by Breanne Fahs
33. Maurice Girodias, letter to unknown recipient, undated, Mary Harron personal collection, Brooklyn, NY.
34. Valerie Solanas, letter to Maurice Girodias, January 5, 1970, Mary Harron personal collection, Brooklyn, NY.
35. Valerie Solanas, letter to Maurice Girodias, March 2, 1969, Mary Harron personal collection, Brooklyn, NY.
36. Solanas, letter to Girodias, March 2, 1969.
37. Girodias, interview by Harron, circa 1992.
38. LeGear, letter to Warhol, December 3, 1968.
39. LeGear, letter to Warhol, December 3, 1968.
40. Valerie Solanas, letter to Andy Warhol, September 20, 1968, Mary Harron personal collection, Brooklyn, NY.
41. Ultra Violet, interview by Fahs, April 17, 2012.
42. Valerie Solanas, letter to Andy Warhol, September 24, 1968, Andy Warhol Museum Archive, Pittsburgh, PA.
43. Solanas, letter to Warhol, September 24, 1968.
44. Valerie Solanas, letter to Andy Warhol, October 25, 1968, Andy Warhol Museum Archive, Pittsburgh, PA.
45. Robert Spoor, interview by Mary Harron, New York, circa 1992.
46. Tolchin, “Lawmakers Irate over Matteawan,” 1; Tomasson, “Ex-Mental Patient Given $300,000,” 49; Williams, “Matteawan”; “Petitions”; “Ex-Matteawan Patient Dies”; “Death Ends Woman’s Bid”; “2 Hospital Guards at Matteawan Held in Death of Patient.”
47. Ultra Violet, Famous for 15 Minutes, 212.
48. Warhol and Hackett, POPism, 361.
49. LeGear, letter to Warhol, December 3, 1968.
50. Watson, Factory Made, 395.
51. Judge Brust, letter to W. C. Johnston, M.D., December 9, 1968, Mary Harron personal collection, Brooklyn, NY.
52. The bail slip reads, “12/12/68, $10,000 cash (ten thousand), Geoffrey LeGear—1131 Lake Street, San Francisco, Calif, #150270.” See also Louis Zwiren, interview by Breanne Fahs, Phone, October 23, 2012.
53. Mead quote from “June 3, 1968.”
54. Goldsmith, I’ll Be Your Mirror, 96.
55. Newton, interview by Fahs, March 14, 2010.
56. Valerie Solanas, letter to Andy Warhol, December 21, 1968, Andy Warhol Museum Archive, Pittsburgh, PA.
57. Valerie Solanas, letter to Maurice Girodias, December 24, 1968 (letter 1), Andy Warhol Museum Archive, Pittsburgh, PA.
58. Valerie Solanas, letter to Maurice Girodias, December 24, 1968 (letter 2), Andy Warhol Museum Archive, Pittsburgh, PA.
59. Valerie Solanas, letter to Maurice Girodias, undated, Andy Warhol Museum Archive, Pittsburgh, PA.
60. Warhol and Hackett, POPism, 360; Ultra Violet, Famous for 15 Minutes, 187.
61. Feiden, interview by Fahs, March 15, 2010.
62. Paul Morrissey, as quoted in “June 3, 1968.”
63. Warhol and Hackett, POPism, 361.
64. Ultra Violet, Famous for 15 Minutes, 187.
65. Loschiavo, “From Activists and Authors“; Mead, “Setting It Straight.” The House of Detention also caused controversy in the Village when the area was gentrifying. The New School put in a bid to buy the building but later reneged on the deal. New York City officials decided to demolish the building and relocated its residents to Rikers Island. See “Creating Digital History.”
66. Davis, “Prison Memoirs.”
67. Jeffrey, “Feminist Icon Andrea Dworkin Dies.”
68. Kross, “Program for Women.”
69. Lorraine Miller, interview by Breanne Fahs, phone, May 23, 2013.
70. Lorraine Miller, interview by Mary Harron, New York, circa 1992.
71. Miller, interview by Harron, circa 1992; Miller, interview by Fahs, May 23, 2013.
72. Miller, interview by Fahs, May 23, 2013.
73. Dr. Emanuel Messinger, Psychological Report, Women’s House of Detention, January 17, 1969, Mary Harron personal collection, Brooklyn, NY.
74. Valerie Solanas indictment as covered by the Daily News, February 26, 1969.
75. Sternberg and Rubenstein, Psychological Report, May 28, 1969.
76. Maurice Girodias, letter to Valerie Solanas, April 28, 1969, Mary Harron personal collection, Brooklyn, NY.
77. “Warhol’s Assailant Gets Up to 3 Years.”
78. Gaither, “Andy Warhol’s Feminist Nightmare,” 35.
79. John Warhola, as quoted in Bockris, Life and Death of Andy Warhol, 1989 edition, 248.
80. “Warhol’s Assailant Gets up to 3 Years.”
