The Andy Warhol Diaries

by Andy Warhol

  Area was close by but we took cabs because it was raining (cab $3). And the only big draw was that Matt Dillon and Vincent Spano were going to be there, and Benjamin went up to Matt and said, “Andy’s looking for you,” but he said, “Andy who?” And then later I did talk to him and he was just mumbling and looking for girls. He really has to get a good movie soon, he needs one badly.

  Saturday, May 5, 1984

  It was beautiful and sunny, did a lot of work. Called Jean Michel and he said he’d come up. He came and rolled some joints. He was really nervous, I could tell, about his show opening later on at Mary Boone’s. Then he wanted a new outfit and we went to this store where he always buys his clothes. He had b.o. We were walking and got to Washington Square Park where I first met him when he was signing his name as “Samo” and writing graffiti and painting T-shirts. That area brought back bad memories for him.

  Later on his show was great, though, it really was.

  Monday, May 7, 1984

  Jonathan Scull just called to say that the lunch was cancelled at the Whitney that was going to be for his mother, Ethel, giving my portrait of her to them, because she fell off a ladder and broke her leg in two places. What was she doing on a ladder? And I saw her the other week walking on 66th Street, going along, talking to herself, swinging her hanky.

  So went to the office and the office was busy. Bruno was there and Jean Michel was hiding our work from Bruno—the ones that just Jean Michel and I are doing. Bruno has the ones that Jean Michel and I and Clemente did, but he doesn’t know about these that’re just the two of us.

  Bob Colacello called about the party that Sao’s giving for his birthday, and Brigid talked to him. I have a feeling Brigid’s still very friendly with him. I’m invited.

  Tuesday, May 8, 1984

  Went to pick up Benjamin and we took Interviews and went over to Christie’s and the girl there was nice, she showed us the show. And there’s a big fake of mine there, but I’d signed it. I don’t know why I ever did. But it was Peter Gidal’s and he’d done that book on me, so I wanted to be nice once and I’d signed it for him. It’s four Jackies and I never put them together in a print, I don’t think. No, my Jackies were all separate.

  And then we left there and passed Regine’s and Benjamin nudged me because Paul Anka was saying hello and I didn’t recognize him. He’s so suntanned. And Benjamin knew I did his portrait so he poked me. I just saw clips of him when he was young on TV this morning. He looks a lot better now than he did then—he must have had a lot done.

  Jean Michel came up and was so paranoid, he smokes so much marijuana and then gets paranoid. Then he called me up in the middle of the night and said that his painting at auction went for $19,000. I bet mine went for nothing. Probably. My Liz. Probably $10,000. I can just see it. So his went for $19,000. And there were all these parties for the Museum of Modern Art and I was invited to all of them but I didn’t go to any of them. Dropped Benjamin ($6.50). Woods for dinner with Jon ($100).

  Wednesday, May 9, 1984

  Got up early but Benjamin wasn’t picking me up because they needed him for a moving day at 860, so I wandered around alone, and it’s hard, I’m used to having him as a bodyguard. So I just fended people off by giving them Interviews, I had a lot with me. Oh and I got an invitation to a second Jackie Curtis wedding. He’s marrying a boy again. A priest is doing it. And Jackie’s picture is so air-brushed he looks fifteen. Blond hair and blue eyes.

  The English advertising guy, Saatchi, who wants to buy the Marilyn wanted to pay for it over four years or something, so now I don’t know. The whole point was to get money fast to pay off the construction guys at the new building.

  Oh, and Ruth Ansel called and said that Marvin Israel died, but I didn’t accept the call because I didn’t want to accept that he died. He had a heart attack on Monday, in Texas, doing something with Avedon. He was the art director of Harper’s Bazaar, I worked for him once.

  Thursday, May 10, 1984

  I went to Sotheby’s to see how my drawings were going. Early 1962 drawings. Fred had been there bidding on them so that drove the price up, but some other guy got them. It’s all dealers who put the stuff in and bid it up. It’s their business. All the people who have the work just bid it up. Ran into Jed looking at Art Deco.

