Part 1 (1/2)

THE ANDY WARHOL DIARIES

by Andy Warhol

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Jamie Raab at Warner Books was an astute and syave such unfailingly good advice for the many decisions that had to be ine how this could have been done without her

Also thanks to: Vincent Fremont, Ed Hayes; Helen B Childs, Rob Wesseley; Bob Miller, who got the project started at Warner Books; Lee Seifood huarin, Allen Gold, Harvey-Jane Kowal, Jesse Kornbluth, Gary Krampf, Jane Krupp, Alex Neratoff, Barbara O'Connell, Jay Shriver, David Stenn, Allison Weiser

Deep gratitude to hes, the executor of the Warhol Estate and Andy's longtier and friend, who understood that candor-of-the-moment is the essence of the diary as a literary form and was the first to champion the candid spirit of this this diary-even when Andy's candor ehes diary-even when Andy's candor ehes

PH

INTRODUCTION

I ht years after he painted his first Pop art canvases and just three months after he was shot and nearly killed by a woround” /hanging-out setup known to sixties legend as the ”Factory” had inal location, a silvered loft on East 47th Street, to a white and mirrored loft that took up the whole sixth floor of 33 Union Square West

Andy loved Union Square-the trees in the park and the loft with its view of the stately Con Edison tower, its clock face shi+ning like a neighborhood ht Always considered an unofficial boundary between uptown and don, Union Square was near the bargain-shopping area on 14th Street To the south, the West and East Villages and Soho were all within easy walking distance

And, of course, a block away on Park Avenue South was Max's Kansas City, the breeding ground for so many of the characters that wound up in Factory ht, celebrities of the art, fashi+on,crowds jammed themselves into favorite corners of the back room at Max's and monitored each other's clothes, e” celebrities from out of town-directors and producers from Europe or Hollywood-and waited to be taken away frolobal faraduate at Barnard at the ti down to the Factory to see if Andy Warhol needed a part-tilae years I introducedto school, and he suggested I work for hi down to the Factory a few days a week after classes He and I shared a 4' X 10' office piled-as in time I discovered all all his offices, whatever their dimensions, would be piled-with clutter He would read the newspapers and drink carrot juice from Brownies, the health food store around the corner on 16th Street, while I transcribed tapes he'd hand me of phone conversations he'd had while he was in bed recuperating, first in the hospital and then at hoton and 89th that he lived in with his mother his offices, whatever their dimensions, would be piled-with clutter He would read the newspapers and drink carrot juice from Brownies, the health food store around the corner on 16th Street, while I transcribed tapes he'd hand me of phone conversations he'd had while he was in bed recuperating, first in the hospital and then at hoton and 89th that he lived in with his h in 1949 and at first he shared apartments with other people Eventually he could afford a place of his own Then his mother suddenly arrived in town andshe wanted to look after him She may have decided-or just as likely, heso hard he had no time to find a ife to take care of him, because when I met Julia Warhola one afternoon in 1969 she said hello, thought for a second, then concluded, ”You'd be nice for my Andy-but he's too busy” (Andy's ton Avenue until 1971 By then, apparently suffering from senility, she required constant care and Andy sent her back to Pittsburgh to the care of his brothers John and Paul After suffering a stroke, she died in a nursing home there in 1972, but to even his closest friends who'd often ask him, ”How's your mother?” Andy continued for years to say, ”Oh fine”) to take care of him, because when I met Julia Warhola one afternoon in 1969 she said hello, thought for a second, then concluded, ”You'd be nice for my Andy-but he's too busy” (Andy's ton Avenue until 1971 By then, apparently suffering from senility, she required constant care and Andy sent her back to Pittsburgh to the care of his brothers John and Paul After suffering a stroke, she died in a nursing home there in 1972, but to even his closest friends who'd often ask him, ”How's your mother?” Andy continued for years to say, ”Oh fine”) In my first weeks at the Factory, friends Andy hadn't seen since before the shooting-superstars like Viva and Ondine and Nico, or Lou Reed or the other round-would drop by the Union Square loft to ask hiood” or, occasionally he'd joke, ”With hter of longtime Hearst Corporation chairman Richard E Berlin, had starred in Andy's movie Chelsea Girls Chelsea Girls and now she would co Andy tape record her talking about, say, what had happened in the back rooht before or about who she had talked to on the phone that ton Hotel; when she was done he'd take out his checkbook and reward her for the perforotiated up to 50) For each of these post-shooting reunions with his friends, so in Andy's expression said he was amazed that he was still alive to see them At one point in the hospital, just before they succeeded in reviving hione and Andy, in a state of semi-consciousness, had heard them say words to that effect; from June 1968 on, he considered himself a man as officially ”back from the dead” and now she would co Andy tape record her talking about, say, what had happened in the back rooht before or about who she had talked to on the phone that ton Hotel; when she was done he'd take out his checkbook and reward her for the perforotiated up to 50) For each of these post-shooting reunions with his friends, so in Andy's expression said he was amazed that he was still alive to see them At one point in the hospital, just before they succeeded in reviving hione and Andy, in a state of semi-consciousness, had heard them say words to that effect; from June 1968 on, he considered himself a man as officially ”back from the dead”