81. Valerie Solanas, letter to Maurice Girodias, January 2, 1970, Andy Warhol Museum Archive, Pittsburgh, PA.
82. Valerie Solanas, letter to Maurice Girodias, April 26, 1969, Andy Warhol Museum Archive, Pittsburgh, PA.
83. Solanas, letter to Girodias, January 2, 1970.
84. Valerie Solanas, unpublished letter to Village Voice, April 5, 1969, included in Jonas Mekas, letter to Mary Harron, July 26, 1993, Mary Harron personal collection, Brooklyn, NY.
85. Official Prison Records, Bedford Hills Prison, Mary Harron personal collection, Brooklyn, NY. The Bedford Hills Prison was known as Westfield State Farm until 1901.
86. “Before Casey Anthony, There Was Alice Crimmins . . .”
87. Newton, interview by Fahs, March 10, 2011. Ti-Grace Atkinson noted the male composition of the jury. See Coutros, “Offbeat Artist/Producer.”
88. Valerie Solanas, letter to Louis Solanas, May 23, 1970, Breanne Fahs personal collection, Phoenix, AZ. The return address was “Beacon, New York” and the sender identified as “V. Solanas #13878.”
89. Thompson, interview by Harron, circa 1992.
90. Feiden, interview by Fahs, March 15, 2010.
91. Newton, interview by Fahs, March 14, 2010. Despite its name, the Brooklyn Commune was located in Manhattan, perhaps at 186 Spring Street. It later became a gay commune, known for its early organizing around gay and lesbian rights in New York City. See Andrew Berman, letter to Robert Tierney, July 16, 2012, Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation Archive, New York.
92. Diaman, “The Baltic Street Collective,” 241.
93. Spottiswood, interview by Mary Harron, circa 1992.
94. “Newborn Baby Girl Is Found in a Welfare Hotel’s Garbage.” The building is now a boutique hotel called the Gem.
95. Newton, letter to Harron, June 25, 1993.
96. Valerie Solanas, letter to the Mob, August 1, 1971, Mary Harron personal collection, Brooklyn, NY.
97. Mark Zussman, letter to Ultra Violet, November 24, 1987, Ultra Violet personal collection, New York.
98. Fred Jordan, Memo to Grove Press, November 2, 1971; November 3, 1971, both Mary Harron personal collection, Brooklyn, NY.
99. Shad Polier, Memo to Naomi Goldstein and the Criminal Court Clinic of New York City, November 9, 1971, Mary Harron personal collection, Brooklyn, NY.
100. Shad Polier, letter to Fred Jordan and Barney Rosset, January 6, 1972, Mary Harron personal collection, Brooklyn, NY. Valerie was originally sent to Matteawan by the corrections department. After three years, she was discharged from the corrections department but she seemed to need involuntary psychiatric care, so she was placed in the custody of the mental health department in 1971. Once they felt she was no longer dangerous, they subsequently discharged her, but she got involved with the criminal court system again based on aggravated assault. This is detailed in Spoor, interview by Harron, circa 1992.
101. Valerie Solanas, letter to Barney Rosset, January 15, 1973, Mary Harron personal collection, Brooklyn, NY.
102. Fred Jordan, interview by Mary Harron, New York, circa 1992.
103. Pinkertons Agency, memo to Fred Jordan and Barney Rosset, February 23, 1973, Mary Harron personal collection, Brooklyn, NY. This memo detailed the call on February 23, 1973 at 10:15 a.m. from Valerie Solanas to Fred Jordan. The interviews and their result are in Pinkertons Agency, memo to Fred Jordan and Barney Rosset, February 15, 1973, Mary Harron personal collection, Brooklyn, NY.
104. Valerie Solanas, letter to Barney Rosset, March 3, 1973, Ultra Violet personal collection,
New York.
105. Valerie Solanas, letter to Barney Rosset and Fred Jordan, March 5, 1973, Mary Harron personal collection, Brooklyn, NY.
106. Valerie Solanas, letter to Barney Rosset and Fred Jordan, March 27, 1973, Mary Harron personal collection, Brooklyn, NY.
107. Valerie Solanas, letter to the Mob (aka Fred Jordan and Barney Rosset), March 23, 1973, Mary Harron personal collection, Brooklyn, NY. Further dates are in the text.
108. Jordan, interview by Harron, circa 1992.
109. Majority Report 5 (April 2–15, 1977); 6, no. 21 (February 19–March 4, 1977). See also Valerie Solanas, unpublished letter to the editor of Esquire, July 1973, 80–81.
