by Andy Warhol
Went to the movies (cab $3) to see Patti D’Arbanville in Big Wednesday. She had three lines: 1) “Oh my God” 2) “Uh-uh-mm” 3) “Eh-oo-oo.”
Sunday, July 30, 1978
Bob called, just back from Montauk where he said Catherine drove him crazy.
I guess Tom really is in love with that Danish model, Winnie. And Ulli Lommel is going to shoot a movie out there, Cocaine Cowboys. He’s married a rich wife, Sukey Love.
Wednesday, August 2, 1978—New York—Washington, D.C.
Life really does repeat itself. The old songs come back in a new way and the kids think they’re new and the old people remember and it’s a way of keeping people together, I guess, a way of living.
We got the Washington shuttle, after getting magazines and newspapers ($3). The shuttle was packed, it always is. Paid for Fred’s and my ticket ($81). Then got a cab to the Madison Hotel ($6.50), checked the baggage ($3). Cab to the Móndales’ ($4). Everything is so expensive. It started me noticing inflation for the first time, because everything on the menu at the hotel was actually double. A minute steak that used to be $7.50 is $15 now. And all your life you’re taught—you’re brought up on money, on pennies and dollars, and the inflation used to come in pennies, but now a dollar is like a penny, things go up in dollars.
Washington was hot and sticky. Joan and Fritz Mondale didn’t have any real big artists. Just Helen Frankenthaler and me. And the reason I was included was because they had the Southwest collection and my Blue Flowers was in Mrs. de Menil’s gift.
They live in the same house the Rockefellers had when they were vice-presidents, but of course their Max Ernst bed is gone from the place now.
Joan put me on her left and an Indian guy on her right. And then Joan was a little drunk, I think, and she started being very sad and saying, “Well, this is probably the last time we’ll see each other because you’re a famous artist and you’re going to be around for a long time, but they just took a poll in New Jersey and we’re the lowest we’ve ever been, we’re lower than Nixon right before they got him out, and we’re slipping fast.” I told her that things would pick up.
Then we saw the treasury guy over in a corner and I said to Joan that he should make dollar bills that have braille for the blind newsdealers like they do in Switzerland and she said that was a wonderful idea, that I should tell him, but then she got to him first and told him herself. The dinner was so bad. What ruined food in America? Was it those magazines like Good Housekeeping and Family Circle and McCall’s? They could have great simple steak-and-potatoes dinners and instead they have these fancy concoctions. Like veal with tuna sauce on top of it and capers. It was a “tented affair,” and that always costs so much, every time you put up a tent. And they had every kind of hard liquor, which you don’t get now at the White House. Then around 10:00 Helen Frankenthaler slipped a note over asking us if we wanted to leave.
Then we had to go back to the hotel, and I’d been telling Fred how horrible Helen Frankenthaler was, how awful she was to me last weekend, and then suddenly she was changed. She said, “I’ve been so awful lately, I don’t know what’s wrong. I’m really going to be nice tonight.” And then she was! Isn’t it amazing how a person can just change like “that” because they decide to?
And we had drinks with her in the hotel. Fred was bored with her but he paid for the drinks anyway. She was talking about her maid wanting $300 for four days’ work, she’s live-in. She probably just wants to leave Helen. Helen has three or four people working for her, she said. And she hated the wine, although Fred didn’t see anything wrong with it.
Thursday, August 3, 1978—New York
Went to the office, everyone was zonked. After Ronnie’s whole speech that he was going to A.A., there he was, zonked. And when he gets that way he’s so nutty.
I was photographing Bob Colacello and Ronnie would take up the pictures and say, “Bob, these are awful. You have three chins,” and Bob said, “No I don’t, I’ve lost two of them, I look good today.” And it was true, Bob did look good, but Ronnie was going on, picking up each one and saying how horrible it was.
Brigid was depressed. Only Vincent was happy because some checks came in.
