Wednesday 13 July 2022 09:24 PM Mark Fleischman owner of Studio 54 commits assisted suicide in Switzerland ... trends now
Mark Fleischman, 82, the former nightlife impresario who owned Studio 54, has died by taking a lethal dose of barbiturate at a assisted suicide facility in Switzerland (pictured in 2017)
Mark Fleischman, the former king of New York City nightlife, and owner of Studio 54, has died at the age of 82.
He chose to die by assisted suicide after suffering a six-year-long battle with a mysterious neurological illness that turned him into a vegetable.
He announced his intention to take a lethal dose of barbiturates two weeks ago, through the assistance of a Swiss nonprofit group named Dignitas.
'I can't walk, my speech is f****d up and I can't do anything for myself,' Fleischman, who was confined to a wheelchair, told The New York Post. 'My wife helps me get into bed and I can't dress or put on my shoes. I am taking a gentle way out. It is the easiest way out for me.'
Studio 54 was a glamorous hotbed for debauchery and disco hedonism, a dizzying bacchanal of sexual liberation, decadence, outlandish eccentricity and celebrities riding a white frothy wave of cocaine. Then in 1980, after only 33 months of worldmaking headlines, the club's original owners Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager were dragged off to Federal prison in handcuffs under charges of tax evasion. One year later, Fleischman reopened the dance floor, taking over the reigns of the most infamous nightclub on the planet.
As Andy Warhol once said: 'Studio 54 is a way of life. People live there. They dance there. They drink there. They make friends there. They make love there. They break up there. They become stars there. They do business there. They sleep there…We've never had an earthquake in New York, but if we did, it would be at Studio 54.'
Born and raised in Long Island, Fleischman got a degree in hospitality from Cornell's School of Hotel Administration. He began his career as a Naval Officer in charge of the Officer Club at base in New Jersey before he began opening hotels, restaurants and nightclubs around New York City. He took over Studio 54 in 1980 after its original owners, Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager went to prison for tax evasion
The club quickly became a glitterati playground for famous celebrities like Andy Warhol (far right), Bianca Jagger (center), Halston (center left) and Diana Ross (left). 'The whole world, it seemed, came together on that strobe-lit dance floor in a way that seems inconceivable in this age of plague, political correctness, moral righteousness, and social fragmentation. Uptown and downtown, L.A. and D.C., London, Paris, Rome, and Rio, society queens and drag queens, athletes and artists, debutantes and hipsters, Mayor Beame and Roy Cohn, Diana Vreeland and Miz Lillian—they all were there,' said Bob Colacello, the former editor of Interview Magazine
Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall (above) were constant habitués of Studio 54. Fleischman recalled how Jagger had an affair with his 'adorable, smart' 16-year-old assistant who worked at Studio 54 after school. When a photo of the two embracing landed on the front page of the New York Post, he said 'Jerry Hall was pissed off'
Fleischman took over the reigns and reopened the doors to Studio 54 after it was closed briefly when its former owners went to prison. He celebrated the club's reopening night by sending out 5,000 invitations in the form of a small lightbulb beckoning them to the 'relighting of Studio 54.' New Yorkers came out in droves, so much so that more than 10,000 people showed up at the door and the fire department had to close down the entire block. Above, Sonny Bono and Cher
Fashion designer, Diane von Furstenberg lounges on a couch at Studio 54 with her media mogul boyfriend Barry Diller. The couple eventually got married in 2001. Diane's first marriage was to Prince Egon von Furstenberg, a regular at Studio 54 who Fleischman described as 'bisexual and the ultimate party person. He knew everyone, usually had a beautiful woman (or man) on his arm, and was always smiling, laughing, and telling jokes in five different languages'
For extreme privacy, some VIPs would be invited to do their drugs while crammed inside Fleischman's office. 'There were so many people around my desk that we needed 30 or 40 lines of cocaine, and they all had to be identical. That girl was in charge of cutting cocaine lines and serving champagne,' he said
The centerpiece decoration at Studio 54 was a ten-foot crescent moon snorting cocaine from a spoon dangled from the ceiling. Located in Manhattan's theater district- the discotheque opened in 1977 after co-founders Steve Rubbell and Ian Schrager converted a former opera house into what would become the world's first super club. It instantly became the hottest and most exclusive party spot on the planet, where — according to model Kevin Haley — 'Decadence was a positive thing. Cocaine was a positive thing'
The club's original owners took advantage of the lighting rigs that were leftover from when the space served as a CBS recording studio. The elaborate lighting system was so powerful that on the random occasions when doves were released during party, they would get frazzled and drop dead on the dance floor below. Above, Bianca Jagger holds two doves while at a party thrown by the fashion designer, Halston
As proprietor of the club, Fleischman rubbed shoulders with celebrity artists, rock legends, business tycoons, movie stars, powerful politicians and members of the jet set.