110. Harron and Minahan, introduction to I Shot Andy Warhol, xxviii.
111. Louis Zwiren, as quoted in Smith, “The History of Zines.”
112. Newton, interview by Harron, circa 1994.
113. Newton, interview by Fahs, March 14, 2010.
114. Newton, interview by Fahs, March 14, 2010.
115. Andy Warhol, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol, 91.
116. Andy Warhol, as quoted in “Alive & Well,” 37.
117. Ultra Violet, Famous for 15 Minutes, 182.
118. Warhol, interview by Mary Harron for Melody Maker Magazine, February 16, 1980.
119. Leonard, “Return of Andy Warhol.”
120. Warhol and Hackett, POPism, 358.
121. Guiles, Loner at the Ball, 355.
122. Leonard, “Return of Andy Warhol.”
123. “Andy, FAQ”; Boorstin, “Hospital Asserts It Gave Warhol Adequate Care”; Sullivan, “Care Faulted in Death of Warhol.”
124. Ultra Violet, interview by Fahs, April 17, 2012.
125. Warhol and Hackett, POPism, 352.
126. Newton, interview by Fahs, March 14, 2010.
127. Andy Warhol, directed by Burns.
128. Warhol, interview by Fiona Russell; Harron and Minahan, introduction to I Shot Andy Warhol, xxix.
FORGETTING
1. Harron and Minahan, introduction to I Shot Andy Warhol, xxviii.
2. Doyle, Sex Objects, 73.
3. Gornick, “Manifesto Destiny,” 70.
4. Gornick, “Manifesto Destiny,” 70.
5. Vivian Gornick, interview by Breanne Fahs, New York, April 9, 2011.
6. Gornick, interview by Harron, circa 1992.
7. Densmore, interview by Fahs, October 24, 2009.
8. “Faded Ad.”
9. Zwiren, interview by Fahs, October 23, 2012.
10. Smith, “To Live with a Man.” See also Zwiren, interview by Fahs, October 23, 2012.
11. Zwiren, interview by Fahs, October 23, 2012.
12. Zwiren, interview by Fahs, October 23, 2012.
13. Smith, “To Live with a Man.”
14. Zwiren, interview by Fahs, October 23, 2012.
15. See Baer, “About Valerie Solanas.” This is also mentioned in Zwiren, interview by Fahs, October 23, 2012. A memo from the medical records department to Ultra Violet dated December 4, 1987, confirmed that her records had been destroyed and also confirmed her admission and discharge dates.
16. Dunbar-Ortiz, interview by Fahs, December 11, 2008; Zwiren, interview by Fahs, October 23, 2012.
17. Zwiren, interview by Fahs, October 23, 2012.
18. Dunbar-Ortiz, interview by Fahs, December 11, 2008.
19. Zwiren, interview by Fahs, October 23, 2012.
20. Wilma Kuhn, letter to Ultra Violet, December 2, 1987, Ultra Violet personal collection, New York.
21. Zwiren, interview by Fahs, October 23, 2012.
22. Firestone, “I Remember Valerie,” 130–31.
23. Zwiren, interview by Fahs, October 23, 2012.
24. Caputi, interview by Fahs, November 15, 2009.
25. Porges, “Vaginal Hysterectomy at Bellevue.”
26. Caputi, interview by Fahs, November 15, 2009.
27. Gaither, “Andy Warhol’s Feminist Nightmare,” 35.
28. Valerie’s April 1976 letter was mentioned in Majority Report 6 (April 2–15, 1977). “Nancy Borman, who had been involved editorially with the publication since its inception, seemed to provide guidance and consistency throughout the magazine’s decade of transitions with its publishing groups and editorial office locations. Borman was an outspoken member of the New York chapter of the National Organization for Women. It was to her in Jamaica, New York, that correspondence was forwarded when the collective was in transition. Her name appears on the cover of the first issue as one of the ‘sisters who contributed to and helped produce Majority Report,’ the mainstream press identified her as editor when she represented the publication, and she is listed as the publisher during the last year of its operation.” See Endres and Lueck, Women’s Periodicals, 196.
29. Nancy Borman, interview by Mary Harron, New York, circa 1992. Further quotes from Borman are from this interview.
30. Ti-Grace Atkinson, interview by Mary Harron, New York, circa 1992.
31. Julia Mauldin, interview by Mary Harron, New York, circa 1992. The transcriber for this interview was not sure about the spelling of Julia’s name.
32. Joanne Steele, interview by Mary Harron, New York, circa 1992.
33. This copy of SCUM Manifesto is currently held in the New York Public Library Archives.
34. Majority Report 6 (November 27–December 10, 1976). Further citations to Majority Report appear in the text by volume number and date. When asked why Valerie suddenly appeared on the scene to comment on the C.L.I.T. papers, she responded, “It occurred when it did, because I was around, i.e., in circulation, making statements for people to pick up on. Until shortly before then I wasn’t around,” see Majority Report 6 (April 2–15, 1977). Unless otherwise stated, all Majority Report references are from Ti-Grace Atkinson personal collection, Cambridge, MA.