Victor came by, his hair was carrot blond and he was going to go for white to be like me, but with dark eyebrows. He’s been up for three days because he bought some good coke.
I got back some of my pictures of Truman, lying on the psychiatrist’s couch. He looked like he doesn’t have teeth in my pictures. Does he have teeth?
Friday, August 4, 1978
Brigid was back transcribing the Truman tapes. I haven’t called him out in Minnesota yet.
Saturday, August 5, 1978
I cabbed to the nail place ($3.20). Getting my nails done was $46.80 plus I gave a $10 tip to the Cuban lady who told me all about herself and did a rotten job on my nails. They serve drinks there to the customers, and one boy who works there said he did Candy Darling’s first perm when she was fifteen. I wonder how old Candy was when she stopped being Jimmy Slattery and just wore dresses all the time.
Walked back to the house. Catherine called from Montauk and she was sober. She said that Tom had about thirty people out there shooting Cocaine Cowboys and that the toilets were backing up. She pretended to know that Tom had just married Winnie.
And Mr. Winters called Vincent, going crazy about all the people. Tom moved out to the hotel at the yacht club, so Catherine was happy—she spent the day there ordering from room service and watching TV.
Sunday, August 6, 1978
It was my birthday but I didn’t think of it until Vincent called and reminded me.
I thought I was going to see Ain’t Misbehavin’ for the Actor’s Fund but I was a week too early. So I called Tom Cashin and we got tickets to the American Dance Machine (cab $3, tickets 4 X $13 = $52). Raining. A few fans handed me notes.
Monday, August 7, 1978
Victor told me he had a secret—that Halston was giving me a surprise birthday party and it included a great gift that I would love. Then he left to go dye his hair.
Glued myself and went to pick up Catherine at 8:50 but as we were leaving her place Tom Sullivan called and said he’d pick us up on the corner in his limo and we waited there but he didn’t come. Then we had to leave to be at “21” (cab $2).
When we got to “21” Jay Mellon was sitting there, alone, no one had arrived for my birthday dinner. Then we had drinks for an hour, and still no one had arrived. The dinner was supposed to be at 9:00 and it was 10:00 already and still nobody was there. Catherine went upstairs to see if maybe they were in the room up there, but they weren’t. Then I went out to call Eartha and see where she and her daughter, Kitt, were, and Kitt answered the phone and she said her mother had gone out with Barry Landau! So I mean, I said thanks a lot and hung up.
Finally about 10:00 Lou Reed arrived, he gave me a great present, a one-inch TV, and he was so adorable, so sober, and Jay and I were in dark suits but everybody else was light—Lou had a whole suit on with a bow tie.
Then Fred arrived with Nenna Eberstadt, and they were both in white and Nenna was a little embarrassed, she gave me a little present. And then Tom Sullivan arrived and gave me the shirt off his back and made me wear it. And Winnie isn’t really that beautiful, I was surprised he would marry her. She does need a green card, though. But Catherine does, too.
Halston arrived with Dr. Giller and Stevie, all in white. And everyone was nervous because it did just look like all family, and we went to a room and it was really pretty, and Catherine put people together well, and it was thirteen people I think. I was drunk and nervous. The dinner was good, Catherine had ordered duck and Senegalese soup, and at a certain point Stevie said that he knew Lou from Syracuse University and he said all these details, so that was funny they went to school together, and they’re both from Long Island, too.
Then a cake came and the waiter sang “Happy Birthday.” Victor never showed up, I think he was embarrassed about his hair, a
nd then Halston excused himself to go to his house, he said that he just wanted to get ready for drinks, to meet us there, and we went over I think in Tom’s limousine, I can’t even remember, I was so drunk, and when we got to Halston’s it was a big crowd and I got a singing telegram from a lady in a bowler hat from Bill Dugan and Nancy North, and she really belted it out, she was a good singer.
