DESCRIPTION:
Footage taken of the infamous Studio 54 nightclub-theater at night, inside the main lobby area with security guard, Nov 26, 2006. The nightclub was founded by four equal partners: Steven Rubell, Ian Schrager, Another partner, Richard DeCourcey, was present until September 1977.

Carmen D'Alessio, after working in Rome and around Europe as a fashion PR, was well known by fashion, music, and film people, and generally with the kind of celebrities from across the United States, South America, Europe, and other parts of the world who would be ideal patrons. Harden was pushed out of the project, and Rubell and Schrager gave D'Alessio much of the control for the design and promotion of the nightclub.

Before the April 26, 1977 opening, D'Alessio sent out 5,000 invitations to her exclusive mailing list, together with an enticing surprise gift to each of her invitees. Liz Smith, Rex Reed, Cindy Adams, and other New York gossip columnists announced a major event.

On May 21, 1977, the New York State Liquor Authority raided Studio 54 for selling liquor without a license, and closed it. The owners of the nightclub said the incident was a "misunderstanding". The next night the club reopened, but gave free fruit juice and soda instead of liquor. Prior to the raid, the nightclub had been using one-day use "caterers' permits", which enabled the nightclub to serve alcohol but were intended for weddings or political affairs. The State had denied the daily permit for the night and raided the nightclub. The nightclub had been using these permits while waiting for its liquor license to be processed.

Among the many celebrities present during opening night: Mick and Bianca Jagger, Liza Minnelli, Jerry Hall, Diana Vreeland, Halston, Pat Cleveland, Kevin Arpino, Margaux Hemingway, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Salvador Dali, Brooke Shields, Francesco Scavullo, Janice Dickinson, Martha Graham, Debbie Harry, Robin Leach, newlyweds Donald and Ivana Trump, newly engaged Rick Hilton and Kathy Richards, Billy Amato and many other well-known party-goers. Hordes scrambled to gain entry, but only a few got past the door. Some celebrities, including Warren Beatty, Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Henry Winkler, Cher, and Frank Sinatra were unable to get in, in part due to Studio 54's elusive doorman Marc Benecke[10]. The nightclub held around 700 patrons who paid $8 cover to get in each night.

A week after the opening, Halston asked Rubell to open the nightclub on a Monday night (May 2, 1977, when it would have been closed) for Bianca Jagger's 32nd birthday party. Bianca entered on a white horse and the resulting publicity firmly established Studio 54 as the preferred nightclub for celebrities, including Michael Jackson, Yanique & Chantal, Rudolf Nureyev, Elton John, Truman Capote, Margaret Trudeau, John Travolta, Jackie Onassis, Elizabeth Taylor, Björn Borg, Gloria Swanson, Mae West, Farrah Fawcett, Telly Savalas, Salvador Dali, Olivia Newton-John, Cher, Muhammad Ali, Sylvester Stallone, Chuck Berry, Keith Richards, Lorna Luft, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Divine, Rod Stewart, Alice Cooper, Suzanne Somers, Bette Davis, Al Pacino, the Zsa Zsa and Eva Gabor, Bette Midler, Ann-Margret, Dolly Parton, Pelé, Hugh Hefner, Sophia Loren, Diane von Fürstenberg; Gloria Vanderbilt and her 10-year-old son, Anderson Cooper; John F. Kennedy Jr., Princess Grace, Prince Albert, Eartha Kitt, Vladimir Horowitz, Rev. Sun Myung Moon, Moshe Dayan, Fred Astaire, Christie Brinkley, Grace Jones, Diana Ross, Barry Diller, Betty Ford, Divine, Arnold Schwarzenegger; and Lillian Carter, then-president Jimmy Carter's mother. Some of the world's most famous performers also performed their new songs: Donna Summer, Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band, Grace Jones, Gloria Gaynor, Sylvester, The Village People, Cheryl Lynn, Brooklyn Dreams, James Brown, Phyllis Hyman, Amii Stewart, Chic, The Ritchie Family, Rick James, Stephanie Mills, Roberta Kelly, and Arthur Russell all sang their most famous songs during the partying.

Studio 54 was operated by the flamboyant, publicly visible Rubell and his retiring silent partner Schrager. At the nightclub's prime, Rubell became widely known for hand-selecting guests from the always-huge crowds outside, mixing beautiful "nobodies" with glamorous celebrities .

"Studio", as it came to be called, was notorious for the hedonism that occurred within it; the balconies were known for sexual encounters, and drug use was rampant. Its dance floor was decorated with a depiction of a Man in the Moon that included an animated cocaine spoon. When Studio 54 re-open in 1981 to the closing April, 1986 - Saturday nights were the hot disco nights at Studio 54 with Billy Smith's A/K/A now Billy Amato "WPLJ" and "Z100" disco radio nights parties.

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