The Andy Warhol Diaries

by Andy Warhol

  Thursday, October 10, 1985

  Yesterday was the day for reading all about Yul Brynner, they made him sound so big. And then late in the day the news was that Orson Welles had died, and they were putting them up as if they were both equal. Oh, but it was such a pleasure to meet Orson Welles before he died. He was really great. I don’t mean his movies, I mean him.

  All the governments were just lying so much about the Achille Lauro thing yesterday. If I were the Klinghoffers I’d just go to the trial and shoot them, the four of them. I wouldn’t be able to get off four shots in a courtroom, but then I’d just get one. I wouldn’t care which one. One would be enough. I know, I know—yesterday I was so worried about killing a cockroach. But this is different—the cockroach didn’t do anything to anybody, and I didn’t kill it right so it was squirming and it was so big, it’d lived to be so big. Oh, listen, there’s going to be a war. Let’s stockpile things. Silk stockings. Candy bars (cab $4.30, phone $1.50, newspapers $2).

  The Coleco Cabbage Patch guy came by. And he didn’t like the paintings of Cabbage Patch dolls I did, but he’s paying anyway. And we were talking and he said that Peter Max was his inspiration, that he used to be an illustrator and now he’s an executive. He proposed that he do an Andy Warhol line of clothing with me and that we could both make lots of money. He said that his computer had told him that I was the most famous living artist. I told him I knew a person who was ready to go with clothes, Stephen Sprouse. He’d never heard of him. And I told him about Keith Haring and the T-shirts and Keith’s store, and he’d never heard of him, either.

  Oh, and everybody’s talking about The Love Boat. The ad for it in TV Guide only shows the Mermaid Dancers, not me. Why didn’t they get me on the cover?

  Friday,October 11, 1985

  Milan the partygiver called and said he’d organized a dinner for the crown prince of Belgium at Tuileries, and that the crown prince wanted to meet Mick Jagger, and Fred happened to be talking to Mick on the phone and Mick said he’d go. Worked till 8:30 (cab $5). The crown prince didn’t open his mouth, he was so boring. Dinner was awful, and everybody was all coked up. They started talking about “millions” of photographers outside and spent about two hours deciding how to get out of the place, and it was just Ron Galella! When you’re not high you can’t believe these people. If you didn’t know they were on something and you heard the way they were talking, you’d think it was something real.

  Then we went to the Palladium, a Film Festival party. A girl was trying to take me home in her limo, but I didn’t go because it would be one more person to know and then I’d have to see her. Got home about 2:30 or 3:00.

  Sunday,October 13, 1985

  Went to Sotheby’s and they had my painting of Ten Lizzes up. It was a preview of an auction coming up. They’d cut this one down a lot, I guess they stretched it to make it “look good.” They’ll have other paintings of mine in it—$200,000 or $300,000 pictures. The Liz is $400,000. They’re all from Philippa and Heiner Friedrich, from their Dia Foundation. Ran into a lot of old ladies who said they saw me on The Love Boat.

  And then I walked home and called that kid Stephen Bluttal from MOMA who invited me to the closing night of the Lincoln Center Film Festival (cab $3). And the movie at the Film Festival was five stories hung together by a bird with a bell on it. And it was in Italy in those beautiful empty towns they find to film in.

  Monday,October 14, 1985

  Tama had another date with Dr. Bernsohn and I asked Paige what happened and she said she didn’t think they hit it off. There’s another blind-date night next week. And they have a construction owner and a doctor for me, and I decided I don’t really want to meet anybody, it’s just fun doing it for them, being Gramps and seeing the kids have a good time.

  And oh, I really missed Jean Michel so much yesterday. I called him up and either he was being distant or he was high. I told him I missed him a lot. He sees a lot of Jennifer Goode, and I guess when they break up he’ll be available again.

