Disco Demolition Night
Encyclopedia
Disco Demolition Night was a promotional event that took place on Thursday, July 12, 1979, at Comiskey Park
in Chicago, Illinois
, during which a crate filled with disco records was blown up on the field. It was held during the twi-night doubleheader baseball
game between the Chicago White Sox
and the Detroit Tigers
. During the climax of the event, rowdy fans surged onto the field, and a near riot ensued. It would ultimately prove to be one of the most notable promotional ideas and one of the most infamous since "Ten Cent Beer Night
" in Cleveland
in . The event has been characterized as the "emblematic moment" of the anti-disco
"crusade". The event has been described as "the night disco died" and "a mass exercise in racism and homophobia, reminiscent of Nazi book-burnings."
Steve Dahl
had been fired from local radio station
WDAI when its programming shifted from album-oriented rock
to an all-disco format. Dahl was subsequently hired by rival album-rock station WLUP, "The Loop". Sensing an incipient anti-disco backlash and playing off the publicity surrounding his firing, Dahl created a mock organization called "The Insane Coho Lips Anti-Disco Army" to oppose disco. Dahl and broadcast partner Garry Meier
regularly mocked and heaped scorn on disco records on the air. Dahl also recorded his own parody, Do You Think I'm Disco? (a satire of Rod Stewart
's "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?
").
Meanwhile, on May 2, the Detroit Tigers-Chicago White Sox game at Comiskey Park was rained out. American League rules called for the game to be made up at the teams' next meeting in Chicago. Thursday, July 12 was to have featured a single night game, to kick off a four-game weekend series, the last series before the All-Star Break
. The single game date was switched to a doubleheader
.
Dahl and Meier, in conjunction with Mike Veeck (son of then-White Sox owner Bill Veeck
), Dave Logan, WLUP Promotion Director, and Jeff Schwartz, WLUP Sales Manager, devised a promotion that involved people bringing unwanted disco music records
to the game in exchange for an admission fee of 98¢ (the fee representing the station's location on the FM dial, 97.9). The records would be collected, placed in a large crate in center field, and blown up by Dahl.
were closed when the stadium was filled to capacity and beyond.
White Sox TV announcers Harry Caray
and Jimmy Piersall
, who were broadcasting the game for WSNS-TV, commented freely on the "strange people" wandering aimlessly in the stands. Mike Veeck recalled that the pregame air was heavy with the scent of marijuana
. When the crate on the field was filled with records, staff stopped collecting them from spectators, who soon realized that long-playing (LP) records were shaped like frisbee
s. Some began to throw their records from the stands during the game, often striking other fans. The fans also threw beer and even firecrackers from the stands.
After the first game (which Detroit won 4-1), Dahl, dressed in army fatigues and helmet, along with Lorelei Shark, WLUP's first "Rock Girl", and bodyguards, emerged and proceeded to center field. The large box containing the collected records was rigged with explosives. Dahl led the crowd in chants of "disco sucks" and a countdown prior to triggering the explosives. When detonated, the explosives tore a hole in the outfield grass surface and a small fire began burning. Dahl, Shark, and the bodyguards hopped into a jeep which circled the warning track
before leaving the field through the right-centerfield exit and the televised broadcast cut to a commercial break. While the players were warming up, thousands of fans immediately rushed the field as soon as the broadcast came back on the air. Some lit more fires and started small-scale riots. The batting cage was pulled down and wrecked, and the bases were stolen, along with chunks of the field itself. The crowd, once on the field, mostly wandered around aimlessly, though a number of participants burned banners, sat on the grass or ran from security and police. In the announcers booth, Piersall, who was in the midst of doing a pregame interview with local sports columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times Bill Gleason, was commenting on the event and ranted against the rioters and Steve Dahl; Gleason, however, remained cool and described the rioters as "happy kids showing off."
Veeck and Caray used the public address system to implore the fans to leave the field immediately, but to no avail. The scoreboard simply flashed, "PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR SEATS." After a short while, most of the fans left the field. Eventually, the field was cleared by the Chicago Police in riot gear. Six people reported minor injuries and thirty-nine were arrested for disorderly conduct
. The field was so badly torn up that the umpires decided the second game couldn't be played, though Tigers manager Sparky Anderson
let it be known that his players would not take the field in any case due to safety concerns. The next day, American League president Lee MacPhail
forfeited
the second game to the Tigers, on the grounds that the White Sox had failed to provide acceptable playing conditions. The remaining games in the series were played, but for the rest of the season fielders and managers complained about the poor condition of the field.
