America’s first gay disco, a Los Angeles club that saw over a thousand gleeful men a night dancing at Studio One where gay men could feel safe being themselves.
Leaving this history to memory is risky; memory fades and when those carrying the clearest of impressions pass away, there is no on to turn to for recollections of the glorious days of gay West Hollywood nightlife. Enter Marc Saltarelli, a filmmaker with a history of narrative and documentary films gives us Studio One Forever, with its premiere at the 2023 Outfest Film Festival.
Marc discusses the frequent and deadly threats to gay men and the struggles of trying to live an authentic life at the time of Studio One’s birth. Studio One made no attempt to embrace anyone but gay men. Gay women? Nope. No women. A policy of no open-toed shoes was instigated to exlude women. What? Yes, really. Truth be told, the club’s owner wanted to prevent those who were not white and male from entering. Then something happened to change the very fabric of Studio One.
Chita Rivera decided to give a performance at the club, and there you have it. Hollywood elite and gay culture melded into one of the most glamorous talent-filled clubs of all time. Liza Minelli, Jimmy Stewart, Bette Davis just a few of the regulars for dancing and dining in style in a vast physical space that once served Hollywood in quite another capacity you will, I am sure, want to know about.
As Marc started to research this club, he discovered people had stories about Studio One and, better than that, they wanted to talk about it. Studio One Forever is a history worth knowing, and thanks to Marc Saltarelli, it is a history now available to us all. Seeing him talk about it is an added plus.
His whole love letter conversation is a perfect joy.