  And oh, for Paige’s next blind date, I said I’ve got a 6’3” black instructor from Lidija’s gym for her and she said that wasn’t “marriage material.” So I don’t know. He’s straight. Although he came from (laughs) Dmitri Fashions. But he says he’s not gay and you have to believe people, don’t you?

  When I was walking home I passed all the security people that still guard the Nixon house on 65th Street. I thought he’d sold it. And there were policemen nearby, and policemen always know me, so I would have asked them who lived in this house now that they were still guarding it, but then they would write it down that I asked, so I didn’t.

  Tuesday,October 15, 1985

  Went to Sotheby’s. It’s so awful, you see people pulling up the upholstery on chairs there and everything, just ripping it up, and you’re allowed to, to check to see things like if it’s the original American wood all through it. It’s so nutty.

  Then cabbed to meet Paige at the office ($5, newspapers $2, phone $1.50). And Paige and I had a big scene about these chocolates that this Neuchatel chocolate woman brought down. I mean, Paige is just absolutely a weirdo. I had a talk with Fred and he says it’s not good to be so involved with people from the office, and maybe he’s right, because I see one side, but then there’s other sides.

  So this woman brings down all this chocolate, and Paige has been telling her how much everyone there loves chocolate, and Paige won’t even have one piece! And I’m saying, “Paige, have a piece,” and she’s shrieking and laughing hysterically and absolutely refusing, and finally I ate lots of pieces but nobody else would. Here this woman’s an advertiser and it’s all these secret chocolate-eaters and they won’t touch one piece! So finally I took all the chocolate upstairs and then Paige came and wanted some and I refused to give it to her.

  And I finally read a Xerox of Tama’s story from The New Yorker and it was fun reading all about what life was like living with Ronnie—she calls him “Stash” in the story—and she made herself “Eleanor,” and not a writer but a jewelry designer.

  And none of the people that I’m with a lot now drink or anything. Wilfredo doesn’t drink and Paige doesn’t. And last night PH reminded me about how I used to put people down for not drinking, that I’d say, “They think they’re too good to drink,” and it’s true, I did used to feel that way, but when you don’t drink yourself, you sure see things differently.

  Thursday, October 17, 1985

  Called Rupert early in the morning and got his “wife” on the phone and I’m going to tell Rupert he’s really got to get rid of him. I can just see the whole thing—he’ll want a house and a dog and a car in a settlement. I mean, this is a real nag. But when you tell people, they don’t listen to anything when they’re in love. Instead they go tell the person you’re talking about what you said. It’s human nature. They’re in love and they don’t see it and they blab.

  Vincent said the Times was going to write about our TV show, Fifteen Minutes. And it got a great review in the Voice this week.

  Went over to the Forbes boat for the annual benefit for Jonas Mekas’s archives. Jonas bought a new building. I saw him and he laughed and said his horoscope had said don’t buy real estate and he bought it for $50,000 and now it’s worth a million. I don’t know why these Hollywood people don’t give Jonas prints of just everything. He’s one of the only people who still really cares. They should just give him things. I can’t believe that Hollywood doesn’t even have one film museum. It’s just disgusting. You’d think they could at least do that. And Shirley Clark was there looking the same as she did fifty years ago.

  And the returns came in—the Stallone issue of Interview was our biggest seller ever.

  Saturday,October 19, 1985

  I got a cab downtown ($5.50) to meet Vincent who had opened up and his mother who’s in town for a visit for two weeks from California and then after she leaves his father’s coming. And you can’t believe how energetic she is. She says she’s my age, but she looks like sh
e could be Vincent’s sister. And she does beautiful paintings, really tight, good stuff. She wants to be the new Alice Neel. I guess she saw her on some TV show.

  Ran into that artist Bill Katz who raved about the show of Jean Michel and me at Tony Shafrazi’s. It was coming down this weekend. Jean Michel was getting all the good press, not me. And Tony’s not too happy, I guess he didn’t sell many. They were expensive—$40,000 or $50,000. It was too early, I think. I’m hanging on to my Piss paintings.