Andy and I didn't talk much at first For weeks I just transcribed and he just sat there, a few feet away fro phone calls Most of the time, his face was i about hie way Eventually I realized that this was because his chest was still wrapped in surgical tape-blood froh onto his shi+rt But when Andy laughed, the weirdness disappeared and his whole face changed-then, he was appealing to me

Andy was polite and hus-he'd just ask in a hopeful tone, ”Do you think you could?” He treated everyone with respect, he never talked down to anyone And hetheir opinions and probing with questions about their own lives He expected everyone orked for hirateful when they did-he knew that anyone to do things-he'd just ask in a hopeful tone, ”Do you think you could?” He treated everyone with respect, he never talked down to anyone And hetheir opinions and probing with questions about their own lives He expected everyone orked for hirateful when they did-he knew that any any degree of conscientiousness was hard to find, even when you paid for it And he was especially grateful for even the sht do for him I never heard anyone say ”Thank you” more than Andy, and from his tone, you always felt he meant it ”Thank you” were the last words he ever said to ree of conscientiousness was hard to find, even when you paid for it And he was especially grateful for even the sht do for him I never heard anyone say ”Thank you” more than Andy, and from his tone, you always felt he meant it ”Thank you” were the last words he ever said towith e on his mood So his eyebrows and closing his eyes philosophically, turn aithout saying a word; sometih nobody would ever get fired; and sometimes he'd suddenly break into an impromptu imitation of the person-never a literal one, but rather his his interpretation of interpretation of their their vision of themselves-and it was always funny vision of thes Andy could think to say about someone was that he was ”the kind of person who thinks he's better than you” or, siood idea could come from anywhere; his head wasn't turned by credentials

What was he impressed with, then? Fame-old, new, or faded Beauty Classical talent Innovative talent Anyone who did anything first first A certain kind of outrageous nerve Good talkers Money -especially big, old, American brand-nauess after seeing Andy's name in print so many times over so n titles didn't i or, at the very least, badly ranted; he was thrilled to have it His unifors about hied and evolved over all the years I knew him, these qualities never di, I haddon I assumed that Andy probably wouldn't even notice I wasn't around (I hadn't figured out yet that his passive expression didn'teven the smallest details) so I was shocked when someone knocked on the door of my dorm room to say I had a call from ”Andy” I couldn't believe he would even remember what school I went to, let alone which dorm I lived in Where was I, he wanted to know And toback, he ”sweetened the pot” by offering to start paying my subway fares to and from ”work” A ride was then twenty cents

