RICHIE_NOTAR RICHIE_WILLIAMSON ROBERT_DUPONT RON_GALELLA ROY_COHN SANDY_LINTER SCOTTY_TAYLOR SCOTT_BROMLEY STEVEN_GAINES STEVE_RUBELL VOICEOVER
  
MALE  
What do you think makes a place hot? Like, what was the phenomenon that it became international?  People flew in from all over the world just to go there. What made it such a.
STEVE RUBELL
I don�t know, I you know, in a club it�s all about capturing a moment.  
MALE
When you walked through those blacked out doors, you were in another world.  
STEVE RUBELL
Anyoe that was allowed in was totally free inside.  
IAN SCHRAGER
Steve and I had no idea what it would really mean or that it would last only 9 months, just captured everybody�s imagination. 
STEVE RUBELL
You could be next to Elizabeth Taylor, or just about anybody and feel wonderful and good about yourself. 
IAN SCHRAGER
I love the nightlife and I love seeing people have fun nights. There�s nothing that makes me happier than to see the people having a good time.    
MALE
Everybody that was there was a star.  
STEVE RUBELL
Thanks that makes me feel great. It does because so much bad came out of it, you know, for Ian and I that it�s good to think some people think of it like that.  
REPORTER
The owners of Studio, Ian Schrager and Steven Rubell. Two dozen agents raided the chic disco this morning. It�s up to ten years in prison. What was your reaction when you learned that your partner had been arrested?   
IAN SCHRAGER
I just go?
PRODUCER
Uh, yeah, try that. 
IAN SCHRAGER
Well, you know, I was I was wondering to myself why, after almost years, you know, I would finally feel okay to talk about Studio cause I hadn�t talked about it, you know, at all.  
IAN SCHRAGER
Now I�m at a point in my life that doesn�t sting as much after all this time the way it used to sting.  There�s only two people that could�ve told this story, Steve and I. That�s why I�m happy to finally tell the story as it really happened.  
FEMALE
Hi. You haven�t seen the book in a few weeks, so we should look at everything, and I have to ask you a couple questions.  
IAN SCHRAGER
I never been in a room with so many celebrities. It was like numb.  
FEMALE
So, we need a picture here.  
IAN SCHRAGER
This one. My friendship with Steve was always very close. Almost from the moment we met. We met in college. We both came from Brooklyn, middle class, lower middle class working families. Everybody upwardly mobile, and ambitious, and everybody wanted the kids to do better than they did. 
STEVE RUBELL
Brooklyn made me hungry. My father was a tennis pro, and I played tennis, and I�d visit these estates, and I saw how people live, and you just see this whole other life. 
DON RUBELL
You were very well aware of the difference between what they had and what you had. Somehow tennis expanded the universe, and you saw that there were other possibilities. Chose as much as possible to try and pursue those avenues of success.  
NEIL SCHLESINGER
In college, he was very studious. He wanted to become an attorney.  Stevie was the social butterfly. If you wanted to meet a certain girl, you saw Steve Rubell. If you needed to know what courses to take you saw Steve Rubell. He knew everybody at Syracuse University.  
IAN SCHRAGER
Steve was the most public of people, but he, in fact, was very private. He was never open about his sexuality and the fact that he was gay. It wasn�t something we talked about. No, it didn�t matter. Steve was an extrovert and I am introvert, but inside value wise, essence wise, you know, we were the same. After we graduated I got a job as a lawyer, and then Steve was working on the steak restaurants. 
IAN SCHRAGER
Steve was very interested in doing steak restaurants in as many places as fast as he could possibly do it. He had expanded too quickly and they weren�t doing well. So, I acted as his lawyer and get the creditors at bay. That�s when Steve and I became partners. 
IAN SCHRAGER
I was the one that wanted to go into the nightclub business because I smelled that there was a real, you know, opportunity with it. That ambition, that drive really forged a real bond between us. Steve always felt he had something to prove. As I did.  
NORMA KAMALI
From the beginning, they had this intuitive understanding that they were getting out, and they were gonna do something big together. 
STEVE RUBELL
The Vietnam War ended, and Watergate ended, everybody all of a sudden was tired of being concerned about outside forces, and they said I want to have some fun. They were tired of being serious, so everybody went out and went wild.  
IAN SCHRAGER
We were going out to clubs in Manhattan all the time and trying to figure out what kind of club we wanted to create. 
BOB COLACELLO
Gay clubs were some of the first clubs that had disco music. But disco was black music, and it came out of black clubs. The beautiful models, the girls would go to the gay clubs with the gay designers and hairdressers and makeup men, and then the straight guys would want to meet them models, so they would go to these clubs, and it all started blending.  
NILE RODGERS
For me, as a New Yorker, I�m telling you, this was revolutionary. It was the first time that it felt like people were nonjudgmental. Everybody was fine with everybody else�s culture.  
IAN SCHRAGER
At that time gay clubs were behind closed doors, hidden, it was a little bit like going to a speakeasy in thes I suppose. It was subversive, and it was an incredible energy. We wanted tap into loose, tense, sweaty dancing fun that was happening there, and take it up a notch. Create the ultimate nightclub. Blow everybody away with it. Dent the universe. Change the world. 
STEVE RUBELL 
You know, I walked into this old opera house and theater, and Ian and I both saw it, and we both went up there to sign the lease, and some people said we were crazy because we were on 8th Avenue and  8th and  10th on the Westside was nothing.
REPORTER
In those days it was not. 
FEMALE
And Mayor Beam said he�s gonna clean up the streets. We�re still waiting. It�s very dirty. I�m living here many years and I remember when it was beautiful, and now it stinks.  
STEVEN GAINES
9th and 9th wasn�t Disneyfied yet.It was really a very sleazy neighborhood, perhaps the sleaziest neighborhood in the city, the westside and the theater district. If you wanted to get mugged that was really a good place to go. It was amazing that anyone would think of opening up a discotheque on West 9th Street.  
IAN SCHRAGER
In the s it was built as an Opera House, and then it used to be a CBS television studio, and there was some really big time shows that were there. 
VOICEOVER
Time now for everybody�s favorite guessing game, What�s My Line?  
IAN SCHRAGER
What�s My Line? Captain Kangaroo.The 100$, Question. I mean, these are big time television programs. They had all moved to L.A. and it sat empty for a long time. This is around the 10th anniversary of Studio. It seems like yesterday to me. Now there�s a sloped floor here for the theater, like there was when we were here years ago.You know, you can�t have a sloped floor and have dancing.  So, we had to level it off, and we didn�t have enough time to get a building permit to do it, we had to just start working on it immediately. So, we said just go ahead and do it.  We had a guy on a tall ladder with a paintbrush that was maybe feet long, that he was painting the ceiling. And someone kept moving the ladder.
MICHAEL OVERINGTON
Yeah, I worked 9 hours straight right up to the opening.  
IAN SCHRAGER
Yeah, and it was that kind of unbridled energy, you know, that got this whole place built in six weeks.We were competing against what probably is the best night for people in the world and wanted to have the best of those of those clubs. First, we went to the usual suspects, they said they couldn�t work with us because they were told not to by our competitors.  So, it was out of that problem that it went to Jules Fisher and Paul Marantz,Tony award winning lighting designers.  
PAUL MARANTZ
The theater part was already there, and we made as much use of it as possible, which turned out to be a very good idea.  And the people we hired to help us were mostly coming from the theater cause this was all at the speed of a theater production.  
SCOTT BROMLEY
We were hammering and nailing, we were working there, we were wiring, we were doing everything. I don�t know what no union, no nothing, you know.  