  Sunday,October 20, 1985

  It’s the fortieth anniversary of the U.N. and I think Mrs. Marcos is in town. It’s getting so scary in the Philippines. Some papers say the Marcoses are buying up everything in the U.S., but that could be not true, the papers can lie. Our government must want them out, though. Like the U.S. must have wanted the Shah to fall. But let’s see, did we want to lose in Vietnam? No, but after everything that’s in the papers this week, I guess the Kennedys were just too busy having an affair with Marilyn to worry about Vietnam.

  Monday,October 21, 1985

  I called Keith and he couldn’t come down, but he invited us down, he had George Condo, the artist, working there. Bruno’s just signed him and it turns out this “poor artist” has a room under Nick Rhodes now at the Ritz Carlton—Bruno bought all of his paintings! Like 300 (cab $5)!

  Wednesday,October 23, 1985

  We’re calling in Europe to try to locate the Mao that Mr. Chow wants, and it’s a solid sale if we can find it, but it’s one of the paintings Leo loaned out that was never sent back. My deal with Leo now is that if he sells something he gets a commission. But he’s never worked to get my prices up. I don’t know, I guess Roy and Jasper keep the gallery going. He could’ve had that show of Jean Michel’s and mine, but he didn’t want the paintings. Tony Shafrazi was the one who really wanted them.

  Thursday, October 24, 1985

  Cabbed to the Palladium for Debbie Harry’s party ($6) for her song that Jellybean produced, “Feel the Spin.” When Debbie arrived, she saw us in the balcony and came up there because she thought it was the place to (laughs) be, and then it was the place to be because all the photographers came after her. She looks great. Debbie actually was the first Madonna.

  Friday,October 25, 1985

  That receptionist Gael just hired, for the second time when I called she didn’t know who I was, and she should be fired immediately (telephone $2, taxis $3, $4).

  Saturday,October 26, 1985

  Keith Haring was having an opening, so cabbed to the gallery (cab $4). Keith said that when they had walked into the gallery earlier he was with his mother and Joey Dietrich—I guess it must have been around noon—and two white kids threw tar and feathers at them and the only one who got hit was Joey. And we were trying to figure out what that meant—tar and feathers. When do you do that and what kind of person would do that? What was the message?

  Oh, and the tabloids say that there’s a big TV producer who’s got AIDS and who could it be? I’m telling you, I don’t want to know anybody ever in my life. It’s so much better just going to dinner. There’s different ways to have fun, different kinds of people to have fun with. I don’t need romance.

  Monday,October 28, 1985

  Puttered around, went over to the West Side (cab $4). Got a free lesson on how to stand on my toes from this lady called Ann Marie who Dr. Li wants me to take lessons from on alignment, $75 a lesson. But I just can’t see it. She’s fifty-five trying to look thirteen. Like me. It’s just paying someone to care about you. Got a cab (cab $5.50, newspapers $2, phone $2).

  Went to the office. I was nervous about going down to the book signing at B. Dalton’s on 8th Street and Sixth Avenue after what happened to Keith on Saturday.

  And I’m having a very hard time sending that $10,000 back to Sandy Gallin. I keep losing the address.

  Cabbed to B. Dalton’s ($5). It wasn’t a big, shoving crowd, it was orderly the whole time, a long spaghetti line that lasted for two and a half hours and we sold 150 books, and Craig Nelson from Harper & Row was acting like a star. Chris Makos came by and he was impressed with my popularity. And Christopher was looking at the America book and saying, “Oh God, half these pictures were taken in Europe!” (laughs) And he was so right! And it was so nice to hear him putting down Craig. I enjoyed it. And the book costs $16.95 and there was a 10 percent discount and one girl bought six copies and I had to sign long things for her like, “Dear Harry, I hope you have a good season in the Adirondacks….”

  I’ve been forgetting to say that the new “Disco” installation at Area has me and Diana Vreeland waiting to get into Studio 54. It’s funny.

