Cinema Scholars interviews director Marc Saltarelli and Bruce Vilanch ahead of the Austin Film Festival screening Studio One Forever. The documentary screens at the Austin Film Festival on Friday, October 27 at 9:15 pm at The Hideout Theatre.
Introduction
For young gay men across the U.S. in the 70s, there weren’t a ton of nightlife options. While many major cities had underground gay bars, the idea of actually advertising such an establishment, much less attracting major talent, was a very new concept. With burgeoning scenes in New York and San Francisco, it seemed only a matter of time before Los Angeles club owners heeded the call.
Enter optometrist-turned-entrepreneur Scott Forbes who took the famous West Hollywood building known as The Factory and turned it into one of L.A.’s most famed gay dance clubs, Studio One. Directed by Marc Saltarelli, Studio One Forever chronicles the rise and ongoing saga of the Los Angeles institution.
In Studio One Forever, Saltarelli not only goes back to the beginning of the famed club, but he dives into the history of the building itself. Originally the site of the Mitchell Camera Company, the cavernous industrial-style building would later house munitions during World War II. After a stint as a traditional nightclub called The Factory, Forbes took over the establishment in 1974 and rebranded it as Studio One. With the help of numerous enthusiastic co-owners, Forbes and company launched the disco dance club to immediate success, especially with young gay men.
Soon, regular patrons from around L.A. and a who’s who list of celebrities packed the dance club as well as The Backlot, a dinner theater attached to the back of Studio One. The combination of a debaucherous disco aligned with a sit-down nightclub made for some memorable nights in a time when Old Hollywood intersected with the new guard of the 70s. Cary Grant, Bette Davis, and Lucille Ball are but a few name-drops the purveyors of Studio One and The Backlot can boast.
Stories like this and much more are lovingly covered in Saltarelli’s Studio One Forever. Current-day interviews with former owners, patrons, and talent are accented with stock footage and images from Studio One’s heyday. Saltarelli uses simple animation sequences to divide chapters and flesh out stories, further breaking up the talking heads. A current-day movement to save the original building from demolition is led by a group of former owners and patrons, including legendary writer/actor/provocateur Bruce Vilanch.
Today’s plight for the fate of the Studio One site helps Saltarelli prove the club’s continued relevance and historical significance for L.A.‘s gay community. In more poignant moments of the documentary, memories of the AIDS epidemic and the effect it had on the Studio One gang are tear-jerking. Studio One Forever is a fascinating look at a legendary moment in history and the lives that were changed forever because of it.
Cinema Scholars’ Rebecca Elliott had the pleasure of talking with Marc Saltarelli and Bruce Vilanch ahead of the Austin Film Festival screening of Studio One Forever.
Interview
Rebecca Elliott:
Thank you guys so much for joining me today to talk about Studio One Forever. I love that name. Marc, I’ll start with you. Were you aware of the legend of Studio One? And how did you come into this project? Was it something you were already aware of and you wanted to tell this story? Or did you come on later and you’re like, oh, my god, I’ve got to tell this story?
Marc Saltarelli:
Yes, I was aware, actually, when I moved here to L.A. to finish my film degree education at Loyola Marymount as a catholic boy. Recently, I’d come out, and who didn’t hear about Studio One? It was legendary and famous. So I would make the trip from the airport area to West Hollywood, which wasn’t even West Hollywood yet, I don’t think. No. And experience it firsthand. I remember just standing and watching, basically, the mob, the show. It was eye-opening and amazing. And it made me feel like being gay was okay.
But I had no idea what had happened before I got there in the 80s. Until I started working on this project. And that was brought to me by Lloyd Coleman and Gary Steinberg, who are in the film. They were Backlot producers, and they were working with a developer to create this one last event before the building was taken apart. And we sort of got together and started talking about ideas, and I researched the backstory of Studio One. There were two lesbians who actually started the Save The Factory movement. They got some sort of historical preservation status. And they had online, like, 60 pages of history that fascinated me, and a lot of people in there I would end up interviewing myself. I thought, nobody really knows this history.