IAN SCHRAGER
I remember I was even a little bit afraid because we had to have people back here, they were paid $9.10 a night. That was a lot of money and I was afraid it was gonna impact the margins.  And I didn�t want to have anybody back here.  You know, even have a lighting guy, up to that point, no nightclub had a lighting guy.The DJ did the lights. He played the music and then he played with the lights. Nothing like it. So, we had a DJ, we had a lighting guy, we had two guys on the fly reel back here.  Like we had four people in that thing.  
REPORTER
There�s still some old CBS residual stuff around here too. 
STEVE RUBELL
CBS left a lot behind that was just lying here for years. What we tried to do was keep it in the context of a theater. All of the lighting, everything was designed, the warmness of it, the seeing of the lights, it wasn�t designed to be just pretty, it was designed to be a theater.  
IAN SCHRAGER
There was just a tremendous amount of detail that went into the band floor. And, of course, all the interior design. You know, we just we had a way to handle, we�re doing everything instinctive.
RICHIE WILLIAMSON
Making the club is Ian�s job, Steve did not get involved in this kind of stuff, but they were both engineering this whole process of getting the right crowd in the club. Ian and Steve shared the same offices. Steve was always laying on the couch. They were making deals and calling people, and they were sending limousines, they were inviting all the important big names.
IAN SCHRAGER
We were also sending out thousands of invitations. Also, they contributed to the ground swell, the buzz. In the crush of everything that was going on it wasn�t possible to get a liquor license in that period of time. And a matter of fact, we kind of forgot about it. Got lost in everything. So, we thought we would go up and get a series of one day catering permits. And so, we called our company the Broadway Catering Corp.  
IAN SCHRAGER
This is the first article ever written on Studio. This is Deana Winterpiece then we saw this as Steven Rubell leading a tour around a forgotten theater that is, even as we write, becoming New York�s newest discotheque.  
PRODUCER
How much did it cost?
IAN SCHRAGER
I remember that. 
JACK DUSHEY
No, it was more because we already
IAN SCHRAGER
No.
JACK DUSHEY
We owed them money. We owed we owed them money.
IAN SCHRAGER
How much?  
JACK DUSHEY
Probably another, Yeah, it was closet
IAN SCHRAGER
Are you sure, Jack? Cause I always remember
PRODUCER
Who did you owe money to?
JACK DUSHEY
The contractor. And, you know, that made me nervous because I was on the hook. You guys weren�t. 
IAN SCHRAGER
We didn�t have anything.  
PRODUCER
Jack, why did you do this
JACK DUSHEY
Steve and Ian had a club, Enchanted Gardens, which is where I met them.
IAN SCHRAGER
We had done a bar mitzvah for him
JACK DUSHEY
And I think at that time it was it was the first time that anybody had actually done a discotheque for.
IAN SCHRAGER
Bar mitzvah.
JACK DUSHEY
A bar mitzvah. Enchanted Garden was the first nightclub that Steve and I did. It was a club for the kids in Queens. The first night Steve went to the bar to hang out with the people, and I went up in the DJ booth to play with the lights.  
STEVE RUBELL
It�s not over yet, our fabulous band from Fiorucci are gonna give you a couple more treats, I hope you�re enjoying the dance with them
IAN SCHRAGER
It was at the Enchanted Garden that we started to throw these extravagant parties. We learned the business, we got our feet wet in Queens. But we always wanted to do a nightclub in Manhattan, which was the big leagues. 
REPORTER
As of tonight, the disco goer becomes the performer.  
STEVE RUBELL
During the night you�ll have sunset, sunrises, fog machines, snow machines, wind machines, there will be a tornado about at night to get the people
REPORTER
Every night at there�s gonna be a tornado?
STEVE RUBELL
Right, tonight at there�ll be a tornado.
REPORTER
Where do you take shelter around here?
STEVE RUBELL
Oh, we hide upstairs in the balcony.  
REPORTER
You can also retreat to the balcony if you don�t want to become one of the performers down there.  In fact, they encourage you to come up here, whether you come up here to spectate or not, they give you these binoculars. Kristy Fair Channel Action News, on the balcony out of the act at Studio.  
IAN SCHRAGER
We had everything riding on this club. If it was a failure it would�ve been a very, very big failure. And if it was a success it would�ve been a big success.  
CARMEN D�ALESSIO
The opening night there�s a mob scene, it was almost impossible to get close to the door.  
IAN SCHRAGER
We didn�t have the velvet rope all stretched out. We didn�t have adequate security. We had to take all the rest of the security that was in the place and put them out front. And we were afraid break the door down.
POLICE OFFICER
Alright, please everybody back up.  
MARC BENECKE
At first, I was hired as security, but that first night Steve put me outside the front door, and I was out front from day one.  
RICHIE NOTAR
And Marc Benecke became the doorman only because he was the better looking of the rest of the security guys. 
MARC BENECKE
I never worked at a nightclub before, I you know, just had to I had to just kind of wing it. It was really beyond crazy.  
SANDY LINTER
I remember getting past the doorman and there was a carpeted, looked like almost a runway, and it was mirrored. The coat room was to the right. I just remember hearing the music, and I threw my coat. 
SCOTTY TAYLOR
The coat check was so out of control. I just started giving people tickets for hanging coats or putting coat, then we�re just throwing coats on the floor, like hundreds of people must�ve lost their coats that night. It was total pandemonium.  
IAN SCHRAGER
Boom, boom, boom, the sound of the music down the hall.
SANDY LINTER
There was a rush to get to the dance floor, just a rush.
STEVEN GAINES
The full blast of the sound just came over you in a big wave.  
DON RUBELL
The amount of drugs was profound. You know, and they were all uppers.  No one was on a downer that night.  
SANDY LINTER
It was carefree, it was hot, it was sexy.  
NILE RODGERS
Something happened from that first night opening party, the message was sent out. It was like poom this was the spot.  
SANDY LINTER
They invited people that everyone else wanted to be in a room with.  
IAN SCHRAGER
I was absolutely shell shocked. Steve was only, I was and we had this massive hit. We were on the front page of the New York Post. No other place had ever gotten that. None. It was like a dream for us. Then it was just a question of feeding the monster.
IAN SCHRAGER
Oh, you�re not shaved, there�s no way you�re gonna get in. It doesn�t matter if you�re not shaved. Listen,just go home
STEVE RUBELL
I�m sorry. That hat. Don�t ever come here with a hat. Marc, check that side. Can you put the lights down a little I can�t see.  
REPORTER
This is the scene outside a New York disco called Studio. This is the place that�s in with the disco crowd. Except that these people are still out. Of course, Liza Minnelli and her kind of celebrities sweep right through the protective ranks of door keepers.  
STEVE RUBELL
The ropes came about because there were prostitutes on 9th and 9th and  9th, and in order to keep them out we put the ropes up. And the ropes just became part of the game.  
REPORTER
Now, you only admit celebrities?
STEVE RUBELL
No. No. We admit everybody.
REPORTER
How do you choose? What are your criteria for admitting someone?
STEVE RUBELL
Really fun loving, we want people who are just coming there to have fun, and not get heavy with each other. People come there to relax.  
REPORTER
You favor couples versus singles?
STEVE RUBELL
We couples, gay people
HARRY KING
Going out in those days it was all about ego. This was one�s lifestyle. If you didn�t see somebody at Studio, it meant they couldn�t get in. 
PRODUCER
And what could that mean?
HARRY KING
Pff 
MYRA SCHEER
Every night there would be a guest list that would be for the front door.  There�d be somebody�s name on the guest list, then the next column there would be pay, comp, or NFU. And NFU meant no fuck up. That meant that Marc had to let them in.  
MARC BENECKE
We had GN, which really meant NG, which meant no good, which means that they were no good, you don�t have to let them in. Celebrities, some celebrities get special treatment, The Stones
MALE
They get in for nothing?
MARC BENECKE
Most of them do, not all.  
MYRA SCHEER
Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, of course would get in. But some of the other Rolling Stones actually had to pay.  
