WEBVTT - IRS Will Survive: Studio 54 0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:05.880 Ridiculous crime. It's a production of iHeartRadio Zaren Elizabeth Zarn. 0:00:07.800 --> 0:00:10.079 I'm so glad that you decided to grace this with 0:00:10.119 --> 0:00:10.680 your presence. 0:00:10.960 --> 0:00:11.680 Thanks Claude. 0:00:12.039 --> 0:00:14.480 I've had to do the last four shows all by myself. 0:00:14.520 --> 0:00:16.960 I know, I saw the sock It's kind of cool, though. 0:00:17.400 --> 0:00:19.360 You must have done a good job. Was about sending 0:00:19.400 --> 0:00:21.680 me emails with photos of the sockbuck the show? 0:00:21.760 --> 0:00:23.799 It was cool. It was really cool. Dirty socks. But 0:00:23.800 --> 0:00:26.960 that's okay. Listen, buddy, you know it's ridiculous. 0:00:27.040 --> 0:00:29.120 Oh my god. I do you know when you know 0:00:29.160 --> 0:00:30.880 that you would be friends with the celebrity? 0:00:31.280 --> 0:00:31.520 Yeah? 0:00:31.680 --> 0:00:33.919 Right here had that feeling. There are two that I 0:00:33.960 --> 0:00:36.360 know what I would be friends with. They're both gone, 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:38.839 so I can't be friends with them. But yeah, most 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:40.760 of the celebrities I think I could be, like have 0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:42.760 an affinity for a friendship with are all gone. I'm like, 0:00:42.760 --> 0:00:44.680 why is that? What does that say? Do I not 0:00:44.720 --> 0:00:48.680 fit in these times? Anyway? Both of them loved each other, 0:00:49.080 --> 0:00:50.919 but the funny thing is is neither one of them 0:00:50.960 --> 0:00:53.960 could understand each other. They're two of my favorite people ever. 0:00:54.360 --> 0:00:58.840 Lee Marvin and Toshiro Maffuni. Wait, so this story. Yeah, 0:00:59.360 --> 0:01:02.920 the actor Marvin, right, yeah, and the actor to Shiro Maffuoni. 0:01:03.200 --> 0:01:05.839 They were like best friends. But this is a story 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:09.360 we have from Betty Marvin, obviously Lee Marvin's wife. She 0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:12.880 says the story and I quote Lee and I always 0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:15.680 from the beginning would see Japanese films. He'd love to 0:01:15.720 --> 0:01:18.440 Shiro Maffuoni so much. He used to call him on 0:01:18.480 --> 0:01:22.479 the phone. Couldn't understand a word of Japanese BUFFOONI spoke 0:01:22.520 --> 0:01:26.160 no English. They'd have these long conversations. 0:01:25.400 --> 0:01:28.400 About what wait, isn't that the best? 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:31.680 Just sitting there drunk on the phone because they were 0:01:31.680 --> 0:01:34.000 both big drinkers, right, so I'd be billing about his 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:36.600 nighttime phone calls they're for at least one of them, 0:01:36.680 --> 0:01:38.240 probably a morning phone call for the other because the 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:41.640 time difference. But they're drunk sitting there on the phone. 0:01:41.920 --> 0:01:42.520 Oh man. 0:01:42.640 --> 0:01:44.319 Because I was saying that to John borhim the other. 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:48.360 Day, love me, what are you doing? We was just talking? 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:51.880 So how great is that two people have a conversation 0:01:52.000 --> 0:01:54.640 with another person who doesn't speak their language or my people? 0:01:54.760 --> 0:01:55.200 That is. 0:01:56.960 --> 0:02:00.000 It's ridiculous too, right, But you know what else is ridiculus? 0:02:00.280 --> 0:02:03.360 No keeping perfect criming records. 0:02:03.680 --> 0:02:04.520 Oh that's so you. 0:02:04.680 --> 0:02:27.880 I know, this is Ridiculous Crime, a podcast about absurd 0:02:27.960 --> 0:02:32.640 and outrageous capers, heists, and cons. It is always ninety 0:02:32.720 --> 0:02:36.079 nine percent murder free and one hundred percent ridiculous. 0:02:36.240 --> 0:02:37.519 I know you heard that. 0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:41.880 Nightclubs zaren, Yes, one of my favorite places. Do you 0:02:41.919 --> 0:02:43.000 like to go to night clubs? 0:02:43.200 --> 0:02:45.120 I used to? Yeah, I mean I did. I like 0:02:45.560 --> 0:02:48.359 really more like jazz clubs. Nightclubs are going to have 0:02:48.400 --> 0:02:50.760 like a comic. I don't want, like a burlesque. 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:52.840 Show people snap and appreciation of things. 0:02:52.919 --> 0:02:54.720 No, but like the old school and nightclubs like we're 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:56.560 like a Dean Martin where you're going to see a show. 0:02:57.080 --> 0:02:58.640 I don't want to go to, like you know, see 0:02:58.639 --> 0:03:01.799 someone like you know, reading their death comedy stuff. 0:03:01.800 --> 0:03:03.880 And then I like a nightclub, like to go dancing, 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:04.920 Oh like that. 0:03:04.880 --> 0:03:07.920 Cat of nightclub, like a dance club, a dance area. Yeah, 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:13.720 in this dancery like dancer dancery. So that's what we're 0:03:13.720 --> 0:03:16.200 talking about. Yeah, I love dancery. You do all freak 0:03:16.200 --> 0:03:21.560 of freaka floor I do not really you don't like dancing. 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:24.959 I like dancing. It's not like like nightclub dance. 0:03:24.800 --> 0:03:26.040 But do you like go with your friends and just 0:03:26.040 --> 0:03:27.360 like dance with your friends, you don't have to dance 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:27.800 with strangers. 0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:34.080 You're a long time ago. Sarah TACIONI a goddess among humans. 0:03:33.760 --> 0:03:34.839 Great great persons. 0:03:34.880 --> 0:03:37.080 She and I used to go to two different like 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:39.840 dance nights in the city. One was at the cat 0:03:39.880 --> 0:03:43.320 club called sixteen on Sunday night. Sure I never went, 0:03:43.360 --> 0:03:46.640 but I know it was like all rock and roll whatever. 0:03:46.760 --> 0:03:48.400 And then there was like sort of a similar one. 0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:52.480 I remember the old Covered Wagon. Oh yeah, Bordello Night 0:03:52.680 --> 0:03:55.280 was amazing music, and so we would go to that 0:03:55.360 --> 0:03:58.840 and kind of google walk around and you know, talk 0:03:58.880 --> 0:04:02.320 to people and get down. But like that, like I 0:04:02.360 --> 0:04:04.960 don't know, I don't think of myself as a nightclub 0:04:05.080 --> 0:04:06.080 disco person. 0:04:06.360 --> 0:04:07.920 I can see how you might not see that because 0:04:07.920 --> 0:04:09.160 it you also like to go to bed early. 0:04:09.360 --> 0:04:09.880 I got it. 0:04:10.520 --> 0:04:11.320 So there's that. 0:04:11.920 --> 0:04:15.440 Every day it gets earlier than earlier, and I love it. 0:04:16.320 --> 0:04:18.760 The big dog, let's talk about nightclubs. Let's get back 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:21.040 on it. Back on the big dog of all nightclubs 0:04:21.600 --> 0:04:23.640 has to be Studio fifty four in New York City. 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:26.560 Oh my god. The legendary Kramela Crown, the top. 0:04:26.400 --> 0:04:30.880 Of the Mountain City, the Big Potato. Yes, Studio fifty 0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:33.039 four relatively short lived. 0:04:32.880 --> 0:04:33.640 I understand. 0:04:33.720 --> 0:04:36.039 Yeah, like the first I never got to go. Yeah, 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:40.279 the First Iteration opened in nineteen seventy seven. I was 0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:43.320 forty eight years old and I was the deputy mayor 0:04:43.400 --> 0:04:47.440 of New York City. Huh No, it was I'm just kiddings. 0:04:47.080 --> 0:04:48.720 Are now You're still in Minieapolis at that point. 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:54.440 So that First Iteration, right, thirteen seventy seven, that closed 0:04:54.480 --> 0:04:55.760 in nineteen eighty. 0:04:55.640 --> 0:04:58.120 Okay, so that's like the disco era, wor Yeah. 0:04:57.960 --> 0:05:00.680 It burned out, it did not fade away. Yeah, so 0:05:01.040 --> 0:05:04.440 let's set the stage for you. Nineteen seventy seven. Yes, 0:05:04.920 --> 0:05:08.360 you told us recently you're punk broke. That was how 0:05:08.520 --> 0:05:10.320 That was the year that punk ro was sex pistoles, 0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:14.840 you know, a very avant garde music scene. So was disco, 0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:20.400 totally dance music. It was played in disco texts. It was. 0:05:20.480 --> 0:05:22.800 That was a French phenomenon. Yeah, I love a good 0:05:22.800 --> 0:05:26.920 disco tech. The backstory on that, when my brother opened 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:29.920 his bar, we were at a family function and we 0:05:29.960 --> 0:05:32.799 saw our like second cousin, like our dad's cousin, who's 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:37.200 this crazy like New York socialite, eccentric. Yes, and she 0:05:37.440 --> 0:05:40.719 was an older, older gap woman of a certain age, 0:05:41.200 --> 0:05:44.680 very certainly like getting up there and my brothers, I'm 0:05:44.680 --> 0:05:47.200 opening this bar. And she turns to him with her 0:05:47.240 --> 0:05:51.000 like her vivid red lipstick and dark black hair, says, 0:05:51.520 --> 0:05:55.000 I love a good disco tech. So that's what we call. 0:05:55.240 --> 0:05:57.320 And this is like clearly not the seventies or the 0:05:57.320 --> 0:05:59.320 eighties when this is oh no, this was not. 0:05:59.360 --> 0:06:01.920 At all so but she loved a good disco tech. 0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:05.920 The French love a good disco tech. That phenomenon of 0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:09.960 the disco tech came from France to the States in 0:06:10.040 --> 0:06:12.760 nineteen sixty and it was placed in New York called. 