The white three-piece suit worn by Travolta’s character, Tony Manero, in the disco film classic is a cultural costume and a hit at Julien’s Auctions.
The disco era won’t die, it just keeps “Stayin’ Alive.”
Look no further than the classic three-piece white suit worn by John Travolta in his Academy Award-nominated role in the 1977 disco blockbuster Saturday Night Fever which sold for $260,000 at Julien’s Auction April 23.
Travolta wore the suit when his character, Tony Manero, teamed up with Stephanie Mangano to dance to the Bee Gees’ “More Than a Woman” for a disco dance competition. The suit is also shown in most publicity shots for the film, including movie posters.
Courtesy Heritage Auctions
Saturday Night Fever, a low-budget movie about Italian guys in some of Brooklyn’s sketchier neighborhoods, wasn’t just a movie about disco: it was THE movie about disco. The white suit Travolta wears for the film’s climactic dance contest instantly became iconic, as did many of the movie’s shots and set pieces. Its soundtrack was an even bigger smash—the best-selling motion picture soundtrack in history, at over 40 million units.
In 2010, the Library of Congress deemed Saturday Night Fever as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” and the film was preserved and archived in the U.S. National Film Registry.
Courtesy Julien’s Auctions
The film rocketed Travolta to superstardom and was based on a New York magazine article by Nik Kohn called “Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night,” about the role disco played in the lives and dreams of working-class Italian kids. In the end, the movie, which was was shot entirely on-location in Brooklyn, is forever associated with Travolta swaggering down the street to the insistent throb of The Bee Gees’ “Staying Alive.”
The movie’s 2001 Odyssey Disco was a real club located at 802 64th Street. While the disco has since been demolished, disco fever in the form Travolta’s three-piece suit dances on.
You May Also Like:
Holy Moses! ‘Ten Commandments’ Robe Sells for $447,000
‘Wizard of Oz’ Hourglass Sells for Nearly $500,000
Marilyn Monroe Signed Love Photo to Joe DiMaggio Sells for $300,000
English
العربية
Nederlands
Français
Deutsch
Italiano
日本語
한국어
Русский
Español
Svenska
Türkçe
اردو
Tiếng Việt