And there were Barry and Eartha! I couldn’t believe it. She’s so stupid. I guess that’s her problem—she didn’t know the difference between dinner and this, and that’s what’s wrong with her—I mean, she works hard, but she wouldn’t have to work so hard as she does to get what she wants if she weren’t so stupid. It was the nicest kids there. Pat Ast was there, she’s in town, and everybody from the office. And the first present was Stevie brought in a garbage can and it was filled with 2,000 one-dollar bills, and he dumped it on me and it really was the best present. Victor gave me a hardhat.
And Halston gave me a white fur coat but then he said it looked small and he took it away and said that he’d give me another one later, so I don’t know. Jed was trying to fix his sister Susan up with Jay Mellon. Susan is looking so pretty now.
Left about 4:00, left everybody at the party.
Tuesday, August 8, 1978
Ronnie came in to work in the morning, late, and then afterwards Gigi came in screaming what did he do with her cats, and he shocked the office. He said that when he got home from Halston’s he found the two cats and one of them was choking on a sponge that it had tried to eat because it was so hungry, and the other was clawing at the one who was choking, so he took them into the bathtub and drowned them and then threw their little bodies in the incinerator. He said he was going to go down and divorce Gigi. He said he hadn’t fed the cats or himself in five days because he didn’t have any money, and when Brigid said why didn’t he just borrow some, he said he was “too proud.” I think he starved them to get back at Gigi. I knew they never should have gotten married. How could you kill two innocent cats? I couldn’t even look at him.
Then the Carimatis called and invited us for dinner, but it was the Italian style of “I’ll call you and you call me before 5:00 and then I’ll call you and you call me back before 6:00.” They said they could get us 40 percent discounts on anything on Madison Avenue because it was all Italians now.
Wednesday, August 9, 1978
Went to Halston’s at 10:00 to be photographed for Newsweek in the white fur coat. Fred picked me up and carried the garbage can full of money out into the street for me. As we left, about fifteen Negro kids with brooms were going to the park to sweep up, some city clean-up program to give them jobs, I guess. They didn’t look too happy. One of them had a shovel and was cutting down every flower when he got to it. They were pretty brooms, too. New. They didn’t recognize me except for one little girl who ran all the way back and kept saying, “You’re Andy Warhol, you’re Andy Warhol,” and staring at me and at Fred with his garbage can (cab to Olympic Tower $3).
Saturday, August 12, 1978
The Pope died, and Brigid was calling, wanting me to watch the funeral on TV with her. When they brought the Pope’s body out, everybody standing around there in Rome clapped, all these people, because it was such a good production. There’ve been 262 popes already. Isn’t that a lot? They’re usually so old when they get to be Pope that they only last about fifteen years.
Sunday, August 13, 1978
Went to church. It was hot and muggy. Got tickets for the Actor’s Fund performance of Ain’t Misbehavin (6 X $17.50). Cabbed to theater ($2) to meet Jay Johnson, Tom Cashin, Amy Sullivan, and Ricky Clifton. Ricky was asked to leave Halston’s the other night when Halston found him looking in his closets. He wasn’t stealing, he was just poking around, and he was drunk and fresh with Halston, it was 4 A.M.
Saw the show. And now the Negroes know how to do satires on themselves, and when you get that sophisticated, it means you’re part of the community, so now they are.
Wednesday, August 16, 1978
The big drama was Mr. Winters calling and saying there were three detective cars and three police cars out in Montauk. The townspeople hate Tom because he rides a horse into town and the band has drugs. Finally it turned out it was really nothing, that the plumber’s assistant had told the police he saw so many guns around, and so Tom had to talk his way out of it, telling the police about the movie they were shooting and that they needed the guns for it.
Thursday, August 17, 1978
Martial law was declared in two cities in Iran, so the festival we were supposed to go to on September 8 is cancelled and I’m so relieved.
Sunday, August 20, 1978
I went out and walked Archie and Amos. The new dog-shit pick-up law isn’t so bad. It was pretty easy, they did it next to the trash cans and I just threw it in.