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:17.200 La Club Club that sounds like a place. 0:06:17.040 --> 0:06:20.360 You go Manhattan. Of course, Studio fifty four, like I said, 0:06:20.640 --> 0:06:23.919 was the big dog when it came to disco nightclubs. 0:06:24.600 --> 0:06:27.960 Lots of drugs and hedonism and like just letting go 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:30.919 into the buget all my favorite things, oh totally lights, 0:06:31.279 --> 0:06:37.840 loud music, DJs, and dance. Expressing yourself through dance, telling stories, 0:06:38.240 --> 0:06:40.640 standing in your truth through dance. 0:06:40.480 --> 0:06:44.360 Speaking through the language of your body. 0:06:43.320 --> 0:06:47.200 Physical communications through dance. That was the point. So people 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:49.320 they showed off their moves, which tended to be like 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:53.880 really smooth and saucy, a little six sexy, very sexy, 0:06:54.000 --> 0:06:56.480 very seat. And there was the fashion. It was a 0:06:56.560 --> 0:06:58.919 huge part of it. There's like polyester for days. 0:06:59.040 --> 0:07:00.120 I've seen Saturday Night few. 0:07:00.680 --> 0:07:03.919 So glamorous, spend a lot of time on my hand, 0:07:04.600 --> 0:07:08.279 like flowy yet like skimpy dresses made to show off 0:07:08.279 --> 0:07:12.080 the moves, shiny suits, Saturday Night fever with like tight 0:07:12.080 --> 0:07:17.040 flared pin open collars. Yeah, his in hers high heels, oh. 0:07:16.880 --> 0:07:18.679 My god, yes, right, chunky high. 0:07:18.480 --> 0:07:24.440 Heels, yes, so much glitter, gold, lemm a cost satins, yeah, gold, jewelry, 0:07:24.800 --> 0:07:28.280 body paint, dress, body paint, gold body paints. Oh yeah, 0:07:28.360 --> 0:07:32.800 but like that became huge. It was and peak hockey 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:38.760 and outlandish and early punk guards totally art scene type. 0:07:38.560 --> 0:07:41.320 Thing and going against the mood of the time or 0:07:41.320 --> 0:07:43.160 the mainstream, like what was going on at the time 0:07:43.240 --> 0:07:43.680 in terms. 0:07:43.560 --> 0:07:47.960 Of esthetic, right. And then there were drugs of course, yes, 0:07:48.160 --> 0:07:51.320 always the drugs avant garde. Yeah, so that was right 0:07:51.360 --> 0:07:53.440 up there in importance with the music. In the clothes. 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:55.960 Well, yeah, it's like a kind of a mix. There 0:07:55.960 --> 0:07:57.920 are three angles of the triangle. 0:07:59.200 --> 0:08:03.160 There were three main drugs common in disco text like 0:08:03.200 --> 0:08:08.200 adare council, Yes you do. So there's the cocaine. Yes, cocaine. 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:12.160 You know what that is. You know it speeds. Yeah, 0:08:12.200 --> 0:08:14.840 it makes you think you're also makes you feel you well, 0:08:14.800 --> 0:08:17.040 it makes you think that your hair brained ideas are 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:18.280 really clever, brilliant. 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:18.680 Yes. 0:08:20.120 --> 0:08:24.840 Poppers, Yes, so you inhale the vapors of break it 0:08:24.840 --> 0:08:28.480 open and go, Yeah, exactly like h of the seventies, 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:33.040 very dangerous and popular drug gives you a very short 0:08:33.040 --> 0:08:38.640 lived for it totally. And then quailudes the down lids. Yeah, 0:08:38.960 --> 0:08:42.000 those discos because they got you all loose and wobbly. 0:08:42.160 --> 0:08:44.480 Oh, I figured they're taking them afterwards. 0:08:44.120 --> 0:08:46.400 They called them disco biscuits. 0:08:46.600 --> 0:08:47.480 Biscuits, and they. 0:08:47.360 --> 0:08:49.600 Made sure they made your legs wobbly, and you just 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:54.000 felt jubbly and it felt amazing interesting, gets you right 0:08:54.040 --> 0:08:58.079 in the Joe blues. So all of the aforementioned elements 0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:01.160 were present at Studio fifty four better believe. So let's 0:09:01.160 --> 0:09:03.439 start with the opening of the club. It actually starts 0:09:03.440 --> 0:09:09.280 in nineteen seventy six. There's this German by centennial picture 0:09:09.280 --> 0:09:12.319 of the world. Every one of their stars and Stripes 0:09:12.480 --> 0:09:15.680 tall ships in the New York. Then a German male 0:09:15.840 --> 0:09:20.560 model named Uva Harden, Uva Harden, Uva Harden Wow, which 0:09:20.760 --> 0:09:22.080 like right, how. 0:09:21.960 --> 0:09:22.760 Would you like your eggs? 0:09:23.160 --> 0:09:28.920 Harden surrounded by like Uncle Sam the Stars and Stripes Centennial. 0:09:31.520 --> 0:09:34.120 Un Hey, he wanted to open a nightclub in New 0:09:34.160 --> 0:09:39.520 York called Studio just play a studio like the club. 0:09:40.240 --> 0:09:44.520 So he and this Israeli dude, Joram Polani, they signed 0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:48.280 on to take over the old CBS Studio fifty two, Okay, 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:50.960 And since that was on the recording space, yeah, like 0:09:51.080 --> 0:09:52.439 a big auditorium. 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:54.160 The radio place that they would do shows and stuff. 0:09:54.400 --> 0:09:57.599 And have like audiences and orchestras. And since it was 0:09:57.640 --> 0:10:00.320 on fifty fourth Street, they decided to call it Studio 0:10:00.360 --> 0:10:03.920 fifty four. And so Harden and Polani they formed a 0:10:03.920 --> 0:10:07.040 corporation for ownership of the place. But for whatever reason, 0:10:07.040 --> 0:10:10.640 they couldn't get a liquor license. They needed more cash too, 0:10:11.160 --> 0:10:13.840 so they sold almost all of their corporate stock to 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:17.720 the operators of the Marlborough Gallery, which was just like yeah, 0:10:18.320 --> 0:10:21.480 So with that cash on hand, Harden then he meets 0:10:21.480 --> 0:10:25.560 with these two entrepreneurs, Steve Rubel and Ian Schrager, I 0:10:25.640 --> 0:10:28.200 know those names, you know those names. They agreed to 0:10:28.280 --> 0:10:31.800 operate the club for them and then delays though continued 0:10:31.800 --> 0:10:34.800 to mount Harden and Polani they left their own project. 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:38.040 They're like, I guess this isn't going to work. Schreger 0:10:38.160 --> 0:10:41.680 and Rubel they took over and they're like the publicity guys, right, 0:10:41.760 --> 0:10:44.960 they know how to work things. So November of nineteen 0:10:45.040 --> 0:10:47.920 seventy six, Billboard magazine said that they were the ones 0:10:47.920 --> 0:10:50.680 who planned to open the nightclub called Studio fifty four. 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:53.680 They spent four hundred thousand dollars to get the place 0:10:53.760 --> 0:10:57.440 disco ready. So they were going from this old studio 0:10:57.559 --> 0:10:58.360 to a nightclub. 0:10:58.480 --> 0:11:00.360 This is a great expression being disco ready. 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:02.959 Some disco ready. And so they had to build a 0:11:03.040 --> 0:11:07.880 dance floor, a balcony, a disco booth like, putting in mirrors, 0:11:08.120 --> 0:11:11.240 light bars, floating vinyl platforms. 0:11:11.320 --> 0:11:11.640 Right. 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:16.160 The lighting system required three people to run it. Oh 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:17.680 it was that, yeah, because. 0:11:17.440 --> 0:11:20.160 You're running like track. The lights were going, they're sweeping 0:11:20.240 --> 0:11:22.000 up and down the music. 0:11:23.640 --> 0:11:26.920 They could fill the place with fog, dump a bunch 0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:32.679 of confetti. Whoa tailor it all over the Yeah, there 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:35.000 was seating for two hundred and fifty people in the 0:11:35.120 --> 0:11:39.760 orchestra area, and the balcony held five hundred seats. And 0:11:40.000 --> 0:11:43.280 also the balcony was covered in rubber so that it 0:11:43.320 --> 0:11:45.120 could be hosed down at the end of the night. 