The Andy Warhol Diaries

by Andy Warhol

  Then they wanted to see my “studio” so we went to the office, and there was just nothing there. The contrast was so—evident. We’ve gotten so involved with fashion that we don’t know about all these other things like wars and governments anymore. I didn’t have any art to show them. They wanted to see movies, but I didn’t have any movies, either.

  So finally they all left. I worked till 7:30 and Cornelia called and asked where I was because she was ready, and I had a black tie down there, so I just stuck it on and went to the Waldorf Towers. I asked her to be downstairs since we were late, but she said, “I don’t want to wait downstairs like a prostitute.” So when I got there the doorman was so dumb, after fifteen minutes of me sitting in the cab he came out and said there was no Mr. Warhol staying there. So I did it myself, rang Cornelia’s room and she came down in a red dress looking like a hooker. But beautiful. She’s put on a little weight. Oh, and I saw Mrs. Douglas MacArthur while I was waiting and she was great. She’s eighty-four or something and still has all her marbles. And me, I can barely walk. So then Cornelia came and we went to the Pierre (cab $8) to this fashion show for charity that Joanne Winship organized.

  Oh, and at lunch I brought up the Liz Smith items about Calvin and his model Kelly to Bianca, saying the papers said they were such a hot item, and Bianca said, “Ha-ha! What a joke!” So that’s her position.

  Thursday, September 29, 1983

  I woke up with flea bites and that made me hysterical. I ran out and bought flea collars for my ankles.

  Cabbed downtown ($5) to the new chic supermarket at Park Avenue and 18th Street, the Food Emporium, but a gay guy there made my sandwiches and so I couldn’t eat them.

  Kenny Scharf came by, he just bought a $2,000 house in Bahia and eats coconuts all day. His wife’s having a baby. His father must be a semi-rich producer. Kenny met his wife on a plane to Carnival.

  Then Keith Haring came by after getting a B-12 shot from Dr. Giller, and it was like the sixties when the kids would get shot up and come back so bubbly. And Keith was ranting and raving about this black graffiti artist that’s in the papers now because the police killed him—Michael Stewart. And Keith said that he’s been arrested by the police four times, but that because he looks normal they just sort of call him a fairy and let him go. But this kid that was killed, he had the Jean Michel look—dreadlocks.

  Worked all afternoon. Dropped Benjamin (cab $7). Glued myself and went over to Engine’s alone, she was having a party for Julio Iglesias’s birthday, and Lester Persky was arriving when I was, and we went in as a couple, and there were cameras but everybody said it was (laughs) just Spanish television. The usual people there, “Suzy” and Jerry Zipkin and Cornelia. And Julio Iglesias looks different than in pictures. He’s 6’3” and very handsome with a very dark tan, and teeth that are practically fluorescent. He was very friendly as if he really knew me. Maybe he knows somebody that we know who talks about us all the time. And Cornelia sat near so she could catch his eye. Halston had called and said to come over to his place afterwards.

  So I went to Halston’s and Jane Holzer was there and Halston was doing the same “I’m so rich” routine, but I mean, he must be worried after that thing came out in Fortune where the guy who owns him now said he was thinking of selling him.

  Oh, and Halston asked again about meeting Jerry Hall. He still wants to make Bianca jealous. But now that Jerry’s pregnant, it’ll be hard to dress her.

  Saturday, October 1, 1983

  Had to get up early. Maura and I were scheduled to interview Matt Dillon at Fred’s house. Finally Matt came and sat in the kitchen and Maura interviewed him. He’s only nineteen. Maura asked the same things she always asks: “Are you Catholic?” and “Are you Irish?” He said yes. It’s going to be the same exact interview as Brooke Shields.

  Wednesday, October 5, 1983—New York—Milan

  Got up early, tried to pack, was picked up by Benjamin (cab $6.50). Jean Michel Basquiat came by the office to work out with Lidija and I told him I was going to Milan and he said he’d go, too, that he’d meet us at the airport. Worked all afternoon till 4:30.