The 11,000 square foot dance floor was a nexus for everyone from the Rolling Stones to Andy Warhol, Jack Nicholson, Diana Ross, Gloria Vanderbilt, Diane Von Furstenberg, John Belushi, Cary Grant, Cher, Liza Minnelli, Farrah Fawcett, Halston, Prince, Donald Trump and so many more.
Studio 54 - located in Manhattan's theater district- opened in 1977 after co-founders Steve Rubbell and Ian Schrager converted a former opera house into what would become the world's first super club. It instantly became the hottest and most exclusive party spot on the planet, where — according to model Kevin Haley — 'Decadence was a positive thing. Cocaine was a positive thing.'
Studio 54 was a theme park for adults. A temple of decadence, drugs, sex and music.
In was the place where its primary decoration was a ten-foot crescent moon snorting cocaine from a spoon dangled from the ceiling, and where Bianca Jagger once arrived atop a white horse. It's where the fashion designer, Valentino, had a circus themed party, complete with swinging mermaids on trapezes and Grace Jones once performed with a bevy of boys on leashes. The Mercedes Benz heir celebrated with a gold lamé wrapped car serving as the center piece, and Karl Lagerfeld hosted a candlelit 18th century court where the busboys and guests wore powdered wigs and rococo dresses.
A graduate of The School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University, Fleischman began his career in the hospitality industry as a Naval Officer in charge of the Officer Club at base in New Jersey from 1961-1964. After his discharge, Fleischman took a loan from his father to buy the Forest Hills Inn, a 300-room hotel located near the Forest Hills Tennis Stadium in Queens.
The kid from Long Island with a knack for nightlife opened a few clubs and restaurants in Manhattan while becoming a regular at Studio 54. He became acquainted with the club's proprietors, Ian Schrager and Steve Rubell —'two P. T. Barnum types from Brooklyn' —who opened the infamous disco house in 1977.
But their tenure as the reigning monarchs of Manhattan's night life came to an abrupt end in 1980 when they were raided by the Feds and jailed for tax evasion.
Fleischman's wife of 27 years, Mimi said his undiagnosed illness left him wheelchair-bound. 'It is worse than not being able to walk. Mark doesn't have balance. He drops things and does not know where his body is in space,' Mimi Fleischman said. 'Doctors originally thought he had a form of Parkinson's. But it is not that. Nobody knows what he has.' (Pictured in 2006)
Andy Warhol described Studio 54 as 'a dictatorship at the door and a democracy on the floor.' Once inside, Studio 54 was a place where a coterie of fashion designers and models, business tycoons, socialites, preps, artists, rock stars, movie stars and politicians could rub shoulders with average-joes as long as they looked cool, or had something interesting to offer. 'It's like mixing a salad, Steve Rubell used to say, 'or casting a play. If it gets too straight, then there's not enough energy in the room. If it gets too gay, then there's no glamour'
Almost every night Andy Warhol could be seen ensconced on a couch between Lisa Minelli and Bianca Jagger. The famous artist once said: 'Studio 54 is a way of life. People live there. They dance there. They drink there. They make friends there. They make love there. They break up there. They become stars there. They do business there. They sleep there…We've never had an earthquake in New York, but if we did, it would be at Studio 54'
Jerry Hall, Andy Warhol, Debbie Harry, Truman Capote and Paloma Picasso pose for a picture after a booze-fueled evening spent at Studio 54. Bob Colacello (far left) once recalled to Vanity Fair how he stopped Truman Capote from getting in a 'barroom brawl' at Studio 54 with the famous socialite Nan Kemper (not pictured).'Liz Smith (the gossip columnist) called me 'the Saint Francis of Assisi of the silly socialite set''
The singer Grace Jones (pictured with Prince Egon von Furstenberg) was a regular fixture of Studio 54. 'You'd stumble into half-hidden rooms filled with a few people who seemed to be sweating because of something they had just done, or were about to do,' recalled Grace Jones in the 2018 doc, Studio 54
After a few jail-house meetings with their attorney, Roy Cohn, Fleischman agreed to take on Studio 54's mountain of debt and re-open its doors.
'My first negotiations to buy the club occurred on a visitor Sunday at the Manhattan Federal Prison near Chinatown,' recalled Fleischman in his 2017 memoir, Inside Studio 54.
'In retrospect, I don't believe I made the best deal I could have. But I was thoroughly seduced by the idea of controlling the world's most important nightclub, and I proceeded headlong and recklessly toward that end.'