0:11:45.880 --> 0:11:49.360 Make of that which you build, So either way the 0:11:49.400 --> 0:11:55.960 place was bathhouse. Yeah, pretty much. There was a thirty 0:11:56.160 --> 0:12:01.240 by forty foot cyclorama on the ceiling, the project images 0:12:01.280 --> 0:12:06.360 of galaxy volcanoes, sunrise, sunset, and then they had this 0:12:06.440 --> 0:12:09.960 like sort of logo, this like icon for the nightclub 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:12.160 that was a giant moon with a spoon. 0:12:14.480 --> 0:12:17.760 Yes, and so for on supporting cocaine. But I like 0:12:17.840 --> 0:12:19.320 the branding, the aesthetic. 0:12:20.240 --> 0:12:23.640 For the opening, the guys sent out eight thousand invitations. 0:12:24.400 --> 0:12:28.080 Now the occupant has eight thousand friends. I guess the 0:12:28.160 --> 0:12:32.120 occupancy was twenty five hundred. And they also crafted a 0:12:32.200 --> 0:12:34.040 kind of like an a list, and these were people 0:12:34.040 --> 0:12:37.680 who got specially tailored phone calls and on opening night, 0:12:38.040 --> 0:12:39.520 four thousand people share that. 0:12:39.880 --> 0:12:40.200 Wow. 0:12:40.280 --> 0:12:43.679 Yeah, half of the thousand people. And you know how 0:12:43.840 --> 0:12:47.199 nightclub culture puts the emphasis on like night right. 0:12:47.000 --> 0:12:48.120 Oh yeah, that's right there in the neck. 0:12:48.280 --> 0:12:49.280 You don't get there early. 0:12:49.480 --> 0:12:51.480 Yeah, I tried starting a day club. It did not go. 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:57.600 Well, you imagine it's so bright here, like you don't 0:12:57.679 --> 0:13:01.240 you don't show up right when it opens late. But 0:13:01.360 --> 0:13:04.000 you know who was first in line at that opening night? 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:06.040 He got there bright and early. 0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:12.760 Dum. What's the guy uh in the the Police Academy movie, 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:13.880 Steve what's his name? 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:18.600 Steve Gutenberg Guenberg? Steve Gutenberg, very very close. It's your boy, 0:13:18.679 --> 0:13:21.480 Donald Trump and his first wife Ivanna get out? 0:13:22.559 --> 0:13:23.480 Are you for real? 0:13:23.679 --> 0:13:27.559 They weren't invited, They just tag They tagged along with 0:13:27.600 --> 0:13:29.880 some friends who were. They were like at dinner with 0:13:30.000 --> 0:13:33.720 the socialite. She's like, are you going to Studio fifty four? 0:13:33.760 --> 0:13:34.360 He's like what's that? 0:13:34.640 --> 0:13:34.800 Oh? 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:37.400 Come, you know, just come with and so they're like, well, 0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:40.680 it says ten o'clock is when it opens. So they 0:13:40.760 --> 0:13:47.719 knock on the doorlock only people outside. No one answers, 0:13:48.160 --> 0:13:52.320 and they stood there for fifteen minutes waiting, no one 0:13:52.360 --> 0:13:55.960 in line, just them, and then they're just about to 0:13:56.000 --> 0:13:58.520 leave and the door opens. The staff is like completely 0:13:58.559 --> 0:14:01.240 confused as to why anyone would be there that early, 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:04.080 and like, yeah, it technically opens at ten, but like, 0:14:04.120 --> 0:14:07.840 no one there. So they go in and they wander 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:11.080 around the place is empty, and they're just so clueless. 0:14:11.920 --> 0:14:14.520 And it wasn't until about midnight that the crowd starts 0:14:14.600 --> 0:14:17.960 to form outside. I know if Trump was still up 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:20.520 in there by the time the crowd showed up. A 0:14:20.560 --> 0:14:25.000 bus boy named Richie no Tar told the BBC years later, quote, 0:14:25.280 --> 0:14:27.840 no one remembered him being there the first night. He 0:14:28.040 --> 0:14:30.840 was a non entity. He was never on the dance floor. 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:32.800 Well, I can't imagine him dancing. I mean, I know 0:14:32.840 --> 0:14:36.000 he's known for dancing now, but I couldn't imagine it. 0:14:36.080 --> 0:14:42.400 Then he did eventually become a regular and trying to 0:14:42.440 --> 0:14:45.880 insert himself, like into any semblance of any kind of 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:49.280 New York society established or friend. It makes sense he's 0:14:49.280 --> 0:14:49.520 in there. 0:14:49.600 --> 0:14:51.240 He's been shhorn for a while, right, And. 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:54.080 Then there's a later connection you'll see anyway, the opening, 0:14:54.160 --> 0:14:57.960 so traffic stopped on fifty fourth Street. Really so many 0:14:58.000 --> 0:14:59.960 people were lined up to get in. One of the 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:02.600 people who were stuck in traffic trying to get to 0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:06.960 the club and just couldn't get there, Frank Sinatra sor. 0:15:07.560 --> 0:15:09.480 My man Blue Eyes himself. 0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:11.480 He's like Warren Batty. 0:15:11.920 --> 0:15:12.680 That makes sense. 0:15:12.680 --> 0:15:15.520 But here's the thing. Warren Batty and actually Henry Winkler. 0:15:15.960 --> 0:15:18.720 They both got to the door, but they didn't get in. 0:15:19.080 --> 0:15:21.840 What they could they didn't get in. Warren Batty didn't 0:15:21.840 --> 0:15:23.320 get in, and the Fonds. 0:15:24.120 --> 0:15:26.120 I get that he's like a Yale actor when he's 0:15:26.120 --> 0:15:28.720 not wearing the jacket, but I mean, Warren Baty's Warren 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:29.640 Baty out all the time. 0:15:30.440 --> 0:15:33.640 He let Warren Bady in, Margot Hemingway and. 0:15:33.720 --> 0:15:35.360 Share, Okay, that makes sense. 0:15:35.400 --> 0:15:42.320 Loving designers, I'm guessing yes, Dolly Parton, Andy Warhol, Robin 0:15:42.400 --> 0:15:46.960 Leach Kissinger, I figured inside. Robin Leach, later host of 0:15:47.000 --> 0:15:50.720 Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. He was a correspondent 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:55.200 for CNN, and he brought a date. Date was Brookshields, 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:57.280 who happened to be eleven years old at the time. 0:16:00.400 --> 0:16:02.320 I was really hoping, you're gonna say, like Grace Jones, 0:16:02.400 --> 0:16:04.400 like I was waiting for like a fun well. 0:16:04.400 --> 0:16:06.880 A couple of weeks after the opening, Halston calls the 0:16:06.880 --> 0:16:08.920 club and like, things have been kind of slow after 0:16:08.960 --> 0:16:12.760 it opened, but he wanted to have Bianca Jagger's birthday parties. 0:16:12.880 --> 0:16:13.640 Oh yeah, on. 0:16:13.640 --> 0:16:15.960 A Monday night, and they're like, that's not really a 0:16:16.000 --> 0:16:19.320 big club night. Like these are the coolest people wanting 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:21.840 to have a super cool party, so they jump into 0:16:21.880 --> 0:16:24.880 action and it was it was exclusive. It was not 0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:26.160 the four thousand like. 0:16:26.200 --> 0:16:27.840 The opening Jagger's birthday. 0:16:27.920 --> 0:16:31.040 Only one hundred and fifty people were invited or allowed in, 0:16:31.560 --> 0:16:33.720 and the place was filled with white balloons. They went 0:16:33.720 --> 0:16:35.640 out and they got like as many white balloons as 0:16:35.680 --> 0:16:40.840 they could, And as Ian Schrager told Vanity Fair decades later, quote, 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:43.920 Halston only had about one hundred and fifty people, the 0:16:43.960 --> 0:16:49.080 best people from Barishtakov to Jacqueline Bissett. Like it's just 0:16:49.440 --> 0:16:51.400 petty late seventies of that. 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:53.480 Also, I like how when he goes to pick two 0:16:53.520 --> 0:16:55.520 people they have the same letter their last name, from 0:16:55.520 --> 0:16:56.640 Barishakov to Basset. 0:16:58.160 --> 0:17:01.120 Everyone his last name started with b Zarin. Were you there? 0:17:01.520 --> 0:17:03.680 No, I was actually an Angola. 0:17:04.000 --> 0:17:07.080 I see that makes sense. The prison, according to Rolling Stone, 0:17:07.160 --> 0:17:10.280 quote one of the bartenders donned a diaper and popped 0:17:10.280 --> 0:17:12.359 out of a cake. But the highlight of the evening 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:15.560 occurred around midnight, when a white steed was let out 0:17:15.560 --> 0:17:18.639 from behind a stage curtain by a nude couple slathered 0:17:18.640 --> 0:17:21.840 in shimmering paint and sparkles. The birthday girl took the 0:17:21.840 --> 0:17:24.800 place of honor astride the horse, which trotted across the 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:30.119 dance floor while the camera's greedily snapped seriously. So that 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:33.119 became this iconic moment of glamour and excess for the 0:17:33.160 --> 0:17:38.320 club and the disco. Grazia magazine described the club as such, 0:17:38.440 --> 0:17:44.640 quote Studio fifty four was a phantasmagorical dreamscape, teetering always 0:17:44.640 --> 0:17:48.199 between a dream come true and a nightmare. Throughout the 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:52.720 course of any given evening, A giant anthropomorphized crescent moon 0:17:52.800 --> 0:17:55.720 with a coke spoon pressed to its nose and eyes 0:17:55.800 --> 0:17:59.960 flashing red, hovered over the room like a Peruvian flake 0:18:00.240 --> 0:18:05.000 dayusic Machinah wow, it's like an elevated Stefan sketch. 