  I hadn’t thought Jean Michel would come, but while I was waiting in line at the airport he appeared, he was just so nutty but cute and adorable. He hadn’t slept in four days, he said he was going to watch me sleep. He had snot all over the place. He was blowing his nose in paper bags. It was as bad as Christopher. Paige has turned him into sort of a gentleman, though, because now he’s taking baths. We arrived in Milan practically on time. Arrived at the famous hotel, I forget the name.

  Thursday, October 6, 1983—Milan

  Did five or ten interviews this day, they kept coming in one at a time. Went out to lunch at some great restaurant. Really good food, people looked so beautiful, think we did a lot of Interview advertising work. Had a big dinner at some new disco place with all the beautiful models.

  Got home. Jean Michel came by and said he was depressed and was going to kill himself and I laughed and said it was just because he hadn’t slept for four days, and then after a while of that he went back to his room.

  Friday, October 7, 1983—Milan

  Had to do some more press. Then we had an opening of a gallery with two paintings, and forty million people came to a little hallway to see them. Just too crowded. Had to get dressed for a big dinner party for Leandro Gualtieri and his wife, Regina Schrecker the designer. Jean Michel came back and I got him to do artwork on plates so we gave everyone a portrait on a plate. And it was glamorous and the kids went off dancing and Jean Michel made a big play for Joanna Carson who was in Milan.

  Saturday, October 8, 1983—Milan—Paris

  Jean Michel came in when we were leaving. He said he was staying on with Keith Haring to get publicity—Keith had come in from Spain with Kenny Scharf to paint Fiorucci (concierge $30, bellboys $20, maid $10, magazines $10, doorman $5, taxi to airport $30).

  Tuesday, October 11, 1983—Paris—New York

  When I got home to 66th Street I didn’t shower because I knew that if I did I’d never get to work. I was wearing (laughs) “Essence of France”—b.o. There was a strange picture of Mayor Koch in the paper, sneering at Nixon at the Cardinal Cooke funeral. It was a weird picture (cab $6). Met Lidija. Had a lot of coffee.

  Worked till 7:00 or 7:30. Ronnie Cutrone came by and said that he was in Milan when we were and that Jean Michel went off to Madrid. Jean Michel’s trying to get so famous so fast, and if it works, he’ll have it, I guess.

  Wednesday, October 12, 1983

  I tried to get Thomas Ammann all day but he wasn’t around. He still wants to rent part of my house—the second floor—to show his paintings in and I don’t know how to get out of it, because you can’t keep that kind of thing a secret, people would know it was my house. It’s just a little too hard.

  And Paige is really upset because Jean Michel hasn’t called her. He hasn’t called us, either. She sells his paintings, she’s been doing that for a while. And he dropped Mary Boone—she took 50 percent, Paige only takes 10 percent. He’s still with Bruno, though, so that’s how he’ll still be shown. I told Paige that Jean Michel was after Joanna Carson in Milan, and maybe I shouldn’t have. Paige said she might just forget him, that it had to be all or nothing. But naturally people are people and a fool is a fool so no matter what they say, they’ll just go on being in love.

  Thursday, October 13, 1983

  Princess Caroline was getting to the office at 9:00 to pose for the December cover of French Vogue. She’s the guest editor for this year’s Christmas issue and I was asked to photograph her. So rushed (cab $6.50). She was already there, but it took her one or two hours to get dressed. And they wanted pictures of me taking the pictures of her so I called Chris and he came over. She’s pretty but she looks forty. She looks like she’s really been through the mill. But they know how to pull her together. She had a Japanese makeup guy.

  Paul Morrissey was there driving us all up the wall. He wants to do a remake of P
epe Le Moko with children. Paul does have good ideas, though, so if we could just work with him and get him to not think the old-fashioned drug-trash wayHe had Brigid retyping some contracts.