GERARD RENNY
Friday and Saturday night, you know, the socalled bridge and tunnel crowd used to come in, they didn�t get into Studio. They probably did go to New York New York, and Infinity, The Ice Palace, you know, Hurrah�s, and other clubs like that. But they weren�t coming to Studio.
IAN SCHRAGER
Steve is the one who came up with that term bridge and tunnel, you know, it was his way of explaining that we didn�t want people with the polyester shirts, gold chains.
CHUCK GARELICK
Polyester melts under the lights. That was one we heard a lot.
BOB COLACELLO
He would split up couples, he would say to the girl, you�re really beautiful, you�re in, but your boyfriend�s gotta home go home and change into a cotton shirt.  
REPORTER
And would you let yourself in wearing a shirt like that?
STEVE RUBELL
This shirt this is yeah, this is a good one to let in, these Hawaiian shirts, I good one. But I don�t know if I would let myself in when the place started. Doubt it really very much. If somebody else is no, actually, it isn�t like that, the only thing that it�s not based on is money.  
REPORTER
Has anybody ever offered you sex?
MARC BENECKE
Oh yeah
REPORTER
Do you take it?
MARC BENECKE
Depends on the offer. But they have to be hot enough to get inside first because if they were then that wouldn�t be a problem anyway, so it doesn�t matter.
ANTHONY HADENGUEST
If you look at the photograph, it�s more slightly hopeful throng. If you see the occasional waved hand, a little grin trying to catch the eye of Marc Benecke or Steve. It�s like the damned looking into Paradise.  
FEMALE
I don�t know, last time I was here I got in right away, so I don�t know. I guess they either like the way you look, or they don�t. 
MALE
If I knew what their policy was, and how they selected those who are permitted entrance to the inner sanctum, I might I might even alter my personality, my dress in order to pass inspection. But they, apparently, keep it a secret.
IAN SCHRAGER
There was a passion to get in, and a resentment and a hatred if you didn�t. We didn�t care. We just wanted to success. 
CARMEN D�ALESSIO
Ian and Steve were excellent at PR. Steve just loved getting on the phone, and talking to the press, and letting them know who was there, what went on, and we got more press than anybody else.  
JOANNE HOROWITZ
Ian called me up and said let�s make a deal. And I would get paid for wrangling the celebrities. If I generated PR around that person, I would get dollars for the cover of the Daily News, if I got them on the cover of the New York Post it would be an additional dollars. And then if I got them into Page Six it�d be like. So, any celebrity that walked in pretty much got on the cover of the New York Post or the Daily News. It was huge news.  
NORMA KAMALI
Anything that happened there was on the cover of the newspapers, was double pages inside.  And there were celebrities there every night. Everyone felt like they had to be there, or they were missing out.  
IAN SCHRAGER
It was a paradigm shift away from reading about crime and sports heroes and people became fascinated with celebrities. It was the beginning of the age of celebrity. We were there at the right time, and we rode it for all that it was worth. The photographers we let in were those that we could control that would play by the rules that we set up.  
RON GALELLA
There�s the Studi box. Here�s some of the pictures that I�ve taken. This is a great shot of Elton John feeling the boobs of Devine. I did miss Bianca, but I got Dolly Parton kissing this horse. In the limousine, I got this great shot of Liz Taylor in the limousine. I call it Fat Liz. Here we have Truman Capote with his robe, and he had � he had slippers. I have another shot where his slippers with his initials on his slippers. Here�s Ian Schrager at the stage door looking for an arrival of a celebrity. I don�t know which celebrity he was looking for, but Ian was very nice.
RON GALELLA
He was an introvert he was rare actually, it was a rare time I got that picture. he didn�t like publicity like you see here�s a braggadocio.  Here�s a braggadocio. Steve Rubell. Here I am.  Look at me. He�s there with the stars, big stars, small stars, he wanted exposure, and he got it, he got a lot of exposure. It was he�s in the pictures.  
REPORTER 
What came first, the photographers or the celebrities?
STEVE RUBELL
I think the room and being an old s old studio, and old theater, it�s and the lights, and that has a lot to do with it. I mean, you have to build a nice a nice the mousetrap to attract the mice.
BOB COLACELLO
Steve really took care of these celebrities. He became very friendly with fashion designers, like Halston. The press actually came up with this phrase Halston, Liza, Bianca, Andy with hyphens between the names. It was like a unit. They were the core group. Studio got so much publicity that it made all of these people more household names.  
LIZA MINNELLI
Hello Steven.  
STEVE RUBELL
I go out of my way to take care of them, make them feel comfortable, honestly cause I get off on it myself.  
DON RUBELL
This was really his dre his dream was to be best friends with everyone he saw in the newspapers and in magazines growing up. And they were.  
STEVE RUBELL
Hi Michael.  Come in, you can come right in. Hi. How are you? How are you?  Michael, this is Jane
MICHAEL JACKSON
Excuse me. 
STEVE RUBELL
Here si over here.  
REPORTER
How do you do, Michael Jackson. 
MICHAEL JACKSON
Hi.  
REPORTER
Good to see you. You come here a lot?
MICHAEL JACKSON
Oh, God, yes. Because well, well, I think I like the atmosphere of Studio  I�ve been to a lot of discotheques and I don�t like them. Honestly.  
REPORTER
What�s the difference?
MICHAEL JACKSON
All around the world, I don�t know, the feeling. I mean the excitement of the props coming down, and the balcony, it�s just exciting. Honestly.
REPORTER
People take good care of you here?
MICHAEL JACKSON
Yes. Steve�s very nice.  
MALE
What�s Steve likes
MICHAEL JACKSON
He�s one of my favorite people because he�s genuine and for real and honest. And that�s what I like in people.
REPORTER
When you hear the name Studio what does that do? Does it your pulse quicken, and your feet start moving?
MICHAEL JACKSON
Yeah, I�m ready to have a good time. It�s where you come when you want to escape. It�s really escapism.  
STEVE RUBELL
That�s what I try to make it be too, is escapism. Otherwise people who have whatever hassles they have all day, they come here, and they can forget about them. And you can come here and just be yourself and dance.
MICHAEL JACKSON
When you dance here you just free, you dance with whoever you want to, you just go you just go wild.  
IAN SCHRAGER
There aren�t that many times in life where you�re absolutely free. Everybody felt protected and safe.  
ROBERT DUPONT
You felt like you�re in a place where you could relax. You saw gay men kissing for the first time there. And celebrities with gay men, and people didn�t judge. You could be who you are when you�re there.  
FEMALE
The lighting and everything makes you feel sensuous. All this going on, and drinking, and thump, thump, thump, music and beautiful people everywhere, and it makes you want to feel like that.  
SANDY LINTER
I was wearing lingerie and heels and I could go to the dance floor and I could dance with everybody, I�d float on the dance floor and dance with. They were all my friends. I mean, I didn�t know them, they didn�t know me, but they didn�t care, and I didn�t care, so that�s how we danced at Studio. We danced with the entire club. 
BILL BERNSTEIN
Disco was a haven for, you know, inclusion acceptance, and that the street wasn�t. Out on the street homophobia existed much more than  than even today. Transgenders took their lives in their hands walking down the street in New York City. But as soon as they step foot into the disco, they were safe. And not only they were safe, but they were included, they were accepted, they were part of the scene.  
REPORTER
Do people ever insult you or are rude to you?
MALE
No.
MALE
No, they�re petrified.   
MALE
They think we escaped from a Broadway show.
REPORTER
Basically New York people are very open and very courteous and kind.  
MALE
No, no that�s not true. Only at Studio. We truly feel at home here.We pay rent, sort of 5 is rent.
NORMA KAMALI
At Studio gay energy was bigger than life. The influence filled the room and filled the space. 