0:18:05.080 --> 0:18:06.080 Yes, exactly. 0:18:06.280 --> 0:18:11.240 So getting in wasn't easy, as I've said, apparently just 0:18:11.280 --> 0:18:14.160 getting in at all was a status symbol. It usually 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:15.879 was like seven or eight bucks to get in. But 0:18:15.920 --> 0:18:18.680 you can pay for this annual membership and exchange for 0:18:18.760 --> 0:18:21.879 discounted tickets. Tickets will cost more on the weekends and 0:18:21.920 --> 0:18:24.200 then like even more on nights when there were performances. 0:18:24.320 --> 0:18:25.919 Were they like picking do you know if they were 0:18:25.920 --> 0:18:28.280 picking people like by your fashion, like they're standing. 0:18:28.480 --> 0:18:30.720 Yeah, that's what I'm gonna get to so. Andy Warhol 0:18:30.800 --> 0:18:34.000 famously said, quote, the key of the success of Studio 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:37.080 fifty four is that it's a dictatorship at the door 0:18:37.160 --> 0:18:42.080 and a democracy on the dance floor. So see Rubelle, 0:18:42.280 --> 0:18:44.639 he's the dictator. He would like pull this step stool 0:18:44.680 --> 0:18:46.520 outside and you'd stand on it and you'd pick people 0:18:46.560 --> 0:18:49.840 out of the crowd. Totally subjective, like you know if 0:18:50.000 --> 0:18:53.240 if you had the vibe, you go in and otherwise 0:18:53.240 --> 0:18:54.240 you're on the sidewalk. 0:18:54.640 --> 0:18:55.200 Sorry mister. 0:18:55.800 --> 0:18:59.320 Yeah, And so like this doorman Mark Bennechy told the 0:18:59.480 --> 0:19:02.720 Entertainment quote, we had the kid who worked at McDonald's 0:19:02.760 --> 0:19:06.560 next to some movie star or some superstar model, whether 0:19:06.600 --> 0:19:09.359 they were dressed in a festive way, or they were interesting, 0:19:09.560 --> 0:19:13.520 high energy, danced well or socialite, celebrity model. You had 0:19:13.560 --> 0:19:16.080 to bring something to the table interesting. 0:19:16.280 --> 0:19:19.440 So I imagine there's actually a lot of good dancing. 0:19:19.840 --> 0:19:25.159 Oh, amazing dancing. Amazing dance. Now let's think about that dancing. 0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:29.400 Take a break, listen to some have some disco biscuits, 0:19:29.960 --> 0:19:32.080 and when we get back, we're gonna go right back 0:19:32.080 --> 0:19:59.200 into the club. Zara, I'm telling you, why slow you down? 0:19:59.200 --> 0:20:03.080 The disco biscuits. You'll sound like me. What did I take? 0:20:03.240 --> 0:20:04.080 You took the old? 0:20:05.119 --> 0:20:06.160 Is something under the sink? 0:20:06.160 --> 0:20:10.200 I thought, that's our keeper's friend. Okay, So we're talking 0:20:10.200 --> 0:20:11.720 about how hard it is to get into the club. 0:20:12.440 --> 0:20:15.520 Some people they didn't give up easily, like they would 0:20:15.600 --> 0:20:17.920 try new outfits, switch up their hairstyle, and go back. 0:20:18.720 --> 0:20:23.440 Actress Jade Barrymore, mother of Drew, who first went to 0:20:23.520 --> 0:20:26.680 the club at age four, but she was at the 0:20:26.760 --> 0:20:29.440 later iteration of the club when she was eleven and 0:20:29.640 --> 0:20:32.760 a coke user. She was a regular at that club. Huh, 0:20:33.600 --> 0:20:36.159 said Jade, the mom said of the crazy desire to 0:20:36.200 --> 0:20:38.520 get in quote people were waiting in lines with the 0:20:38.600 --> 0:20:42.320 most fantastic costumes on, each one trying to outdo the 0:20:42.440 --> 0:20:44.920 other one so they could be pointed to and get in. 0:20:46.480 --> 0:20:49.800 So yeah, meanwhile, you got your kid there, Okay, I. 0:20:49.800 --> 0:20:52.520 Would have fun getting dressed for one year. 0:20:52.560 --> 0:20:55.800 At Halloween, two women they were inspired by the Bianca 0:20:55.880 --> 0:20:58.200 Jagger things sitting on a horse. They rented a horse 0:20:58.880 --> 0:21:01.080 and they rode up to the doors in it. They 0:21:01.119 --> 0:21:04.800 were nude. Yeah, the doorman let the horse in but 0:21:04.880 --> 0:21:11.480 made them stay outside. A lot of their hitters didn't 0:21:11.480 --> 0:21:16.480 get it. Aside from Henry Winkler, there are two good examples. 0:21:16.960 --> 0:21:21.800 One time the President of Cyprus was turned He was 0:21:21.840 --> 0:21:24.760 turned away because the doorman misunderstood him and thought he 0:21:24.880 --> 0:21:33.840 was the President of Cypress Hills Cemetery presidents brothers, so 0:21:34.240 --> 0:21:38.119 there's a big difference. Another time, one of Saudi, the 0:21:38.240 --> 0:21:41.760 King Khalid, one of his sons, was turned away, and 0:21:41.840 --> 0:21:44.840 so the Saudi embassy in the US wrote a letter 0:21:44.960 --> 0:21:47.680 to the club and said, please do not reject the 0:21:47.760 --> 0:21:48.440 prince again. 0:21:48.880 --> 0:21:52.520 You're hurting his feelings. I have ah, we're gonna have 0:21:52.560 --> 0:21:53.000 to buy the colr. 0:21:53.560 --> 0:21:56.040 So some people got mad and actually like shot at 0:21:56.080 --> 0:21:58.520 the club from outside. Yeah, but and when they didn't 0:21:58.520 --> 0:22:01.879 get entry. Yeah. But others they bangers. Really do you 0:22:02.000 --> 0:22:06.920 know that band's chic with mel Rogers. So he and 0:22:07.080 --> 0:22:10.639 his bandmate Bernard Edwards, they're trying to get into Studio 0:22:10.720 --> 0:22:13.480 fifty four one night and not just like they weren't 0:22:13.520 --> 0:22:14.359 just looking to dance. 0:22:14.520 --> 0:22:14.639 Right. 0:22:15.119 --> 0:22:18.439 It was New Year's Eve nineteen seventy seven. Nile Rogers 0:22:18.520 --> 0:22:21.560 told sound on sound quote, we were invited to meet 0:22:21.600 --> 0:22:26.720 with Grace Jones at studio. She's coming. She wanted to 0:22:26.800 --> 0:22:29.720 interview us about recording her next album. At that time, 0:22:29.880 --> 0:22:32.680 our music was fairly popular. Dance Dance Dance was a 0:22:32.720 --> 0:22:35.320 big hit, but Grace Jones didn't leave our name at 0:22:35.359 --> 0:22:37.680 the door, and the doorman wouldn't let us in. We 0:22:37.800 --> 0:22:39.680 stood there as long as we could take it until 0:22:39.680 --> 0:22:42.080 our feet were finally just way too cold. We were 0:22:42.240 --> 0:22:45.560 really totally dejected. We felt horrible. So they go back 0:22:45.600 --> 0:22:48.800 to Nile's apartment. Quote We grabbed a couple of bottles 0:22:48.840 --> 0:22:51.000 of champagne from the corner liquor store, and then we 0:22:51.080 --> 0:22:53.320 went back to my place, plugged in our instruments and 0:22:53.359 --> 0:22:57.640 started jamming. We were just yelling obscenities. Studio fifty four, 0:22:58.200 --> 0:23:03.640 come go off, those scumbags them, and we were laughing. 0:23:04.440 --> 0:23:06.800 We were entertaining the hell out of ourselves. We had 0:23:06.840 --> 0:23:09.760 a blast, and finally it hit Bernard. He said, hey, no, 0:23:10.320 --> 0:23:13.560 what you're playing sounds really good. They had this amazing 0:23:13.760 --> 0:23:17.879 song that they'd written called GoF, but that wouldn't get 0:23:17.920 --> 0:23:20.520 them on the radio, so they changed the title and 0:23:20.640 --> 0:23:23.600 lyrics to Freak Off and then to the better sounding 0:23:23.800 --> 0:23:31.879 freak Out a freak Out, so they released as freak 0:23:32.720 --> 0:23:35.400 in September of nineteen seventy eight. It was their first 0:23:35.520 --> 0:23:40.520 number one, biggest hit gone. And so you have like 0:23:40.600 --> 0:23:42.959 all these people, these celebrities we've talked about, but there 0:23:42.960 --> 0:23:46.480 are regular people there too, and they just wanted to dance, Saren. 0:23:47.560 --> 0:23:50.159 They had to be interesting or beautiful to get in. 0:23:50.359 --> 0:23:50.560 Sure. 0:23:50.720 --> 0:23:53.560 The club was known mostly though for celebrities, so you 0:23:53.680 --> 0:23:56.040 had like the regular folks, but it was just everything 0:23:56.119 --> 0:23:59.480 was about the celebs. Among those who went, John Belushi, 0:24:00.280 --> 0:24:05.520 David Bowie, Elton, John, Jackie Kennedy, On Nasais, Wow, earth 0:24:05.560 --> 0:24:10.760 a kid of course, Leonard Bernstein, Yes, party Share, Salmond 0:24:10.840 --> 0:24:18.400 or Dolly of course, Jackson, you're Pal, Rick James, Robin Williams, 0:24:18.920 --> 0:24:20.040 Liz Taylor, I. 0:24:20.160 --> 0:24:24.960 Like all these kids, Bella a, whoa, that's just progressive. 0:24:25.000 --> 0:24:34.800 Wow, Okay, Sylvester Stillo, Tina Turner, Rick Flair, whoa, Roy Cohen, 0:24:36.160 --> 0:24:40.680 Alvin Klein, oh Wowler, John Lennon, Truman, Capoti, al Pacino, 0:24:40.800 --> 0:24:42.679 Tom Ford and even Betty Ford. 0:24:42.600 --> 0:24:43.359 Betty and Wow. 0:24:44.920 --> 0:24:47.639 And then there was Truman being like kind of bitchy 0:24:47.720 --> 0:24:54.320 sitting there studio amazing. There's also disco Sally She was 0:24:54.359 --> 0:24:57.080 a seventy seven year old widow who was a regular 0:24:57.200 --> 0:24:59.840 dancer there. She's a great dancer and everyone loved her. 0:25:00.119 --> 0:25:02.240 Was like, oh yeah, Alec Baldwin was there, but it 0:25:02.320 --> 0:25:05.480 was because he worked as a waiter. Really yeah, yeah. 0:25:05.600 --> 0:25:06.560 Did you ever wear the diaper? 