The Andy Warhol Diaries

by Andy Warhol

  Liz Taylor and Halston sat behind us, Sammy Davis was in front of us with his wife, Altovise. Liza was on for the whole show. The Halston clothes were beautiful, they really were. I asked Halston to make me up a black sequined tuxedo with light blue shoes, too. It was so beautiful, the boy suit. Everything was sequins in all different colors. Liza’s lost a lot of weight.

  Martin Scorsese’s parents were saying hello to me. He directed The Act. Victor was putting down the clothes saying there was nothing creative about them, which surprised me, that he would put down Halston’s stuff. But he’s into punk now. When the show finished, people were doing the “bravo” thing. Sammy Davis was standing up doing that.

  Liz Taylor yelled at me for leaving Diana alone. She was glaring at me for some reason, giving me that look like she’d scratch my eyes out. And Liza came over and was kissing Liz so much for the photographers that I didn’t talk to her. She and Jack Haley weren’t accepted into River House yet, so they’re at the Park Lane Hotel. Jack Haley was sweet, he told me that Liza may want a portrait.

  We dropped off Diana and then Victor and I went over to Studio 54 ($4). It was jammed with beautiful people. Now Studio 54 has its liquor license. Stevie took me over to meet Vladimir Horowitz and his wife who’s the daughter of Toscanini. He was thrilled to be there, in his seventies about, but chipper, but when he got up he tripped. I wanted to get out of Studio 54 because there were so many beauties trying to get my phone number and I was inviting everybody down to the office, so I had to leave.

  Sunday, October 30, 1977

  At Elaine’s Stevie Rubell told me he’s very rich, but that all his money’s in assets or hidden away. People on drugs, you think they don’t notice things, but they notice everything: Elaine had new menus and Stevie noticed the new prices right away. I only noticed because it was clean.

  Oh, and after he confessed how rich he was, he started to worry that I only liked him for his money, and I mean, what can I say?

  Monday, October 31, 1977

  This week’s New York has a big article about Stevie in it by Dan Dorfman. It said that he has $25 million and dirty fingernails—which isn’t true at all, they’re not dirty—and in it Stevie called Nan Kempner a “pisser,” and Joe Armstrong, the editor, told me that she’s already called up the magazine to ask, “What’s a pisser?”

  There was a Halloween party at Studio 54, Stevie kept giving me more drinks and then somebody shoved a Quaalude in my mouth and I was going to shove it to the side but it got stuck and then I drank vodka and it went down and that was a big mistake. My diamond choker was pinching my neck—I hate jewelry. How do ladies wear it? It’s so uncomfortable. I went home by cab and got in around 6:30 somehow. My boyfriend Peter came up and found me with my boyfriend Danny so I introduced them as my boyfriends and that got them interested in each other so they went off together.

  Tuesday, November 1, 1977

  Actually slept through PH’s call. Woke up at noon when Jed came in to shake me. The nightlife is taking its toll.

  Kevin Goodspeed called from San Francisco. There were about fifteen really important calls that I never called back. Lucie and Desi Arnaz, Jr. called—I’d seen them at a party the other night—and I haven’t returned their call yet.

  I dropped Catherine (cab $4). I think she’s having a secret affair because she’s always busy now.

  Wednesday, November 2, 1977

  In the morning I didn’t feel so well so I went over to see Doc Cox and got the surprising news that for the first time ever my blood pressure was up from seventy-eight to ninety-seven. But I don’t know what that means. The nurse didn’t seem upset.

  Friday, November 4, 1977—New York—Los Angeles

  There was a problem with the plane to LA—it was stuck on the runway for three hours. Victor was also on the plane going out to California for a couple of weeks, but he was back in tourist. I read John Kobal’s Rita Hayworth book and loved it.

  Cab to Century City to meet Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. His manager was good-looking and had a bull’s hat, like a cowboy hat but 100 times bigger. Kareem was so big, I could walk through his legs. He was fun and he was easy to photograph, the way I guess Negroes are. Everybody always forgets the ball, though, and somebody had to go get one.