So it’s a perfect opportunity to talk about not only the history of this amazing place, but of the gay scene in general. The gay history from the excitement of the 70s through the AIDS crisis of the 80s, all through the lens of this club. And so it was like, a perfect opportunity. I’m honored that I got the opportunity to put it together, and I’m honored that Mr. Vilanch agreed to be a part of it. An important part of it. And he did not expect that I would come back to him like four or five times for more. But he was gracious enough to loan me his incredible brain and knowledge of everything.
Bruce Vilanch:
I couldn’t get enough.
Rebecca Elliott:
I was going to ask you Bruce, how did you become involved? Were you part of the original initiative to save the building? Or were you just a general enthusiast since you were there in the heyday? How did you become a part of this project?
Bruce Vilanch:
Marc approached me because I guess he knew that I had been around. I wasn’t part of any of the activist activity. And I didn’t know that was even happening. So he hipped me to everything when he called and said, well, this is what’s happening with the old Studio One, and we’re making a movie about it. You were there, and would you be a part of it? And I said, sure.
As I say in the movie, I was there from the opening of it. And I said, if you remember the 70s, you weren’t there. I remember a lot of the 70s, even though I was chemically altered some of the time. But a lot of people who were there really don’t remember. And a lot of them, of course, are no longer here. So I became a deeper source for him, I think, than either of us ever anticipated. Yeah, I’m the OG. What can I tell you?
Rebecca Elliott:
You were a part of the mayhem! Marc, in any documentary, there’s like, a lot of talkie talkie, a lot of talking heads. But you do a wonderful job of breaking all that up with this incredible archival footage and all these images that we see. Tell me about gathering all of that incredible visual information and including it in the story?
Marc Saltarelli:
Yeah, that was just the process. When I started back in 2019, I had no idea that it would take this long to finally get it completed. So I had a long, long time to figure out how to put it together and to collect whatever footage I could. Chris Brooks sort of runs the Studio One Facebook page, and he provided some of the most amazing VHS footage of the dance floor. That is a big part of it.
Other people came out of the woodwork. I mean, I’d have people sending me their stories on Facebook and saying, I have this photo and that photo. And, of course, the One archives, which is part of the movie. It has a wealth of documentation. Not enough, in my opinion. Because it’s such an important artifact of LGBTQ history. But hopefully we can add more to it. And meeting Natalie Garcia was one of the highlights of the whole journey and finding archival material. She’s the young woman, lesbian woman, who found the slides in the garage and saved them from being thrown away forever and lost.
The story of meeting her is pretty fascinating. I was working on something for Project Angel Food, which I do for their telethons. And the guy I was working with said, oh, you’re working on a movie about Studio One. I just met this woman at a party and she has all of these stills that she found in a garage. And I said, oh my God. Literally 10 seconds later I’m getting a text from my friend who was at that same party.
So it’s like the universe was saying, you need to connect and you need to find this person. And I think that adds so much to this story. Not only the slides themselves, which are precious, but her personality. I think her excitement about gay history, being a young gay woman, was thrilling. And she adds that whole layer to it.
Rebecca Elliott:
I mean, that was just such a coup. Oh my gosh, I bet you were dying that all of a sudden you have this treasure trove of all these original slides. Has anyone come to you with anything since you locked picture? Come up with this amazing still that you’re like, no!!!
Marc Saltarelli:
Yeah, actually there was a guy who was going to make a coffee table book with Scott Forbes and he came in way late. We couldn’t really include them, but if it turns into a docuseries or whatever, then we’ll certainly be able to make use of those. And there are still a hundred thousand of Rosa Castro stills that are not available to us, but hopefully they will be at some point.
Rebecca Elliott:
Wow. That’s incredible.
Marc Saltarelli:
Castro was the Studio One official photographer. She shot 100,000 stills over the 20 years that are in somebody’s possession. And hopefully she will let them go at some point.