  Friday, May 11, 1984

  I got an invitation to a show of silkscreen portraits of Francesco Scavullo photographs—done in silkscreen by Rupert Smith! And Fred says I shouldn’t yell at Rupert but I bet they look just like mine. I mean, Rupert knew he was doing something wrong or he would have told me, he would have said, “I’m doing this, I hope you don’t mind.”

  Sunday, May 13, 1984

  homas Ammann called and we went down to look at the work of the artist named Fischl who Vanity Fair just did a story on. He paints the things like a girl douching with another girl looking on with the pubic hair showing, and a monkey and a baby—sort of copies of Balthus.

  Monday, May 14, 1984

  I went over to Dr. Linda Li’s and she did all the right spots and made the pain go away. But then in the Enquirer I read the way you can press and do it yourself, so I don’t know, and then at the end of the article they say, “But call your physician.”

  Wednesday, May 16, 1984

  I’m giving Rupert the cold shoulder. I mean, everybody who’s seen that Scavullo show he did said—well I mean, he’s colored the eyes and lips and done double portraits, everything just like mine. I’m so mad.

  Went down to the Paradise Garage for Keith Haring’s party and there were kids outside selling tickets to it, although it was a free party. John Sex performed. Madonna didn’t start until so late that I only heard the beginning. And that kid Bobby who lives with Madonna was there, the one I got the job for in Paul’s movie. And he’s in the hospital for a leg operation—he had his hospital bracelet on—but he snuck out for (laughs) this party. And all these kids were wearing Stephen Sprouse outfits, I don’t know where they get the money. Keith’s Juan was in Day-Glo and it was like the sixties. And they have a phrase that’s like “Mark me,” when they want you to sign their stuff. Maybe it is “Mark me.”

  Thursday, May 17, 1984

  Well the big shockeroo of the day was when we’re all at the office and it’s really busy and in walks my brother who I haven’t seen in twenty years. Paul. He came up to buy a place for his son James who was with him, and James’s girlfriend. James is the artist that I wouldn’t help when he came to New York. He wanted to work for Interview and I told him to make it on his own. And now he’s buying the apartment in Long Island City that my brother’s giving him money for. He’s got a Salvador Dali mustache, James does, and his girlfriend was bubbly.

  And Brigid was loving it all. Plus I’d just gotten a letter from my sister-in-law. She said that George is getting a divorce and the wife is trying to take away the business that my brother gave him. They have two kids. It’s a junk business. You know what I mean—like they get scrap and electronics machinery and melt it down, and they get a lot of gold out of it—you melt it down with blowtorches in acid and then the gold floats. They live in Pittsburgh. And they’re buying up the black neighborhoods on the North Side.

  And my brother speaks better than I do, he always was a good talker. He’s a big gambler, too. And he’s retiring and bought a farm up in Erie.

  Ran into Bill Cunningham on his bike, I just wish I could do what he does, just go everywhere and take pictures all day. And he used to be a hat designer, but he went into photography when hats went out in like ‘64. I met him around Serendipity. When hats went out his whole life disappeared. And now he takes these photographs all day, I see him even in odd locations, like on 43rd and Lexington shooting people coming out of Grand Central. He’s so meek and skinny, and he rides his bike, and you never see him eat or drink at these parties.

  Cabbed to meet Lidija at 860 ($5). The place was emptying out. They were moving stuff up to 33rd Street all day. Worked all afternoon. Rupert came up and now h
e’s meeker. Went to meet Jon at East-West for dinner (cab $10).

  Friday, May 18, 1984

  Went with Benjamin to the camera store and bought the new Olympus camera that Chris told me about ($410) where you can take 5,000 pictures on the battery and then it has to clear for a month. They have the old Polaroid models still with the boxes and everything, and I should buy them up.

  Tonight at Danceteria they’re putting on an “Andy and Edie” show—Ann Magnuson’s playing Edie.

