Steve Rubell Kicked Off on This Day in 1989
Steve Rubell was an American entrepreneur and co-owner of the New York disco Studio 54 back in my Navy days. I read of the antics of this character in the various New York newspapers circulated aboard ship by my cohorts who hailed primarily from "the city" as they called it ... and they were all interesting fellows and each one with a distinct rude yankee persona all their own.I loved yapping with these guys from time to time because you could never win with them. Whether it was an argument or a bit of wrestling in the compartment there was nothing which could stop them ... ever. It simply wasn't worth trying to engage them regarding anything for which they had an opinion nor challenging them to some manner of horseplay.
The were all pretty relentless.
So Steve Rubell was part of that time in my life because of the contingent of New Yorkers with whom I cohabitated in the tin can Navy. I was fine with him during this time frame because of his distance and disparate circumstances.
After brief stints in the military and some time at a brokerage as well as two restaurants in the great northeast Yankee land the Studio 54 phase of his life went into effect.
This was the phony patent leather era of shitty music called 'disco' and all the air head females who had nothing more to do than either go out dancing or preparing for going out dancing during the remainder of their lives.
My kingdom for a woman who can converse intelligently. They were more sparse than anything else in the waning days of Studio 54, disco, and the stupid closet case Steve Rubell.
 Steve Rubell December 2, 1943 – July 25, 1989 |
Rubell became the front man standing outside the building and spending his time wielding that great power he imagined having by turning people away and only allowing entry to those who met his narrow, boring, perverse standards.
Rubell also handled Studio 54's celebrity patrons, with over the top parties and things proved profitable early on with the joint making some $7 million during its premiere year.
The mouthy nature of Steve Rubell proved problematic and his bragadoccio earned him raids on the property and various criminal charges and it's said that the owners engaged in a "cash skim" policy when netted them almost 2.5 million dollars which ended up as unreported income. Prison time became the order of the day.
In 1985, Rubell, who was a closeted homosexual for the bulk of his life discovered he had contracted HIV and this evolved to full blown AIDS.
He began taking AZT, but continued recreational drug use and drinking reeked havoc on his already compromised immune system.
Shortly prior to dying Rubell checked into Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City under an alias to seek treatment for hepatitis, kidney failure, and severe peptic ulcers.
He passed there on July 25, 1989 with an official cause of death is listed as hepatitis and septic shock complicated by AIDS.
His was a private funeral attended mostly by celebrity customers of Studio 54. He is interred at Beth Moses Cemetery in Farmingdale, New York.
Later, Mike Myers portrayed Steve Rubell in the 1998 drama film 54. Golly gee, casting an insufferable asshole to play an insufferable asshole in a movie. Life's little ironies. Go figure.
Good Riddance.