0:25:07.040 --> 0:25:09.520 He always just wore he wore a diaper. He's still 0:25:09.560 --> 0:25:12.680 to this day. Where's a diaper? The antics were insane. 0:25:12.920 --> 0:25:15.359 So one New Year's Even, event planner for the club 0:25:16.040 --> 0:25:21.119 brought in four tons of glitter. Oh no, for the 0:25:21.200 --> 0:25:22.159 guests to dance on. 0:25:22.400 --> 0:25:24.280 Oh god, are they still getting the glitter out of 0:25:24.359 --> 0:25:25.000 people's outfit? 0:25:25.200 --> 0:25:28.720 Ian Schrager said, quote, you felt like you were standing 0:25:28.800 --> 0:25:32.080 on stardust. People got the glitter in their hair and 0:25:32.160 --> 0:25:34.880 their socks. You would see it in people's homes six 0:25:35.040 --> 0:25:37.960 months later and you knew they'd been at Studio fifty 0:25:38.000 --> 0:25:39.600 four on New Year's Is. 0:25:39.600 --> 0:25:42.439 There glitter in this cocaine? Were you a Studio fifty 0:25:42.520 --> 0:25:43.639 four on New Year's Well? 0:25:43.720 --> 0:25:46.040 And again, okay, so the cocaine, Like you can imagine 0:25:46.080 --> 0:25:48.600 when you get drugs and glamour and late nights in 0:25:48.680 --> 0:25:52.439 the hospitality industry, there's hanky business. Yeahan think So remember 0:25:52.520 --> 0:25:54.840 how the initial opening of the club that was delayed 0:25:55.040 --> 0:25:58.480 due to no liquor license huh, Well, they didn't get it. 0:25:58.640 --> 0:25:59.280 They never got it. 0:25:59.400 --> 0:26:02.960 No, every day they kept applying for a caterers permit, 0:26:03.200 --> 0:26:06.040 like a one day caterers every single day, every single day, 0:26:06.440 --> 0:26:08.240 obviously exploiting the law. 0:26:08.280 --> 0:26:10.080 And they just kept Yeah, they sent a guy down 0:26:10.119 --> 0:26:11.560 the office nine in the morning and they're. 0:26:11.400 --> 0:26:14.000 Like, this isn't really like a wedding reception or like, 0:26:14.200 --> 0:26:17.439 you know, a family reunion. That you're like, fine. They 0:26:17.480 --> 0:26:20.720 also they didn't have a certificate of occupancy and they 0:26:20.880 --> 0:26:23.080 also didn't have a public assembly license. 0:26:23.200 --> 0:26:23.960 Oh so wow. 0:26:24.240 --> 0:26:27.280 Yeah, so since they turned a lot of people away 0:26:27.400 --> 0:26:29.840 and bruised a lot of egos, it comes as no 0:26:30.040 --> 0:26:33.240 surprise that someone tipped off the authorities about their lack 0:26:33.280 --> 0:26:33.960 of paperwork. 0:26:34.080 --> 0:26:36.080 The fire codes are being violated. 0:26:36.560 --> 0:26:40.440 So nineteen seventy seven, the New York State Liquor Authority 0:26:40.560 --> 0:26:44.119 rated the club for selling liquor without a license. No worries. 0:26:44.200 --> 0:26:46.600 The club still open that night and they just serve fruit, 0:26:46.680 --> 0:26:48.400 juice and soda instead of liquor. 0:26:48.520 --> 0:26:50.200 Give it time, it'll turn into rugs. 0:26:50.240 --> 0:26:52.439 They're like, we've got a bag of kludes here. 0:26:53.280 --> 0:26:55.000 No one really wants maybe some champagne. 0:26:55.200 --> 0:26:58.920 I guess they kept serving non alcoholic drinks until the 0:26:59.000 --> 0:27:02.359 New York Supreme Court ordered the Liquor Authority to grant 0:27:02.440 --> 0:27:06.440 them a liquor license, and the authorities chairman complied but 0:27:06.560 --> 0:27:08.960 objected to it and said that the judge was swayed 0:27:09.160 --> 0:27:14.840 by this Studio fifty four's fancy clientele. So Schrager he 0:27:14.960 --> 0:27:17.440 also applied for a cabaret license from the New York 0:27:17.480 --> 0:27:19.119 City Department of Consumer Affairs. 0:27:19.160 --> 0:27:21.359 I think Jackie Oo got on the phone and she's like, look, I. 0:27:23.000 --> 0:27:25.960 Have to be there, and I need a good gin 0:27:26.040 --> 0:27:28.879 gimblet if I'm going to be sitting there. So the 0:27:28.960 --> 0:27:31.960 cabaret license that allows you to run an establishment with 0:27:32.040 --> 0:27:36.120 booze and with entertainment, and so they tried to get 0:27:36.200 --> 0:27:38.240 one and it was stalled out for like a year. 0:27:38.359 --> 0:27:40.800 And New York has really weird cabaret license. 0:27:40.880 --> 0:27:44.960 They're an arcane and they actually kind of powerful, and they. 0:27:44.920 --> 0:27:47.840 Were used for a very long time to manipulate and 0:27:48.040 --> 0:27:49.600 like redline and that kind of stuff. 0:27:50.560 --> 0:27:52.520 Don't try to be a jazz musician in the sixties 0:27:52.560 --> 0:27:52.960 in New York. 0:27:54.160 --> 0:27:56.080 So they stalled it out, went on for more than 0:27:56.119 --> 0:27:59.080 of the year. But part of it wasn't really intentional 0:27:59.080 --> 0:28:02.920 because the city at the time only had three cabaret inspectors, 0:28:03.440 --> 0:28:07.120 so there's this huge existing log jam. They can't be everywhere, 0:28:07.480 --> 0:28:09.960 and people generally didn't get too worked up about it because, 0:28:09.960 --> 0:28:12.560 like the fine was like twenty bucks, so they're like, 0:28:12.640 --> 0:28:16.880 find me, who cares. When they asked about it, though, 0:28:16.960 --> 0:28:20.359 like the press asked, the Department of Consumer Affairs said 0:28:20.359 --> 0:28:23.919 that the application wasn't approved because of fire code violations. 0:28:24.200 --> 0:28:26.280 Of course, so then you know, reporters go to the 0:28:26.359 --> 0:28:30.760 fire department, which once they're like, I can't talk about it, okay, whatever. 0:28:31.200 --> 0:28:33.119 So it wasn't just the city and State of New 0:28:33.200 --> 0:28:36.840 York on their case. August seventy eight, the American Society 0:28:36.880 --> 0:28:41.520 of Composers, Authors and Publishers ascat OH sued Rubel and Schrager. 0:28:41.600 --> 0:28:44.480 They said that the guys hadn't paid licensing fees for 0:28:44.640 --> 0:28:48.719 six performances that ASKAP had staged at Studio fifty four 0:28:48.800 --> 0:28:52.040 earlier in the year. The club went ahead, They're like, fine, 0:28:52.080 --> 0:28:55.000 we'll get our askab license and they took care of that. 0:28:55.440 --> 0:28:59.200 But then the National Labor Relations Board came calling some 0:28:59.360 --> 0:29:02.120 workers said that they were unfair labor practices. Basically, the 0:29:02.200 --> 0:29:05.000 club was high profile, irritated a lot of people, so 0:29:05.120 --> 0:29:08.120 they became a target. But then the real trouble began. 0:29:08.520 --> 0:29:11.280 What's the real Steve Rubell, he was profiled in New 0:29:11.360 --> 0:29:15.120 York Magazine in nineteen seventy seven the writer Dan Dorfman. 0:29:15.320 --> 0:29:17.880 He estimated in the article that the club was bringing 0:29:17.920 --> 0:29:21.320 in about three point eight million dollars by the end 0:29:21.360 --> 0:29:22.440 of nineteen seventy eight. 0:29:22.720 --> 0:29:25.160 I know his work from later on. We did his 0:29:25.320 --> 0:29:28.040 videos on golf Dorfund Dolph on Golf. 0:29:29.080 --> 0:29:31.240 That is a foundational film. 0:29:31.360 --> 0:29:33.280 I mean, it's really incredible stuff. I can't believe he 0:29:33.360 --> 0:29:35.880 jumped from He was actually, you know, like a major 0:29:35.960 --> 0:29:38.240 player in you know, just not just New York Magazine, 0:29:38.280 --> 0:29:40.240 but later on in sports. I mean, the guy he 0:29:40.280 --> 0:29:41.720 can do anything. This Dorphann, I'm. 0:29:41.640 --> 0:29:42.920 Telling ehs cases. 0:29:42.960 --> 0:29:44.920 Oh wait, I'm being told that was a different Doorphan. 0:29:45.000 --> 0:29:48.840 No, It's okay, keep going. So the please note though, 0:29:49.120 --> 0:29:51.360 that if he's saying they make three point eight million 0:29:51.400 --> 0:29:54.840 a year in nineteen seventy seven, they only paid eight 0:29:54.920 --> 0:29:57.400 thousand in taxes, which is kind of how it works 0:29:57.440 --> 0:30:01.440 now for corporations anyway. But Ubelle said the article quote, 0:30:02.120 --> 0:30:05.800 this is rebel. The owner the profits are astronomical. Only 0:30:05.880 --> 0:30:09.520 the mafia does better. And then he also said it's 0:30:09.560 --> 0:30:11.720 a cash business, and you have to worry about the 0:30:11.840 --> 0:30:13.840 I R S. I don't want them to know everything. 0:30:15.160 --> 0:30:16.600 So the I R S is like, we'd like to 0:30:16.680 --> 0:30:19.920 know everything, please, we have a new magazine subscription. Luckily, 0:30:20.200 --> 0:30:23.680 a disgruntled ex employee named Donald Moon had plenty to say. 0:30:24.240 --> 0:30:27.120 So some say that Moon had tax problems and he 0:30:27.280 --> 0:30:29.400 reported Studio fifty four to the I R S in 0:30:29.480 --> 0:30:32.360 exchange for leniency. Others were like, no, he was just 0:30:32.480 --> 0:30:34.880 angry because they didn't give him a promotion. They didn't 0:30:35.360 --> 0:30:35.880 give them a raise. 