out and they got like as many white balloons as
Speaker 1: they could, And as Ian Schrager told Vanity Fair decades later, quote,
Speaker 1: Halston only had about one hundred and fifty people, the
Speaker 1: best people from Barishtakov to Jacqueline Bissett. Like it's just
Speaker 1: petty late seventies of that.
Speaker 2: Also, I like how when he goes to pick two
Speaker 2: people they have the same letter their last name, from
Speaker 2: Barishakov to Basset.
Speaker 1: Everyone his last name started with b Zarin. Were you there?
Speaker 2: No, I was actually an Angola.
Speaker 1: I see that makes sense. The prison, according to Rolling Stone,
Speaker 1: quote one of the bartenders donned a diaper and popped
Speaker 1: out of a cake. But the highlight of the evening
Speaker 1: occurred around midnight, when a white steed was let out
Speaker 1: from behind a stage curtain by a nude couple slathered
Speaker 1: in shimmering paint and sparkles. The birthday girl took the
Speaker 1: place of honor astride the horse, which trotted across the
Speaker 1: dance floor while the camera's greedily snapped seriously. So that
Speaker 1: became this iconic moment of glamour and excess for the
Speaker 1: club and the disco. Grazia magazine described the club as such,
Speaker 1: quote Studio fifty four was a phantasmagorical dreamscape, teetering always
Speaker 1: between a dream come true and a nightmare. Throughout the
Speaker 1: course of any given evening, A giant anthropomorphized crescent moon
Speaker 1: with a coke spoon pressed to its nose and eyes
Speaker 1: flashing red, hovered over the room like a Peruvian flake
Speaker 1: dayusic Machinah wow, it's like an elevated Stefan sketch.
Speaker 2: Yes, exactly.
Speaker 1: So getting in wasn't easy, as I've said, apparently just
Speaker 1: getting in at all was a status symbol. It usually
Speaker 1: was like seven or eight bucks to get in. But
Speaker 1: you can pay for this annual membership and exchange for
Speaker 1: discounted tickets. Tickets will cost more on the weekends and
Speaker 1: then like even more on nights when there were performances.
Speaker 2: Were they like picking do you know if they were
Speaker 2: picking people like by your fashion, like they're standing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what I'm gonna get to so. Andy Warhol
Speaker 1: famously said, quote, the key of the success of Studio
Speaker 1: fifty four is that it's a dictatorship at the door
Speaker 1: and a democracy on the dance floor. So see Rubelle,
Speaker 1: he's the dictator. He would like pull this step stool
Speaker 1: outside and you'd stand on it and you'd pick people
Speaker 1: out of the crowd. Totally subjective, like you know if
Speaker 1: if you had the vibe, you go in and otherwise
Speaker 1: you're on the sidewalk.
Speaker 2: Sorry mister.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And so like this doorman Mark Bennechy told the
Speaker 1: Entertainment quote, we had the kid who worked at McDonald's
Speaker 1: next to some movie star or some superstar model, whether
Speaker 1: they were dressed in a festive way, or they were interesting,
Speaker 1: high energy, danced well or socialite, celebrity model. You had
Speaker 1: to bring something to the table interesting.
Speaker 2: So I imagine there's actually a lot of good dancing.
Speaker 1: Oh, amazing dancing. Amazing dance. Now let's think about that dancing.
Speaker 1: Take a break, listen to some have some disco biscuits,
Speaker 1: and when we get back, we're gonna go right back
Speaker 1: into the club. Zara, I'm telling you, why slow you down?
Speaker 1: The disco biscuits. You'll sound like me. What did I take?
Speaker 1: You took the old?
Speaker 2: Is something under the sink?
Speaker 1: I thought, that's our keeper's friend. Okay, So we're talking
Speaker 1: about how hard it is to get into the club.
Speaker 1: Some people they didn't give up easily, like they would
Speaker 1: try new outfits, switch up their hairstyle, and go back.
Speaker 1: Actress Jade Barrymore, mother of Drew, who first went to
Speaker 1: the club at age four, but she was at the
Speaker 1: later iteration of the club when she was eleven and
Speaker 1: a coke user. She was a regular at that club. Huh,
Speaker 1: said Jade, the mom said of the crazy desire to
Speaker 1: get in quote people were waiting in lines with the
Speaker 1: most fantastic costumes on, each one trying to outdo the
Speaker 1: other one so they could be pointed to and get in.
Speaker 1: So yeah, meanwhile, you got your kid there, Okay, I.
Speaker 2: Would have fun getting dressed for one year.
Speaker 1: At Halloween, two women they were inspired by the Bianca
Speaker 1: Jagger things sitting on a horse. They rented a horse
Speaker 1: and they rode up to the doors in it. They
Speaker 1: were nude. Yeah, the doorman let the horse in but
Speaker 1: made them stay outside. A lot of their hitters didn't
Speaker 1: get it. Aside from Henry Winkler, there are two good examples.