  Tuesday, October 18, 1983

  Jean Michel came by and I slapped him in the face. (laughs) I’m not kidding. Kind of hard. It shook him up a little. I told him, “How dare you dump us in Milan!” Benjamin put me up to it.

  Wednesday, October 19, 1983

  The tree in front of my house hasn’t grown an inch all season. The ginkgo. It’s still green, but it hasn’t grown. Benjamin says it has to dig its roots in first. It’s pretty, though. Small and pretty and green.

  There were articles in the papers about the police arresting the “Sidney Poitier and Diahann Carroll son” for being an imposter. He was staying at all these people’s houses. Halston was smart that time, right away he told him to leave. You could just tell in a second that this kid was lying. But these other people all let him stay at their houses! I mean, he could have been anybody, he could have just wiped out a whole family.

  Friday, October 21,1983

  There was a big lunch at the office for the English contingent and Tab Hunter and his new producer who wants me to do a poster for the movie, and an interviewer from Amsterdam. Jean Michel came in and Paige Powell was there with some clients. And Paige had set it up for Jean Michel to go to Vassar with Jennifer that night to give a talk—Jennifer goes to school there now—and the car was going to pick them all up.

  But Jean Michel told me he didn’t want to take Paige up to Vassar with him because he would be wanting to fuck the girls up there. So when I got home there was a message from Robert Hayes saying Paige was hysterical because Jean Michel had never come in the car to pick her up. So that was mean. And I told her that that’s the way life goes and I said we’d go out for drinks and I called Sean McKeon to come with us so that I could handle it better. And Sean’s had a crush on me for a few years, and it’s nice to be around someone who likes you. That was him in the sunglasses in People this week.

  So we went to the Mayfair and had two champagnes and a coffee ($40). And Paige was so upset—here she’d just handed Jean Michel a $20,000 check for selling some of his paintings. She said she’d never show or sell his stuff again. I told her I’d let her do an exhibit of my work called “The Worst of Warhol” where I would just go into my closets and find all the really horrible stuff that had never worked out, so then she cheered up a little. But then in a little while she left because she was still so nervous. Sean dropped me and I went to bed.

  Sunday, October 23, 1983

  There’s a painting of mine going up for auction soon, and it’s only estimated at $100,000. I think it’s a Coke Bottle. And Roy’s things go for five, six, or seven, and Jasper’s go for a million.

  Monday, October 24, 1983

  It’s freezing and the heat’s not coming up. And I’m still having waterbug problems. I corner this one bug every night and then I can’t bring myself to kill it. He’s been eating my food for the past three years.

  I was reading the Barbara Hutton book and the best thing is she had servants wiping her ass. This is at the end when they’re robbing her blind. And in the end she was so poor from all these people taking her money that she had to go and ask the people she’d given gifts to if she could have them back—oh, but wait. It could have just been the people working for her who decided to do it. I didn’t think of that …

  I just keep worrying that I’ve made a mistake buying the 33rd Street building. Maybe we just should have bought it and turned it over right away. But it’s the real estate key to that whole block, because of the T shape. There’s a truck coming on Friday to move some things out of 860.

  Tuesday, October 25,1983

  Went to that restaurant Santa Fe (cab $5.50) and Bianca was on time. Then Calvin arrived with the interviewer from Playboy. Jean Michel had his hand on Bianca’s knee—she giggled. Then the greatest moment came when I went to pay the bill and Bianca said Calvin had paid.

  Bianca said she wanted to go to where they were shooting Rhinestone on West Broadway, at one of the galleries. So we went down there and found Steve Rubell. Then Stallone came over. He’s hot for Bianca, I think, he saw her and came right over. And I yapped about where was my role in Rhinestone that I’d paid $5,000 to get at some Marvin Davis charity auction out in Colorado. And they’d turned this art gallery into a bar for the movie. You could see how much money they’re spending. It was the first time I’d been to a movie set where they’d really turned something into something else completely. Zooms and booms all over the street. I thought the cab that was sitting behind me was part of the movie, but then it turned out it wasn’t, so I got in and took it home ($6).