For White Sox outfielder Rusty Torres
, Disco Demolition Night was actually the third time in his career he had personally seen a forfeit-inducing riot. He had played for the New York Yankees
at the last Senators
game in Washington in 1971 and the Cleveland Indians
at the infamous Ten Cent Beer Night
in Cleveland in 1974. The event was deemed newsworthy worldwide.
According to the 1986 book Rock of Ages: The Rolling Stone
history of Rock and Roll, "the following year disco had peaked as a commercial blockbuster". Steve Dahl said in a 2004 interview with Keith Olbermann
that disco was a fad "probably on its way out. But I think it hastened its demise".
Nile Rodgers
, producer and guitarist for the popular disco-era group Chic
said "It felt to us like Nazi book-burning. This is America, the home of jazz and rock and people were now afraid even to say the word 'disco'."
According to the book A Change Is Gonna Come, "The Anti-disco movement represented an unholy alliance of funkateers and feminists, progressives and puritans, rockers and reactionaries. The attacks on disco gave respectable voice to the ugliest kinds of unacknowledged racism, sexism and homophobia." Dahl, however, rejects the notion that this was his motivation. "The worst thing is people calling Disco Demolition homophobic or racist. It just wasn't...We weren't thinking like that."
ed from Major League Baseball
for a long time after his father retired. As Mike related, "The second that first guy shimmied down the outfield wall, I knew my life was over!"
To this day, the second game of this doubleheader
is still the last game forfeited
in the American League
. The last game to end in this manner in the National League
was on August 10, 1995, when a baseball giveaway promotion went awry and resulted in the Los Angeles Dodgers
forfeiture.
Much later, on July 12, 2001, Mike Veeck apologized to Harry Wayne Casey
, the lead singer for KC and the Sunshine Band
, a leading disco act.
, a Chicago native and 21 at the time, attended the event. He was among the first 100 people to run onto the field and he slid into third base. He also had a silver belt buckle stolen during the ensuing riot and stole a bat from the dugout.
Comiskey Park
Comiskey Park was the ballpark in which the Chicago White Sox played from 1910 to 1990. It was built by Charles Comiskey after a design by Zachary Taylor Davis, and was the site of four World Series and more than 6,000 major league games...
in Chicago, Illinois
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, during which a crate filled with disco records was blown up on the field. It was held during the twi-night doubleheader baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
game between the Chicago White Sox
1979 Chicago White Sox season
The 1979 Chicago White Sox season was the team's 80th season overall, and their 79th in Major League Baseball. They finished with a record 73-87, good enough for fifth place in the American League West, 15 games behind the first-place California Angels....
and the Detroit Tigers
1979 Detroit Tigers season
The 1979 Detroit Tigers finished in fifth place in the American League East with a record of 85-76, 18 games behind the Orioles. They outscored their opponents 770 to 738. The Tigers drew 1,630,929 fans to Tiger Stadium in 1979, ranking 7th of the 14 teams in the American League. The season is...
. During the climax of the event, rowdy fans surged onto the field, and a near riot ensued. It would ultimately prove to be one of the most notable promotional ideas and one of the most infamous since "Ten Cent Beer Night
Ten Cent Beer Night
Ten Cent Beer Night was a promotion held by Major League Baseball's Cleveland Indians during a game against the Texas Rangers at Cleveland Municipal Stadium on June 4, 1974....
" in Cleveland
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
in . The event has been characterized as the "emblematic moment" of the anti-disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
"crusade". The event has been described as "the night disco died" and "a mass exercise in racism and homophobia, reminiscent of Nazi book-burnings."
Prelude
Popular Chicago disc jockeyDisc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
Steve Dahl
Steve Dahl
Steven Robert Dahl has been an American radio personality and humorist for more than thirty years. He is currently podcasting, and releases the podcasts for download daily from his own website as well as the iTunes store...
had been fired from local radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
WDAI when its programming shifted from album-oriented rock
Album-oriented rock
Album-oriented rock is an American FM radio format focusing on album tracks by rock artists.-Music played:Most radio formats are based on a select, tight rotation of hit singles...
to an all-disco format. Dahl was subsequently hired by rival album-rock station WLUP, "The Loop". Sensing an incipient anti-disco backlash and playing off the publicity surrounding his firing, Dahl created a mock organization called "The Insane Coho Lips Anti-Disco Army" to oppose disco. Dahl and broadcast partner Garry Meier
Garry Meier
Garry Meier is a Chicago-based radio personality and is currently the afternoon host on WGN-AM 720 in Chicago, heard weekdays 3-7 PM CT.- Beginnings :...
regularly mocked and heaped scorn on disco records on the air. Dahl also recorded his own parody, Do You Think I'm Disco? (a satire of Rod Stewart
Rod Stewart
Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English ancestry....