0:30:36.000 --> 0:30:43.040 I doubt the IRS gives you leniency. Have like gish. 0:30:46.960 --> 0:30:48.480 So he got in touch with the I R S 0:30:48.600 --> 0:30:51.200 and he told him that Rebel and Trader were reporting 0:30:51.280 --> 0:30:52.920 only some of their revenue to the I R S 0:30:53.080 --> 0:30:56.360 is taxable income, keeping the rest without paying taxes on it. 0:30:56.760 --> 0:30:59.440 They were also storing coke in the basement. The I 0:30:59.600 --> 0:31:02.560 R S is, it's like, that's our business. Tell me more, 0:31:03.160 --> 0:31:06.840 zaren close your eye. Oh, I want you to picture it. Yeah, 0:31:07.280 --> 0:31:10.800 it's December fourteenth, nineteen seventy eight, and you are an 0:31:10.920 --> 0:31:17.760 IRS investigator. Oh no, you and thirty other agents have 0:31:17.880 --> 0:31:20.080 been assigned to raid the business at two two four 0:31:20.200 --> 0:31:24.000 West fifty fourth Street. Everyone knows this as Studio fifty four. 0:31:24.600 --> 0:31:26.920 Your sister tried to go dancing there once. She told 0:31:26.920 --> 0:31:28.920 you about how she and her friends got all dawled 0:31:29.000 --> 0:31:32.040 up and waited in line, only to be completely ignored 0:31:32.040 --> 0:31:34.640 by the guy at the door. You aren't a disco guy, 0:31:34.680 --> 0:31:37.480 You're more in a chamber music. You're excited to be there, 0:31:37.520 --> 0:31:40.160 though for a few reasons. This is a major bust. 0:31:40.320 --> 0:31:43.040 To be sure, all eyes on you, guys. Everyone's keyed up. 0:31:43.760 --> 0:31:46.680 This is a notorious place with tons of celebrities coming 0:31:46.760 --> 0:31:48.800 and going, and you can't wait to tell your sister 0:31:48.880 --> 0:31:50.760 what it's like inside. Even with the lights on the 0:31:50.760 --> 0:31:54.160 bubble machines off, the whole crew has been joking about 0:31:54.160 --> 0:31:57.080 the club and what they might find inside. You also 0:31:57.160 --> 0:32:00.680 get to sport your new IRS windbreaker today. It's so 0:32:00.840 --> 0:32:03.600 official and you feel so good and confident when you 0:32:03.720 --> 0:32:06.240 wear it. The clothes make the man, they say so 0:32:06.400 --> 0:32:10.000 the lead investigators. They've already made entrance, showing the search 0:32:10.080 --> 0:32:13.920 warrant to the club owner's lawyer, Roy Kohane. You take 0:32:13.960 --> 0:32:16.000 a look at the guy and he gives you the 0:32:16.480 --> 0:32:20.040 major creeps. Your blood runs cold. It's also cold outside. 0:32:20.080 --> 0:32:23.120 Maybe that's it. So you and other agents you're standing 0:32:23.160 --> 0:32:25.560 out on West fifty fourth waiting for the signal to 0:32:25.760 --> 0:32:28.360 enter and begin the search. You rub your hands together 0:32:28.440 --> 0:32:31.040 for warmth and watch your breath condense and dance on 0:32:31.120 --> 0:32:34.600 the sharp winter air. The windbreaker looks super cool, but 0:32:34.760 --> 0:32:37.320 it doesn't keep you warm. Your boss gives you the 0:32:37.360 --> 0:32:39.000 wave of the hand and you make your way inside 0:32:39.040 --> 0:32:41.920 this cavernous building. It looks so strange to be in 0:32:42.000 --> 0:32:44.800 a nightclub during the day. Your uncle owned a bar 0:32:44.920 --> 0:32:46.960 out on Long Island, and you remember as a team 0:32:47.040 --> 0:32:48.840 going to help him clean up a couple of times. 0:32:49.360 --> 0:32:51.959 Seeing a dive in the light is like catching your 0:32:52.040 --> 0:32:55.280 elderly neighbor in the news. It's intrusive for you both. 0:32:55.320 --> 0:32:58.640 It's unsettling, maybe a little haunting, but it's real life. 0:32:59.200 --> 0:33:01.560 So you're direct did toward the club's office and you 0:33:01.640 --> 0:33:05.360 begin your search. Other agents swarmed the desks, opening drawers 0:33:05.400 --> 0:33:08.080 and going through paper and office of themera. One of 0:33:08.120 --> 0:33:10.200 the owners of the club, Ian Schrager. He walks in 0:33:10.400 --> 0:33:13.600 carrying a briefcase. Your coworker tells him put it on 0:33:13.680 --> 0:33:15.680 the ground. He does, and you go over and pick 0:33:15.720 --> 0:33:18.560 it up. Inside are some random documents, as well as 0:33:18.560 --> 0:33:22.400 an envelope containing five one ounce packets of cocaine. You 0:33:22.560 --> 0:33:25.000 lift it up and show everyone in the room. Laughter 0:33:25.160 --> 0:33:27.240 rings out as you nod to the New York Police 0:33:27.280 --> 0:33:29.960 officers standing at each side of the door. They cuffed 0:33:29.960 --> 0:33:33.120 the dude and haul them away. More laughter. As papers 0:33:33.160 --> 0:33:35.760 shuffle and boxes get moved about, you find yourself standing 0:33:35.800 --> 0:33:38.360 in the middle of the room, watching the commotion. You 0:33:38.440 --> 0:33:40.760 look up at the ceiling, taking it all in. Is 0:33:40.840 --> 0:33:44.840 that glitter? Then you spot something. The ceiling tile seems 0:33:44.880 --> 0:33:47.640 a bit of skew. You follow your instinct and drag 0:33:47.720 --> 0:33:50.640 a small step stool over. It's metal lakes screeping against 0:33:50.680 --> 0:33:53.280 the tile floor. You climb the steps and reach up 0:33:53.280 --> 0:33:56.080 to the ceiling tile in question. You lift it slightly 0:33:56.160 --> 0:33:58.840 and move it gently to the side. There's a little resistance. 0:33:59.200 --> 0:34:02.000 What could be up there? You wonder, maybe a small person, 0:34:02.200 --> 0:34:05.640 a panda. This place is unpredictable. You give the title 0:34:05.720 --> 0:34:07.640 a little more of a shove, and then something tumbles 0:34:07.680 --> 0:34:10.120 out and kitchen in the head, then another, then another. 0:34:10.640 --> 0:34:13.279 Garbage bags You poke it one with your shoe. It 0:34:13.360 --> 0:34:16.040 feels like paper in there. You bend down and open 0:34:16.160 --> 0:34:19.879 up one of the bags. It's cash, all cash, same 0:34:19.960 --> 0:34:22.840 with the other one. There's also a ledger book and 0:34:23.239 --> 0:34:25.839 a bag of coeludes. You open the ledger and leave 0:34:25.920 --> 0:34:28.080 through the pages. You start to laugh and everyone looks 0:34:28.080 --> 0:34:30.640 over at you. Right there in the ledger book there's 0:34:30.680 --> 0:34:34.880 a column. The title of that column is skim. They 0:34:35.000 --> 0:34:38.319 kept meticulous records of their crimes, and now you've got 0:34:38.400 --> 0:34:39.400 them dead to rights. 0:34:40.480 --> 0:34:42.480 They kept a skim column. 0:34:42.280 --> 0:34:45.320 A skim column. There was more than two and a 0:34:45.400 --> 0:34:48.439 half million dollars in the ceiling of the office. Cool. Yeah, 0:34:48.520 --> 0:34:51.279 and that's basically sixty percent of their receipts for the 0:34:51.400 --> 0:34:54.040 past two years. So another half. 0:34:53.920 --> 0:34:55.920 Million there in the bags. 0:34:55.960 --> 0:34:58.200 Well, I had another half mill spread around, part of 0:34:58.239 --> 0:35:00.160 it in the safety deposit box, and then they had 0:35:00.200 --> 0:35:03.040 like personal safes. But yeah, that's the bank and the ceiling. 0:35:03.680 --> 0:35:07.160 The ledger had, as I said, explicit evidence of doctored 0:35:07.239 --> 0:35:10.839 records and unreported cash transactions. They may have well put 0:35:10.880 --> 0:35:16.200 like crimes on the outside of the lawn below. So 0:35:16.719 --> 0:35:19.840 Schrager's lawyer did try to get some of the charges 0:35:20.000 --> 0:35:23.719 lesson by telling the Feds that Hamilton Jordan, chief of 0:35:23.800 --> 0:35:26.800 staff for President Jimmy Carter, had used cocaine in the 0:35:26.840 --> 0:35:30.440 club's basement. And the Feds were like, whatever, snitch, we 0:35:30.520 --> 0:35:33.440 don't care. That means nothing to do es. So then 0:35:34.400 --> 0:35:37.880 June of nineteen seventy nine, Rebell and Schreeger they're charged 0:35:37.920 --> 0:35:43.000 with tax evasion, obstruction of justice, conspiracy. Prosecutors said that 0:35:43.080 --> 0:35:46.680 by failing to report over two point five million in income, 0:35:47.239 --> 0:35:50.160 they defrauded the federal government of hundreds of thousands of 0:35:50.200 --> 0:35:53.320 dollars in taxes. So let's take a break. When we 0:35:53.440 --> 0:35:55.600 come back, we'll find out how the trial went for 0:35:55.680 --> 0:36:19.080 these two. Okay, So the raid of Studio fifty four, 0:36:19.239 --> 0:36:23.560 that was December nineteen seventy eight. A few months before that, 0:36:23.840 --> 0:36:26.880 in August of nineteen seventy eight, the club hosted Andy 0:36:26.960 --> 0:36:32.439 Warhol's fiftieth birthday wow. Rubel gave Andy Warhol a roll 0:36:32.640 --> 0:36:36.239 of five thousand free drink tickets to hand out to 0:36:36.320 --> 0:36:39.360 his pals. Five thousand. 0:36:39.520 --> 0:36:40.520 I don't know how you do that. 0:36:41.520 --> 0:36:44.399 And then he also gave him a silver garbage can, 0:36:45.320 --> 0:36:49.360 and in that can were one thousand brand new dollar bills. 0:36:49.840 --> 0:36:51.360 Oh, not what I thought it was going to be. 0:36:51.440 --> 0:36:54.239 In the tarms can. I'll have to admit it was 0:36:54.640 --> 0:36:58.000 may or may not be a live turtle. So Warhol 0:36:58.760 --> 0:37:02.719 he's thrilled. He's just like, I love this, he told 0:37:02.800 --> 0:37:05.520 the screends. He's like, this is the best present I've 0:37:05.600 --> 0:37:08.040 ever been given, like he says, in all sincerity to 0:37:08.040 --> 0:37:10.840 all these people, and everyone's just like partying and celebrating. 0:37:10.920 --> 0:37:13.000 And some of his pals lifted the can over his 0:37:13.080 --> 0:37:15.520 head like a full cooler a gatorade and dumped it 0:37:15.640 --> 0:37:19.839 over him and cheers, whoops, go up. He freaks out 0:37:19.960 --> 0:37:22.479 and just like scrambles around to gather up all the money. 0:37:23.160 --> 0:37:25.919 He didn't want anyone taking it. Yeah, Andy Warh. 0:37:26.120 --> 0:37:27.560 They dumped the money, and then all of a sudden, 0:37:27.600 --> 0:37:29.279 he's the first one on the ground scooping it up 0:37:30.640 --> 0:37:31.640 like a honey badger. 