MARSHA STERN
The mantra at Studio was you were in a fantasy, and you could be anyone you wanted to be for that moment in time, and people did. 
FEMALE 
Thank you Rollerina I really needed that. 
CHUCK GARELICK 
Rollerina was a Wall Street banker by day, and a fairy Godmother by night.  
MALE  
Disco Sally was a lawyer, and she was about 7 years old.  
MARC BENECKE  
I was against Disco Sally at the beginning, because I thought it was I thought the whole thing was kind of gimmicky. And Steve�s like no, no, you�re wrong, you�re wrong. This is good for the club, it�s good for the club.
HAL RUBENSTEIN  
Lutosa, who was like the most fabulous drag queen of that whole era, she was out of shoes, and in shoes, and you never, ever, ever, ever, ever saw her out of drag. And she�d hold center stage when she wanted.  
CARMEN D�ALESSIO  
What�s really beautiful about the Studio the combination of people. If you put just the beautiful people, so called, together, then they are used to seeing each other, they might even get bored of that. But if you mix them properly, which was the case of the Studio, with all the bizarre characters and the transvestites, and all that they like a combination. I think it was a wonderful cocktail.
IAN SCHRAGER
Diversity creates this combustible energy.  It was tribal almost. That wild abandonment, that freedom was all part of it. 
CHUCK GARELICK  
It was like an adult amusement park.They had a real sense of what people wanted, you know, adults wanted.  
BOB COLACELLO  
In thes there was this kind of window of opportunity between the invention of the pill and the advent of AIDS. So, even if you weren�t promiscuous or sleeping with someone different every night, you felt like you could, you know. Love was in the air. Sex was in the air.  
BOB COLACELLO  
In the balconies it was dark, people would make out and maybe somebody would give somebody a blow job. Same thing in the bathrooms.  
ROBERT DUPONT 
There were mattresses in the basement and I went down there, and I slept with a lot of people. A lot. 
HAL RUBENSTEIN  
Gay people had the advantage because no one was getting pregnant. So, basically, you could just go out there and have a blast, and you could have sex as much as you want, and there was no repercussions, and why not because you�re supposed to now, it�s all about freedom. You could try anything.  
LENNY MIESTORM  
Steve had this huge coat that he would wear a lot of times, and in that coat was money, and drugs, and it was like Daddy Warbucks. 
BOB COLACELLO  
Steve was big on Quaaludes, to be quite frank about it, he loved giving out the Quaaludes. If you say Steve, I don�t want a Quaalude, he�d say oh, just take a half.  
STEVE RUBELL  
Oh, I don�t think you�re police, are you? You�re too much of a bad boy.  
BOB COLACELLO  
He always wanted to get the party going to another level. You can say higher and lower, and I�ll leave that open to interpretation. 
STEVE RUBELL  
Everybody, come on.  
REPORTER  
You think this happens anywhere else in the world?
STEVE RUBELL 
No.  No, I was all over the world, I�m happy.
REPORTER  
The music, the lights, supple bodied young waiters dressed in nothing but shorts, and drinks at one pound fifty a glass. The formula has made the owner a very rich young man.  
IAN SCHRAGER  
He enjoyed every night. I mean, Steve probably had more fun than anybody. And the environment we created allowed him to be comfortable and accept his sexuality maybe for the first time in his whole life. He was in his element. To me, he was different. I didn�t want to walk through the crowd and have to be poked, people say hello.
NORMA KAMALI  
All the time that Studio 5 existed you rarely saw pictures of Ian or read anything about Ian.  Ian was behind the scenes. But he was the brilliant mind in designing in a way that had never been seen. People were just obsessed with what he was gonna do next.  
CHUCK GARELICK  
There was a theatrical quality of the place that I�d never seen before. It was an experience. Touching, like pretty much, all of your senses.  
IAN SCHRAGER  
It�s a visceral business. Everyone knows except the magic you create. Moving lights and sets and changes of environment to one second to the next I don�t think ever been done before.  
KARIN BACON  
Ian really created a world fantasy. It was a transformation of individuals into this sort of group energy that absolutely exploded. Ian really is a genius for creating experiences for people.  
IAN SCHRAGER  
We went right up right to the edge in every single aspect of it. Building code, modality, level, social morays, everything right up to the edge.  
MALE  
It would cost as much as 4 or 5 dollars just for the one night.  
KARIN BACON  
We wanted to break down that barrier between the audience and the performers. And introduce the idea that anything could happen. And it did.  
MICHAEL OVERINGTON  
Everybody who worked there knew we were cast members. We were put ting on a show, and everybody had to give an incredible performance and give an incredible service.  
STEVEN GAINES  
I was addicted to Studio without any question. I had to go there every night, and so did a lot of people.  
REPORTER  
Studio 5 is probably the Mount Olympus of the disco world. Right now, it is the center of the universe for those who dance to 4 beats a minute the definitive disco here in New York City. 
IAN SCHRAGER 
We were so excited, so high on the success that I would count the money at night, which I enjoyed. You know, dump the money out of the bag, kind of arrange it, and split it up in, you know, in our  three piles and bring in a pile for Steve and a pile for Jack.  
STEVEN GAINES  
One thing that I think if you hung out there you did notice was that they changed the cash register receipt roll in the middle of the night. That began to get out. People began to notice that.  
IAN SCHRAGER  
It was about the exhilaration of having this great success, our life�s dream.  
CARMEN D�ALESSIO  
We had the best crowd in the world, we had the best press, we had the best club, we were number one, suddenly on top of the world, they were living in a dream practically. It was becoming so much fun that they were losing touch with reality.  
IAN SCHRAGER  
I was up in my office with a girl, and I heard the music stop. Well, I walked downstairs, and Steve was already over there. 
SCOTTY TAYLOR  
You�re encompassed in this little world and all of a sudden, the lights went on, and the police are there, it was like the reality was in your face, like holy shit.  
IAN SCHRAGER  
We were both under arrest.  
MARC BENECKE  
We still didn�t have a liquor license, so we were getting catering permits every night, but you know at a point in time they�re like, okay, why are these guys coming every night for a catering permit, they�re a night club, and everybody knows it.
IAN SCHRAGER  
Roy Cohn was our lawyer at the time, I had called him, and to help us.  
SCOTTY TAYLOR  
Their lawyer was Roy Cohn, and I knew he was also an attorney for mob guys and heavyduty people in Manhattan. That kind of made sense to me that there�s a reason they�re not afraid of much.  
IAN SCHRAGER  
After a few hours we were released. We were able, you know, to keep the place open six months with no liquor. Then we finally got the license. I have a picture of me and Steve holding the liquor license when we got it.  And from that moment on we felt like we conquered the world.  
STEVEN GAINES  
They thought they were so important that they could do anything. But people started to get angrier and angrier at Steve Rubell and at Studio because they couldn�t get in. 
NORMA KAMALI 
You can�t have this much popularity without somebody somewhere being envious or wanting to take it down. I mean, it�s human nature, it�s just the way life is.  
IAN SCHRAGER  
The Dan Dorfman article Steve said only the mafia does better, but don�t tell anybody.  
SCOTT BROMLEY  
Part of Stevie was a braggart, you know. Look at them, we�re having the best time, we�re making tons of money, and I mean he was very proud about that. 
DON RUBELL  
I thought it was the stupidest thing I had ever seen. When I called him, I said you�re asking the IRS to just come knocking at your door. And he said, no, no one�s gonna bother me.  
REPORTER 
Close to two dozen IRS agents raided the chic disco this morning armed with a warrant to search and seize any and all records relating to the club�s finances.
IAN SCHRAGER  
We got raided on December 9th, December 9th, that was just a terrible day.
PETER SUDLER  
The Studio case began with an allegation of a gigantic skimming operation that there was cash and drugs hidden at Studio.