Speaker 1: One time the President of Cyprus was turned He was
Speaker 1: turned away because the doorman misunderstood him and thought he
Speaker 1: was the President of Cypress Hills Cemetery presidents brothers, so
Speaker 1: there's a big difference. Another time, one of Saudi, the
Speaker 1: King Khalid, one of his sons, was turned away, and
Speaker 1: so the Saudi embassy in the US wrote a letter
Speaker 1: to the club and said, please do not reject the
Speaker 1: prince again.
Speaker 2: You're hurting his feelings. I have ah, we're gonna have
Speaker 2: to buy the colr.
Speaker 1: So some people got mad and actually like shot at
Speaker 1: the club from outside. Yeah, but and when they didn't
Speaker 1: get entry. Yeah. But others they bangers. Really do you
Speaker 1: know that band's chic with mel Rogers. So he and
Speaker 1: his bandmate Bernard Edwards, they're trying to get into Studio
Speaker 1: fifty four one night and not just like they weren't
Speaker 1: just looking to dance.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 1: It was New Year's Eve nineteen seventy seven. Nile Rogers
Speaker 1: told sound on sound quote, we were invited to meet
Speaker 1: with Grace Jones at studio. She's coming. She wanted to
Speaker 1: interview us about recording her next album. At that time,
Speaker 1: our music was fairly popular. Dance Dance Dance was a
Speaker 1: big hit, but Grace Jones didn't leave our name at
Speaker 1: the door, and the doorman wouldn't let us in. We
Speaker 1: stood there as long as we could take it until
Speaker 1: our feet were finally just way too cold. We were
Speaker 1: really totally dejected. We felt horrible. So they go back
Speaker 1: to Nile's apartment. Quote We grabbed a couple of bottles
Speaker 1: of champagne from the corner liquor store, and then we
Speaker 1: went back to my place, plugged in our instruments and
Speaker 1: started jamming. We were just yelling obscenities. Studio fifty four,
Speaker 1: come go off, those scumbags them, and we were laughing.
Speaker 1: We were entertaining the hell out of ourselves. We had
Speaker 1: a blast, and finally it hit Bernard. He said, hey, no,
Speaker 1: what you're playing sounds really good. They had this amazing
Speaker 1: song that they'd written called GoF, but that wouldn't get
Speaker 1: them on the radio, so they changed the title and
Speaker 1: lyrics to Freak Off and then to the better sounding
Speaker 1: freak Out a freak Out, so they released as freak
Speaker 1: in September of nineteen seventy eight. It was their first
Speaker 1: number one, biggest hit gone. And so you have like
Speaker 1: all these people, these celebrities we've talked about, but there
Speaker 1: are regular people there too, and they just wanted to dance, Saren.
Speaker 1: They had to be interesting or beautiful to get in.
Speaker 3: Sure.
Speaker 1: The club was known mostly though for celebrities, so you
Speaker 1: had like the regular folks, but it was just everything
Speaker 1: was about the celebs. Among those who went, John Belushi,
Speaker 1: David Bowie, Elton, John, Jackie Kennedy, On Nasais, Wow, earth
Speaker 1: a kid of course, Leonard Bernstein, Yes, party Share, Salmond
Speaker 1: or Dolly of course, Jackson, you're Pal, Rick James, Robin Williams,
Speaker 1: Liz Taylor, I.
Speaker 2: Like all these kids, Bella a, whoa, that's just progressive.
Speaker 1: Wow, Okay, Sylvester Stillo, Tina Turner, Rick Flair, whoa, Roy Cohen,
Speaker 1: Alvin Klein, oh Wowler, John Lennon, Truman, Capoti, al Pacino,
Speaker 1: Tom Ford and even Betty Ford.
Speaker 2: Betty and Wow.
Speaker 1: And then there was Truman being like kind of bitchy
Speaker 1: sitting there studio amazing. There's also disco Sally She was
Speaker 1: a seventy seven year old widow who was a regular
Speaker 1: dancer there. She's a great dancer and everyone loved her.
Speaker 1: Was like, oh yeah, Alec Baldwin was there, but it
Speaker 1: was because he worked as a waiter. Really yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: Did you ever wear the diaper?
Speaker 1: He always just wore he wore a diaper. He's still
Speaker 1: to this day. Where's a diaper? The antics were insane.
Speaker 1: So one New Year's Even, event planner for the club
Speaker 1: brought in four tons of glitter. Oh no, for the
Speaker 1: guests to dance on.
Speaker 2: Oh god, are they still getting the glitter out of
Speaker 2: people's outfit?
Speaker 1: Ian Schrager said, quote, you felt like you were standing
Speaker 1: on stardust. People got the glitter in their hair and
Speaker 1: their socks. You would see it in people's homes six
Speaker 1: months later and you knew they'd been at Studio fifty
Speaker 1: four on New Year's Is.