Thefeature-length 16mm movies (they would be blown up to 35 around Max's or who ca the suunshot wounds, Paul Morrissey, a Fordharaduate who had once worked for an insurance co had assisted on Andy's ”Factory” movies, filmed a movie of his own, Flesh Flesh It starred the handsome receptionist/ bouncer at the Factory, Joe Dallesandro, as an irresistible irlfriend's abortion, and in the fall of '68 Flesh Flesh began a long coan a long commercial run at the Garrick Theater on Bleecker Street

assisting Paul on Flesh Flesh was Jed Johnson, who had begun working at the Factory in the spring, shortly after he and his twin brother Jay arrived in town fro the paint from the wooden frames of the s that looked out on Union Square Park, and building shelves in the back of the loft for filht hi with reels of was Jed Johnson, who had begun working at the Factory in the spring, shortly after he and his twin brother Jay arrived in town fro the paint from the wooden frames of the s that looked out on Union Square Park, and building shelves in the back of the loft for filht hi with reels of San Diego Surf San Diego Surf and and Lonesome Cowboys Lonesome Cowboys, both of which had been fil field trip to Arizona and California just before he was shot

Once the Factory rapher who had been responsible for the silver look of the 47th Street Factory and for its a in the small darkroom he set up at the back of the loft Over the course of a fewof '69, he retreated fro froone Empty take-out food containers in the trash the next day were the only indications that he was alive and eating After over a year of this her to open up the loft, he found the darkrooa, one of Andy's first painting assistants in the sixties and a performer in some of the early movies like Vinyl Vinyl and and Kiss Kiss, shared one of the two large desks at the front of the loft with Fred Hughes, as just evolving into his position as er of Andy's art career Fred had entered the world of art connoisseurshi+p through working for the de Menil family, art patrons and philanthropists fro impression on Andy in two major ways: First, in the short terenerous fa ter of and respect for Andy's art and a flair for hohen, and where to present it From his half of the desk, Gerard answered the phones while he wrote poetry, and in 1969 when Andy decided to start a azine called inter/VIEW inter/VIEW, Gerard was for a short while its editor before he left New York for Europe

The other large desk belonged to Paul, who sat with color blowups of so two ”Girls of the Year,” Viva and International Velvet (Susan Bottomly) Paul went on to make Trash ('70) Trash ('70) and and Heat Heat ('71) ('71) Women In Revolt Wo the same period, were a collaborative Factory effort with Andy, Paul, Fred, and Jed all involved in the casting, shooting, and editing Then in 1974 Paul went to Italy to direct two movies for Carlo Ponti's production company which were ultimately ”presented” by Andy-Andy Warhol's Frankenstein and and Andy Warhol's Dracula Andy Warhol's Dracula Jed and I went to Italy to work on them, and after they were finished Paul stayed on in Europe, in effect ending his role as aup all the office deals and helping Andy make his business decisions Vincent Freo and begun working at the Factory in the autuer

In the summer of '74 the Factory moved from 33 Union Square West to the third floor of 860 Broadway-just half a block away Around this ti the phone with ”Factory”-”Factory” had become ”too corny,” he said-and the place becaraduated fron Service and had co a review of Trash Trash for the for the Village Voice Village Voice, orking by this tie, called Andy Warhol's Interview) Andy Warhol's Interview), doing articles and writing his column, ”OUT,” which chronicled his own around-the-clock social life and dropped a heavy load of names every month In 1974 Bob Colacello (by then he'd dropped the ”i”) officially becae into a politically conservative and sexually androgynous one (It wasn't a azine with a family readershi+p-one survey in the late '70s concluded that the ”average Interview Interview reader had so policies were elitist to the point of being dedicated-as Bob hi-to ”the restoration of the world's otten-dictatorshi+ps and oal, people pointed out, that seeruous with Bob's Brooklyn accent, but this didn't stop hi like 001 children”) Its editorial and advertising policies were elitist to the point of being dedicated-as Bob hi-to ”the restoration of the world's otten-dictatorshi+ps and oal, people pointed out, that seeruous with Bob's Brooklyn accent, but this didn't stop hi on to specify exactly which which monarchies he missed most and why monarchies he azine, in '69, the idea was that it be oriented toward the movies He wanted stars to to just talk-their oords, unedited-and, wherever possible, to be interviewed by other stars This was so And since Andy's business philosophy was always to start things on a s yourself so that later when the business is worth azine was published on a very low budget To give an idea of just just talk-their oords, unedited-and, wherever possible, to be interviewed by other stars This was so And since Andy's business philosophy was always to start things on a s yourself so that later when the business is worth azine was published on a very low budget To give an idea of just ho the budget was: In the first issue, an interviewee had referred to a well-known movie critic who had just appeared in a Hollywoodqueen” It was only after the issue was already off the presses that a lawyer advised that ”drag queen” was libelous but that just plain ”queen” would be fine So Andy, Paul, Fred, Jed, Gerard, and I, plus whoever happened to walk in the door, spent about six hours sitting in the front of the loft going through bundle after bundle of low the budget was: In the first issue, an interviewee had referred to a well-known movie critic who had just appeared in a Hollywoodqueen” It was only after the issue was already off the presses that a lawyer advised that ”drag queen” was libelous but that just plain ”queen” would be fine So Andy, Paul, Fred, Jed, Gerard, and I, plus whoever happened to walk in the door, spent about six hours sitting in the front of the loft going through bundle after bundle of inter/VIEWs inter/VIEWs and crossing out the word ”drag” with black felt-tip pens, while Paul co penance-'I will never call hiain ' ” and crossing out the word ”drag” with black felt-tip pens, while Paul co penance-'I will never call hiain ' ”

