Where Was Ian Schrager

Covering Studio 54 was like covering the big bang. On April 26, 1977—a long time before superstar D.J.’s, before velvet ropes, before anyone had ever heard of “club drugs” like XTC, 2CB, and special K—Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager let there be light and speed and spectacle so preternaturally pleasurable that it had to fall apart. But while the ball lasted, there was no more thrilling nightlife than the dance on West 54th Street. I know, because I was there. Studio 54 was my beat as the “Intelligencer” columnist. Go forth and party with Halston, Bianca, Andy, and Liza, said my editor, and bring back the buzz.

SEE ALSO:
• As the Disco Ball Turns
• Ian Schrager Explains it All
Temperamentally unfit to record the glow of celebrity, I marveled more at the sexual politics. While homosexuality was outlawed at Plato’s Retreat, where the dancing was seriously dirty, Rubell invited the Friends of Frederick the Great to the party.

“It’s bisexual,” Rubell told Interview. “Very bisexual. And that’s how we choose the crowd, too. In other words, we want everybody to be fun and good-looking.” And have sex and do drugs in the balcony.

How long did the gods allow such défi? About three years. Rubell and Schrager pleaded guilty in November 1979 for skimming a million dollars, and both were eventually imprisoned for thirteen months. But Rubell’s greatest crime went unpunished: a last-ditch snitch on Hamilton Jordan, Jimmy Carter’s White House chief of staff, for allegedly doing lines in the basement. This squeeze play was the brainchild of Joe McCarthy’s bottom, Roy Cohn, the hard-partying lawyer for Studio. Who else?

Karma caught up with Rubell. He succumbed to AIDS in 1989. His partner, of course, has had a successful second act. And we who danced to 54’s tune, what about us 30 years far and beyond? It doesn’t seem like yesterday, but I wish it were.


"His real name's Mosley"
"I'M MOSLEY"

From what I've read, Schrager contacted Miramax Pictures, director Mark Christopher, and the producers before the film even went into production stating that any use of his name, or any characters in the story implied to be him, were unauthorized and illegal.

I've read several interviews with Schrager. He has very little nostalgia for his Studio days, and has no desire to relive or discuss them in detail. His passion is style & design. While these were essential elements of Studio's success, the illegal aspects (operating without an alcohol permit, the money skimming, the drug activity)never sat right with Schrager from day one. When he had to serve prison time for (among other things) cocaine possession, he was humiliated and embarassed by his behavior. He never got carried away as a drug abuser, or felt as if he were above the law, like Rubell did.

The road to Schrager's eventual enormous success as a hotelier and property developer did begin with Rubell, though. After they served their time, they designed their first hotel, Morgan's, in Manhattan. It was instantly successful and remains today, although Schrager sold his interest in it in 2005. Unfortunately, Rubell's subsequent participation in these ventures was cut short when he succumbed to AIDS in 1989.

http://www.morganshotel.com/#/home/

I was always assumed that the quiet conservatively dressed man who never speaks was supposed to be Schrager. You know the guy who is always in his office and is seen carrying him out once or twice. He generally fits the bill. Of course he never speaks and has virtually nothing to do with the plot, but I figure that is more due to legal reasons than anything else.