John Casey and New York Tim lumnist Frank Bni have an timate nversatn about what agg means to gay men.
Contents:
- BLACK, GAY AND 54
- GAY 54 AND ..... - SOLO TRAVEL FOM
- 54 BOMBED 1998. NOW IT’S BEEN RURRECTED AS A CULT GAY CLASSIC.
- AM I GAY?
BLACK, GAY AND 54
Are you qutng your sexualy? Fd out if you’re gay, straight, bisexual, or asexual. Learn what the terms mean and if they apply to you. * gay 54 *
In 1977, Stud 54 opened and beme one of the world’s most famo diss wh a fn of gay, bisexual, and straight patrons. Owners Steven Rubell and Ian Schrager moled the club after New York’s gay nightclubs, which were settg the trends for mic and dance. Rubell and Schrager wanted to create a new nightclub that replited the energy of New York’s gay clubs, which were more dance oriented and sexually charged.
They were spired after visg Le Jard at 110 Wt 43rd Street ( the basement of the now-molished Diplomat Hotel), a gay nightclub that beme one of the first to blur the le between gay, bisexual, and straight spac. Among the sign team were many gay men that clud archect Stt Bromley and those who later died of AIDS: terr signer Ron Doud, sound signer Richard Long (also for the Paradise Garage), and graphic signer Gil Lser (known for his award-wng poster for “Equ”). The club was known for s velvet rope door policy where Rubell hand selected guts rangg om unknowns to high-profile gay, bisexual, and straight celebri.
If gets too gay, then there’s no glamour.
GAY 54 AND ..... - SOLO TRAVEL FOM
It attracted many heterosexual lumari as well as such gay and bisexual men as Tman Capote, Roy Cohn, Salvador Dalí, Dive, Bob Fosse, Halston, Mick Jagger, Rick Jam, Elton John, Calv Kle, Karl Lagerfeld, Yv Sat-Lrent, Franc Svullo, Valento, and Andy Warhol. Artists who ma live appearanc clud equent patrons Grace Jon and Donna Summer as well as Sylvter, Jam Brown, Gloria Gaynor, and the Village People. “First of all, the gay subject matter, that’s a huge thg, ” he ntued.
Plucked om the behd the velvet rop outsi Stud 54 by the club’s lechero gay owner, Steve Rubell (Mike Myers his first and bt dramatic role), he leverag his sex appeal by flirtg wh any and everyone — and sleepg wh most — to land a job at the club, work his way up to bartenr and leverage that for a short-lived place among Gotham’s upper-class ele. “But they didn’t tt the ci (where the dience for a dark, edgy die movie would be); they tted out malls Long Island and plac like that, and that dience was spl between the ol people who loved and the homophob the dience.
At this pot, Christopher turned to the Miramax rep silently eavdroppg on our terview to make sure he was allowed to say “homophob. Co-owner Steve Rubell was gay, which uld expla why stead of the bty women you might expect, the bartenrs at the club were all hunky guys.
54 BOMBED 1998. NOW IT’S BEEN RURRECTED AS A CULT GAY CLASSIC.
Christopher hand a cut that reflected the script's dark and praved sexual vibe, wh an abundance of homoeroticism. " Sce Berl, the receptn to the director's cut has been extremely posive, wh some llg a cult gay classic.
Perhaps bee, as Taylor put , "Steve [Rubell] wanted all big, gay, mcle-bound bartenrs, and I was, like, this Jewish straight boy om Queens, " the owner was unimprsed when he noticed and tried to fire him.
AM I GAY?
It was a time, post-Stonewall, when “the gay populatn were settg the absolute cultural standard this town. ” And he and Rubell went to gay clubs bee he thought straight on “felt ntrived, and I always felt unfortable, ” he says.