  Tuesday,October 29, 1985

  I broke something and realized I should break something once a week to remind me how fragile life is. It was a good plastic ring from the twenties. I walked on Madison and it was cold in the shade and warm in the sun. I had on the coat that Marina gave me which I love, the Calvin Klein one with the hood, but the pockets aren’t useful. They’re so big but the way they’re made, everything slips out. Walked all the way down to the office and the sun was so bright in people’s eyes that I didn’t get recognized a lot. Fred is coming back from L.A.

  And Craig Nelson called a few times, I’m hating him so much that I think I’ll take Christopher with me to some of the cities I have to do the book tour in just to drive Craig crazy.

  I read in “Suzy” about the Kluge party that I missed in Virginia, everyone went to it. I just didn’t want to break my rut, but boy I should have—it was every portrait I should ever be doing.

  And Paul Morrissey’s movie Mixed Blood is still packing them in, they say. We got the rights to Trash back from Cinema 5, and it’s funny, we have to go someplace and physically pick them up.

  And my big Mao painting is still lost somewhere in Europe, they think Nice. It’s Leo’s fault. And Leo is getting as bad as Huntington Hartford—they say he just says yes to any girl who asks him for anything.

  Wednesday,October 30, 1985

  I guess I can’t put off talking about it any longer.

  [NOTE: For days Andy postponed giving the Diary his account of this day. Finally, on November 2, he did.]

  Okay, let’s get it over with. Wednesday. The day my biggest nightmare came true.

  The day started with Benjamin not picking me up (phone $2, magazines $2). I didn’t go to the Matsuda fashion show. I’m just going to talk through this quickly because otherwise I can’t face it.

  Nobody from the office would go with me to the Rizzoli Bookstore in Soho, but Rupert’s old assistant Bernard had stopped by to visit and he said he would. Rupert dropped us off. The store is long and the signing was on the second floor in the balcony.

  I’d been signing America books for an hour or so when this girl in line handed me hers to sign and then she—did what she did. The Diary can write itself here.

  [She pulled Andy’s wig off and threw it over the balcony to a male who ran out of the store with it. Bernard held the female while the store called the police but Andy declined to press charges. The staff at Rizzoli asked him if he’d like to stop, but there were people with books still waiting so he said no, that he would finish. The Calvin Klein coat he was wearing had a hood, so he pulled it up over his head and kept signing.]

  I don’t know what held me back from pushing her over the balcony. She was so pretty and well-dressed. I guess I called her a bitch or something and asked how she could do it. But it’s okay, I don’t care—if a picture gets published, it does. There were so many people with cameras. Maybe it’ll be the cover of Details, I don’t know. If I would’ve hit the girl or something then I would’ve been wrong and there would be lawsuits and everything. It’s getting violent out there again, like the sixties. I usually stand up at those things but there I was sitting down and people were above me and the setup was all wrong and I was so worn out and hating Craig Nelson and I wasn’t fast enough and it just happened so fast and Bernard was really sweet. But you know, you’re in this place an
d everybody’s being so nice and you don’t think anything will happen. She was really pretty, a nice-looking well-dressed girl. They had her cornered for a while and then they let her go. It was too unusual. I guess these people had gone around telling everybody they were going to do it, because a lot of people later said they’d heard things. It was so shocking. It hurt. Physically. And it hurt that nobody had warned me.

  And I had just gotten another magic crystal which is supposed to protect me and keep things like this from happening. So I was too nerve-racked, it was like in a movie. I signed for one and a half hours more I guess, pretending that it didn’t mean anything, and eventually it doesn’t. You have to live with it. It was like getting shot again, it wasn’t real. I was just the comedian there, pleasing the people. And it was so close to Halloween. Then Bernard dropped me and I gave him $10.

  And I got home and had two English muffins with margarine which isn’t so good, and garlic, and two cups of tea and carrot juice and I tried the Campbell’s dry soup. It was good. And no accessories in it.