Fleischman celebrated the club's reopening night with an 'incandescence' theme. He sent out 5,000 invitations in the form of a small lightbulb beckoning them to the 'relighting of Studio 54.' New Yorkers came out in droves, so much so that more than 10,000 people showed up at the door and the fire department had to close down the entire block.
'From that very first night, I was swept up in a world of celebrities, drugs, power, and sex,' he said.
'I was the ringleader for nearly four years and I became intoxicated with the scene—bodies gyrating on the dance floor, sex in the balcony, and anything goes in the Ladies' Lounge and Rubber Room.'
'Every night, celebrities and stunning women made their way through the crowd, up the stairs to my office to sip champagne and share lines of cocaine using my golden straw or rolled up one-hundred-dollar bills. I was the guy in control, the owner—the host of the party. It was my duty, my job, to make sure everyone had a good time.'
Drugs were par for the course, and Fleischman indulged in them all: 'It all started with pot. Then I went onto coke. Somehow in the middle of all that, I did acid and mescaline. Poppers, of course,' he told Paper Magazine.
'Then of course there was angel dust. And Quaaludes, which were at the time called disco biscuits. And somebody turned me onto whippets. It's nitrous oxide, inhaled from whipped cream canisters. That's really addictive and it was really horrible and it was the one that did me in. In the middle of all that, next to the mescaline, there was Special K. It was a little trippy,' said the nightlife impresario.
Today, when every celebrity mishap is seconds away from being flashed around the globe, it is difficult to imagine that a place like Studio 54 could ever exist.
Safe from the world's gaze before the dawn of camera phones and social media, the beautiful people were free to indulge themselves.
They could get as high as kites — and often were — or disappear off to the balconies and bathrooms for sex — and often did — and the photographers allowed inside knew they risked banishment if they recorded it. That is, of course, unless you were Andy Warhol, who Fleischman said 'returned time and time again for nearly 100 nights, to capture icons in unscripted moments.'
Superstar model Brooke Shields, 14, shows her style on the dance floor. In the early 80s, she was the most famous teenager on the planet – modelling for Calvin Klein and joining Andy Warhol at Studio 54
Halston helps Elizabeth Taylor cut into her birthday cake featuring a photo of her face as The Rockettes pose in the background. Taylor entered the party standing on a float of gardenias between Halston and her (then) husband, Senator John Warner of Virginia
Diana Ross hits the dancefloor hand in hand with a young Richard Gere
In 1983, Studio 54 featured the world premiere of Michael Jackson's 13-minute music video for Thriller. (Pictured above standing next to Steven Tyler). Jackson made a surprise visit and the crowds went crazy. The DJ, Frank Corr, said: 'It was as wild as wild can get in a very happy way. Everyone was cool, but I had to tell the tech crew to move the bridge back to the DJ booth when it came time for Michael to leave. There was no way to take him through the crowd in the club.' Michael danced his way onto the bridge above the dance floor and out the back door'
Rod Stewart poses next to Tina Turner. Drugs were par for the course, and Fleischman indulged in them all: 'It all started with pot. Then I went onto coke. Somehow in the middle of all that, I did acid and mescaline. Poppers, of course,' he told Paper Magazine. 'Then of course there was angel dust. And Quaaludes, which were at the time called disco biscuits. And somebody turned me onto whippets. It's nitrous oxide, inhaled from whipped cream canisters. That's really addictive and it was really horrible and it was the one that did me in. In the middle of all that, next to the mescaline, there was Special K. It was a little trippy,' said the nightlife impresario
Extravagant parties served as great publicity for the nightclub. Bianca Jagger made headlines when she celebrated her birthday entering the club on a white stallion. The success of it brought in more exotic animals such as a leopard, black panther, an elephant (pictured right with the actress Linda Blair). The second time Jagger celebrated her birthday at Studio 54, she released 100 white doves
For the most part, celebrity hedonists were safe from the public glare. 'You'd stumble into half-hidden rooms filled with a few people who seemed to be sweating because of something they had just done, or were about to do,' recalled Grace Jones in the 2018 doc, Studio 54.
The singer also said there was a top-secret room up in the gods of the old theatre — 'a place of secrets and secretions, the in-crowd and inhalations, sucking and snorting.'
The legendary Rubber Room was the dark balcony at the top of Studio 54. It was covered with black rubber trim and flooring that could be easily washed down. Every night after all the lunacy, the busboys would find discarded rubbers, poppers, and panties —a testimony to the night's fun and games. 'Alec Baldwin, who had worked there as a busboy when he was a struggling actor, said he finally had to quit because seeing the sexual interplay night after night left him 'perpetually horny,'' recalled