0:37:31.719 --> 0:37:34.239 Yeah, don't touch it. That's my birthday present. I tell 0:37:34.320 --> 0:37:37.080 you all this because when the Feds raided the office, 0:37:37.520 --> 0:37:39.960 they found all sorts of, like I said, the ledgers 0:37:40.000 --> 0:37:42.560 with all the details. And one of the ledgers was 0:37:42.600 --> 0:37:45.600 a list of gifts given to celebrity friends and clients. 0:37:46.440 --> 0:37:48.759 And so New York Magazine got a hold of the 0:37:48.880 --> 0:37:51.800 list in November of seventy nine, and they published it. 0:37:52.440 --> 0:37:55.080 And that's when Andy Warhol learned that his garbage can 0:37:55.160 --> 0:37:58.200 of cash only had eight hundred dollars in ones in it, 0:37:58.400 --> 0:38:03.800 not a thousand, and his associate Bob Colacello wrote in 0:38:03.880 --> 0:38:08.319 his memoir quote, Andy's first reaction was, you mean they 0:38:08.440 --> 0:38:10.320 told me there was one thousand dollars in there and 0:38:10.400 --> 0:38:13.480 it was only eight hundred dollars. I knew I should 0:38:13.480 --> 0:38:18.960 have counted it. Wow with that, Yeah, So in light 0:38:19.080 --> 0:38:21.399 of all the like detailed evidence, why. 0:38:21.320 --> 0:38:23.239 Would he why would it matter? Why would he need 0:38:23.280 --> 0:38:24.480 that extra two hundred dollars? Why? 0:38:28.800 --> 0:38:32.239 I guess they my money is like messing with my 0:38:32.440 --> 0:38:38.360 mind by emotions. So in light of all the like 0:38:38.960 --> 0:38:41.640 evidence that they have laid out and like left this 0:38:41.800 --> 0:38:47.719 incriminating evidence on a platter, they pleaded guilty. Yeah. They 0:38:47.760 --> 0:38:49.120 wanted to avoid a trial, that. 0:38:51.280 --> 0:38:51.480 Yeah. 0:38:51.880 --> 0:38:54.400 So January of nineteen eighty they were each sentenced to 0:38:54.520 --> 0:38:57.560 four years in federal prison on two counts of income 0:38:57.640 --> 0:39:00.800 tax evasion. They got charged with skimming two and a 0:39:00.840 --> 0:39:03.760 half million, defrauding the government of like four hundred thousand. 0:39:04.320 --> 0:39:07.560 During their sentencing, the judge chastise them for flouting the 0:39:07.680 --> 0:39:11.439 law and being so completely motivated by greed, Like, duh, 0:39:12.400 --> 0:39:16.200 that's why people wind up in court anyway. February nineteen eighty, 0:39:16.480 --> 0:39:18.960 just before they're set to go serve their time, Rubel 0:39:19.040 --> 0:39:23.120 and Schrager, they threw one last epic party at Studio 0:39:23.200 --> 0:39:25.960 fifty four. Oh wow, and they called it the end 0:39:26.160 --> 0:39:27.680 of modern day gomorrah. 0:39:28.719 --> 0:39:30.040 I bet they were not wrong. 0:39:30.239 --> 0:39:32.760 Well, this was smaller than most nights. There are almost 0:39:33.160 --> 0:39:34.279 two thousand people there. 0:39:34.480 --> 0:39:35.600 But it's very much the end of an era. 0:39:35.840 --> 0:39:41.120 Oh completely. They had the regulars, the classics, Richard gear Halston, 0:39:42.040 --> 0:39:46.840 Reggie Jackson, Yes, mister October, Mister October represent Andy Warhol. 0:39:46.880 --> 0:39:49.880 Of course, he's like he wants his money's worth. Florida Loft, 0:39:50.400 --> 0:39:55.520 Sylvester Saloon, Diana Ross, she does set. Liza Minelli was there. 0:39:55.680 --> 0:39:58.920 Oh, of course, I think he lived there on the floor. 0:39:59.160 --> 0:40:01.239 Just wake up in the learning, asked for orange juice. 0:40:02.080 --> 0:40:03.719 She performed New York, New York. 0:40:04.480 --> 0:40:07.960 Is that not a peak of I'm a big Liz fan. 0:40:08.080 --> 0:40:10.600 Yeah? But Liza Minelli performing New York, New York in 0:40:10.719 --> 0:40:11.759 Studio fifty. 0:40:13.200 --> 0:40:13.359 Night. 0:40:13.520 --> 0:40:17.719 Yeah. Seen, but not to be outdone, Steve Rebel. He 0:40:17.840 --> 0:40:20.640 puts on a fedora and he belts out a rousing 0:40:20.760 --> 0:40:25.719 rendition of Sinatra's My Way. I don't know, I didn't know. 0:40:26.080 --> 0:40:28.320 They played that song on the sound system like a 0:40:28.400 --> 0:40:30.439 bunch of different times. It would come on like every 0:40:30.480 --> 0:40:32.640 fifth song or whatever. The other one that they played 0:40:32.680 --> 0:40:35.640 over and over is Gloria Gators, I will survive, Okay, 0:40:35.719 --> 0:40:39.080 hell yeah, great song Disco Nirvana where they are so 0:40:39.200 --> 0:40:43.040 Steve Rebel. He gives this like serious, tear filled speech 0:40:43.080 --> 0:40:45.960 to the crowd while standing on this platform that's like 0:40:46.200 --> 0:40:49.160 rotating slow. It was like hanging above the dance floor, 0:40:49.880 --> 0:40:54.160 this elevated platform, and he's apparently just like coked to 0:40:54.320 --> 0:40:58.879 the gills, which isn't really surprising. Somehow he eats. Someone 0:40:58.920 --> 0:41:02.960 who was there told report quote Bianca Jagger was hugging 0:41:03.120 --> 0:41:05.600 him and he was saying, I love you people. I 0:41:05.640 --> 0:41:08.240 don't know what I'm gonna do without studio, and everyone 0:41:08.360 --> 0:41:12.440 was crying and weeping. New York Post columnist Jack Martin 0:41:12.480 --> 0:41:16.000 wrote of Rubel quote, he was sort of spaced out. 0:41:16.360 --> 0:41:19.480 He had accepted it. It was a sad going away party, 0:41:19.560 --> 0:41:22.040 but we were laughing and trying to have fun. We 0:41:22.200 --> 0:41:24.320 were with him literally until he took a car to 0:41:24.360 --> 0:41:26.160 go home and meet the authorities. 0:41:26.600 --> 0:41:29.759 Oh so that's the way to go out though a big, 0:41:29.800 --> 0:41:31.840 big party with your friends, and in the morning you 0:41:31.920 --> 0:41:32.560 get turned over. 0:41:32.520 --> 0:41:35.080 To the exactly and head off to a federal presents 0:41:35.120 --> 0:41:38.000 frush fish. So that they were sent to three and 0:41:38.040 --> 0:41:40.080 a half years, but each of them only did thirteen 0:41:40.160 --> 0:41:44.440 months before getting paroled. Okay, so while Rubel and Schrager 0:41:44.600 --> 0:41:47.839 were in the can the world whole world changed everything. Well, 0:41:47.840 --> 0:41:50.400 they tried to keep the club running, but like Steake, 0:41:50.440 --> 0:41:52.920 get faded and they got eleven year old Drew Barrymore 0:41:52.960 --> 0:41:56.839 to coke off the tables come on. So the pair 0:41:56.920 --> 0:42:00.319 had intended to convert the club to like more rock 0:42:00.480 --> 0:42:03.120 music friendly, as disco was starting to become a little 0:42:03.160 --> 0:42:06.680 passe Regan's America, but they never got the chance, and 0:42:06.760 --> 0:42:09.560 the club eventually shuddered in nineteen eighty six. Like for good, 0:42:10.440 --> 0:42:12.799 Like I said, Rebel and Schrager, they did their time. 0:42:13.160 --> 0:42:16.120 They got out and got back into business, the hotel 0:42:16.239 --> 0:42:20.040 business this time. Oh so they bought this rundown place 0:42:20.120 --> 0:42:23.719 on West forty sixth Street at eighth Avenue called the Paramount, 0:42:24.200 --> 0:42:27.719 and they totally refurbished. It made it super super hit, 0:42:28.480 --> 0:42:30.719 and then they had a hit on their hands. They 0:42:30.800 --> 0:42:33.800 just you know, it was amazing. They basically created the 0:42:34.000 --> 0:42:35.320 modern boutique hotel. 0:42:35.800 --> 0:42:36.800 Oh interesting. 0:42:37.200 --> 0:42:40.280 So it's a Shei hotel that's not just small and unchained, 0:42:40.440 --> 0:42:42.920 like but fashionable. Is like a strong aesthetic. 0:42:43.080 --> 0:42:44.880 Oh, it's like the places you stay versus where I 0:42:44.960 --> 0:42:45.600 still I don't like. 0:42:46.120 --> 0:42:46.399 I don't. 0:42:47.000 --> 0:42:48.200 Don't you like nice hotels? 0:42:48.280 --> 0:42:50.360 I don't. I like nice hotels, but it like you 0:42:50.400 --> 0:42:53.359 don't like these boutique kinds, boutique coachels. Oh I feel 0:42:53.440 --> 0:42:55.200 I feel like I'm not cool enough to be in there. 0:42:55.800 --> 0:42:58.040 Like I walk in to check in and they kind 0:42:58.040 --> 0:42:58.920 of like look me up and down. 0:42:58.920 --> 0:43:02.759 They're like, oh jeez, okay, you're you're wearing Adidas. Yeah, 0:43:02.760 --> 0:43:03.799 I don't know, I'm just being out. 0:43:03.800 --> 0:43:08.040 They're like, your your whole You're aesthetic is what is what? Disheveled? Man? 0:43:08.040 --> 0:43:09.040 You're wearing track pants? 0:43:10.040 --> 0:43:12.719 Like, just I get uncomfortable. I like, you know, I 0:43:12.920 --> 0:43:14.400 like nice things, but I'm not. 0:43:14.640 --> 0:43:16.719 But you don't want to be around the people who only. 0:43:16.640 --> 0:43:18.560 Like that's not cool enough for some of these things. 0:43:18.640 --> 0:43:21.960 Oh interesting, I'll argue with those people on your behalf. 0:43:22.000 --> 0:43:24.560 You are cool, thank you so much. They're wrong, Elizabeth 0:43:24.680 --> 0:43:27.360 does this TV get law and Order? They're like, you 0:43:27.520 --> 0:43:28.080 need to leave. 0:43:28.160 --> 0:43:29.560 Do you have the Law and Order channel? 0:43:29.760 --> 0:43:33.600 They just look at me and they go to where's 0:43:33.920 --> 0:43:37.640 where's the ritz? So uh Rubelle. He passed away from 0:43:37.680 --> 0:43:41.239 complications of AIDS in nineteen eighty nine, which, like, you know, 0:43:41.880 --> 0:43:44.360 that's that was the time. Oh yeah, very much of 0:43:44.440 --> 0:43:46.719 the era for the When I was reading about it, yeah, 0:43:46.880 --> 0:43:48.920 like he tried to kind of pass like staying in 0:43:48.920 --> 0:43:49.360 the closet. 