  Wednesday, October 26, 1983

  Jean Michel was at the office all afternoon. Paige came in but left in a huff. I guess it’s over between them because he wants to be free and easy and she wants to be involved.

  Thursday, October 27, 1983

  Gael Love called up screaming that the newsstand dealers were mad because I was out on the streets passing out complimentary new issues before it even got to their stands to sell and I told her I’d do whatever I wanted to do.

  The Richard Gere issue was I think our biggest seller yet, even though the interview inside was so bad. So it doesn’t matter, it’s just if it’s somebody they want to read about.

  Tuesday, November 1, 1983

  Cabbed to meet Lidija ($6). A German kid was at 860 and said he’d been to that bar Cowboys the night before and that the AIDS scare is over, that “the mood is back.” And Robert Hayes’s boyfriend who has it is in town staying with him. They can’t give him chemotherapy because something else happens when they do.

  And now Jean Michel has this blonde WASP girl that he’s fucking. I think he hates all white women.

  And Cornelia’s taken my scarf. She always goes out with no clothes on and see-through dresses and then she complains she’s too cold. So she took the great red scarf that I got at a fashion show, so that’s the end of that. And it was finally the right red.

  Thursday, November 3, 1983

  Brooke Hayward called and wants to do an interview with me about Mick. She’s doing the research for that book they gave Mick the big advance for. And she got tough with me. She said, “Listen here,” and I thought if she’s like that already … oh, she’s no good, she can’t do anything. I did like Haywire, but she’s a one-book girl. And anyway, I hate her because I keep on remembering that it was her and Jean Stein that got me in all this IRS trouble because they’re the ones that asked me to do a McGovern poster, and I wanted to do something clever, so I got that bright idea to do a green face of Nixon with “Vote McGovern” under it. And that’s when the IRS got so interested in me.

  Walked to the new offices on 33rd Street and picked up a phone and made my first phone call from there. I was there to scout corners where we could store props. It’s filled up already and I haven’t even moved my stuff in yet. And my house is starting to look so bad, too. I want to take pictures of the clutter, but my camera focuses on areas so small that everything just looks neat because I don’t get the bigger picture of the big mess that the little areas are all part of.

  Robyn decided to leave his job to go work for the Tower Gallery. I don’t think it’ll last, though. He wants to be an artist and he feels that’s closer.

  Tuesday, November 8, 1983

  At the auction last night, my Triple Elvis went for $135,000, so that’s good. It was estimated at $70,000-$90,000. But Thomas Ammann bid $440,000 for one of David Whitney’s Rauschenbergs.

  Thursday, November 10, 1983

  A Wall Street Journal reporter called and said she was doing a story on “clubs” and wanted to go to Area and the Limelight and the Cat Club with me, but I think she’s just got bongo drums in her pants and wants to run around to the clubs so she says she’s doing articles on them.

  Yes, I am happy about the $135,000 price for the Coke Bottle
. Everybody thought it was good. Thomas told me that the Elvis went for $146,000. And Thomas bought a Flower painting for $40,000. It’s worth a lot more, though. Someday …

  I went to La Côte Basque to meet Mrs. Fortabat, the Argentinian lady who bought Whitney Tower’s grandmother’s Turner for $6 million. She’s having her face treated by Karen Burke, too. She said she’s starting a concrete business in the United States, and I told her that meant she’d be joining the Mafia, and she laughed and told me I was “charming.”

  Saturday, November 12, 1983

  Ran into a neighbor from Montauk, the guy with the second house over from our place, and I told him that I was planning to do “a big earth work with parked trailers.” And he didn’t even laugh, he had no sense of humor, he didn’t know I was kidding, he got upset. And he made a point of telling me that he just spent $20,000 stopping the condos, so now I’m expecting a bill from him. I told him Lauren Hutton was building a house, and he told me Paul Simon was, too.