Studio 54 was a nightclub for the rich and famous in New York where the music was cutting edge (Bee Gees, Donna Summer, Michael Jackson, Chic and others of the 1970-1980 Disco era), the ambience was frenetic as lighted columns like huge phalluses rose and plunged unrepentantly to the coloured glass floor in sync with the disco rhythm, and coke flowed freely to the well-heeled.
Into this cauldron of carefree opulent wastrels I found myself one night in 1980. One of them was Donald Trump. This is how it appeared in my book To Follow Right – A Journalist’s Journey:
New York is probably the best market in the world; whatever you want you can find in New York. And it is world-famous for its night-life though I never paid that much attention until the night when, out of the blue, the opportunity came to visit the then famous night spot of all night spots.
The nightclub’s publicly visible frontman was the flamboyant Steve Rubell. The celebrities present on opening night included Mick Jagger, Liza Minnelli, Jerry Hall, Debbie Harry, Brooke Shields, newlyweds Donald and Ivana Trump, and many others. Hundreds scrambled to gain entry but only a few got past the door.
The next week Rubell opened the nightclub on a Monday night for Bianca Jagger's 27th birthday party. She reportedly entered on a white horse and the resulting publicity firmly established Studio 54 as the nightclub for celebrities including Michael Jackson, Rudolf Nureyev, Rod Stewart, Pelé, Suzanne Somers, Truman Capote, Margaret Trudeau, John Travolta, Jackie Onassis, Elizabeth Taylor, Björn Borg, Farrah Fawcett, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Bette Davis, Al Pacino, Zsa Zsa and Eva Gabor, Dolly Parton, Hugh Hefner, Sophia Loren, John F. Kennedy Jr., Eartha Kitt, and Lillian Carter, the mother of President Jimmy Carter.
The nightclub’s publicly visible frontman was the flamboyant Steve Rubell. The celebrities present on opening night included Mick Jagger, Liza Minnelli, Jerry Hall, Debbie Harry, Brooke Shields, newlyweds Donald and Ivana Trump, and many others. Hundreds scrambled to gain entry but only a few got past the door.
The next week Rubell opened the nightclub on a Monday night for Bianca Jagger's 27th birthday party. She reportedly entered on a white horse and the resulting publicity firmly established Studio 54 as the nightclub for celebrities including Michael Jackson, Rudolf Nureyev, Rod Stewart, Pelé, Suzanne Somers, Truman Capote, Margaret Trudeau, John Travolta, Jackie Onassis, Elizabeth Taylor, Björn Borg, Farrah Fawcett, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Bette Davis, Al Pacino, Zsa Zsa and Eva Gabor, Dolly Parton, Hugh Hefner, Sophia Loren, John F. Kennedy Jr., Eartha Kitt, and Lillian Carter, the mother of President Jimmy Carter.
On the night my party was allowed in, Bianca Jagger was there. Trump was there too, but I only learnt that after we left. Not that it would have mattered to me.
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HORRIBLE MAN!!!!