's "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?
Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?
"Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" is a 1978 hit song for Rod Stewart. It was written by Stewart and Carmine Appice, and produced by Tom Dowd."Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" spent one week at the top of the British charts in December 1978 and four weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, starting 10 February 1979...
").
Meanwhile, on May 2, the Detroit Tigers-Chicago White Sox game at Comiskey Park was rained out. American League rules called for the game to be made up at the teams' next meeting in Chicago. Thursday, July 12 was to have featured a single night game, to kick off a four-game weekend series, the last series before the All-Star Break
1979 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
The 1979 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 50th playing of the midsummer classic between the all-stars of the American League and National League , the two leagues comprising Major League Baseball. The game was held on July 17, 1979, at The Kingdome in Seattle, Washington the home of the...
. The single game date was switched to a doubleheader
Doubleheader (baseball)
A doubleheader is a set of two baseball games played between the same two teams on the same day in front of the same crowd. In addition, the term is often used unofficially to refer to a pair of games played by a team in a single day, but in front of different crowds and not in immediate...
.
Dahl and Meier, in conjunction with Mike Veeck (son of then-White Sox owner Bill Veeck
Bill Veeck
William Louis Veeck, Jr. , also known as "Sport Shirt Bill", was a native of Chicago, Illinois, and a franchise owner and promoter in Major League Baseball. He was best known for his publicity stunts to raise attendance. Veeck was at various times the owner of the Cleveland Indians, St. Louis...
), Dave Logan, WLUP Promotion Director, and Jeff Schwartz, WLUP Sales Manager, devised a promotion that involved people bringing unwanted disco music records
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
to the game in exchange for an admission fee of 98¢ (the fee representing the station's location on the FM dial, 97.9). The records would be collected, placed in a large crate in center field, and blown up by Dahl.
Event
The turnout for this promotion far exceeded all expectations. White Sox management was hoping for a crowd of 12,000, about double the average for a Thursday night game that year. But an estimated 90,000 turned up at the 52,000-seat stadium. Thousands of people climbed walls and fences attempting to enter Comiskey Park, while others were denied admission. Off-ramps to the stadium from the Dan Ryan ExpresswayDan Ryan Expressway
The Dan Ryan is an expressway in the city of Chicago that runs from the Circle Interchange with I-290 near downtown Chicago through the South Side of the city. It is designated as both Interstate 94 and Interstate 90 south to 66th Street, a distance of...
were closed when the stadium was filled to capacity and beyond.
White Sox TV announcers Harry Caray
Harry Caray
Harry Caray, born Harry Christopher Carabina, was an American baseball broadcaster on radio and television. He covered four Major League Baseball teams, beginning with a long tenure calling the games of the St...
and Jimmy Piersall
Jimmy Piersall
James Anthony Piersall is a former center fielder in Major League Baseball. Between 1950 and 1967, he played for the Boston Red Sox , Cleveland Indians , Washington Senators , New York Mets , and Los Angeles/California Angels .While he had a fairly good professional career as a center...
, who were broadcasting the game for WSNS-TV, commented freely on the "strange people" wandering aimlessly in the stands. Mike Veeck recalled that the pregame air was heavy with the scent of marijuana
Cannabis (drug)
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among many other names, refers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or for medicinal purposes. The English term marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish word marihuana...
. When the crate on the field was filled with records, staff stopped collecting them from spectators, who soon realized that long-playing (LP) records were shaped like frisbee
Frisbee
A flying disc is a disc-shaped glider that is generally plastic and roughly in diameter, with a lip. The shape of the disc, an airfoil in cross-section, allows it to fly by generating lift as it moves through the air while rotating....
s. Some began to throw their records from the stands during the game, often striking other fans. The fans also threw beer and even firecrackers from the stands.