Monday, August 21, 1978
It was such a pretty day. Hot and dry and breezy. Started walking downtown handing out Interviews over on the East Side. Stopped in some shops and bought some ideas for drawings. (Sarsaparilla $49.00) It was Monday so most places were closed. I was looking for plastic fruit, that’s what I’m drawing. Then cabbed to office ($2.50).
I was supposed to go out to Montauk on Wednesday to be in Cocaine Cowboys but it’s been changed to next week. My role is to play myself inteviewing Jack Palance in the movie.
Tuesday, August 22, 1978
Walked over to the office, and Brigid was transcribing away. She’d just come to the Humphrey Bogart part of the Truman tape, and the John Huston affair. Oh, and the Sam Goldwyn affair. According to Truman, Sam Goldwyn went after him one day and said, “You’ve been teasing me for years,” and then he gave Truman a big long tongue kiss. He wanted Truman to go down on him, but Truman wouldn’t, but now he thinks it might have been fun. Truman said he said, “What about Frances?” And that Sam Goldwyn said, “Forget Frances.”
And when I was recording this tape I’d purposely talked nice about Brigid so she’d hear it while she typed—I said she used to be 350 pounds and now she was 125 and beautiful. So she was a happy worker.
I was painting in the back when I heard a big commotion and it was Bob screaming at Catherine, he had freaked out. He was checking the galleys for the new issue and saying that she hadn’t corrected Fran Lebowitz’s writing, and she said that Fran didn’t want anyone to correct her. Bob said if Catherine wouldn’t do it, he would. He was holding a glass of vodka in his hand.
Wednesday, August 23, 1978
At 12:00 Bob wasn’t at the office so I called him at home and I woke him. I told him how did he expect any of the kids at Interview to work hard when he was still in bed at noon, and then he said that he’d rush right down. Later I heard him telling Brigid that he’d met a deaf-mute and that he was with him when I called.
Brigid was typing away and then I caught her eating candy and when I did, she went crazy, she felt so awful, I had to quiet her down. I told her, “Now, now, it’s not so bad, you only had fifteen pieces, the day’s still young, just take it calm and easy.”
Picked up Catherine and Jed in a cab ($4) and went to Madison Square Garden to see Bruce Springsteen (tickets $19). We’d gone on Monday night, too, but only saw the last few seconds of the show. So this time we got there right before he started and we sat right down in the orchestra, 30,000 kids in the place. They were all young and cute and why doesn’t Interview appeal to them? It should, it’s young and modern. My head must not be in the same place because they were all jumping up and screaming for Bruce and I was the only one who didn’t.
Oh, and Susan Blond called me earlier and said that a girl had called her up because she was upset because Bruce Springsteen was upset because he said I’d taken his picture on Monday night. She said that he doesn’t like anybody to take pictures—that his girlfriend’s a photographer and even she can’t take his picture. But the funny thing is, I’d just gotten my contact sheets back and I was sitting there trying to figure out what night I was looking at and who I’d taken a
picture of—I didn’t even recognize that it was Bruce Springsteen—I thought it was Al Pacino. I’d forgotten where I went! Why is Bruce Springsteen big, though? He talks the dumb way. Like Sylvester Stallone. Is that why these people are big? Because they talk that way and people identify? He does work really hard.
Friday, August 25, 1978
The main event was Catherine Guinness crying, telling me that she was leaving Interview, that she got a job at Viva. And she’s fat again, so she’ll be leaving as fat as she came. But then I found out she cried for everyone, so it wasn’t special that she cried for me. I guess she’s maybe scared, because she’s going to be senior editor over there. It turns out maybe it’s the job they offered Bob last year. They came after her and then she went after it. Jonathan Lieberson and Steve Aronson helped her write a paper on how she would change their magazine. Everyone at Interview is so thrilled to see her go. I was surprised—I didn’t know they felt that way.