In 1979, a former caretaker who had moved from Bombay to Los Angeles in pursuit of the American dream turned the unlikely founding father of a male stripping empire.
The Chippendales have been born. But whereas the exhibits have been risqué – oiled-up males gyrating on stage for an viewers of girls clamouring to tuck greenback payments into G-strings, the primary time male striptease had actually been introduced into the mainstream – because the dance troupe turned a cultural phenomenon within the Nineteen Eighties, the true story of what was occurring behind the scenes turned out to be much more eye-opening.
Founder Somen “Steve” Banerjee’s story of willpower and entrepreneurship was a story of bitter rivalry and greed, culminating in arson, employed hitmen, and homicide. “Anybody or anything that got in Banerjee’s way, he would hire somebody to kill or burn the competitor,” is how an LA FBI agent put it, quoted in an indictment when prices have been filed within the Nineteen Nineties.
The story is now being dramatised in Welcome To Chippendales, created by Robert Siegel (The Wrestler, Pam & Tommy) and starring Kumail Nanjiani alongside Juliette Lewis, Murray Bartlett, Zack Palmisano, Colin Seifert and Annaleigh Ashford.
“It’s just an incredible true crime story,” Siegel tells Sky News. “Crime blended with intercourse and medicines and male stripping. It’s a loopy, enjoyable world. But then there’s lots of actual substance. It was a possibility to discover all these massive problems with racism and capitalism and what it means to be an outsider, and the American dream, immigration…
“And the protagonist… just to have this Indian immigrant, conservative, very buttoned up, nerdy guy, dropped in the middle of this wild world of Los Angeles and cocaine and stripping.
“He adopted the traditional immigrant journey of: go to America, work onerous, apply your entrepreneurial expertise and construct a enterprise and make one thing of your self. He was doing precisely what is considered the traditional immigrant success story, however he was making use of it to this factor that was so blasphemous and so surprising.”
Banerjee moved to the US within the Nineteen Sixties, working a petroleum station earlier than shopping for the Destiny II membership in 1975. Full of concepts to make his bar stand out, the venue reportedly hosted feminine mud wrestling and unique dancing earlier than the thought of male striptease – “for ladies only” – was born.
The Chippendales turned a phenomenon, the dancers immediately recognized for his or her uniform of bow-tie, collar and cuffs – a reversal of the long-lasting Playboy trademark given the go-ahead following a take care of Hugh Hefner.
‘Disneyland for ladies’
Pic: Disney+
“The club began drawing overflow crowds of women, who for a $20 admission could ogle and kiss sweaty, tanned, well-muscled young men in G-strings,” in keeping with a Los Angeles Times archive report.
By 1981, the Chippendales had their very own “man of the month” calendar. In an interview with the LA Times, Banerjee described the expertise as “Disneyland for women”. More golf equipment opened in New York, Dallas and Denver.
But the success of the Chippendales led to imitations. As reported within the LA Times, “Banerjee’s concern about those competitors led to three arson attempts”, in keeping with a authorities sentencing memorandum; two makes an attempt led to minor harm at two competitor bars, whereas plans for a 3rd have been deserted.
Trouble was additionally brewing between Banerjee and TV director and choreographer Nick De Noia, who helped rework the present into the large stage manufacturing it turned. In 1983, De Noia wrote on a serviette that he had the correct to take the Chippendales on the highway and personal the present in perpetuity; Banerjee reportedly signed it, not understanding the complete nature of what that meant.
Amid all this got here monetary bother, with a racial discrimination lawsuit filed in 1983, and an error in the course of the 1987 calendar print run resulting in February having 31 days – costing the corporate about $300,000 (about £247,000 right this moment).
Murder-for-hire, solicitation to commit homicide, and arson prices
Pic: Disney+
In 1987, De Noia was shot within the face whereas sitting at his workplace desk in Manhattan, New York. It was a number of years earlier than Banerjee was formally implicated for his involvement – however by the point he was charged with homicide for rent in 1993, he was additionally charged with plotting to kill two Chippendales dancers and a producer who had reportedly defected to rival teams.
Candace Mayeron, who labored on the present and the touring manufacturing with De Noia after he parted methods with Banerjee, says there was not a “scintilla of doubt” in her thoughts as to who was behind the homicide.
“Steve and Nick had come to loggerheads,” she informed Elle journal in 2021. “Nick was a silver-tongued New Yorker, who was constantly going on TV to talk about Chippendales. He started being referred to as ‘Mr Chippendales’. I think that helped fuel the anger that Steve had toward Nick. Their verbal fights became vicious. I was with Nick for such a long time, and I never knew him to have other enemies. It wasn’t that hard to connect the dots.”
Banerjee’s prices got here beneath the US federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) via a sample of racketeering exercise that included homicide for rent, solicitation to commit homicide and arson, in keeping with official stories.
In the hours earlier than his sentencing in 1994, Banerjee was discovered useless in his jail cell, having taken his personal life.
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Siegel researched the case from information stories and courtroom paperwork from the time, in addition to books and podcasts trying again at what occurred.
“There are very few interviews with Steve,” he says. “I mean, almost none. So we kind of had to piece what little we had [about his life] together… there’s court documents and articles about the crimes, the arsons… the club’s financial troubles.
“There have been articles in regards to the racial discrimination lawsuit, the place the membership was discriminating in opposition to black patrons. Steve equated whiteness with class and he did not need black individuals within the membership.”
Siegel says he was most shocked finding out about what happened with the 1987 calendar, and how it became the catalyst for Banerjee’s downfall.
“It’s this whole debacle that, that type of causes the monetary damage of the corporate and causes [Banerjee] to type of lose his s***. It’s kind of the ultimate nail within the coffin for him. Later I discovered he got here from a printing household.
“That’s such a gift from the writing gods… he left India, turned his back on the family business and he came to America. And ultimately, the thing that was his undoing was a printing error.”
Welcome To Chippendales, starring Kumail Nanjiani, premieres within the UK on 11 January on Disney+
Source: information.sky.com”