Speaker 2: There glitter in this cocaine? Were you a Studio fifty
Speaker 2: four on New Year's Well?
Speaker 1: And again, okay, so the cocaine, Like you can imagine
Speaker 1: when you get drugs and glamour and late nights in
Speaker 1: the hospitality industry, there's hanky business. Yeahan think So remember
Speaker 1: how the initial opening of the club that was delayed
Speaker 1: due to no liquor license huh, Well, they didn't get it.
Speaker 2: They never got it.
Speaker 1: No, every day they kept applying for a caterers permit,
Speaker 1: like a one day caterers every single day, every single day,
Speaker 1: obviously exploiting the law.
Speaker 2: And they just kept Yeah, they sent a guy down
Speaker 2: the office nine in the morning and they're.
Speaker 1: Like, this isn't really like a wedding reception or like,
Speaker 1: you know, a family reunion. That you're like, fine. They
Speaker 1: also they didn't have a certificate of occupancy and they
Speaker 1: also didn't have a public assembly license.
Speaker 2: Oh so wow.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so since they turned a lot of people away
Speaker 1: and bruised a lot of egos, it comes as no
Speaker 1: surprise that someone tipped off the authorities about their lack
Speaker 1: of paperwork.
Speaker 2: The fire codes are being violated.
Speaker 1: So nineteen seventy seven, the New York State Liquor Authority
Speaker 1: rated the club for selling liquor without a license. No worries.
Speaker 1: The club still open that night and they just serve fruit,
Speaker 1: juice and soda instead of liquor.
Speaker 2: Give it time, it'll turn into rugs.
Speaker 1: They're like, we've got a bag of kludes here.
Speaker 2: No one really wants maybe some champagne.
Speaker 1: I guess they kept serving non alcoholic drinks until the
Speaker 1: New York Supreme Court ordered the Liquor Authority to grant
Speaker 1: them a liquor license, and the authorities chairman complied but
Speaker 1: objected to it and said that the judge was swayed
Speaker 1: by this Studio fifty four's fancy clientele. So Schrager he
Speaker 1: also applied for a cabaret license from the New York
Speaker 1: City Department of Consumer Affairs.
Speaker 2: I think Jackie Oo got on the phone and she's like, look, I.
Speaker 1: Have to be there, and I need a good gin
Speaker 1: gimblet if I'm going to be sitting there. So the
Speaker 1: cabaret license that allows you to run an establishment with
Speaker 1: booze and with entertainment, and so they tried to get
Speaker 1: one and it was stalled out for like a year.
Speaker 1: And New York has really weird cabaret license.
Speaker 2: They're an arcane and they actually kind of powerful, and they.
Speaker 1: Were used for a very long time to manipulate and
Speaker 1: like redline and that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: Don't try to be a jazz musician in the sixties
Speaker 2: in New York.
Speaker 1: So they stalled it out, went on for more than
Speaker 1: of the year. But part of it wasn't really intentional
Speaker 1: because the city at the time only had three cabaret inspectors,
Speaker 1: so there's this huge existing log jam. They can't be everywhere,
Speaker 1: and people generally didn't get too worked up about it because,
Speaker 1: like the fine was like twenty bucks, so they're like,
Speaker 1: find me, who cares. When they asked about it, though,
Speaker 1: like the press asked, the Department of Consumer Affairs said
Speaker 1: that the application wasn't approved because of fire code violations.
Speaker 1: Of course, so then you know, reporters go to the
Speaker 1: fire department, which once they're like, I can't talk about it, okay, whatever.
Speaker 1: So it wasn't just the city and State of New
Speaker 1: York on their case. August seventy eight, the American Society
Speaker 1: of Composers, Authors and Publishers ascat OH sued Rubel and Schrager.
Speaker 1: They said that the guys hadn't paid licensing fees for
Speaker 1: six performances that ASKAP had staged at Studio fifty four
Speaker 1: earlier in the year. The club went ahead, They're like, fine,
Speaker 1: we'll get our askab license and they took care of that.
Speaker 1: But then the National Labor Relations Board came calling some
Speaker 1: workers said that they were unfair labor practices. Basically, the
Speaker 1: club was high profile, irritated a lot of people, so
Speaker 1: they became a target. But then the real trouble began.
Speaker 1: What's the real Steve Rubell, he was profiled in New
Speaker 1: York Magazine in nineteen seventy seven the writer Dan Dorfman.
Speaker 1: He estimated in the article that the club was bringing
Speaker 1: in about three point eight million dollars by the end
Speaker 1: of nineteen seventy eight.
Speaker 2: I know his work from later on. We did his
Speaker 2: videos on golf Dorfund Dolph on Golf.