MICHAEL OVERINGTON  
One of the cleaning guys called me and said, There�s some guys here and they have warrants, so I called Steve. Steve said there was some Quaaludes in the safe and if I can run over and see if I can get them out, but I ran into the Feds while I was in the basement and they said, Are you the manager? I said, Yeah.And they said, Well, come on, you know, Open the safe. tattattat, two this way, one this way, one this way, clink, poomp, and open. They said, Is this everything? And that�s when I said, Well, there�s a couple of boxes up above here too.
IAN SCHRAGER  
First of all, I tried to open the door, and somebody pulled it back, because they were already in here.
MALE  
Yeah.
IAN SCHRAGER  
So, I put my key in and tried to open it and they pulled it back, and then eventually, the Federal marshal, whatever, just opened it this is o�clock in the morning, by the way.
IAN SCHRAGER  
The Federal marshal opened it and said something, Do you wanna come in, do you not wanna come in? So, I came in, I had all my papers with me like I normally have, I put them down on the floor then I walked in.
MALE REPORTER 
Ian Schrager, one of the owners of Studio entered the club some time later. An agent says that among his records they found cocaine. 
IAN SCHRAGER  
It wasn�t in my books, it was around my books and then they came in, I put my books on the floor, maybe it was left from the night before, who knows? 
PETER SUDLER 
The field test kit showed positive presence of cocaine. Not only was it positive, the thing was off the charts, pure. It looked like it had been cut right off the key, as they say in the narcotics business.If you are going to walk onto the premises that are being searched by IRS agents with cocaine under your arms, don�t walk in. Turn around and go somewhere else.
IAN SCHRAGER 
I was arrested, and my first call was to Roy Cohn�s office, and he came down immediately and advised us to overturn all the furniture in the office and make it look like the agent turned everything upside down, like the Gestapo
STEVE RUBELL 
He even threw my birthday presents.  
IAN SCHRAGER  
And it got everybody even more pissed off at us because it wasn�t true, and they said they were very careful to keep everything very neat.That kind of started the litany of mistakes we made in this thing because that made the front page of the Daily News. I don�t think we realized that the seriousness of what we got into ourselves involved, well, because we get away with everything.
SCOTTY TAYLOR  
Yeah, they were interviewing Ian, and Ian was sitting in a chair with the chair turned around, leaning on it like this� like, defiant. Kind of like, with like, fuck you.
SCOTTY TAYLOR 
You think he�d be scared, but he wasn�t. He was, he was pissed.
MALE REPORTER  
Seven hours after the raid began, coowner Steve Rubell emerged with lawyer Roy Cohn, who blasted the IRS.
ROY COHN 
Well, you tell me one other instance in American history when Internal Revenue Agents at the beginning of an investigation, before they even go to our company�s accountants or lawyers, come in and raid a place, tear it to pieces, open up everything in sight if that�s ever happened before in America, I�ve never seen it.
ROY COHN  
It was not in his brief case.They do not allege it was in his brief case. I�ve read the complaint and I was in court and you weren�t.
ROY COHN  
Wait a minute.We have to fight to get a lawyer into this place. 
STEVE RUBELL
I came in through the front door to get in. It�s the first time I had 
MALE REPORTER  
What, what about the cocaine
STEVE RUBELL 
I don�t know anything about that. I really don�t know anything about that.
MALE REPORTER  
Are there any are there any other drugs on the premises
STEVE RUBELL
I don�t know anything about any other drugs.
MALE REPORTER
Did you know anything about drugs on the premises this time?
STEVE RUBELL  
No, I didn�t. Absolutely not.
MALE REPORTER 
What, what was your reaction when you heard that your partner had been arrested for cocaine?
STEVE RUBELL  
I, I, I, I�m very fond of Ian and we went to college together. We met in college, and he�s a good guy, and of course I�m upset.
MALE REPORTER  
Was coke used often at Studio ?
STEVE RUBELL  
No, I, I like Roy said, I, I don�t wanna really comment on anything to do with that legal case but you knon.
MALE
Thank you
STEVE RUBELL  
I feel like the president today.
IAN SCHRAGER 
We have had every great lawyer working for us. You know, we had had one of the lawyers that had represented John Mitchell on Watergate, we had James Neal, who had sent Jimmy Hoffa to jail. We had had Arthur Liman, we had had Mitchell Rogovin, who was part of Arnold & Porter where Abe Fortas came from and he was a Supreme Court Justice.We�d circled the wagon and we got ready to fight the government.
REPORTER  
There are incidentally, lawyers working on behalf of Schrager and, and Rubell.
STEVEN GAINES  
When they were raided, it was real schadenfreude here in New York City. They finally got what was coming to them, people felt.They had their loyal friends, but nobody was really running around with their head in their hands, so, poor Steve Rubell, poor Ian Schrager, none of that happened. People kind of liked it.
BILL MURRAY  
And now, following up on the Studio stories, Weekend Update correspondent, Laraine Newman, outside Studio Laraine?
LARAINE NEWMAN  
Thank you, Bill. Standing next to me is Steve Rubell, coowner of the club. Steve, what was your reaction when you learned cocaine had been found here?
JOHN BELUSHI  
I was shocked.
IAN SCHRAGER  
It was more of you know, taking on the institution, taking on the system, which is all part of Studio mystique, and I think everybody rallied around and there was a party after that. The notoriety was like a moth to a flame and everybody came, and it got even bigger, which controversy sometimes does.
PETER SUDLER  
A lot of people say, Well, Rubell was shooting off his mouth about, don�t tell the IRS this and don�t tell the IRS that. That was not it.This case came about strictly because an informant who was very unhappy with his treatment at Studio and knew where the records were kept. The basement had a drop ceiling, and if you remove the ceiling tiles that�s where we found the manila envelopes that were in effect the second set of books. Also, up there in garbage bags, plastic garbage bags there was cash. 
MICHAEL OVERINGTON  
Absolutely never any millions of dollars in the ceiling of Studio That�s just folklore.
PETER SUDLER  
They took down bags of cash, which had been particularly described in the search warrant.
MICHAEL OVERINGTON  
And it was like, combinations and you had to, it�s like, Oh, man this is a pain in the neck. The guys are all dying for quarters, so I�ll keep the quarter on top.,That�s as simple as it was. That was the money in the ceiling story.
PAUL SUDLER  
There was also cash in a safe deposit box that belonged to Steve Rubell that we got a warrant for. We drilled the box, we got cash out of there. 
PAUL SUDLER  
There was also cash in his apartment.
BILL HAMILTON  
There were secret doors behind bookcases.  Steve had in cash, fives and tens stacked.  The feds came, took all of that.  
IAN SCHRAGER  
I was driving around in the trunk of my car. It could�ve been stolen, it could�ve been towed. I mean, I was parking in garages, it was ridiculous.
BILL HAMILTON  
At Studio, Steve�s mother was the bookkeeper and Steve always had a budget for recreational drugs. He would give them for free to certain people.  Steve�s mother didn�t know anything about the drugs, what the codes were, but she knew where every penny was going.  
IAN SCHRAGER 
If there was taken out to get a celebrity a drug or whatever, it was recorded as a party favor, so it had everything in there. 
PETER SUDLER  
There was one envelope, on the outside of the envelope were three columns  Ian, Steve and Jack, and then there was a fourth column, which was the total amount of the take for that night, and then there was a fifth column that was labelled skim,SKIM, or SK so that you had a daily record of everything that they took in and what they took out as skim and didn�t report.
MALE  
Who created those books?
IAN SCHRAGER  
I didn�t, because I wasn�t the bookkeeper or taking care of the books, but one of us did, I. 
MALE  
Who instructed that those books be created?
IAN SCHRAGER  
You know, I don�t remember are you sure you�re not a prosecutor here? I you know, all I know was that that I got the benefit of it, and, and I was a coconspirator and you know, but you know, the actual you know, workings and all I don�t, I don�t know who did it.
