The Andy Warhol Diaries

by Andy Warhol

  And the kids photographing him for Interview didn’t know how to shoot him, they had him doing all this silly stuff—they don’t know that when you have a good-looking normal man you should just let him stand there. I gave him a Philosophy book.

  Friday, December 10, 1982

  Walked to 17th Street all the way down from 77th Street. And I’d called the office and asked if I had any appointments and Jennifer, the after-school volunteer who answers the phones, told me no, and when I got there Paul Bochicchio who makes my hair had been waiting there with it for five hours so I yelled at her. And she was making wreaths out of holly, and I thought fine, okay, that she was doing it for her house, but then she started putting them up on the wall and I started to scream to get them down because the office isn’t supposed to have Christmas spirit, so she got it twice in one day. And then she moved them into the bathroom. Jennifer now has suddenly picked up bad work habits from Robyn. Worked till 7:30.

  Sunday, December 12, 1982

  Got up early, it had snowed out. Opened all the windows. Decided it was a good day for a walk. Met Chris and Peter at the Plaza. Went to the Edwardian Room. We had a long, big lunch ($240 with tip).

  Went to Iris Love’s party for Pauline Trigère at Dionysos at 210 West 70th St (cab $6). It was packed with stars—Diana Ross and some beau, and Morgan Fairchild and David Keith—he was with another girl but he’s girl-crazy so he was after Morgan. The Herreras from society were there, and lots of the girls—Paloma and Fran, and Marina and Florinda. There was Greek dancing. Iris changed into a Greek toga.

  Monday, December 13, 1982

  Jodie Foster called and said that she had an interview with Nastassia Kinski that Yale Daily News didn’t want and did Interview want it, so we’re going to use that with a cover of Nastassia for February. She’s so sweet, Jodie.

  Tuesday, December 14, 1982

  In Liz Smith’s column she made that party at the Greek restaurant on Sunday sound so great! They always sound so great later when you read about them.

  Went over to the back-massage guy on Seventh Avenue and now Chris tells me that he’s not really a shiatsu masseur, he’s a chiropractor. And it seems now that it’s just me who goes there. It’s so lonely there, I’m probably his only customer. He’ll probably break my back so I’ll have to keep going to him (phone calls $.20).

  Then went back and worked on my Alfred Hitchcock portrait for Vanity Fair. Waited for Rupert. Mr. LeFrak called and I’ve got to get to work on his portrait.

  Then there was a screening of Gandhi and went to that at the Columbia screening room at 56th and Fifth, and the movie was just thrilling. It was three hours long, and the only thing that ruined it was Miss Candice Bergen. It’s like a jolt of reality. Suddenly there she is, saying that she’s Margaret Bourke-White of Life magazine, the photographer. She’s just awful. Jarring. Like me in The Driver’s Seat. I was so bad in that. But I could have been good if they used me good. Oh and some movie star told me recently that Bad was the best movie they’d ever seen. Now who was it … ? Oh, it was Jeff Bridges! He loved Badi

  Thursday, December 16, 1982

  Went all the way to Chinatown from way uptown because it’s so funny to hear Benjamin talk Chinese (cab $9, phone $.20). We went looking around for new ideas, but it’s so hard to do these things all at the same time, all the pressure—looking for new ideas, the pressure of painting, the pressure of buying the building. It’s a lot of stress.

  Friday, December 17, 1982

  There were about eighteen parties going on that I missed. Frankie Crocker was having a party at Studio 54 that Laura Branigan was going to sing at. Maura Moynihan was having a Christmas party then playing at Danceteria. The Ritz was having a concert for the Who that was going to be televised. Suzie Frankfurt was having an open house and Couri Hay was having a party.

  Sunday, December 19, 1982

  Decided to go to Vincent and Shelly’s party. They had about eight babies there and all the kids from the office. Asked Jay as a Christmas present to please get me a cab.

  Monday, December 20, 1982

  Had to meet the LeFraks. And they hated their portrait. She said I made her look too much like Kitty Carlisle.