Speaker 1: That is a foundational film.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's really incredible stuff. I can't believe he
Speaker 2: jumped from He was actually, you know, like a major
Speaker 2: player in you know, just not just New York Magazine,
Speaker 2: but later on in sports. I mean, the guy he
Speaker 2: can do anything. This Dorphann, I'm.
Speaker 1: Telling ehs cases.
Speaker 2: Oh wait, I'm being told that was a different Doorphan.
Speaker 1: No, It's okay, keep going. So the please note though,
Speaker 1: that if he's saying they make three point eight million
Speaker 1: a year in nineteen seventy seven, they only paid eight
Speaker 1: thousand in taxes, which is kind of how it works
Speaker 1: now for corporations anyway. But Ubelle said the article quote,
Speaker 1: this is rebel. The owner the profits are astronomical. Only
Speaker 1: the mafia does better. And then he also said it's
Speaker 1: a cash business, and you have to worry about the
Speaker 1: I R S. I don't want them to know everything.
Speaker 1: So the I R S is like, we'd like to
Speaker 1: know everything, please, we have a new magazine subscription. Luckily,
Speaker 1: a disgruntled ex employee named Donald Moon had plenty to say.
Speaker 1: So some say that Moon had tax problems and he
Speaker 1: reported Studio fifty four to the I R S in
Speaker 1: exchange for leniency. Others were like, no, he was just
Speaker 1: angry because they didn't give him a promotion. They didn't
Speaker 1: give them a raise.
Speaker 2: I doubt the IRS gives you leniency. Have like gish.
Speaker 1: So he got in touch with the I R S
Speaker 1: and he told him that Rebel and Trader were reporting
Speaker 1: only some of their revenue to the I R S
Speaker 1: is taxable income, keeping the rest without paying taxes on it.
Speaker 1: They were also storing coke in the basement. The I
Speaker 1: R S is, it's like, that's our business. Tell me more,
Speaker 1: zaren close your eye. Oh, I want you to picture it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's December fourteenth, nineteen seventy eight, and you are an
Speaker 1: IRS investigator. Oh no, you and thirty other agents have
Speaker 1: been assigned to raid the business at two two four
Speaker 1: West fifty fourth Street. Everyone knows this as Studio fifty four.
Speaker 1: Your sister tried to go dancing there once. She told
Speaker 1: you about how she and her friends got all dawled
Speaker 1: up and waited in line, only to be completely ignored
Speaker 1: by the guy at the door. You aren't a disco guy,
Speaker 1: You're more in a chamber music. You're excited to be there,
Speaker 1: though for a few reasons. This is a major bust.
Speaker 1: To be sure, all eyes on you, guys. Everyone's keyed up.
Speaker 1: This is a notorious place with tons of celebrities coming
Speaker 1: and going, and you can't wait to tell your sister
Speaker 1: what it's like inside. Even with the lights on the
Speaker 1: bubble machines off, the whole crew has been joking about
Speaker 1: the club and what they might find inside. You also
Speaker 1: get to sport your new IRS windbreaker today. It's so
Speaker 1: official and you feel so good and confident when you
Speaker 1: wear it. The clothes make the man, they say so
Speaker 1: the lead investigators. They've already made entrance, showing the search
Speaker 1: warrant to the club owner's lawyer, Roy Kohane. You take
Speaker 1: a look at the guy and he gives you the
Speaker 1: major creeps. Your blood runs cold. It's also cold outside.
Speaker 1: Maybe that's it. So you and other agents you're standing
Speaker 1: out on West fifty fourth waiting for the signal to
Speaker 1: enter and begin the search. You rub your hands together
Speaker 1: for warmth and watch your breath condense and dance on
Speaker 1: the sharp winter air. The windbreaker looks super cool, but
Speaker 1: it doesn't keep you warm. Your boss gives you the
Speaker 1: wave of the hand and you make your way inside
Speaker 1: this cavernous building. It looks so strange to be in
Speaker 1: a nightclub during the day. Your uncle owned a bar
Speaker 1: out on Long Island, and you remember as a team
Speaker 1: going to help him clean up a couple of times.
Speaker 1: Seeing a dive in the light is like catching your
Speaker 1: elderly neighbor in the news. It's intrusive for you both.
Speaker 1: It's unsettling, maybe a little haunting, but it's real life.