PETER SUDLER  
In the 8 months that they were doing it, I think there was skim of  and ? or million dollars, an astronomical amount to skim, which was ridiculous. I mean, if you�re gonna skim, you know, skim or twenty you know, not They were really you know, pigs about it.
IAN SCHRAGER  
Well, this was the Richard Nixon of skims, we just went way over and way beyond you know, anything that was even remotely possible to go unnoticed.
ROY COHN  
Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager are totally and completely innocent of this claim for additional taxes or any kind of evasion of taxes.
MALE REPORTER  
Cohn charges there was only one partner to blame for the troubles of Studio that�s the man who keeps the books, his name is Jack Dushey. He secretly pleaded guilty to charges last week, and he now faces up to   years in prison.
PETER SUDLER  
Jack Dushey agreed to cooperate and to testify against Rubell and Schrager in the grand jury and at the trial, if one was necessary.
IAN SCHRAGER  
What happened wasn�t his fault. He had a whole family. He would�ve never done it. I never asked him that.
JACK DUSHEY  
No.
IAN SCHRAGER  
But that�s what I�ve, I always felt.
MALE  
Jack, were you
JACK DUSHEY 
It was very difficult to put reins on the success, you know? Who am I? I, first of all, I was older than them and you know, I didn�t need the money. I wasn�t doing it for the money, but the, the, this was an overwhelming success, so I wasn�t about to try to harness them, and you know, you know, we all paid the price.
MALE  
But did you know what was going on in the counting house?
JACK DUSHEY
Oh, I was right in the middle of it. Yeah, I was right in the middle of it. I was just as culpable as you know, Steve and Ian.
MALE  
But you seem so levelheaded. Why do you think you let that happen?
JACK DUSHEY  
Oh, the success. The success went to everybody�s head.
IAN SCHRAGER  
Yeah.
PETER SUDLER  
I was assigned to the organized crime strike force, which deals mostly with organized crime, in particular at that time, the Italian Mafia. The Studio    case, there was a supposed connection to organized crime through Ian Schrager, whose father was Louis Schrager, also colloquially known as Max the Jew.
IAN SCHRAGER  
I�ve always heard all these things about my father in the newspapers and I didn�t really know anything about it. I idolized my father. I knew he was different than other fathers, you know, with his hours of work and I was always concerned that that would be a problem for me. I was always very sensitive to that.
PETER SUDLER  
Louis Schrager who had, had died at the time was an old Meyer Lansky associate.But we never found any evidence that Studio had a mafia link.  
NEIL SCHLESINGER  
I definitely think that Ian didn�t want any part of his father�s business or connections or anything. I mean, his father was successful at what he did. His father had power, and I think that Ian wanted power and success in a different area.
MALE REPORTER  
The three owners and the manager of the Studio disco were indicted today on charges of income tax evasion.
FEMALE REPORTER
Where Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager were slapped with a count indictment. Now Ian Schrager and Steve Rubell face up to 5 years in prison and fines up to.
PETER SUDLER  
They had this ball of fire that nobody in the world had. They had this, this thing that was worldwide popular that had fallen into their laps, and I don�t think they wanted to lose that.
IAN SCHRAGER  
During one of the meetings, you know, the lawyers kept saying, Well, you know, you have to try and trade something.
MYRA SCHEER  
It was August  9th. I remember Steve telling me, I hope there�s a war in Iran. I said, What are you talking about? He said, I just don�t there�s a story that�s gonna break and I just don�t want it to be big.
MALE PRESENTER  
The Justice department is investigating an allegation that White House Chief of Staff Hamilton Jordan used cocaine during a visit to New York�s Studio discotheque last year.
FEMALE REPORTER  
The White House flatly denies the allegations, saying the people making them have a clear interest in making false and sensational charges so they can bargain for lighter sentences.
BOB COLACELLO  
To accuse the White House Chief of Staff of asking to buy cocaine in the basement of Studio I mean, didn�t Steve realize he now is gonna have the White House against him?
RICHIE WILLIAMSON  
I thought Steve better be really careful. These people are powerful. He doesn�t have any power, he�s a nightlife person. His power is amongst celebrities, it�s not among the politicos. He definitely messed with the wrong people.
MALE REPORTER  
President Carter�s comment about Jordan was, He would tell the truth, as my wife would or my children. While the Justice department would not ordinarily pursue a case involving individual use of the drug, it�s compelled to do so on this case because of a new law called the Ethics in Government Act. That law grew out of the Watergate scandals. It requires an investigation of up to days by the FBI when criminal allegations are made against highranking government officials.
IAN SCHRAGER  
One of the lawyers, Mitchell Rogovin, made a really fatal mistake and hurt us. He didn�t understand how Watergate changed the law. It became very public.
IAN SCHRAGER  
The train left the station and took a life of its own, and there was no turning back.
MALE REPORTER  
You saw with your own eyes Hamilton Jordan use cocaine?
STEVE RUBELL  
Yes.
MALE REPORTER  
No question?
STEVE RUBELL  
No question.
MALE REPORTER  
No mistake?
STEVE RUBELL 
No, no, no.
IAN SCHRAGER  
We didn�t realize the magnitude of what was going on. We had to stayyou know, we�ll get, we�ll get out of it. You know, we got Roy there. But you know, we�ll figure out a way and get, get a way out of it.
IAN SCHRAGER 
We even went and did a major renovation in the club. It was like a signal to everyone, It�s gonna be fine.
FEMALE REPORTER  
What do you do when you�re under indictment for tax evasion and fighting Hamilton Jordan in your spare time? Well, you can create a new image � architecturally at least workers on roundtheclock shifts have been laboring since last Wednesday to put it all together, and when they�re finished, it�s expected to cost and ? million dollars, times what it cost to open Studio three years ago.
MYRA SCHEER 
I an had all these magical ideas. He�d seen Sweeney Todd and he got this idea to do a bridge.
FEMALE REPORTER  
Tired of fighting your way through the crowded dance floor? Well, this moving bridge ought to be able to solve that problem. It can carry tons in weight and will be able to move people over the heads of the dancers to the other side of the room or to the balcony at the speed of feet a minute.
STEVEN GAINES  
Of course, the story goes that they had to cover the balcony in rubber, so they could wash it down more easily.
MALE  
Were you aware that you were creating a sex pit?
SCOTT BROMLEY  
Yes. The answer is yes.
NIKKI HASKELL  
I love Studio  so much, and I thank you for making all my evenings a lot more fun.
STEVE RUBELL  
Oh, what can I say?
NIKKI HASKELL  
Oh, just say thank you. Plead guilty, the charges are flattering. 
STEVE RUBELL  
I don�t plead guilty to any charges.
MALE REPORTER  
Two owners of the trendy Manhattan discotheque Studio pleaded guilty today of defrauding the government of more than dollars in taxes.
FEMALE REPORTER 
Today, Rubell and his partner, Ian Schrager were charged with skimming   and ? million dollars from the receipts of Studio and lying about it, counts in all. They admitted to counts of tax evasion. The government dropped the rest.
IAN SCHRAGER  
We didn�t wanna plead guilty to a felony because you can�t have a liquor license if you�re convicted of a felony, so this whole thing was to protect Studio, but it just got out of control. We were out of our league and we were forced to plea to a felony.
MALE REPORTER  
Well, Roy, did anything go wrong with the plea bargaining?
ROY COHN  
Listen, when you have about lawyers involved in anything, something�s always gonna go wrong
MALE REPORTER  
What made you do it?  Was it greed?
FEMALE REPORTER  
Too much money, too fast?
STEVE RUBELL  
No. I made a mistake. Did you ever make a mistake?
MALE REPORTER  
Are you and Schrager still friendly after this?