  Worked till 7:00. Gave PH her earrings for Christmas—David Webb frogs from the forties— and she was thrilled. Then went to Dr. Silver and he said I’ll be cured of pimples in two weeks.

  Tuesday, December 21, 1982

  Mrs. LeFrak didn’t like her hair and Rupert’s working on it right now. I’ve got to call and tell him to make the screen fluffier—more highlights in her hair, but it’s probably too late.

  Wednesday, December 22, 1982

  Went over to the Waldorf to the debutante ball thing. And Cornelia was supposed to be there because she’s doing a How to Be a Deb book with Jon, but she wasn’t there. And then this curly-haired blond boy came over and said, “You did some paintings for my grandfather,” and I asked him who was his grandfather, and he said, “Nelson Rockefeller.” All the kids at this thing were so beautiful. All the boys looked like Robyn in tuxes.

  Thursday, December 23, 1982

  When I walked into the office everyone was in a bad mood. Brigid began putting Christopher down and said that the only Christmas present that everybody at the office would really want is that Chris never come up there again. When I told him about it later he said that maybe he should pay Brigid the $20 he owes her. She did some work for him a few years ago on a project that then he didn’t get paid for, so he felt that he didn’t have to pay her. And then of course he’s cheap, that’s really why he didn’t pay her. And Robyn was so moody. Jay went home to Milwaukee and he’s the only one who might’ve actually worked.

  And Peter Beard called and wanted us to okay a check from Cheryl Tiegs that he was trying to get cashed at Brownies because he wanted to go around the corner to Paragon and buy some sports equipment. So I guess he’s being kept by Cheryl. She’s really got the bucks, she’s got the Sears contract.

  And Lorna Luft came down because Liza’s giving her her portrait for Christmas. And she had no makeup on and she looked beautiful. She’s on the Cambridge diet, and she really is pretty. Her portrait will be like Marilyn. If she just kept her regular brown haircolor and her regular looks, she could be a big serious actress. But instead she tries to look the opposite of Liza, to get an identity.

  Christmas is so confusing. Jon left for New Hampshire.

  Friday, December 24, 1982

  I made people come in to work and Brigid spent the whole day like Madame Defarge, she sat around needlepointing, thinking about not having the day off. My nerves were shattered, I couldn’t put anything together. Worked at the office trying to wrap paintings up for the Halston group. Had Benjamin meet me at home.

  Went to pick up Sondra Gilman, her kids are grown up now. The girl’s a model type. The boy is tall, too. They’re beautiful, like Village of the Damned kids. The girl said how these old photographers tried to pick her up and one took her to dinner at Le Relais and tried to impress her, saying he’d made this one and that one—made their careers—and this young girl was telling me about it and laughing at him.

  So then finally we went to Halston’s and Halston wasn’t anywhere in sight. It was odd. Although we were four hours late. But finally we found him upstairs with Steve Rubell, next to the tree. Halston gave me—maybe—two Elsa Peretti candlesticks from Tiffany, but I had to sign a note saying that I would return them to Halston if it turned out that he couldn’t get another pair for himself. So that’s a new one. And I was a wreck, trying to figure out what size paintings to give to who. It was harrowing.

  And Steve Rubell gave me five cassettes. And he kept saying it over and over: “I gave you five cassettes. Isn’t that just the greatest gift?” I mean, they were just tapes that you can buy, like a Michael Jackson tape, that cost $3 apiece. I mean, Steve was cheap when he had money, and now that he doesn’t have any …

  Saturday, December 25, 1982

  Got up late. W
ent to church. Had a miserable Christmas. Got Benjamin to come into the office before he went home to San Francisco (cab $5). Worked with him all afternoon trying to get my bills paid. Heard about the big snow out in Denver. Gave Benjamin cash for working that day ($100).

  Tuesday, December 28, 1982—Aspen, Colorado

  At 8:30 Barry Diller invited us to have cocktails with Calvin Klein and Marina Cicogna and Diana Ross. Diana came in and she had just bought a cowboy hat and big white shoes and she was out for action.