  My cousins from Butler came to lunch. One of them had called and said they were coming to New York, so I invited them. She’s nice. I don’t mind her. They stayed all afternoon.

  Monday, May 21, 1984

  Peter Beard has the greatest commercial on TV now. It’s for Kodak. He’s on the outside of a helicopter taking pictures. He’s got a new agent.

  Went to a black-tie dinner at Mortimer’s for the designer Enrico Coveri given by Florence Grinda. And Barbara and her Polish boyfriend were having a fight that I was in the middle of. Everything he said she contradicted. And I don’t know why. And he’s ended up buying a house out in Connecticut right next to Peter Brant. He plays polo like Peter. He has a good-looking face, like an old fairy would be good-looking like this, and he’s the Joe Allen type—short and stocky with grey-black hair and I think capped teeth. He knows all the right people. And everybody says he bought his title, he’s a Polish baron or something.

  I had invited Jean Michel as my date and I was next to him, so maybe they thought it was a girl’s name. Richard Gere’s Silvinha moved her seat to sit next to Jean Michel. And Jean Michel gave me all his meat for the dogs, and Silvinha did, too.

  I’m watching MTV right now. I don’t know what else you can do to these videos to make them different. They’re all the same. They’re all like sixties underground movies, people running around. Like Stan Brakhage and all those kids used to make.

  Tuesday, May 22, 1984

  Benjamin called in the morning and we dished on the phone for a while and then he came up. I called the elevator man and told him about a spark I saw but he said the spark’s always there, that it happens all the time. Then, since I had to go to the Doc’s at 3:00 I couldn’t eat because I was going to have tests. But we wandered around and I had a lot of energy because of the vitamins.

  Jean Michel came down to the office early. He was reading his big review in the Voice. They called him the most promising artist on the scene. And at least they didn’t mention me and say he shouldn’t be hanging around with me the way the New York Times thing did.

  I opened up one of the boxes in the back that’s being moved and it had 16mm rolls of film and letters from Ray Johnson the artist and I think my bloodstained clothes from when I was shot.

  I realized that the reason Tony Shafrazi hasn’t gotten even one of the artists in his gallery into MOMA is because Tony’s the person who defaced Picasso’s “Guernica.” But that’s not fair. Keith Haring isn’t at MOMA. And they just have one thing of mine, the little Marilyn. I just hate that. That bothers me.

  Then in the afternoon I went to Doc Cox’s (cab $7) and I protested over the thermometer that they used, because it just sits there in water and everybody uses it, it’s not right. And Rosemary took my blood pressure, but I have the feeling they just throw these tests out. Bubbles was tan. And they have a new heart machine so now I don’t have to run up and down the stairs in the hallway (laughs) to get my heart going—it’s a big improvement. And Freddy won’t take your blood if she doesn’t know you.

  We went to meet Paige and Benjamin ($4). And after dinner ($120) at Hisae and drinks at Jezebel’s ($30) we went over to Stuart Pivar’s because he was having people over and I wanted to learn about art. I brought a small bronze with me that I just bought, three inches, and Stuart said it was a piece of junk, so tomorrow I’m returning it. I had it on consignment.

  And did I tell the Diary that Benjamin and I ran into Virginia Dwan and her daughter who’s married to Anton Perrich who did all those videos and rented our old floor at 33 Union Square West when we moved out. They said Anton was home with his painting machine and I was so jealous. My dream. To have a machine that could paint while you’re away. But they said he had to be there while it painted because (laughs) it clogs up. Isn’t that funny?

  Wednesday, May 23, 1984

  I asked how Robert Hayes was and they said he’s still in the hospital.

  Benjamin was supposed to be in drag when he picked me up to go to the Karl Lagerfeld dinner at the Museum of Modern Art, but he wasn’t. We walked right into the elevator with Karl, who was sweet. Wearing lipstick with his ponytail. My dinner partner was Fran Lebowitz. She was fun. She doesn’t drink or eat dessert. She smokes constantly, though. She’s moving out of that apartment in the Village. I guess she lost the case. She sublet it and had Jed do all that work but she never had any signed agreement with the person. And I think Jed really warned her but she didn’t listen. So now she’s moving up to the Osborne across from Carnegie Hall. She was wearing black tie but without the tie.