35. Controversies about whether Valerie invented Carolyn or whether she actually existed appeared in several subsequent issues of Majority Report, including vii, no.4; In my opinion, the “voice” of Carolyn eerily mimics Valerie’s tone, style, and rhythm, not to mention humor and the unique qualities of her narcissism.
36. Jo’s bitterness over these words remained in 2010, when she told me, “I wrote the Bitch Manifesto and she wrote the SCUM Manifesto. I think a manifestation of her craziness is that she would see the use of our similar word of the title as somehow a rip off. That’s how crazy she was. If anything, I ripped off the Communist Manifesto and so did she” (October 24, 2010).
37. Freeman, interview by Fahs, October 14, 2010.
38. Borman, interview by Harron, circa 1992.
39. Steele, interview by Harron, circa 1992.
40. Advertisement for SCUM Manifesto placed in Majority Report 7 (1977).
41. Advertisement for SCUM Manifesto placed in Majority Report 7 (May 28–June 10, 1977), Redstockings Women’s Liberation Archives for Action, Gainesville, FL.
42. Valerie Solanas, postcard to Mark Zussman, August 9, 1977, Stephen Edelson Collection, Chicago. Mark Zussman loathed Valerie, telling Howard Smith, “Actually, I’m for putting both Sam [“Son of Sam”] and Valerie away—rather than turning them into folk heroes. I’m henceforth going to make an effort to be amused by psychopaths only when they’re behind bars and under sedation.” Mark Zussman, letter to Howard Smith, August 4, 1977, Dobkin Collection, New York.
43. Valerie Solanas, postcard to the Mob (Mark Zussman), August 1, 1977,; see also Valerie Solanas, letter to the Mob (Mark Zussman), August 1, 1977, both in Dobkin Collection, New York.
44. Solanas, letter to the Mob (Zussman), August 1, 1977.
45. Valerie Solanas, letter to the Mob, September 5, 1977, Dobkin Collection, New York.
46. Valerie Solanas, letter to the Mob, September 2, 1977, Ultra Violet personal collection, New York.
47. Smith, DWAN supplement no. 3, 1.
48. Steele, interview by Harron, circa 1992.
49. Michael Chance, interview by Mary Harron, New York, circa 1992.
50. Chance, in
terview by Harron, circa 1992.
51. Borman, interview by Harron, circa 1992.
52. Smith and Van der Horst, “Valerie Solanas Interview,” 32. Unless stated otherwise, all quotes from the interview are from this source and this page. Howard Smith had an interest in Valerie, perhaps in part because of his lifelong interest in mood disorders. In the early 1990s, he joined the board and became the chair of the Mood Disorders Support Group, a New York organization that helps those with depression and mania (www.mdsg.org).
53. Howard Smith, “Interview Roughs for Valerie Solanas Interview,” July 29, 1977, Dobkin Collection, New York, 2–3.
54. “Valerie Solanas Replies,” Village Voice, August 1, 1977, 28.
55. Smith, “Interview Roughs,” 4.
56. Dunn, “Valerie Charges Back.”
57. Valerie Solanas, letter to Mark Zussman, July 9, 1977, Ultra Violet personal collection, New York; see also Solanas, letter to the Mob (Zussman), August 1, 1977.
58. Valerie Solanas, letter to the Mob, September 22, 1977, Ultra Violet personal collection, New York. In the letter she included Schröder’s address: Marz Verlag, Van Deelen Film Verlag, Am Altenroth 8, D-6406 Hosenfeld 3, West Germany.
59. Valerie Solanas, letter to Mr. Ryan, August 4, 1977, Dobkin Collection, New York.
60. “Valerie Solanas Replies,” 28.
61. Dunn, “Valerie Charges Back.”
62. Steele, interview by Harron, circa 1992.
63. Zwiren, interview by Fahs, October 23, 2012.
64. Steele, interview by Harron, circa 1992.
65. Mary Harron, interview by Donny Smith, “Solanas Supplement,” DWAN no. 2, May 1997.
66. Zwiren, as quoted in Smith, “To Live with a Man.” See also Zwiren, interview by Fahs, October 23, 2012.
67. Zwiren, as quoted in Smith, “To Live with a Man.”
68. Zwiren, as quoted in Smith, “To Live with a Man.”
69. Zwiren, as quoted in Smith, “To Live with a Man.”
70. Zwiren, as quoted in Smith, “To Live with a Man.”
71. Zwiren, DWAN Solanas Supplement 3, 30.
72. Zwiren, interview by Fahs, October 23, 2012.
73. Zwiren, as quoted in Smith, “To Live with a Man.”
74. Firestone, “I Remember Valerie,” 132.
75. Gaither, “Andy Warhol’s Feminist Nightmare,” 35.