After the first game (which Detroit won 4-1), Dahl, dressed in army fatigues and helmet, along with Lorelei Shark, WLUP's first "Rock Girl", and bodyguards, emerged and proceeded to center field. The large box containing the collected records was rigged with explosives. Dahl led the crowd in chants of "disco sucks" and a countdown prior to triggering the explosives. When detonated, the explosives tore a hole in the outfield grass surface and a small fire began burning. Dahl, Shark, and the bodyguards hopped into a jeep which circled the warning track
Warning track
A warning track is the term for the part of the baseball field that is closest to the wall or fence and is typically made of dirt, instead of grass or artificial turf like most of the field. It runs parallel to the ballpark's wall and looks like a running track...
before leaving the field through the right-centerfield exit and the televised broadcast cut to a commercial break. While the players were warming up, thousands of fans immediately rushed the field as soon as the broadcast came back on the air. Some lit more fires and started small-scale riots. The batting cage was pulled down and wrecked, and the bases were stolen, along with chunks of the field itself. The crowd, once on the field, mostly wandered around aimlessly, though a number of participants burned banners, sat on the grass or ran from security and police. In the announcers booth, Piersall, who was in the midst of doing a pregame interview with local sports columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times Bill Gleason, was commenting on the event and ranted against the rioters and Steve Dahl; Gleason, however, remained cool and described the rioters as "happy kids showing off."
Veeck and Caray used the public address system to implore the fans to leave the field immediately, but to no avail. The scoreboard simply flashed, "PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR SEATS." After a short while, most of the fans left the field. Eventually, the field was cleared by the Chicago Police in riot gear. Six people reported minor injuries and thirty-nine were arrested for disorderly conduct
Disorderly conduct
Disorderly conduct is a criminal charge in most jurisdictions in the United States. Typically, disorderly conduct makes it a crime to be drunk in public, to "disturb the peace", or to loiter in certain areas. Many types of unruly conduct may fit the definition of disorderly conduct, as such...
. The field was so badly torn up that the umpires decided the second game couldn't be played, though Tigers manager Sparky Anderson
Sparky Anderson
George Lee "Sparky" Anderson was an American Major League Baseball manager. He managed the National League's Cincinnati Reds to the 1975 and 1976 championships, then added a third title in 1984 with the Detroit Tigers of the American League. He was the first manager to win the World Series in both...
let it be known that his players would not take the field in any case due to safety concerns. The next day, American League president Lee MacPhail
Lee MacPhail
Leland Stanford MacPhail, Jr. is an American retired front-office executive in Major League Baseball...
forfeited
Forfeit (baseball)
In rare cases, baseball games are forfeited, usually in the event when a team is no longer able to play. In the event of forfeiture, the score is recorded as "9 to 0", as per rule 2.00 of the Major League Baseball Rules Book...
the second game to the Tigers, on the grounds that the White Sox had failed to provide acceptable playing conditions. The remaining games in the series were played, but for the rest of the season fielders and managers complained about the poor condition of the field.
For White Sox outfielder Rusty Torres
Rusty Torres
Rosando "Rusty" Torres Hernández is a former professional baseball outfielder. He played all or part of nine season in Major League Baseball for five different teams...
, Disco Demolition Night was actually the third time in his career he had personally seen a forfeit-inducing riot. He had played for the New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
at the last Senators
Texas Rangers (baseball)
The Texas Rangers are a professional baseball team in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, based in Arlington, Texas. The Rangers are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League, and are the reigning A.L. Western Division and A.L. Champions. Since , the Rangers have...
game in Washington in 1971 and the Cleveland Indians
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , they have played in Progressive Field. The team's spring training facility is in Goodyear, Arizona...
at the infamous Ten Cent Beer Night
Ten Cent Beer Night
Ten Cent Beer Night was a promotion held by Major League Baseball's Cleveland Indians during a game against the Texas Rangers at Cleveland Municipal Stadium on June 4, 1974....
in Cleveland in 1974. The event was deemed newsworthy worldwide.
According to the 1986 book Rock of Ages: The Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
history of Rock and Roll, "the following year disco had peaked as a commercial blockbuster". Steve Dahl said in a 2004 interview with Keith Olbermann
Keith Olbermann
Keith Theodore Olbermann is an American political commentator and writer. He has been the chief news officer of the Current TV network and the host of Current TV's weeknight political commentary program, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, since June 20, 2011...
that disco was a fad "probably on its way out. But I think it hastened its demise".
Nile Rodgers
Nile Rodgers
Nile Gregory Rodgers is an American musician, producer, composer, arranger, and guitarist.-Biography:...
, producer and guitarist for the popular disco-era group Chic
Chic (band)
Chic was an African American disco and R&B band that was organized during 1976 by guitarist Nile Rodgers and bassist Bernard Edwards. It is known best for its commercially successful disco songs, including "Dance, Dance, Dance " , "Everybody Dance" , "Le Freak" , "I Want Your Love" , "Good Times"...
said "It felt to us like Nazi book-burning. This is America, the home of jazz and rock and people were now afraid even to say the word 'disco'."