  I put a lamb chop in a napkin for the dogs and got blood on my pocket. Dinner was over at 10:30.

  Then Jean Michel was waiting down at Odeon (phone $.90, cab $10). And the Fischl guy came over and said that as he was leaving the house, he had the TV show College Bowl Championships on, and I was the answer to a question and that the girl from the University of Minnesota got it in a second. It was, “Who painted Marilyn Monroe?” And I saw the dyke from Artforum who made me do all that free work—doing an original Dollar Sign, and then in the same issue she let some guy write the worst review of me that’s ever been in the magazine.

  Then we went over to Area and the theme was “Red.” And Jean Michel’s girlfriend Suzanne was there, the tiny makeup artist. And Shawn Hausman, one of the owners—he’s Diane Varsi’s son—was on a ladder, I thought it was part of the exhibit but he was fixing a fuse. Shawn told me that Eric Goode told him that he’s so awed when he sees me that he gets goosebumps.

  And Fred’s been going out with Joan Collins who I guess is having a fling with Mick Flick. I guess that’s how these girls get their baubles—as thank-yous after a big night.

  Thursday, May 24, 1984

  Jay and the crew were moving. I opened a Time Capsule and every time I do it’s a mistake, because I drag it back and start looking through it. Like I found some film fragments in one and then you just wonder where the rest of the film is. The Whitney now has my old movies. I finally gave them to them—Vincent did. But they can’t do anything with them without my permission. They’re just looking through them now and cleaning them.

  Jean Michel came by and he was in a pretty good mood. We had Chinese take-out food. He was painting some big black screaming people. Worked till 7:00. Jill Fuller picked me up outside in a limo and we went to see the Pink Floyd guy perform at the Beacon Theater.

  And then afterwards there was a dinner that Lorne Michaels was giving at Cafe Luxembourg, so we went over there. Henry Geldzahler and Clemente were there and I felt bad because Jean Michel and I are doing the combined canvases now without him and they’re coming out so good, whereas the ones we were doing with him, Bruno gave us so little for. But maybe we’ll give Clemente some of our rejects and see if he can do anything with them. He’s really sweet.

  And Steve Martin came! That was exciting. He’s so good-looking. I thought that he was going with Bernadette Peters but he was with this new girl and I didn’t know who she was. He has such a good body, and he’s really attractive. Someone started to introduce us and he said no, that we’d met already, that they didn’t have to. He told me he’d had a Marlon Brando of mine for two days but then had to return it because it didn’t go with his place, it didn’t fit. The Jane Bonham Carter girl was there and she happened to call the girl with him “Vicky” and then it clicked who she was! It was Vicky Vanini, who used to be married to Peppo Vanini, and now she’s the actress Victoria Tennant! And here I’d been looking at her across the table and n
ot recognizing her for an hour. No wonder people think I’m on drugs. So then we began to blab and that was fun.

  Friday, May 25, 1984

  I called and screamed about that picture of Jean Michel in the Dolly Parton issue because it was so awful—cut in that arty way. And when I screamed Gael said Fred had done it, so I called and screamed at Fred and he said it was something that he’d done especially personally.

  Robert Hayes is still in the hospital. John Reinhold called him but Robert’s mother wouldn’t let John talk to him. He still had a temperature. His family’s been here for one and a half months. The hospital bill is going to be so big. I guess Blue Cross pays for 80 percent, but still. It must be like $500 a day.

  Saturday, May 26, 1984

  Got up early. Jean Michel called a couple of times. He calls at like 7 A.M. because he hasn’t gone to bed yet. He wanted to go to the Jackie Curtis wedding so I got myself together. Cabbed to St. Mark’s Church on Second Avenue ($9).