At 33 Union Square West, the azine offices had been two rooms on the tenth floor, four floors away from the Factory, but after the move to 860 Broadway they were on the sa area, separated froard the employees of Interview Interview as stepchildren, different from the people orked directly for hiical distance froazine, observed, only half-joking, ”I get the feeling that if the people ork for as stepchildren, different from the people orked directly for hiical distance froazine, observed, only half-joking, ”I get the feeling that if the people ork for Interview Intervieere asked to name the one celebrity in the world they'd most like to meet, they'd all say, 'Andy Warhol' ” There were exceptions: Crossovers orked at were asked to name the one celebrity in the world they'd most like to meet, they'd all say, 'Andy Warhol' ” There were exceptions: Crossovers orked at Interview Interview but were also Andy's personal friends ent out with him socially-people like Bob Colacello and Catherine Guinness, a enerally, to Andy, the but were also Andy's personal friends ent out with him socially-people like Bob Colacello and Catherine Guinness, a enerally, to Andy, the Interview Interview people were part of his business life but not his emotional life He referred to them as ”them,” and to us as ”us” people were part of his business life but not his emotional life He referred to them as ”them,” and to us as ”us”

While Andy's social life in the late sixties and early seventies was steeredmany social occasions and some business deals (All deals, however, had to be cleared with Fred) Fro friendly with, Bob delivered a lot of portrait co contracts On the first book, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (Froain) The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (Froht separate intervieith Andy on the basis of which I wrote chapters 1 through 8 and chapter 10 Then, using material from conversations Andy had taped between hiid Berlin, I wrote the introductory chapter and chapters 9, 11, 12, 13 and 14 It was the first ether, and after the book was published, in 1975, he asked me to co-author the second book with him-his memoirs of the sixties, which we decided to call Popisreat source of activity for Andy That was the year he bought out newsprint manufacturer/art collector Peter Brant to beco the title of president Until this point Andy had remained pretty azine, but now suddenly he was running in to look at art director Marc Balet's layouts or scheduling lunches in the conference room to pitch Interview Interview to prospective advertisers to prospective advertisers

It was theinto sixties history Meeting creative new people-especially young kids-was always important to him; he thrived on it But he knew that people only co to offer the out his early, cheap, ”underground” films at the rate, practically, of one a week, it was the possibility of getting into Andy's movies that drew people to the Factory By the 1970s, however, with the price ofprohibitive, Andy had few roles to offer people and not even the certainty that the et azine azineevery year By 1976 Interview Interview had a cachet of sophisticated self- silliness that made celebrities actually had a cachet of sophisticated self- silliness that made celebrities actually ant to be in it Often Andy, usually with someone on the staff, did the cover interview himself Every issue had to be stocked with people, and this was the new supply of fresh faces now coazine” replaced ”We'll put you in a movie” as Andy's irl,” ”Upfront,” and ”First Impression” were all to be in it Often Andy, usually with someone on the staff, did the cover interview himself Every issue had to be stocked with people, and this was the new supply of fresh faces now coazine” replaced ”We'll put you in a movie” as Andy's irl,” ”Upfront,” and ”First Is for pictures of young, never-before-seen-in-print , never-before-seen-in-print male and felaazine around I once heard Bob on the phone reassuring a society raph-we retouch anyone over becaazine around I once heard Bob on the phone reassuring a society raph-we retouch anyone over twenty” twenty”