STEVE RUBELL  
He�s my best friend and I love him dearly.
IAN SCHRAGER  
When we got in trouble, the Press you know, turned on us.
IAN SCHRAGER  
It was the first time you know, in my life and in Steve�s life we couldn�t talk our way out of it. It was like, we couldn�t shake it.Things seem to be closing in on us. When you go through something like that, it either makes you closer and stronger, or it tears you apart. In our case, it made us stronger. We rose and fell together.
MALE REPORTER  
A federal judge today sentenced Steven Rubell and Ian Schrager, owners of the New York discotheque Studio three and a half years in prison for evading almost half a million dollars in income taxes. He also fined each man.
IAN SCHRAGER  
It didn�t hit me. You know, there was a complete emotional detachment.  I was numb. Our life was over, and we didn�t even know.
NILE RODGERS  
The party the night before they went to jail was probably as exciting and as much fun as the opening party and may have been more fun.
MYRA SCHEER  
Andy Warhol as there, Calvin Klein, Diana Ross sang, Liza Minnelli sang too. What I distinctly remember, Steve was wearing like, a Frank Sinatra hat and they played I Did It My Way.
IAN SCHRAGER  
My Way what does that mean, My Way? When I look back at it now, it is so preposterous. What were we thinking?
SANDY LINTER  
That night the music was still intense, the dancing was still intense, and it was fabulous.  
MALE  
Partying that night I remember, all I wanted to do was dance. You know, I was so high on drugs, I really didn�t realize what was going on. I mean, I didn�t think the party was gonna end.
IAN SCHRAGER  
That feeling of instability permeated the whole process.
DON RUBELL 
It was enormous denial you know, from beginning to end. I�m not sure I would�ve made a party to celebrate the fact that I�m going to jail the next day. I don�t� think they prepared at all and I think it was, the actual going to jail was just a terrific shock for them.
MALE REPORTER  
The owners of New York�s flashy discotheque, Studio surrendered to federal authorities today.
FEMALE REPORTER  
They reported this morning at the Federal Metropolitan Correctional Center. Meanwhile, the State Liquor Authority has filed charges against the disco.
MALE REPORTER  
What was that first night like at the Metropolitan House of Corrections here in New York City?
STEVE RUBELL  
Well, the doors closed and when those doors closed, it�s amazing how quickly you just realized you lost your freedom. There�s nothing worse in the world.
IAN SCHRAGER  
We didn�t share a cell. We were in the same jail, and though that�s something that we both wanted obviously, we couldn�t guarantee that. I don�t know what I would�ve been if I didn�t have the benefit of having Steve there.
STEVE RUBELL  
We were treated just like everybody else, not unfairly.
MALE REPORTER
Right. They didn�t care that you�re with Liza, Bianca and all those stars?
STEVE RUBELL  
No. Oh, that has, that�s another world. It's how it is. You just have to learn to keep your mouth shut and not say a world. If you say a word, you, you�re, you�re dead.
IAN SCHRAGER  
There was a guy that lived across the hall from me and who had killed somebody with a bowling ball, and so I right away thought that was a good guy to get friendly with. I made a deal with him that we would give his wife money on the outside and, and he would protect us.
IAN SCHRAGER  
You know, it was just a base instinct to survive in, in, in there.
MICHAEL OVERINGTON  
After they went to jail, we had another couple of months, but it was never the same after you know, without Steve and Ian. And when we lost the liquor license, there wasn�t much we, we could do.
IAN SCHRAGER  
We was in prison that you know, we sold Studio and I was negotiating the contract, and that kept my sanity.
IAN SCHRAGER  
But selling Studio was the hardest thing I ever had to do.
MALE  
The whole thing, it was like a vortex of you know, it was all just going down the tubes, and everybody just faded back to where they came from.
MARC BENECKE  
You really feel like all these people are really gonna be your friends for life, they, they love you, and then you really find out, well, that�s really not the case at all, you know, the phone calls stop coming, the, you know, the, the invitations to great parties stop coming all those things just stop, and that was, that was, that was a rude awakening for me.
STEVEN GAINES 
The disco era was over. Disco music became a joke.
MALE REPORTER  
It was billed as Teen Night at Comiskey Park.The feature attraction was a disco demolition between games. Local radio morning man Steve Dahl is to lead the crowd in song and then finish by blowing up a box full of disco records which the fans would bring with them to the ball park.
NILE RODGERS  
Disco Sucks was almost a backlash against Studio in a way. You think about the economic situation in America, it was the worst financial recession since the great depression, and you think about what Studio    and what disco life looked like to somebody working in the Midwest who had now lost their job and is never coming back, you know, you blame it on all these people you blame it on gay people, you blame it on black people, you blame it on women.
IAN SCHRAGER  
There was this groundswelling resentment. People you know, were pissed off. We upset the status quo
PETER SUDLER  
We knew Rubell and Schrager could help us and could give us more income tax evasion cases against other people that they knew who were doing the same thing.  So, we devised the great Chinese food scenario. The US Attorney�s office is on the border of Chinatown and the IRS agents know all the good places to eat, trust me. So, they ordered a slew of different Chinese dishes, and I had Steve and Ian brought over and I had two chairs set up just outside my office so that the smell was kind of wafting out into the hall, and they�re looking at it and they�re, you know, they�re hungry. We really tried everything.  
IAN SCHRAGER  
We were under all kinds of pressure. The government had all our records It isn�t as if, you know, we named names, but we would�ve had to perjure ourselves if we didn�t answer questions about the nightclub owners of Bonds, Infinity, and New York, New York at the time. They were like kind of our enemies.  You know, we always suspected that, that those guys were out to hurt us anyways, so it was kind of easy way to rationalize that, I suppose, but my father wouldn�t have, have liked this, you know.
MALE  
Why?
IAN SCHRAGER 
Because that�s, that�s not something you do. You know, do your time like a man. It wouldn�t be something that he would, you know, you know, want, want, want me to do.
MALE  
And did that weigh upon you?
IAN SCHRAGER  
Of course. I had problems.I still have problems and I�m still embarrassed about it. It�s one of the things I was hoping you wouldn�t get into, but I, you know, I� it�s just part of the story, I suppose.
IAN SCHRAGER  
I couldn�t stay in prison for three and a half years, so we did what we had to do. And got a reduced sentence. When we got out of prison in      it was a whole different world.  
MALE  
Governor Reagan just wanted to show you what the map of the United States looks like as of  tonight.  
HAL RUBENSTEIN  
You had a different administration in the earlys, and suddenly it was all about making money. It wasn�t about abandon, it wasn�t about equalization, it was about massive obvious success. And the dollar uberolous.  
BOB COLACELLO  
Downtown became more downtown, The Mudd Club really became dominant in protest against ths and the Reagan administration.  
IAN SCHRAGER  
Getting out of jail, we were both really, really, really sensitive. Both unsure of ourselves, you know, that�s devastation that�s hard to explain.  You lose everything. You know, I lost my law license, I couldn�t vote.  Even your driver�s license, your credit card, so disenfranchised. It�s, you know, you don�t realize till you can�t what it means to you. And the shame of it. That was the real thing.
REPORTER  
One of the things, I guess, that�s a little bothersome is that there is no stigma attached to the fact that you did jail time. 
STEVE RUBELL  
Oh, but there is a st there isn�t a day that goes by when I don�t think about it. 
REPORTER  
An emotional stigma. 
STEVE RUBELL  
It�s emotional. Until about a year ago I had dreams that I was on an island and I couldn�t get off, and the nightmares, I would wake up soaked, and it�s something you don�t get over.
REPORTER  
Fair enough.  
IAN SCHRAGER 
Steve was kinda tentative, because he didn�t know the way people were gonna be reacting to him. Just that they didn�t know if they could trust him. After the Hamilton Jordan and everything. 