Rebecca Elliott:
Hopefully so! Bruce, as someone who was actually there in the heyday 70s, what did it mean at that time? Actually having a club that is not a secret and not hidden. Having this place where a gay guy could go and dance with other guys. What did that mean to the gay community in Los Angeles at that time?
Bruce Vilanch:
In Los Angeles specifically, it was really earth shattering because before Stonewall there had been a riot in L.A. A place called the Black Cat. And it was all about dancing. It was about people of the same sex dancing with each other. This actually was illegal. So the idea that you could have this huge place where everybody was just flinging themselves at each other with abandon was revolutionary.
And it was also emblematic of the time because it was the in the 70s. Everybody was finding themselves. It was the era of liberation. The era of post civil rights. And so everything was loosening up. Then of course, in the straight community, the birth control pill came in. Which changed everything. Changed everybody’s behavior. So this was part of all of that. And it was almost like every night was a celebration of the new freedoms that we had not enjoyed before.
When Chita Rivera came in and opened The Backlot, it became a premier nightclub experience in L.A. Which hadn’t had one since the Coconut Grove went away. All these movie stars began showing up because their friends from Broadway and the recording business were performing there. So suddenly it was this whole co-mingling of all of these types. It had a very liberating feeling. And what was kind of amazing is the place went on for 19 years.
I mean, Studio 54, for all of its celebration, had a three year run in New York where you could dance with somebody of the same sex, right? But in L.A., which was much more tied up in puritanical laws, this was really revolutionary. It was really strange. And so it had a big effect. A big effect on the gay community because we were not, like, skulking around looking for bars in alleys. We were having a big legitimate experience.
Rebecca Elliott:
Living your life like a normal human. Marc, I love how this movie shows that intersection between Old Hollywood and the new guard in the 70s. I love that era where the two overlap. And I just love images of Bette Davis mingling with the younger crowd. Then there’s Cary Grant and on and on. And it’s just so incredible. Can you talk about including that element? Old Hollywood at the disco.
Marc Saltarelli:
I mean, for me, that’s the element that really sold it, that makes it special. Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t know of any other gay bar that had that. Certainly not in that era. As Chita said in the movie, Liza invited all of her friends from Gene Kelly and everybody from the era. Unfortunately, most of the young people don’t really know who they are anymore anyway, that’s another story.
But, yeah, the fact that they were going through the gay club at first, and they had to literally go through the dance floor. Mingling with gay culture for the very first time, being exposed to it. I just feel that was a groundbreaking event. And it’s what made Hollywood, perhaps in some ways, a little bit more understanding of gay people. Humanized them a bit more. That was the most important thing.
And finding Alan Eichler, who came with his stills of the night that Bette Davis appeared, introducing Geraldine Fitzgerald at The Backlot is sort of a coup for me. Because I get to say that I made a movie with Bette Davis.
Rebecca Elliott:
Yes, you do! Where there any stories that were so awesome but they just didn’t fit into the bigger scope of your film?
Marc Saltarelli:
Yeah, so many. The first cut was two and a half hours. And there are so many stories. I mean, think about it. 1,000 people every night for 20 years almost. There are a million stories. And hopefully, whether it becomes a docuseries or a narrative series, at some point those stories will be told. Some of them actually are completely produced. So hopefully when we get a distribution deal, we’ll be able to put those on the special features or at least release them on YouTube or something so they can be seen.
Bruce Vilanch:
Ryan Murphy, we’re talking to you.
Rebecca Elliott:
That’s right, Ryan. Listen up! Bruce, do you have any stories about, like, old Hollywood sightings at the back lot or at Studio One that didn’t make the cut that you would like to share? Or even friends of friends stories.
Bruce Vilanch:
I mean, I saw a lot of people there, but there are no real stories. Everybody appeared there. There were famous events. Bette Midler came to promote an album and Cher came to promote an album. They all did, like mini shows, but there’s nothing of that nature. Lots of obscene stories.