  We all got in cars and followed Barry, he’s a bad driver. Then Barry invited us out to dinner to Andre’s. The food there was disgusting. Jon lost part of his Kieselstein-Cord belt. Diana was dancing on top of the table and everybody wanted to dance with her and she said, “I’m dancing with all oí you!” That was a great line.

  Thursday, December 30, 1982—Aspen

  John Coleman told us Barbi Benton was giving a party so I just casually called her and said, “Hiiiii,” and she said, “Hiiiiiii,” and so then I said, “Oh I was just calling because we had so much fun last year, you know …”—playing it that way. And so she said she was having a party and would I like to come, and I said, “Oh why yeeeesssss.”

  We arrived at 7:00 and I met her parents and they were adorable. I found out about her being born in New York and about her having a grandfather who bought her fifty dolls and the mother wouldn’t give them to her. And they moved to Sacramento when Barbi was three.

  Met Zev Bufman again.

  Buzz Aldrin came, from the moon. The astronaut. Took a lot of photographs of him. He’s aged but he was cute and glad to meet us. We decided to start lying that night—Chris told people he had a twelve-month-old baby and that he was watching it while his wife was back in New York and they all believed him. And I told them I was a deep-sea fisherman, and this lady invited me to Boca Raton. I haven’t been drinking at all.

  Friday, December 31, 1982—Aspen

  Chris went skiing with Cornelia on Buttermilk. Mark Sink called. He’s the bicycle racer who does circulation for Interview in Denver.

  Drove over to Jimmy Buffett’s. As soon as we got in Couri Hay had taken one of our tables and filled it up with boys—Tab Hunter and a mincy boyfriend. But then Jamie Buffett gave us another table and then the party started getting good. Barry Diller arrived with Diana Ross, and Jack Nicholson with Anjelica Huston—Jack’s got a big fat belly now. It was all country-western.

  Five minutes before New Year’s we decided, Jon and I, that we didn’t want to be in a crowd and so we went right outside, not to hear them singing “Auld Lang Syne.” Then we watched the fireworks outside and went in ten minutes after. So it was great, nobody even knew we were gone, and they had finished all their kissing and stuff.

  Saturday, January 1, 1983—Aspen

  Something strange happened, I thought Jon was trying to kill me. We were on a snowmobile and he pushed me over a cliff. I thought he did it on purpose. But somehow there were trees there and I fell off into a deep snow. We rode to the house, that was fun, but I didn’t realize till I got back how scary going off the cliff was. Then it sunk in what had happened. So I confronted Jon, and he told me I was just being crazy and I was relieved.

  Sunday, January 2, 1983—Aspen—New York

  I didn’t have one drink the whole time I was away. And I didn’t gain weight, either. I just got weighed and I’m 126 still.

  Monday, January 3, 1983

  The LeFraks called and said they still hated their portrait. Mr. LeFrak said why weren’t Mrs. LeFrak’s eyes hazel in the portrait, and then he said his nose was too bulbous. So maybe if we fix those two things it’ll get by.

  Bob still wasn’t back from Santo Domingo from the Cisneroses. And Time magazine has Cornelia as Deb of the Year.

  Tuesday, January 4, 1983

  I had dinner with Chris at the Post House on 63 rd Street to decide once and for all what his money participation in my Decorative Photography portfolio would be, and we hashed it out. And Chris is so cheap—cheap in ways you’d never even dream of. And it’s like Bob. And Paul Morrissey. They want more and more. And Bob was just back from a grand weekend and he gets these ideas that he should live like royalty, and he gets very unhappy if he doesn’t get more and more, and I mean, he should just marry one of these old bags and get everything he wants (dinner $130).