  Went to the Beverly Wilshire. They were going to put me in the old part but I wanted the new. Called New York. Nelson Lyon called. Don Simon whose wife is dying of cancer in Texas called, and Fred invited him for dinner.

  Went over to the Polo Lounge.

  Saturday, November 5, 1977—Los Angeles—New York

  Victor called and he was on an acid trip. I asked him how he could take acid. Don Simon called to say he had a lot of fun the night before. We ran into Marisa in front of the hotel, and she’s going to have her baby in two weeks. She’s going to do The Vivien Leigh Story but I don’t know how she’s going to do it—she can’t act. I mean, they went through so much to get a good actress for Gone with the Wind and then now they’re having Marisa play her?

  Then as we were waiting, trying to get a cab to the airport, a whole big limo filled with Vuitton luggage pulled up and a person with dark glasses was in it. It was Francesco Scavullo, and he gave us a ride.

  Sunday, November 6, 1977

  David Bourdon called to say that Valerie Solanis had just called him, so she’s still around town. He said she wanted the address of someone who had put her S.C.U.M. Manifesto into their book on women’s lib, she wanted to shoot them or sue them or something. Victor called from California, not quite over his acid trip. He wants to stay out there, I told him he’d be wanting to come back soon.

  When I got to the Iranian embassy (cab $2.50) it was full of movie directors and producers— Elia Kazan, Elliot Kastner, Milos Forman, Lester Persky, Barbara Loden—thirty or forty people.

  Ambassador Hoveyda said we should do Polaroids right then for the portrait of Princess Ashraf, and get it over with, so we went into a room. It was so easy. The Iranians have the best plastic surgeons in the world and every picture—if you keep it very white—comes out great. The princess said they’ve seen and done everything in town—every movie, every play, even Outrageous. Dinner was great, the best ever there. The princess ate a lot, but the queen when she was there didn’t eat much at all, maybe because she was afraid of poisonings, although the food is pre-tasted. Then everyone went upstairs and in barged Barry Landau with Margaret Trudeau. He got in by saying he was my very best closest dearest friend. But it worked out fine. And Bella Abzug and her husband Martin came with Shirley MacLaine. Milos, who I really like, offered Margaret a part in Ragtime as Evelyn Nesbit, but she’d have to go nude, he said, and she’s thinking about it. I told Milos that I wanted a part in Hair and he said that if Margaret and I were in Central Park tomorrow morning at 9:00 we could have bit parts. I told him I wanted to be in Ragtime, too.

  Monday, November 7, 1977

  Raining very hard. It was a bad day, “family” problems. Jed came by the office and was in the back in my working area and when he saw the stacks of Polaroids of all the “landscapes” I photographed for the Shadow paintings—all the closeups of cocks and things—he began screaming that I had degenerated so low to be spending my time that way and he left, really upset, and it ruined my afternoon.

  Oh something I forgot to tell the Diary! Somebody told us Jack Haley was a fag! Oh I wish I could remember who it was who told us! I thought Liza had married a real man. He doesn’t seem gay, I was shocked. I don’t think it’s true, though. I really don’t.

  Anyway, I was upset about Jed being upset so I decided to treat myself to junk food and gave Ronnie money to go out for tea from McDonald’s for him and Chris Makos and Bobby Huston ($10). We sat on the couch by the window in the conference room with the pouring rain talking through tea about the movie Bobby Huston is writing that I assigned about kids who commit suicide. Rupert came and helped me work. Barry Landau called. I called Jed and he hung up on me. Then we all left the office and a wonderful thing happened
: the rain was so penetrating you were soaked in two feet’s walk. It felt so exciting!

  Later, at the Studio 54 party for Diane de Beauvau, Diane’s name was up in lights. And I went over and screamed at Jay Johnson and Tom Cashin for not telling Jed the things I asked them to to calm him down. So I screamed and didn’t have a good time. Chris Makos and Bobby Huston were there, and Robert Hayes saw Christopher and left, said he didn’t want to run into him. They live together but they fight. Christopher said he hadn’t had sex for three days so he was laughing and trying to rip Bobby Huston’s clothes off. I didn’t have my camera, I wasn’t in the mood. Then I went home and took the dogs out and they wouldn’t pee.