Speaker 1: So you're direct did toward the club's office and you
Speaker 1: begin your search. Other agents swarmed the desks, opening drawers
Speaker 1: and going through paper and office of themera. One of
Speaker 1: the owners of the club, Ian Schrager. He walks in
Speaker 1: carrying a briefcase. Your coworker tells him put it on
Speaker 1: the ground. He does, and you go over and pick
Speaker 1: it up. Inside are some random documents, as well as
Speaker 1: an envelope containing five one ounce packets of cocaine. You
Speaker 1: lift it up and show everyone in the room. Laughter
Speaker 1: rings out as you nod to the New York Police
Speaker 1: officers standing at each side of the door. They cuffed
Speaker 1: the dude and haul them away. More laughter. As papers
Speaker 1: shuffle and boxes get moved about, you find yourself standing
Speaker 1: in the middle of the room, watching the commotion. You
Speaker 1: look up at the ceiling, taking it all in. Is
Speaker 1: that glitter? Then you spot something. The ceiling tile seems
Speaker 1: a bit of skew. You follow your instinct and drag
Speaker 1: a small step stool over. It's metal lakes screeping against
Speaker 1: the tile floor. You climb the steps and reach up
Speaker 1: to the ceiling tile in question. You lift it slightly
Speaker 1: and move it gently to the side. There's a little resistance.
Speaker 1: What could be up there? You wonder, maybe a small person,
Speaker 1: a panda. This place is unpredictable. You give the title
Speaker 1: a little more of a shove, and then something tumbles
Speaker 1: out and kitchen in the head, then another, then another.
Speaker 1: Garbage bags You poke it one with your shoe. It
Speaker 1: feels like paper in there. You bend down and open
Speaker 1: up one of the bags. It's cash, all cash, same
Speaker 1: with the other one. There's also a ledger book and
Speaker 1: a bag of coeludes. You open the ledger and leave
Speaker 1: through the pages. You start to laugh and everyone looks
Speaker 1: over at you. Right there in the ledger book there's
Speaker 1: a column. The title of that column is skim. They
Speaker 1: kept meticulous records of their crimes, and now you've got
Speaker 1: them dead to rights.
Speaker 2: They kept a skim column.
Speaker 1: A skim column. There was more than two and a
Speaker 1: half million dollars in the ceiling of the office. Cool. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and that's basically sixty percent of their receipts for the
Speaker 1: past two years. So another half.
Speaker 2: Million there in the bags.
Speaker 1: Well, I had another half mill spread around, part of
Speaker 1: it in the safety deposit box, and then they had
Speaker 1: like personal safes. But yeah, that's the bank and the ceiling.
Speaker 1: The ledger had, as I said, explicit evidence of doctored
Speaker 1: records and unreported cash transactions. They may have well put
Speaker 1: like crimes on the outside of the lawn below. So
Speaker 1: Schrager's lawyer did try to get some of the charges
Speaker 1: lesson by telling the Feds that Hamilton Jordan, chief of
Speaker 1: staff for President Jimmy Carter, had used cocaine in the
Speaker 1: club's basement. And the Feds were like, whatever, snitch, we
Speaker 1: don't care. That means nothing to do es. So then
Speaker 1: June of nineteen seventy nine, Rebell and Schreeger they're charged
Speaker 1: with tax evasion, obstruction of justice, conspiracy. Prosecutors said that
Speaker 1: by failing to report over two point five million in income,
Speaker 1: they defrauded the federal government of hundreds of thousands of
Speaker 1: dollars in taxes. So let's take a break. When we
Speaker 1: come back, we'll find out how the trial went for
Speaker 1: these two. Okay, So the raid of Studio fifty four,
Speaker 1: that was December nineteen seventy eight. A few months before that,
Speaker 1: in August of nineteen seventy eight, the club hosted Andy
Speaker 1: Warhol's fiftieth birthday wow. Rubel gave Andy Warhol a roll
Speaker 1: of five thousand free drink tickets to hand out to
Speaker 1: his pals. Five thousand.
Speaker 2: I don't know how you do that.
Speaker 1: And then he also gave him a silver garbage can,
Speaker 1: and in that can were one thousand brand new dollar bills.
Speaker 2: Oh, not what I thought it was going to be.
Speaker 1: In the tarms can. I'll have to admit it was
Speaker 1: may or may not be a live turtle. So Warhol
Speaker 1: he's thrilled. He's just like, I love this, he told
Speaker 1: the screends. He's like, this is the best present I've
Speaker 1: ever been given, like he says, in all sincerity to
Speaker 1: all these people, and everyone's just like partying and celebrating.
Speaker 1: And some of his pals lifted the can over his
Speaker 1: head like a full cooler a gatorade and dumped it
Speaker 1: over him and cheers, whoops, go up. He freaks out
Speaker 1: and just like scrambles around to gather up all the money.
Speaker 1: He didn't want anyone taking it. Yeah, Andy Warh.
Speaker 2: They dumped the money, and then all of a sudden,
Speaker 2: he's the first one on the ground scooping it up
Speaker 2: like a honey badger.
Speaker 1: Yeah, don't touch it. That's my birthday present. I tell
Speaker 1: you all this because when the Feds raided the office,
Speaker 1: they found all sorts of, like I said, the ledgers
Speaker 1: with all the details. And one of the ledgers was
Speaker 1: a list of gifts given to celebrity friends and clients.
Speaker 1: And so New York Magazine got a hold of the
Speaker 1: list in November of seventy nine, and they published it.