0:43:49.440 --> 0:43:51.360 Yeah, coming out of the disco seventies. I mean this 0:43:51.440 --> 0:43:52.080 took out a lot. 0:43:52.040 --> 0:43:55.240 Of God do you think of Yeah, that this absolute destruction. 0:43:55.560 --> 0:43:57.800 And I don't know, when I was just reading about it, 0:43:57.880 --> 0:44:00.440 it really hit me, like you know, the law and 0:44:00.560 --> 0:44:03.960 also how far we've come in terms of people like 0:44:04.120 --> 0:44:07.480 science wise, like oh my god, like you know, live saved, 0:44:07.880 --> 0:44:10.280 but also just like people being able to be themselves. 0:44:10.360 --> 0:44:12.359 I don't know, it was all having him. 0:44:12.320 --> 0:44:14.400 Like hearing about him like living in secret and not 0:44:14.480 --> 0:44:17.240 being able to tell anybody being so sick made me sad. Anyway. 0:44:18.000 --> 0:44:21.600 Schreeger he kept on chegging. He developed top of the 0:44:21.680 --> 0:44:26.439 line hotels like the Royalton, the Madrian, Grammercy Park. Yeah, 0:44:26.520 --> 0:44:29.880 he currently heads up the very Fashionable Public Hotels brand. 0:44:30.960 --> 0:44:33.920 In twenty seventeen, he reached out to the guy who 0:44:34.000 --> 0:44:36.600 locked him up in the first place, Southern District of 0:44:36.640 --> 0:44:39.160 New York's assistant US Attorney, Peter so Sudler. 0:44:39.520 --> 0:44:42.439 Okay, he's like, beep Peter. 0:44:44.200 --> 0:44:48.000 So he called Sudler because he wanted a pardon. Really, 0:44:48.080 --> 0:44:50.600 he wanted to clear his name and not have a 0:44:50.719 --> 0:44:54.200 legacy as a felon. Don't commit a crime, my guy, 0:44:54.320 --> 0:44:59.279 and then you will be a felon. Well Sudler was like, 0:44:59.400 --> 0:45:01.440 you know what, you deserve a pardon because you've done 0:45:01.480 --> 0:45:04.239 your time, you've paid your fine, and you make a 0:45:04.320 --> 0:45:09.959 lot of money. You're very successful. It pays to have money. 0:45:10.320 --> 0:45:14.080 So it was in twenty seventeen that President Barack Obama 0:45:14.560 --> 0:45:19.840 pardon Shreger is like all presidents love celebrities. 0:45:19.280 --> 0:45:20.640 Right, yes, and money freeze. 0:45:21.600 --> 0:45:23.960 They love them. And you know so Ian Schrager gets 0:45:24.000 --> 0:45:27.480 to reinvent himself. So here we have this intersection between 0:45:27.600 --> 0:45:33.440 talent and fame, crime accountability. Like a chic, fashionable, exclusive 0:45:33.440 --> 0:45:37.600 atmosphere inspires something in people, whether it's like a desire 0:45:37.680 --> 0:45:39.200 to be part of it or a need to bring 0:45:39.280 --> 0:45:41.600 it down good point, you know what I mean? Oh yeah, 0:45:43.000 --> 0:45:43.520 so thank you. 0:45:44.080 --> 0:45:45.600 It's so triggering this club. 0:45:48.239 --> 0:45:49.960 I just want to go stand in my truth in 0:45:50.040 --> 0:45:53.080 the middle of it. So the Feds they used Studio 0:45:53.120 --> 0:45:56.920 fifty four is a cautionary tale to like celebrity nightclubs 0:45:57.000 --> 0:45:58.759 that thought they could be in the spotlight but like 0:45:58.880 --> 0:46:02.360 skirt the law because of it. And for most of 0:46:02.480 --> 0:46:05.080 us though, the place just lives on is the epitome 0:46:05.360 --> 0:46:11.280 of seventies New York disco excess, totally dazzling parties, huge 0:46:11.360 --> 0:46:12.280 cultural impact. 0:46:12.400 --> 0:46:14.840 Yeah, definitely, definitely disco decadence. 0:46:14.560 --> 0:46:15.799 And so much glitters there. 0:46:16.400 --> 0:46:18.879 I think I got some in my outfit. 0:46:18.680 --> 0:46:20.680 Just tearing the story about it. Yeah, I can feel 0:46:21.360 --> 0:46:23.840 what I would love to hear your takeaway on this. 0:46:24.280 --> 0:46:25.720 What's rather ridiculous? Are you ready? 0:46:25.880 --> 0:46:26.080 Yeah? 0:46:26.760 --> 0:46:29.879 I think it would have been fun to actually hang 0:46:29.960 --> 0:46:32.640 out with these people, even though almost everything you describe 0:46:32.719 --> 0:46:35.480 sounds obnoxious when you start hearing it, like, Okay, you 0:46:35.560 --> 0:46:38.960 got Robin Williams on cocaine with like, you know, you 0:46:39.040 --> 0:46:42.319 pick another three celebrities or coin on cocaine and they're 0:46:42.320 --> 0:46:44.040 all like having a dance off around a bunch of 0:46:44.080 --> 0:46:46.040 people who are trying to be impressive. I'm like, okay, 0:46:46.080 --> 0:46:49.560 and Andy Warhol's on the ground grabbing it many Yeah, okay, 0:46:49.600 --> 0:46:53.400 that'd probably be no fun. But yet I would love to. 0:46:53.640 --> 0:46:56.440 Love the idea of I love hearing the stories of it. 0:46:56.680 --> 0:46:59.319 Yeah, it was a different America, so decadent, weird. 0:46:59.520 --> 0:47:02.239 If you yourself in it, yes, i'd be like I 0:47:02.320 --> 0:47:04.439 need to go home. No, exactly, you can't with these. 0:47:04.360 --> 0:47:06.600 People, Like I gotta get a headache just hearing about it. 0:47:07.200 --> 0:47:08.280 But I love the stories. 0:47:08.400 --> 0:47:10.360 Yeah, and somehow I'm still drawn to it, like I 0:47:10.440 --> 0:47:12.840 want to be somewhere where, like let's be a jacker, you. 0:47:12.880 --> 0:47:14.920 Know what I mean. I want to hear have those 0:47:15.000 --> 0:47:17.080 moments because that picture of her on the horse is 0:47:17.160 --> 0:47:18.279 that's incredible. 0:47:18.480 --> 0:47:21.560 Yeah, you know what would and the people by the way, 0:47:21.640 --> 0:47:23.520 the people being turned away and the horse coming in. 0:47:23.760 --> 0:47:28.000 How so you got two nicked ladies standing there all 0:47:28.080 --> 0:47:31.680 covered in glittery? Can we talk to about Like I 0:47:31.960 --> 0:47:34.160 don't know if there was a saddle on the horse. 0:47:34.280 --> 0:47:35.800 I'm figuring it was unsaddled. 0:47:35.960 --> 0:47:39.600 Yeah, so you're saddled with glitter, But its hair is done. 0:47:39.640 --> 0:47:40.560 It's main is looking good. 0:47:40.680 --> 0:47:42.680 The hygiene issues alone do not. 0:47:42.760 --> 0:47:44.440 Do you how much cocaine a horse can do with 0:47:44.480 --> 0:47:45.680 those nostrils. 0:47:48.040 --> 0:47:53.520 Calling peta, So I think what I need is aside 0:47:53.520 --> 0:47:56.759 from a disco. Now is a talk back day? 0:47:57.080 --> 0:48:07.279 Hell yeah, god, oh god, he went ge. 0:48:10.400 --> 0:48:13.040 Say Ridiculous Crime. My name is Amanda and I'm calling 0:48:13.080 --> 0:48:15.680 out on behalf of my client and dog Sherlock Bones. 0:48:16.120 --> 0:48:19.799 He seeks an opportunity to be your next intern. This rude, dude, 0:48:19.880 --> 0:48:23.080 caper loving canine has solved many notable cases including why 0:48:23.160 --> 0:48:25.520 is dinner two minutes late? Where did that squirrel go? 0:48:25.880 --> 0:48:28.319 Who at this party? Is most likely to give me treat? 0:48:28.920 --> 0:48:31.160 He's ready to sniff out the truth or bury the 0:48:31.239 --> 0:48:34.279 latest mashup. Thanks for the show, keep up the great work. 0:48:34.640 --> 0:48:35.040 Thank you. 0:48:36.640 --> 0:48:39.760 Sherlock Bones is a little overqualified for our interns. 0:48:40.600 --> 0:48:42.920 Made rosy nervous. Our new intern just ran out of 0:48:42.960 --> 0:48:43.319 the room. 0:48:43.760 --> 0:48:45.920 Yeah, oh boy. We may have to come up with 0:48:46.000 --> 0:48:47.040 a position for sure. 0:48:47.000 --> 0:48:47.080 Like. 0:48:48.719 --> 0:48:52.160 May leader and you want this kind of intern? 0:48:54.800 --> 0:48:57.520 Oh, thank you for that. This that's it for today. 0:48:58.120 --> 0:49:00.960 You can find us online at Ridiculous Crime dot com, 0:49:01.239 --> 0:49:07.480 which is probably one of the Internet's most secure websites. Interesting, Yeah, 0:49:07.760 --> 0:49:08.439 that's what I read. 0:49:08.640 --> 0:49:11.279 Yeah on as a Polka dot hacker, I can say 0:49:11.280 --> 0:49:11.800 I agree. 0:49:12.040 --> 0:49:17.080 I was reading secure website weekly and every day we're 0:49:17.120 --> 0:49:20.640 on page two most Secure. I'm like, did it again? 0:49:20.840 --> 0:49:25.600 Good job. We're also on Instagram and blue Sky and 0:49:25.719 --> 0:49:29.440 you can email us at Ridiculous Crime at gmail dot com. 0:49:30.160 --> 0:49:32.719 And then, of course, as I always say, the most 0:49:32.719 --> 0:49:35.040 important thing is to leave a top back on the 0:49:35.200 --> 0:49:44.160 iHeart app reach out. Ridiculous Crime is hosted by Elizabeth 0:49:44.200 --> 0:49:47.640 Dutton and Zaren Burnett, produced and edited by inventor of 0:49:47.719 --> 0:49:53.840 the quelud Dave Kusten, starring Annals Rutger as Chooting. Research 0:49:53.960 --> 0:49:58.280 is by Glittery Disco Angel Marissa Brown and Devilish dance 0:49:58.360 --> 0:50:02.200 Floor Lothario Alex French. The theme song is by Studio 0:50:02.320 --> 0:50:05.480 fifty four house band members Thomas Lee and Travis Dutton. 0:50:05.760 --> 0:50:09.359 Post wardrobe is provided by Botany five hundred. Guest hair 0:50:09.440 --> 0:50:13.839 and makeup by Sparkleshot and mister Andre. Executive producers are 0:50:13.960 --> 0:50:16.759 guys waiting forty five minutes in line, only to be 0:50:16.880 --> 0:50:19.600 told that Studio fifty four is down the street, Ben 0:50:19.680 --> 0:50:28.480 Bowlin and Noel Brown gis Crime. 0:50:29.320 --> 0:50:32.719 Say It one more times. 0:50:31.560 --> 0:50:35.160 Crime Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio. 0:50:35.480 --> 0:50:38.399 Four more podcasts from my heart Radio. Visit the iHeartRadio app, 0:50:38.560 --> 0:50:41.400 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.