Rebecca Elliott:
Come on!
Bruce Vilanch:
Like that story, like from Valley of the Dolls where somebody flushed somebody’s wig down the toilet. But that didn’t happen. It was actually a wooden leg. And it’s another story altogether that didn’t happen at Studio One either.
Rebecca Elliott:
Darn! I was hoping to get the goods! Oh well. Marc, I loved how, even though it didn’t fit into your narrative of the film, you included Lance Bass at the end as, sort of, the new guard of gay clubs and owners. And I really appreciated that because it is it’s kind of like, here’s how all the ground work was laid so today you can just have a gay bar or club and no one cares. Tell me about working with Lance Bass and that epilogue to the story?
Marc Saltarelli:
Yeah. I mean, I always knew that the main audience would be people who lived through it and remembered it. But my hope is that this can reach the younger generation who are enjoying all of these rights and freedoms that they don’t realize how tenuous they are. Especially now, hanging by a thread. Basically to enlighten them.
Some of the younger people that I’ve talked to who saw the film, they just were blown away. And they said they had no idea what you guys went through. You seem so much more connected. Which I guess is because they’re on their phones all the time, they feel less connected. But one of our executive producers, Pauley Perrette, is a good friend of Lance, and I was thrilled. Lance is amazing. He respects gay history. And he celebrates it with his bar. What’s the name?
Bruce Vilanch:
Rocco’s.
Marc Saltarelli:
Yeah. Rocco’s [Weho] is in honor of Pat Rocco. Who we actually used many of his stills in the film. And Lance has a whole wall of LGBTQ history. And so he was excited and we filmed it in his club called Heart just before it opened. Then he continued to support us by showing up at our premiere at Outfest and donating Rocco’s for our after party event. So it was a thrill to meet him and to have him a part of it. And hopefully he will bring in some of the younger people. Plus, I hear NSYNC is back together again.
Rebecca Elliott:
Let’s hope. I was more of a New Kids on the Block girl, but I’d take an NSYNC reunion. Okay, one last question. I better wrap this up or I’m going to be in trouble. What was it like, Bruce, for you to watch the film and to step back into that world again? You said you didn’t remember a lot of it the first time anyway, so maybe it was all new for you. But how did that feel? Was it like a nostalgia bomb?
Bruce Vilanch:
Makes me feel ancient. I’ll get my walker and my Eliquis, and I’m leaving! That’s part of it, of course. But then at the same time, you say, oh, my God, what a rich life I’ve had. I was more amazed about the movie, about the reaction people have to the film. And the reaction I had watching the film was because of the serious parts. How the AIDS crisis hit. It was kind of like a lynchpin for the community. So when the AIDS hit, of course, it hit that place very hard.
And all of that is done pretty unflinchingly in the movie. I mean, there’s all the hedonism and the high stuff and all that. But at the same time it’s about a community being torn apart by a disease. It’s quite a roller coaster as you go through this movie. And for young people who have never really contemplated what it was like because they weren’t alive. Then to see what it was actually like and to see the human face of it is pretty profound. This is not what I was expecting from a documentary about a fun palace.
So it’s so much more than just that. And, like a lot of people say, like when they were in Gone With the Wind. “We had no idea it was going to be so huge.” Well, maybe they did with Gone with the Wind. But, I had no idea that it would have that effect on me when I saw what Marc was actually going for. I was just being funny and carrying on and relating things. But he had something else happening.
Rebecca Elliott:
Yes, he did. And, that wraps it up really nicely. Thank you guys so much for chatting with me. And have a great time at the Austin Film Festival.
Bruce Vilanch:
Thank you.
Marc Saltarelli:
Thanks so much for your time.
Studio One Forever screens at the Austin Film Festival on Friday, October 27 at 9:15pm at The Hideout Theatre. Stay tuned for the documentary’s release.
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