1976 was also the year that Andy Warhol's Bad Andy Warhol's Bad was shot in New York, in 35mm and with a union crew The cast was a combination of our own ”studio stars”-people like Geraldine Smith from was shot in New York, in 35mm and with a union crew The cast was a combination of our own ”studio stars”-people like Geraldine Smith from Flesh Flesh and Cyrinda Foxe from around the corner on East 17th Street-and Hollywood professionals like Carroll Baker and Perry King Jed directed and Cyrinda Foxe from around the corner on East 17th Street-and Hollywood professionals like Carroll Baker and Perry King Jed directed Bad Bad-I had co-written the screenplay-and it ell-received (Vincent Canby's review in the New York Times New York Times said it was ”more aware of what it's up to than any Warhol filmto date”) said it was ”more aware of what it's up to than any Warhol filmto date”) Despite theBad Bad, Jed never went back to work at the Factory-”the office”-again He began buying and selling antiques, and then started his own decorating business, although he continued to live on the fourth floor of the Federal-style town-house on East 66th Street that he had found for Andy and that Andy had moved into in 1974 Fred, meanwhile, had moved froton that Andy had just vacated

For ht up until Andy's death, finding people to commission hiht in a big share of his annual inco on for allery shows, there were always portraits in the works in soallery dealers, friends, or eot a com Plastic Inevitable in the sixties and Andy's painting assistant in the seventies, once put it: ”Pop Art was over, and there was a bunch of newand afro his Pop celebrity portraits in the sixties-the Marilyns, Lizzes, Elvises, Marlons, etc-it was a natural evolution to do portraits of private-or at least non-show business-people, therefore ends” And actually, even in the sixties, on a much smaller scale, Andy had done some commissioned portraits of non-star subjects like art collector Ethel Scull, gallery owner Holly Solohes adds: ”The art establish commissioned portraits very unconventional-artists weren't supposed to be a com Plastic Inevitable in the sixties and Andy's painting assistant in the seventies, once put it: ”Pop Art was over, and there was a bunch of newand afro his Pop celebrity portraits in the sixties-the Marilyns, Lizzes, Elvises, Marlons, etc-it was a natural evolution to do portraits of private-or at least non-show business-people, therefore ends” And actually, even in the sixties, on a much smaller scale, Andy had done some commissioned portraits of non-star subjects like art collector Ethel Scull, gallery owner Holly Solohes adds: ”The art establish commissioned portraits very unconventional-artists weren't supposed to be doing doing this kind of thing But Andy was always unconventional And the fact is, he this kind of thing But Andy was always unconventional And the fact is, he liked liked doing theot the first few co theot the first few coet so a portrait was elaborate It began with the subject posing while he took approxi Shot camera exclusively, and after that ement with the company to buy all the unused stock they had) Then, froive them to a screen printer (he worked exclusively with one printer at a time-before 1977, his silkscreener was Alex Heinrici; after that, it was Rupert Ses on 8” X 10” acetates When those cae, decide where to crop it, and then doctor it cosmetically in order to ate necks, trie lips, and clear up complexions as he saw fit; in short, he would do unto others as he would wish others to do unto hie on the 8” X 10” blown up to a 40” X 40” acetate, and from that the screen printer would make a silkscreen

To always be prepared for the steady stream of portraits, Andy had his assistants prepaint rolls of canvas in one of two background shades: flesh tone for men's portraits and a different, pinker flesh tone for wo paper, he'd trace the ie from the 40” X 40” acetate onto the flesh-tone-painted canvas and then paint in the colored areas like hair, eyes, lips on women, and ties and jackets on e would be lined up with the prepainted colored areas and the details of the photograph would be screened onto the canvas It was the slight variations in the alignave Warhol portraits their characteristic ”shi+fting” look The portraits, as a rule, cost approximately 25,000 for the first canvas and 5,000 for each additional one