Speaker 1: And that's when Andy Warhol learned that his garbage can
Speaker 1: of cash only had eight hundred dollars in ones in it,
Speaker 1: not a thousand, and his associate Bob Colacello wrote in
Speaker 1: his memoir quote, Andy's first reaction was, you mean they
Speaker 1: told me there was one thousand dollars in there and
Speaker 1: it was only eight hundred dollars. I knew I should
Speaker 1: have counted it. Wow with that, Yeah, So in light
Speaker 1: of all the like detailed evidence, why.
Speaker 2: Would he why would it matter? Why would he need
Speaker 2: that extra two hundred dollars? Why?
Speaker 1: I guess they my money is like messing with my
Speaker 1: mind by emotions. So in light of all the like
Speaker 1: evidence that they have laid out and like left this
Speaker 1: incriminating evidence on a platter, they pleaded guilty. Yeah. They
Speaker 1: wanted to avoid a trial, that.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So January of nineteen eighty they were each sentenced to
Speaker 1: four years in federal prison on two counts of income
Speaker 1: tax evasion. They got charged with skimming two and a
Speaker 1: half million, defrauding the government of like four hundred thousand.
Speaker 1: During their sentencing, the judge chastise them for flouting the
Speaker 1: law and being so completely motivated by greed, Like, duh,
Speaker 1: that's why people wind up in court anyway. February nineteen eighty,
Speaker 1: just before they're set to go serve their time, Rubel
Speaker 1: and Schrager, they threw one last epic party at Studio
Speaker 1: fifty four. Oh wow, and they called it the end
Speaker 1: of modern day gomorrah.
Speaker 2: I bet they were not wrong.
Speaker 1: Well, this was smaller than most nights. There are almost
Speaker 1: two thousand people there.
Speaker 2: But it's very much the end of an era.
Speaker 1: Oh completely. They had the regulars, the classics, Richard gear Halston,
Speaker 1: Reggie Jackson, Yes, mister October, Mister October represent Andy Warhol.
Speaker 1: Of course, he's like he wants his money's worth. Florida Loft,
Speaker 1: Sylvester Saloon, Diana Ross, she does set. Liza Minelli was there.
Speaker 2: Oh, of course, I think he lived there on the floor.
Speaker 2: Just wake up in the learning, asked for orange juice.
Speaker 1: She performed New York, New York.
Speaker 2: Is that not a peak of I'm a big Liz fan.
Speaker 1: Yeah? But Liza Minelli performing New York, New York in
Speaker 1: Studio fifty.
Speaker 2: Night.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Seen, but not to be outdone, Steve Rebel. He
Speaker 1: puts on a fedora and he belts out a rousing
Speaker 1: rendition of Sinatra's My Way. I don't know, I didn't know.
Speaker 1: They played that song on the sound system like a
Speaker 1: bunch of different times. It would come on like every
Speaker 1: fifth song or whatever. The other one that they played
Speaker 1: over and over is Gloria Gators, I will survive, Okay,
Speaker 1: hell yeah, great song Disco Nirvana where they are so
Speaker 1: Steve Rebel. He gives this like serious, tear filled speech
Speaker 1: to the crowd while standing on this platform that's like
Speaker 1: rotating slow. It was like hanging above the dance floor,
Speaker 1: this elevated platform, and he's apparently just like coked to
Speaker 1: the gills, which isn't really surprising. Somehow he eats. Someone
Speaker 1: who was there told report quote Bianca Jagger was hugging
Speaker 1: him and he was saying, I love you people. I
Speaker 1: don't know what I'm gonna do without studio, and everyone
Speaker 1: was crying and weeping. New York Post columnist Jack Martin
Speaker 1: wrote of Rubel quote, he was sort of spaced out.
Speaker 1: He had accepted it. It was a sad going away party,
Speaker 1: but we were laughing and trying to have fun. We
Speaker 1: were with him literally until he took a car to
Speaker 1: go home and meet the authorities.
Speaker 2: Oh so that's the way to go out though a big,
Speaker 2: big party with your friends, and in the morning you
Speaker 2: get turned over.
Speaker 1: To the exactly and head off to a federal presents
Speaker 1: frush fish. So that they were sent to three and
Speaker 1: a half years, but each of them only did thirteen
Speaker 1: months before getting paroled. Okay, so while Rubel and Schrager
Speaker 1: were in the can the world whole world changed everything. Well,
Speaker 1: they tried to keep the club running, but like Steake,
Speaker 1: get faded and they got eleven year old Drew Barrymore
Speaker 1: to coke off the tables come on. So the pair
Speaker 1: had intended to convert the club to like more rock
Speaker 1: music friendly, as disco was starting to become a little
Speaker 1: passe Regan's America, but they never got the chance, and
Speaker 1: the club eventually shuddered in nineteen eighty six. Like for good,
Speaker 1: Like I said, Rebel and Schrager, they did their time.