According to the book A Change Is Gonna Come, "The Anti-disco movement represented an unholy alliance of funkateers and feminists, progressives and puritans, rockers and reactionaries. The attacks on disco gave respectable voice to the ugliest kinds of unacknowledged racism, sexism and homophobia." Dahl, however, rejects the notion that this was his motivation. "The worst thing is people calling Disco Demolition homophobic or racist. It just wasn't...We weren't thinking like that."
Aftermath
Although Bill Veeck took much of the public heat for the fiasco, it was known among baseball people that his son Mike was the actual front-office "brains" behind it. As a result, Mike was blacklistBlacklist
A blacklist is a list or register of entities who, for one reason or another, are being denied a particular privilege, service, mobility, access or recognition. As a verb, to blacklist can mean to deny someone work in a particular field, or to ostracize a person from a certain social circle...
ed from Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
for a long time after his father retired. As Mike related, "The second that first guy shimmied down the outfield wall, I knew my life was over!"
To this day, the second game of this doubleheader
Doubleheader (baseball)
A doubleheader is a set of two baseball games played between the same two teams on the same day in front of the same crowd. In addition, the term is often used unofficially to refer to a pair of games played by a team in a single day, but in front of different crowds and not in immediate...
is still the last game forfeited
Forfeit (baseball)
In rare cases, baseball games are forfeited, usually in the event when a team is no longer able to play. In the event of forfeiture, the score is recorded as "9 to 0", as per rule 2.00 of the Major League Baseball Rules Book...
in the American League
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
. The last game to end in this manner in the National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
was on August 10, 1995, when a baseball giveaway promotion went awry and resulted in the Los Angeles Dodgers
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
forfeiture.
Much later, on July 12, 2001, Mike Veeck apologized to Harry Wayne Casey
Harry Wayne Casey
Harry Wayne "K.C." Casey is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and producer. He is most famous for his group, KC and the Sunshine Band, and as a producer of several hits for other artists.-Early years:...
, the lead singer for KC and the Sunshine Band
KC and the Sunshine Band
KC and the Sunshine Band is an American musical group. Founded in 1973 in Miami, Florida, their style has included funk, R&B, and disco. Their most well known songs include the disco hits "That's the Way ", " Shake Your Booty", "I'm Your Boogie Man", "Keep It Comin' Love", "Get Down Tonight", "Give...
, a leading disco act.
Notable participants
Actor Michael Clarke DuncanMichael Clarke Duncan
Michael Clarke Duncan is an American actor, best known for his breakout role as John Coffey in The Green Mile, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe.- Early life :...
, a Chicago native and 21 at the time, attended the event. He was among the first 100 people to run onto the field and he slid into third base. He also had a silver belt buckle stolen during the ensuing riot and stole a bat from the dugout.
See also
- Forfeit (baseball)Forfeit (baseball)In rare cases, baseball games are forfeited, usually in the event when a team is no longer able to play. In the event of forfeiture, the score is recorded as "9 to 0", as per rule 2.00 of the Major League Baseball Rules Book...
for a list of similar events - Ten Cent Beer NightTen Cent Beer NightTen Cent Beer Night was a promotion held by Major League Baseball's Cleveland Indians during a game against the Texas Rangers at Cleveland Municipal Stadium on June 4, 1974....
- Bounty Bowl IIBounty BowlThe Bounty Bowl was the name given to two notorious NFL games held in 1989 between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys. The first, the 1989 Thanksgiving Classic game in Dallas was most noted for allegations that the Philadelphia Eagles put a $200 bounty on Dallas Cowboys kicker Luis...
- The Last Days of DiscoThe Last Days of DiscoThe Last Days of Disco is a 1998 sardonic comedy-drama film written and directed by Whit Stillman and loosely based on his travels and experiences in various nightclubs in Manhattan, including Studio 54. The film concerns a group of Ivy League and Hampshire graduates falling in and out of love in...
, a Whit StillmanWhit StillmanWhit Stillman is an American writer-director known for his sly depictions of the "urban haute bourgeoisie" Whit Stillman (born John Whitney Stillman on January 25, 1952) is an American writer-director known for his sly depictions of the "urban haute bourgeoisie" Whit Stillman (born John Whitney...
movie, about the era, showing scenes of the event.