Keeping to his beloved weekday ”rut” was so important to Andy that he veered fro the Diary” with me on the phone, he'd et dressed, take his cherished dachshunds Archie and Ao from the third floor of his house, where his bedroom was, to the basement kitchen where he'd have breakfast with his two Filipino housekeepers, sisters Nena and Aurora Bugarin Then he'd tuck soo out shopping for a few hours, usually along Madison Avenue, then in the auction houses, the jewelry district around 47th Street, and the Village antique shops He'd pass out the azine to shopkeepers (in the hope that they would decide to advertise) and to fans who recognized hi so for a few hours, usually along Madison Avenue, then in the auction houses, the jewelry district around 47th Street, and the Village antique shops He'd pass out the azine to shopkeepers (in the hope that they would decide to advertise) and to fans who recognized hi soet to the office between one and three o'clock, depending on whether there was a business advertising lunch there or not Upon arrival he'd reach into his pocket-or his boot-for some cash and send one of the kids out to Brownies down the block for snacks Then while he was drinking his carrot juice or tea he'd check the appointht's events, return calls, and take so there He would also open the stacks ofjust which letters, invitations, gifts, andone of the hundreds of 10” x 18” x 14” brown cardboard boxes, which would be sealed, dated, put into storage, and instantly replaced with an identical empty box Less than one percent of all the iteiven did he keep for his he considered ”interesting,” which to Andy, as interested in everything,

A written com a pen and his hand would be n his naraph or on a work of art or at the bottom of a contract He did scribble phone nuanized into an address book And when he wrote a note it was rarelylike ”Pat-use this” attached to a newspaper clipping that he thought would be helpful for a project orking on An exception hen soift card, for exa, but only until the dictation stopped

He'd stay in theto people around the office about their love-lives, diets, and where they'd gone the night before Then he'd e by the phones and read the day's newspapers, leaf through azines, take a few more random phone calls, talk a little business with Fred and Vincent Eventually he'd go goto his working area in the back part of the loft near the freight elevator and there he would paint, draw, cut, es around, etc, until the end of the day when he would sit doith Vincent and pay bills and talk on the phone to friends, locking in the night's itinerary

Between six and seven o'clock, once the rush-hour traffic was over, he'd walk over to Park Avenue and get a cab uptown He'd spend a fewhis face, adjusting the silver ”hair” that was his trade his clothes, but only if it was an especially ”heavy” evening Then he'd check to make sure there was film in his instant camera (From the mid-sixties to thehis friends But by the end of the seventies he'd gotten bored with rando and usually would record people only for a specific reason-that is, if he felt he could use what they said as dialogue for a play or ht-sometimes to multiple dinners and parties, sometimes just to an early movie and dinner But no matter how late he stayed out, he was always ready for the Diary again early the nexthis clothes, but only if it was an especially ”heavy” evening Then he'd check to make sure there was film in his instant camera (From the mid-sixties to thehis friends But by the end of the seventies he'd gotten bored with rando and usually would record people only for a specific reason-that is, if he felt he could use what they said as dialogue for a play or ht-sometimes to multiple dinners and parties, sometimes just to an early movie and dinner But no matter how late he stayed out, he was always ready for the Diary again early the next eneral and very sketchy Factory log for Andy I'd make a list of the business visitors who had co the day, and then another list of the ht-even if I'd been to soiveThe point was simply to determine what had happened, as there, and how et Andy's personal view of it Very often I'd just ask him what his expenses had been and leave his contribution to the log at that

In 1976, after the fil of Bad Bad, I told Andy that I didn't want to work at the office anymore but that I would still write Popism Popis and itemize his personal expenses-”It'll only take you five minutes a day,” he said I told hi everyone at the office every day to find out what had happened the day before-that if I were going to do that, I reed that from then on, the daily accounts would co became Andy's own personal narrative with hi and itemize his personal expenses-”It'll only take you five minutes a day,” he said I told hi everyone at the office every day to find out what had happened the day before-that if I were going to do that, I reed that from then on, the daily accounts would co became Andy's own personal narrative