  Tuesday, November 8, 1977

  Richard Weisman came down and he had just gotten back from the Ken Norton fight. He was in a nervous mood, and when he saw that I was doing a new style of painting he got upset, he didn’t like it that I did the Chrissie Evert in lots of little pictures instead of the big ones, but then he saw that the Newsweek girl who was there interviewing me loved it, so then he kept calling me back all day to say he was sorry.

  At Richard’s party later for Vitas Gerulaitis Margaret Trudeau was there with two girlfriends from Canada. One was just divorced and she had three kids and she was fat and big and looked older than Margaret because she was fatter, and she decided to put the make on me—she came over and put her hands on her hips and gave me the best lines, I mean, you really could fall for it! Nobody’s ever said anything like it to me, just the right thing, something like: “You are so much more than I ever expected!” I told her that Margaret should go back to her husband and go into politics and she was thrilled to hear that, that’s what she thinks. She had a beautiful stole on, in that deep purple color—“aubergine,” is it? They always say it in the fashion shows and I never know what it is.

  Lacey Neuhaus was there with François de Menil and she said that she just met the number-one cowboy in the world and she was going to interview him for Interview. Frank Gifford was there with a woman, maybe his girlfriend, maybe his wife—she had so much makeup on, lots of white all over her face and lots of eyeliner, but very beautiful. He loved his painting. The owner of the Giants was there.

  Wednesday, November 9, 1977

  I forgot to say that one of these late nights, I watched the Tom Snyder show. He had Roy Cohn on. Roy Cohn is now Stevie Rubell’s lawyer. Also Carmine Galante’s. He was incredible, such a creep. He was saying Archie Bunker things like “If I could get my hands on the Son of Sam I’d kill him myself” and talking about the “reds,” and this crazy-looking person goes into courtrooms, he looks like such a creep. You could just imagine him like down at the Anvil in black leather, he would look so perfect. I bet he does go to those places. He would. Or maybe he’s just the opposite. Yeah, he’s probably just the opposite—he wears dresses. But the things he was saying, like “Put everybody in the chair”—it was like hearing Paul Morrissey talk…. Yeah, they asked him how he could defend Mafia people since he’s so concerned about everything, and it was that “rights” thing. It always is, you know—“They have a right to say they’re not Mafia and to be defended.”

  I was the centerfold of the Post, a photo in front of the Sports paintings with a text by Jerry Tallmer. But I keep saying the wrong things. I said that athletes were better than movie stars and I don’t know what I’m talking about because athletes are all the new movie stars. And here we’re getting all this publicity and it’s a month ahead of when the opening is. I think it should be more toward the opening.

  I read John Simon’s review attacking the way Liza looks. He was just so awful. I mean if she ever saw that it would just crush her so badly. And she’s actually nice-looking, I mean, I see her, she’s not hard to look at. What does John Simon think he’s doing? His philosophy must be that only good-looking people should entertain and I guess that’s what I think, too. But Liza isn’t ugly!

  I was also on the front page of the Voice, photographed next to the empress of Iran for an article about torture in Iran.

  Fred had tickets to the International Center of Photography benefit that Jackie O. was putting on at the museum up on Fifth and 94th. I asked Jed if he wanted to come but he said he was too tired (cab $2). Big mansion. The dinner was a horror. They put us at such a nothing, nobody table. You can’t imagine—I was sitting next to Fred!

  So here we were in this room where we didn’t even recognize anybody except each other and this girl comes over to me and says, “I know you have a camera, and you can take pictures of everyone here except Mrs. Onassis.” I didn’t think too much of it right then, I just thought she was one of those nervous-type girls who run these events. And then that rich old guy Nate Cummings was screaming at Fred to open a window, and at first Fred was offended—Nate Cummings somehow picked him to scream at—but then Fred figured out he was turning senile, so he decided to be a nice boy and do it, and then the girl started screaming at Fred not to. And Fred’s going to call her up and really tell her off, because things got much worse. We got up and left that room and Fred went to find Diana Vreeland and when we walked into the other room, there was everybody we knew! Peter Beard was having fun with Barbara Allen and Lacey Neuhaus. I mean, Catherine was sitting at Jackie’s table! But that’s not the most incredible thing. When we walked into this room there were 4,000 photographers taking pictures of Jackie. And that horrible girl had come over to tell me Icouldn’t! Fred’s really going to scream at her. It was like a Bobby Zarem event, there were so many cameras flashing.