  Thursday, January 6, 1983

  When I got to the office Vincent handed me a letter. It was from Bob. He quit. No one at the office knows except Gael and Robert and Fred. And I hear he has the agent named Janklow, a big literary lawyer. I wonder if Jann Wenner’s offered him a job because he’s been having meetings with him lately, but I don’t think so, because they’d never get along. I’m happy for Bob. Really I am. But I mean, he should have kept working until we found a replacement. It’s awful of him to just leave with no notice. Fred called and talked to him but nothing changed. I think Thomas Ammann must have encouraged him. Thomas has gotten so grand, too. I mean, I see people that I knew so long ago, and suddenly they have airs.

  So nobody at the office knows except the people I said. But (laughs), everybody outside the office knows. But this has been building up for a while. Before Bob went away for the holidays I’d told him he could have any painting he wanted for Christmas and he said a Hammer & Sickle, and I only have two of those and I said, “Gee, Bob, just anything but that,” and he got mad. But Bob has gotten so grand, he goes to these rich people’s places and he thinks he should have it all, too. But magazine editors don’t make that much. And Bob made so much off other things— he got commissions on the portraits and he has 50 percent of that Bruno photography portfolio. But what he really wanted was 50 percent of Interview—at least I think he said 50, I couldn’t really hear if he was saying 50 or 15. I told him then that he could have a percentage of the profits, when Interview started making some profits, but it’s not making any yet. And then he said that it was. But it’s just not. And if Bob was smart, he could have just hired someone to do the routine things that he does for Interview and just overseen the magazine, do it freelance. I think maybe that’s what Fred’s going to ask him to do. Anyway, I think he’ll be back.

  And John Powers brought a possible portrait by—a plastic surgeon from Horida. And Mr. LeFrak came while they were there and John was great, he embarrassed Mr. LeFrak into finally accepting the portraits—he told him what more do you want, and then later he told me, “I can’t believe you made him look so good.”

  So I got home about 7:00, dropped Jay (cab $5). Decided to stay home, talked on the phone to Christopher and Fred.

  You know, about Bob leaving, it’s not about money, because he was making a lot. And it’s not about the Hammer & Sickle, because if it wasn’t about that it would have been about something else. He’s been leading up to this for a long time. Maybe he’s going into business with Thomas Ammann, too. Because Bob is good at selling art. If a person says they don’t want a portrait, Bob will just make a face and walk away. And he’s not shy about asking people to pay their bills. Even Fred is a little shy about that. But Bob isn’t. If he’s got a good new job I’m happy for him. He just shouldn’t have quit with no notice. That’s the bad thing, it’s not professional.

  Friday, January 7, 1983

  The newspapers had a lot of Bob Colacello items and the office was still buzzing about it. Jane Holzer called and said that Steve Rubell had told her and then I changed the subject and asked her what was new with her, and she said, “You’re so cool about all this,” and what else can I be? I mean … but it’s a big savings for the office payroll. Fred doesn’t think we should rush into hiring a new editor—Robert Hayes has been so nice we’ll just see what he can do.

  Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran came to the office and he brought his girlfriend, Julie Anne. He’s twenty and she’s twenty-three. He was wearing twice as much makeup as she was, although he’s half as tall.

  Saturday, January 8, 1983

  It was a day of buzzing on the phone about Bob.
There were more items in the paper saying that Bob was taking my favorite secretary, Doria Reagan, away. Bob’s drunk with this newspaper power, getting items in the columns, because I mean, people just forget this stuff in a minute.

  Tuesday, January 11, 1983

  Vincent broke the news that the LeFrak portraits were coming back down, that the pupils were left out of the eyes and there was a spot on the face. So just when I thought I’d seen the last of them … It’s like Night of the Living Portraits.

  And Gael Love came to tell me how well the magazine’s doing, but I never know whether to believe her because she’s always so enthusiastic about everything. And Robert Hayes is being really sweet, I guess because he thinks he might be upped to editor.

  Grace Jones came by in her macho outfit with a big raving beauty Swedish guy, like 6’6”. Hans Lundgren. And we shook hands and it was strange because he had such a weak handshake, really wimpy. And Grace looked great.