Speaker 1: They got out and got back into business, the hotel
Speaker 1: business this time. Oh so they bought this rundown place
Speaker 1: on West forty sixth Street at eighth Avenue called the Paramount,
Speaker 1: and they totally refurbished. It made it super super hit,
Speaker 1: and then they had a hit on their hands. They
Speaker 1: just you know, it was amazing. They basically created the
Speaker 1: modern boutique hotel.
Speaker 2: Oh interesting.
Speaker 1: So it's a Shei hotel that's not just small and unchained,
Speaker 1: like but fashionable. Is like a strong aesthetic.
Speaker 2: Oh, it's like the places you stay versus where I
Speaker 2: still I don't like.
Speaker 1: I don't.
Speaker 2: Don't you like nice hotels?
Speaker 1: I don't. I like nice hotels, but it like you
Speaker 1: don't like these boutique kinds, boutique coachels. Oh I feel
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm not cool enough to be in there.
Speaker 1: Like I walk in to check in and they kind
Speaker 1: of like look me up and down.
Speaker 2: They're like, oh jeez, okay, you're you're wearing Adidas. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I don't know, I'm just being out.
Speaker 1: They're like, your your whole You're aesthetic is what is what? Disheveled? Man?
Speaker 2: You're wearing track pants?
Speaker 1: Like, just I get uncomfortable. I like, you know, I
Speaker 1: like nice things, but I'm not.
Speaker 2: But you don't want to be around the people who only.
Speaker 1: Like that's not cool enough for some of these things.
Speaker 2: Oh interesting, I'll argue with those people on your behalf.
Speaker 1: You are cool, thank you so much. They're wrong, Elizabeth
Speaker 1: does this TV get law and Order? They're like, you
Speaker 1: need to leave.
Speaker 2: Do you have the Law and Order channel?
Speaker 1: They just look at me and they go to where's
Speaker 1: where's the ritz? So uh Rubelle. He passed away from
Speaker 1: complications of AIDS in nineteen eighty nine, which, like, you know,
Speaker 1: that's that was the time. Oh yeah, very much of
Speaker 1: the era for the When I was reading about it, yeah,
Speaker 1: like he tried to kind of pass like staying in
Speaker 1: the closet.
Speaker 2: Yeah, coming out of the disco seventies. I mean this
Speaker 2: took out a lot.
Speaker 1: Of God do you think of Yeah, that this absolute destruction.
Speaker 1: And I don't know, when I was just reading about it,
Speaker 1: it really hit me, like you know, the law and
Speaker 1: also how far we've come in terms of people like
Speaker 1: science wise, like oh my god, like you know, live saved,
Speaker 1: but also just like people being able to be themselves.
Speaker 2: I don't know, it was all having him.
Speaker 1: Like hearing about him like living in secret and not
Speaker 1: being able to tell anybody being so sick made me sad. Anyway.
Speaker 1: Schreeger he kept on chegging. He developed top of the
Speaker 1: line hotels like the Royalton, the Madrian, Grammercy Park. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he currently heads up the very Fashionable Public Hotels brand.
Speaker 1: In twenty seventeen, he reached out to the guy who
Speaker 1: locked him up in the first place, Southern District of
Speaker 1: New York's assistant US Attorney, Peter so Sudler.
Speaker 2: Okay, he's like, beep Peter.
Speaker 1: So he called Sudler because he wanted a pardon. Really,
Speaker 1: he wanted to clear his name and not have a
Speaker 1: legacy as a felon. Don't commit a crime, my guy,
Speaker 1: and then you will be a felon. Well Sudler was like,
Speaker 1: you know what, you deserve a pardon because you've done
Speaker 1: your time, you've paid your fine, and you make a
Speaker 1: lot of money. You're very successful. It pays to have money.
Speaker 1: So it was in twenty seventeen that President Barack Obama
Speaker 1: pardon Shreger is like all presidents love celebrities.
Speaker 2: Right, yes, and money freeze.
Speaker 1: They love them. And you know so Ian Schrager gets
Speaker 1: to reinvent himself. So here we have this intersection between
Speaker 1: talent and fame, crime accountability. Like a chic, fashionable, exclusive
Speaker 1: atmosphere inspires something in people, whether it's like a desire
Speaker 1: to be part of it or a need to bring
Speaker 1: it down good point, you know what I mean? Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: so thank you.
Speaker 2: It's so triggering this club.
Speaker 1: I just want to go stand in my truth in
Speaker 1: the middle of it. So the Feds they used Studio
Speaker 1: fifty four is a cautionary tale to like celebrity nightclubs
Speaker 1: that thought they could be in the spotlight but like
Speaker 1: skirt the law because of it. And for most of
Speaker 1: us though, the place just lives on is the epitome
Speaker 1: of seventies New York disco excess, totally dazzling parties, huge
Speaker 1: cultural impact.
