In the 1940s and ’50s, the biggest stars of Golden Age Hollywood rang in the new year at the famed Romanoff’s restaurant in Beverly Hills or producer Sam Spiegel’s annual A-list affairs — but by the 1970s, Manhattan’s notorious Studio 54 was the place for celebrities to be on New Year’s Eve.
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Each Dec. 31 , people across the Earth gather to welcome the new year , and celebrities are no exception . Over the decades , some of the world ’s biggest stars have been spotted at New Year ’s Eve political party from Los Angeles to Manhattan and beyond .
Many of these gatherings were formal affairs , while others learn spot at notoriously rowdy venues . However , even the more intimate parties could turn unruly when alcohol was involved — as it often is on New Year ’s Eve .
American writer Fleur Cowles speaking with guests at a New Year’s Eve party in 1952.
While the drinking face of New Year jubilation has n’t changed throughout the years , many other things have . During Hollywood ’s Golden Age , mavin like Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland attended movie manufacturer Sam Spiegel ’s annual parties to rub elbow with other icons . By the 1970s , New York City was the blank space for celebrities to be when the clod dropped , though they were n’t typically find in Times Square .
Above , front through 27 time of origin photos of renown partying on New Year ’s Eve . And below , read about some of the more memorable fêtes — and why they went down in account .
A Brief History Of New Year Festivities
Although man has not always used the same calendar , most societies throughout history have kept rails of the boost and fall of the Sun . It was generally accepted that the Earth operated on some form of cycle , and with that came annual festivals likeYuleandSamhain . Celebrating the end of a calendar yr and the showtime of a Modern one , however , foredate even these ancient traditions .
The earliest know New Year festivities date back around 4,000 year to Mesopotamia . The Babylonians celebrated a 12 - daytime festival called Akitu at the spring equinox , which coincided with the start of their agricultural year , to tag the Renaissance of nature .
Anthony Quintano / Wikimedia CommonsTimes Square during the 2013 New Year ’s Eve celebration .
Around 46 B.C.E. , Julius Caesar shifted New Year ’s Day from spring to Jan. 1 , creating the basis for what we now recognise as the modern calendar . This was partly to honour Janus , the Roman immortal of beginnings and transitions , who had two faces : one look to the past and one to the hereafter . Roman festivity include sacrifices , gift - giving , banqueting , and decorating plate with bay wreath branches as symbols of rehabilitation and prosperity .
This raw date for New Year ’s Day propagate with the Roman Empire , charm calendar across Europe and much of the Mediterranean , and we still lionize the vacation on Jan. 1 to this daytime . That nominate Dec. 31 New Year ’s Eve , and the nighttime has become know for drinking , revelry , and staying up until midnight to echo in the new year . Of course , celebrity have historically welcomed the descend year a little other than than the mediocre soul .
New Year’s Eve Celebrations During The Golden Age Of Hollywood
In the forties and ' L , Romanoff ’s in Beverly Hills was the place for Hollywood ’s self-aggrandising mavin to be construe . Fans would often gather outside the restaurant to find out famous person enter , and the iconic pic ofSophia Lorencasting a sideways coup d’oeil at Jayne Mansfield was taken there in 1957 .
That same twelvemonth , actors Clark Gable , Van Heflin , Gary Cooper , and Jimmy Stewart gather at Romanoff ’s Crown Room to celebrate New Year ’s Eve . These " Kings of Hollywood " were captured sipping cocktails and swapping jokes at the ginmill while dressed to the nines .
Other celebrities flocked to producer Sam Spiegel ’s annual New Year ’s Eve party . Stars like Judy Garland , Charlie Chaplin , Frank Sinatra , Lucille Ball , and Zsa Zsa Gabor serve his gatherings throughout the years , making them one of the most popular events each holiday time of year .
The Judy Garland Experience / FacebookA unseasoned Marilyn Monroe at Sam Spiegel ’s New Year ’s Eve party in 1948 .
grant to a 2003 article inVanity Fair , director Lewis Milestone once said , " Sam was always scared that he would only be remember for his New Year ’s Eve party . " And they were certainly memorable affairs . One year , Humphrey Bogart was reportedly dancing with Lauren Bacall when a Navy sailor grabbed her bottom . Bogart then grabbed the military man and two of his friends and lock up them in a bathroom until he reported them to their bidding .
Marilyn Monroe attend at least one of Spiegel ’s New Year ’s Eve political party , but in 1955 , she spent her holiday a different way : wee-wee a list of resolutions . The to - DO included professional objective like " go to division " and " never lose actor ’s studio academic term , " but she also noted her personal end , such as " keep looking around me — note … not only myself but others and everything " and " work on current problems and phobias that out of my yesteryear has move up . " Monroe even wanted to " if possible — take at least one university year — in literature . "
As Hollywood ’s Golden Age came to an end in the sixties , however , the character of New Year ’s Eve parties attend by celebrities pop to change .
Celebrity New Year Parties In 1970s New York
In 1972 , Dick Clark began hisNew Year ’s Rockin ' Evespecial populate from Times Square . Clark desire to supercede the annual events host by Guy Lombardo that featured big band music and " people dancing cheek - to - mandible in their dinner jacket and funny hats " to invoke to a younger crowd . Even after Clark ’s death in 2012 , the show has remained America ’s most popular New Year ’s Eve broadcast .
While many celebrities performed and celebrated alongside Dick Clark , however , the existent company in seventies Manhattan take position at Studio 54 , the ill-famed nightspot that was known for rampant drug function and intimate debauchery . Only guests with a " Brobdingnagian personality that brought something to the political party " were let to enter the locus on New Year ’s Eve , and star like Andy Warhol , Liza Minnelli , and Diana Ross made the track .
STANLEY BARKER / Tod Papageorge Studio 54The aftermath of one of Studio 54 ’s raucous New Year ’s Eve company .
On New Year ’s Eve 1977 , effect planner Robert Isabell had four ton of glitter dumped from the ceiling of Studio 54 onto partygoer below . Per Isabell ’s 2009 necrology inThe New York Times , the cabaret ’s carbon monoxide gas - owner Ian Schrager recalled of the Nox , " You felt like you were stomach on stardust . the great unwashed got the glitter in their hair , in their socks . You would see it in hoi polloi ’s homes six month later , and you knew they ’d been at Studio 54 on New Year ’s . "
While Sam Spiegel ’s Los Angeles home and Manhattan ’s Studio 54 may have hosted some of story ’s most memorable New Year ’s Eve parties , they were n’t the only position where vintage celebrities welcome the fresh year , as you ’ll see in the gallery above . And while much has change over the retiring hundred , one thing has remained the same for everyone , Hollywood star or not : The raw year is a time for new beginnings , to move on from our pasts and set our raft on lustrous futurity .
After seeing these vintage photos of celebrities party on New Year ’s Eve , check up on out our gallery of photograph from thegolden age of Las Vegas . Then , look through 55vintage Disneyland photos .
Anthony Quintano/Wikimedia CommonsTimes Square during the 2013 New Year’s Eve celebrations.
The Judy Garland Experience/FacebookA young Marilyn Monroe at Sam Spiegel’s New Year’s Eve party in 1948.
STANLEY BARKER/Tod Papageorge Studio 54The aftermath of one of Studio 54’s raucous New Year’s Eve parties.
