Chippendales - History

History

Chippendales was founded in 1979 by Somen Banerjee, Paul Snider, and attorney Bruce Nahin. After operating a Mobil gas station and a failed backgammon club, Banerjee bought a failed west Los Angeles disco named Destiny II and turned it into a nightclub featuring female mud wrestling and a "Female Exotic Dancing Night." Destiny II was located at 3739 Overland Avenue at McCune Avenue in Palms.

The concept of the male strip show was brought to Nahin and Banerjee by Snider (who subsequently became infamous for killing his estranged wife, Playboy Playmate Dorothy Stratten and then himself). Broadening the operation, Banerjee soon created Chippendales, which immediately gained a huge female following. Together with Nahin and new partner/choreographer Nicolas de Noia (Snider had died in 1980), Chippendales was expanded to New York's Club Magique, London, Hamburg, Philadelphia, and Florida. Choreographer de Noia was originally in charge of the stage show, and after awhile he and associate producer Candace Mayeron took the Los Angeles and New York Chippendales on the road and played throughout the East Coast. Authorized shows also toured extensively in the U.S. (by de Noia), Asia, and Europe (through Banerjee).

For Chippendales, the early 1980s were filled with major lawsuits pertaining to personal injury, alleged sexual bias against male guests, and charges of racial discrimination. Eventually, de Noia and Banerjee had a falling-out, and Banerjee brought in choreographer/director Steve Merritt, who, with his partner Mark Donnelly, had stage shows playing in Las Vegas and London. Merritt and Donnelly had the idea of putting the male strippers into a kind of mini-Broadway show, with dancers, music, and themes. To find strippers, they recruited the most attractive men they could find from Venice Beach, Manhattan Beach, and Santa Monica Beach. Merritt taught the men how to perform. He and Donnelly felt that women would respond to male strippers if they were presented in a "safe" (female-only) environment that was about fun and fantasy fulfillment.

Merritt became the choreographer of the Los Angeles show, and ultimately took charge of New York also. This resulted in two separate shows being performed, the de Noia touring version, and the "legitimate" Merritt Version. Once de Noia was killed in 1987, Merritt took control of the touring shows as well.

Chippendales, though still incredibly popular, continued to suffer from legal troubles, conflicts with "copycat" companies, and in 1993, an allegation of murder — that Banerjee had arranged de Noia's 1987 killing.

Banerjee's bail was denied, due to testimony that Banerjee had said he intended to pay a private pilot $25,000 to fly him back to India without a passport, and threatened to commit suicide if he was arrested. Soon after, the charges against him were expanded to include the hired hit of de Noia. In the early morning of October 23, 1994, hours away from his sentencing, Banerjee's body was found hanging in his cell. Because Banerjee wanted to shield his wife from a wrongful death lawsuit and from a $1.75 million fine from the government (Chippendales was worth considerably more than $1.75 million), he killed himself before his trial was technically completed. Banerjee knew that the almost-certain wrongful death suit by Nick de Noia's relatives would not be able to rely on the higher standard of evidence ("beyond a reasonable doubt" standard, largely recognized to be 95% or more likely to be guilty, required in criminal trials), and the family of de Noia would have to re-prove all of the evidence at any wrongful death trial (a civil standard would apply here, only a mere "preponderance of the evidence" standard, or 51% or more likely to be guilty.)

The entirety of Banerjee's share in the Chippendales corporation and his estate were passed on, (in the absence of a $1.75 million dollar fine and any successful lawsuit by the de Noia family), to his wife Irene, who thereafter sold the company (without, according to court records, Nahin's knowledge and without first obtaining Nahin's permission) to the current owner, Chippendales USA. Nahin remained a shareholder of the company until it was sold following Banerjee's death. Merritt staged shows at various Chippendales clubs until his death in the 1990s. Irene died of breast cancer in the early 2000s. Mark Donnelly is currently a screenwriter living in Los Angeles.

The company is currently run by Kevin Denberg, whose grandfather ran a Chippendales club in New York City in the 1980s. Kevin Denberg bought Chippendales in 2000 with several other investors, and immediately set about distancing the company from its somewhat risqué past.