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely, definitely disco decadence.
Speaker 1: And so much glitters there.
Speaker 2: I think I got some in my outfit.
Speaker 1: Just tearing the story about it. Yeah, I can feel
Speaker 1: what I would love to hear your takeaway on this.
Speaker 2: What's rather ridiculous? Are you ready?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: I think it would have been fun to actually hang
Speaker 2: out with these people, even though almost everything you describe
Speaker 2: sounds obnoxious when you start hearing it, like, Okay, you
Speaker 2: got Robin Williams on cocaine with like, you know, you
Speaker 2: pick another three celebrities or coin on cocaine and they're
Speaker 2: all like having a dance off around a bunch of
Speaker 2: people who are trying to be impressive. I'm like, okay,
Speaker 2: and Andy Warhol's on the ground grabbing it many Yeah, okay,
Speaker 2: that'd probably be no fun. But yet I would love to.
Speaker 1: Love the idea of I love hearing the stories of it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a different America, so decadent, weird.
Speaker 1: If you yourself in it, yes, i'd be like I
Speaker 1: need to go home. No, exactly, you can't with these.
Speaker 2: People, Like I gotta get a headache just hearing about it.
Speaker 1: But I love the stories.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and somehow I'm still drawn to it, like I
Speaker 2: want to be somewhere where, like let's be a jacker, you.
Speaker 1: Know what I mean. I want to hear have those
Speaker 1: moments because that picture of her on the horse is
Speaker 1: that's incredible.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know what would and the people by the way,
Speaker 2: the people being turned away and the horse coming in.
Speaker 1: How so you got two nicked ladies standing there all
Speaker 1: covered in glittery? Can we talk to about Like I
Speaker 1: don't know if there was a saddle on the horse.
Speaker 2: I'm figuring it was unsaddled.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so you're saddled with glitter, But its hair is done.
Speaker 2: It's main is looking good.
Speaker 1: The hygiene issues alone do not.
Speaker 2: Do you how much cocaine a horse can do with
Speaker 2: those nostrils.
Speaker 1: Calling peta, So I think what I need is aside
Speaker 1: from a disco. Now is a talk back day?
Speaker 3: Hell yeah, god, oh god, he went ge.
Speaker 4: Say Ridiculous Crime. My name is Amanda and I'm calling
Speaker 4: out on behalf of my client and dog Sherlock Bones.
Speaker 4: He seeks an opportunity to be your next intern. This rude, dude,
Speaker 4: caper loving canine has solved many notable cases including why
Speaker 4: is dinner two minutes late? Where did that squirrel go?
Speaker 4: Who at this party? Is most likely to give me treat?
Speaker 4: He's ready to sniff out the truth or bury the
Speaker 4: latest mashup. Thanks for the show, keep up the great work.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 1: Sherlock Bones is a little overqualified for our interns.
Speaker 2: Made rosy nervous. Our new intern just ran out of
Speaker 2: the room.
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh boy. We may have to come up with
Speaker 1: a position for sure.
Speaker 4: Like.
Speaker 2: May leader and you want this kind of intern?
Speaker 1: Oh, thank you for that. This that's it for today.
Speaker 1: You can find us online at Ridiculous Crime dot com,
Speaker 1: which is probably one of the Internet's most secure websites. Interesting, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's what I read.
Speaker 2: Yeah on as a Polka dot hacker, I can say
Speaker 2: I agree.
Speaker 1: I was reading secure website weekly and every day we're
Speaker 1: on page two most Secure. I'm like, did it again?
Speaker 1: Good job. We're also on Instagram and blue Sky and
Speaker 1: you can email us at Ridiculous Crime at gmail dot com.
Speaker 1: And then, of course, as I always say, the most
Speaker 1: important thing is to leave a top back on the
Speaker 1: iHeart app reach out. Ridiculous Crime is hosted by Elizabeth
Speaker 1: Dutton and Zaren Burnett, produced and edited by inventor of
Speaker 1: the quelud Dave Kusten, starring Annals Rutger as Chooting. Research
Speaker 1: is by Glittery Disco Angel Marissa Brown and Devilish dance
Speaker 1: Floor Lothario Alex French. The theme song is by Studio
Speaker 1: fifty four house band members Thomas Lee and Travis Dutton.
Speaker 1: Post wardrobe is provided by Botany five hundred. Guest hair
Speaker 1: and makeup by Sparkleshot and mister Andre. Executive producers are
Speaker 1: guys waiting forty five minutes in line, only to be
Speaker 1: told that Studio fifty four is down the street, Ben
Speaker 1: Bowlin and Noel Brown gis Crime.
Speaker 3: Say It one more times.
Speaker 4: Crime Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: Four more podcasts from my heart Radio. Visit the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.