STUDIO 54'S LAVISH LIFE, DISHY DEATH

In media portrayals of the 1960s, partyers in that turbulent decade
justified their good times with a dose of politics.

Each toke was like a small token of peace, each snort a little protest
against the Vietnam War, each acid trip a strike for freedom, for
imagination, for the individual. The music had a social agenda, as it
subverted familiar song structures and openly preached about peace and
equality, and sex was more than sex - it was free love. But by the late
1970s, nobody bothered casting idealism over the dancing and drug-taking
and bed-hopping, content to simply lose themselves in the pure,
unadulterated hedonism of the moment.

Cocaine was the stimulant of choice, disco was the repetitive beat that
moved you, and sex was fast, frequent, and anonymous.

Just as Woodstock became the quintessential event of the 1960s and the
culmination of America's youth movement, the reign of New York's Studio 54
has become known as the defining phenomenon of the 1970s. Shortly after it
opened on April 26, 1977, Studio 54 was the place to be and be seen by the
nation, an orgy of pleasure, glamour, and fabulousness - all before AIDS
hit, of course, and before the saving grace of 12-step-program high
visibility.

Tomorrow night, two cable channels simultaneously tell the story of Studio
54 and its founders, Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager. The VH1 ''Behind the
Music'' series launches its second season with ''Studio 54,'' at 9 p.m.,
and ''The E! Hollywood True Story'' premieres its ''Studio 54: Sex, Drugs &
Disco'' at 8 p.m. Both of these documentary series are generally thorough,
entertaining looks at culture and celebrities, with VH1 leaning toward pop
fanaticism and E! taking the lower, juicier, more ''Hard Copy''-esque
route. And both of tomorrow night's episodes are worthwhile and insightful
and colorful, each with its own particular strengths.

The VH1 effort is notable for its barrage of clips from the Studio 54
heyday, before Rubell and Schrager were busted by the IRS and thrown into
jail. They're all there in dazzling costume under the mirror ball - Liza
Minnelli, Andy Warhol, Bianca and Mick Jagger, Grace Jones, Truman Capote,
even Michael Jackson, before he revised his visage.

In sometimes ragged footage, we see them entering the nightclub, clowning
around with Rubell, who was famously social, and dancing frenetically
beside the more ordinary but no less beautiful masses.

One of the hallmarks of Studio 54 was its velvet rope, behind which
hundreds of wannabes waited, hoping to gain entry to the club. Among its
many interviewees, VH1 wryly includes a trio of guys who never actually
made it in, but remained fixated on the exclusivity. It wasn't that the
doormen, or Rubell himself, wanted only the rich and the famous to be
included; it was that they wanted a joyously mixed-up crowd, one that was
not too gay, or too black, or too white, or too young, or too old, or too
famous, or too drag-queeny. A couple of doormen, particularly Al Corley and
Marc Benecke, talk at length about the door policy, which once even left
Cher out in the cold. Mostly, of course, the famous were ushered in
quickly, and sometimes they hid out in Rubell's rooms below the dance
floor, where they could get wasted without worrying about paparazzi.

Both the VH1 and the E! shows get first-hand accounts of Studio 54 from
countless bartenders, doormen, and busboys, along with some of the more
notable Studio visitors and media observers.

But since E! came up with fewer clips and more time, it wins in the
interview department, tracking down even the architect who designed the
club for Rubell and Schrager and sharing some of the history of the
building on West 54th Street. And E! pays more attention than VH1 to the
details of the illegalities that led up to the IRS raid and the dishy death
of Studio 54, which lasted into the mid-1980s under
different ownership.

E! offers two hours of talking heads, illustrated with stills, that offer
passionate description and history; VH1 goes for a more visceral and
concise portrayal.

Both are fascinating in themselves, but also serve as primers for ''54,''
the feature film on the disco that opens in August.

Checked-by: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)