Studio 54 — the nightclub to end all nightclubs — has been celebrated in books and movies before. But now the legend is getting its real due, in the form of a coffee-table book being put together by Ian Schrager, who created the disco with the late Steve Rubell in 1977.
Rizzoli will publish the book in the fall of 2015.
An instant hit, Studio 54 was known for its nightly mob scene, as scores of would-be partiers jostled against the velvet ropes, screaming the name of doorkeeper Marc Benecke.
The lucky ones were allowed to go inside to join the likes of Mick Jagger, Liza Minnelli, Andy Warhol, Grace Jones, Drew Barrymore, Salvador Dali, Brooke Shields and Diana Ross. The city had never seen such nightlife.
But in December 1978, after Rubell bragged that Studio 54 made $7 million in its first year of operation and that “only the Mafia made more money,” federal agents raided the club and confiscated large amounts of drugs and garbage bags filled with cash stashed in a ceiling.
The club continued operating under Mark Fleischman, but it never regained its initial heat.
Schrager, who reinvented himself as a hip hotelier after 13 months in prison, is contacting the photographers who chronicled the bacchanalia for their best shots. He is also interviewing such survivors as Clive Davis, Sandy Gallin, Liz Smith, Bob Colacello, Carlos Souza, Lynn Wyatt, Tom Ford and the Dupont twins, Richard and Robert.
“If the hunter does not tell the story, the lion will,” Schrager said, paraphrasing an African proverb.
Writer Billy Norwich, who is helping Ian on the research, said, “There will be a strong emphasis on the people who made the place work — design, lighting, flowers, the aspect Ian especially represents.”