STEVE RUBELL 
Yeah, the price of being a success, you know, it you know, is easy, price of being a failure is difficult. I went through both.  
DON RUBELL  
That was probably the most difficult moment of their life, wondering if they would ever emerge. In a sense, they had nothing to lose early on.  They had nothing, everything was an improvement, it was fine. Coming back that was courage.
NEIL SCHLESINGER  
Ian�s not gonna give up. Stevie, in his own way, isn�t gonna give up.  They both had the same DNA when they went in and when they got out.  They�ll take on any challenge, and they did.
MALE  
I believe they were plotting to come back in prison.
NEIL SCHLESINGER  
Of course. The day they got out they were thinking about what we�re gonna do when we get out.
REPORTER  
Despite Rubell�s plans post prison reality was harsh. It took three years before the two could find the capital to finance their next venture.  
REPORTER  
A string of luxury hotels that cater to the same kind of eclectic crowd that used to hang out at Studio
REPORTER  
They immediately began channeling their efforts into purchasing prime Manhattan real estate, becoming part owners in several chic hotels, including the Royalton and Morgan�s Hotel on Madison Avenue.
IAN SCHRAGER  
We wanted to be in the hotel business. But we had to prove to the banks that we could borrow million dollars and pay it back.So, that was the reason why we opened up Palladium nightclub.  
REPORTER  
The bald, the brave and the beautiful came out tonight for the opening of the Palladium.  
ROY COHN  
The incredible thing that was Steve and Ian out of the picture for six or seven years, really nothing�s come along to replace them. And now they�re back and bigger and better than ever.  
STEVE RUBELL  
I had hesitations about everything I did because I had made a mistake and I had felt not felt so great about myself for a while. I got a second chance, and you couldn�t ask for anything more.  
IAN SCHRAGER  
When we did the Palladium, this was the first press piece we got, comeback kids. Where I came out from the shadows. The story was as much on me as it was on on Steve. Steve was a little bit upset about it.  And the story disrupted that balance that existed between Steve and I all those years in terms of him being out there, getting all of the attention and me being in the background, and not getting any was a new dynamic. I remember it took him a little while to to to get over it.  
REPORTER  
We should point out, for better or for worse, no longer.
STEVE RUBELL  
Yeah, I read in the paper the other day it was just closed.  But.
REPORTER  
How�d you feel about that?
STEVE RUBELL  
I you know, I�m almost a little it�s some �something of the past, and I so do not want to dwell on the past. The good or the bad. I�m always futuristic in what I can do next, and what opportunities we can, you know, that Ian and I can come up with, and you know, life is so exciting. 
MALE  
So, how did you find out that Steve had contracted HIV?
DON RUBELL  
I did a blood test.  
MALE  
Did you suspect that he was becoming ill with that?
DON RUBELL  
He had some symptoms, not of HIV, but there were vague symptoms.  And I was the one that told him he had AIDS, yeah. You have to remember AIDS, at that time, it wasn�t a disease, it was a condemnation.  And so, he wouldn�t let me tell our parents. He held it together and I�m sure he didn�t hold it together after I left, but he held it together.  
NORMA KAMALI  
Everybody was getting sick. It was frightening and if I�m still emotionally affected by it, the loss was profound.  
SCOTTY TAYLOR  
All of these young guys were just fading away.  
SCOTT BROMLEY  
Half the bartenders, half the people that did the sets, the kids that painted, are not with us anymore. It was devastating.  
NORMA KAMALI  
The impact that these people had on the community, on the culture, on New York City such an incredible loss culturally. It changed everything.  
IAN SCHRAGER  
Steve was the kind of guy that, you know, if he did something the night before that might�ve been a little embarrassing, you would see him the next morning, and he would act like nothing happened, and get away with it, and that would be the end of it. He was not somebody to come into the room with their tail between their legs, terribly embarrassed.  The way Steve was, was always able to get away with it. This one thing he didn�t get away with.
REPORTER  
Steve Rubell changed the look the feel and the face of New York�s night life when he opened up Studio some years ago. Rubell died this morning here in Manhattan from complications of Hepatitis. Steve Rubell died of complications resulting from Hepatitis and septic shock.Steve Rubell, who died yesterday of liver failure. There were rumors that Rubell succumbed to AIDS, but the official word is that he died of Hepatitis and septic shock. 
BILL HAMILTON  
He didn�t want the press to put in the obit that he died of complications of AIDS.  That was kept out.  
IAN SCHRAGER  
I wanted to, you know, make sure everybody came to the funeral because that�s what Steve would�ve wanted, like a big send off. So, I was on the phone making calls to make sure everybody would, you know, would come.
REPORTER  
The funeral for that people�s person turned out the chic of New York City society.  From Calvin Klein to Bianca Jagger to his partner Ian Schrager, who at times looked shaken.
BOB COLACELLO  
Losing Steve was like losing a family member. So, it was a very difficult day, and a very difficult time. I think it it every one of our Studio family who knew him felt the same way.  
REPORTER 
After the brief service, some from Rubell�s past said they saw his death as emblematic of the passing of an era.  
ELAINE KAUFMAN  
They gave a magic to this city. And the city always needs magic. And it always finds marker, and Steve was it for a an awful lot of years.  
REPORTER  
Steve Rubell�s dead at.  
MYRA SCHEER  
Ann, Mrs. Rubell, said to me, why didn�t Steve ever get married? And I realized then that I�m not sure that she really knew that he was gay.  That was part of that time, that time of maybe your mother was the last to know.  
NORMA KAMALI 
Steve�s death and his illness had a huge impact on Ian.  Their love for each other and their bond was so strong that I think it made an impact for quite some time.  
IAN SCHRAGER  
I met Steve, I think I was and friendship blossomed right away, and I was friendly with him for all that time right up to I�m lucky that I had one of those friendships.  Not many people, you know, do.  Steve and I bought this house in It has a lot of history this house. It�s like a family heirloom.  For that it�s quite beautiful.  
REPORTER  
How did the death of your partner, your best friend affect you?
IAN SCHRAGER  
It was devastating, it was a personal loss. Steve and I were really like husband and wife. I�m not sure which one was the husband, and which one was the wife. We vacationed together, we shared a house in Long Island together, we worked together, we he was the last person I talked to when I went to sleep. And so, it was a personal loss� more than anything else. On the business end of it, the same passion that drove me while Steve was alive still drove me. I had the same hunger, I still have that same hunger now, and so we just continued on. It�s not as much fun, it�s not as exhilarating, I don�t have someone to share it with, but just, you know, you go on.  
REPORTER  
Did you ever doubt that you could do it?
IAN SCHRAGER  
Of course. I still doubt it. I think that�s what drives me.  
NORMA KAMALI  
It�s not a surprise to me that through all these years Ian has evolved and reivented himself and taken that core of who he is to where he is today.  
IAN SCHRAGER  
I was trying to capture energy in the hotels in the same way you might capture energy on the streets of a city. You know, there�s an energy that lifts everything. A high tide that comes in. That was the same thing with Studio.  
IAN SCHRAGER 
Studio just meant everything to us, what we had gone through together, both of us ingrained with that desire to be successful. I didn�t get it as a lawyer, and he didn�t get it as a steak restauranteur, but we both got it together with Studio.  
MALE  
What they created nobody has come near since then. You know there was a brevity to it. There was a sense of something lost. Paradise lost.  
MALE  
I don�t think they had any idea what it would become. That it would become this world famous. That it would be important in our culture.  And the history of New York City. And maybe significant in the history of what was going on all around the world.  
IAN SCHRAGER  
Studio wasn�t a night club, it was like a kind of social experiment. And that�s why it�s never been able to be recreated. It was fun.  

Altimeter Films � Studio                                                                                                  		                                                                          
REVISED FESTIVAL MASTER ( /  /  )