  I cabbed with Fred and Diana Vreeland to Sutton Place to Robin West’s party for Jamie Wyeth. I didn’t have any change so I gave Fred $5. He gave the money to the guy, the fare was $2.80, and he told him to keep $.60 and the guy said, “How much is that?” and Fred started screaming, “I can’t do your adding for you.” And all the way down in the cab Diana and Fred had been fighting like they were a screaming old married couple. And the cab driver was butting into the conversation with, “Wasn’t that Peter Beard’s opening I picked you up outside of? Wasn’t he on the cover of the Sunday Times?”

  I talked to Carole Coleman from New Orleans. She’s Jimmy Coleman’s sister. Then Bo Polk came into the room and it got crazy. He’d met Carole at a bar and they’d gone out, and now he said things like “I want to eat your pussy,” and on and on like that, they were just talking in front of me and Carole wasn’t even embarrassed. I was surprised because she’s older than most of the girls Bo Polk goes after. She has beautiful eyes and she’s rich and never married, she could have been like Jennifer O’Neill, but she has problems, I guess, and not too many boyfriends, but very attractive. And he was saying things like “I want to lick your toes and up to and into your cunt,” and then he’d turn to me and say, “I want you to be there and take pictures, Andy,” and oh, he’s just nuts.

  I went to say hello to Phyllis Wyeth and then Bo Polk and John Larsen came over and Bo yelled to some girl that he’d put some coke on her clit and John laughed and called him a coke tease. And then Bo and Carole left. But then in a few minutes they came back in and talked about if they should leave and she wanted to know what they were going to do and that went on and on.

  And then Carole and Bo and Jay Mellon and Catherine and I left and walked. We passed a place that had Famous Amos cookies in the window. I had never seen the package. It was the most beautiful picture of a cookie that I’ve ever seen, and I went in and bought it, but when I opened the package, the cookies were really little. It was the first time I was ever deceived! They tasted good, but they weren’t big and beautiful like the one on the package.

  Thursday, November 10, 1977

  Got a cab downtown, saw the driver’s name and I liked it—Vincent Dooley. He was a really cute little boy, so good-looking. He said, “I don’t want to be rude, but what does it feel like to be in Iran?” He had the Voice with my picture on the front page on the seat next to him, the article about torture that also mentioned Raquel Welch, Liza Minnelli, and Farrah Fawce
tt-Majors. I got flustered and then told the kid that he was so good-looking, why was he a cab driver. He said, “Well, the closest I ever came to acting was I bought Joe Dallesandro’s dog.” He meant Caesar, Joe’s big dog that was in Trash, that Paul brought back from Hollywood out of Jack La Lanne’s dog’s litter. What he actually said was, “My girl and I bought his dog.” The kid had a high voice so I had high hopes he was a fairy until he said that. He said that he’s still with the girl and they still have the dog. I was embarrassed about Iran so I gave him $5.

  Cabbed to the bank ($3) then walked to the office. Then Rupert came by and he’d had a facial all morning from the famous health lady—he’s more interested in having his hair dyed and facials than in working. And if you’re going to go for facials you have to go every day, and anyway, you might as well do it yourself, all a “facial” means is that you take more than five minutes to wash your face. Jay and Tom stopped by for a while, they were mourning Michelle Long, their drag queen friend who just died.

  Went to Regine’s dinner for Ira Von Furstenberg (cab $2). Regine never showed up. Talked to Ira. And then her son came in and he was so good-looking. We did his brother for Interview recently, Kiko Hohenlohe, but this one was even better-looking. Ira said, “I could be the best stage mother in the world.” But his father wants him not to be an actor. Princess Ira has always wanted to be a movie star. Always. She’s been in lots of movies that never made it. I saw on TV the other night the Darryl Zanuck movie that he made for his girlfriend, Genevieve Gilles, and Ira was the second lead.