The Andy Warhol Diaries

by Andy Warhol

  Glued. Cabbed to East 20th Street ($6). And it was great to be back in the old Union Square neighborhood. Philip Niarchos was there and he told me he had a baby. And I’d forgotten that he’d gotten married and couldn’t really remember to who. But then I remembered it’s Victoria Guinness. On the banking side, I think.

  The birthday cake was Italian. Time went fast. Home at 12:15, fell asleep watching TV.

  Saturday,April 27, 1985

  I’m trying to think where we could have some videotapes of the Velvet Underground. Because I mean row with Lou not wanting to get back for a reunion with the others, I just am thinking that I really should figure out a way to get money out of that first album. I mean, I produced it!And now Vincent just found the master tapes! We have the masters! And I’m not going to worry whether we have the right to use the masters or to make a video out of our old film clips of them. Just let them try to sue me. You know?

  Keith came to the office to paint on the big elephant, and he did a beautiful job on it. It’s black and white with a red base. I think I would’ve liked it better just black and white, but it’s great. Keith’s great. He really is a cartoonist. And they say he’s like Peter Max, but he’s really not. He has something else. Peter Max was just a businessman trying to be an artist. He copied me a lot. And now he gets $100,000 for a portrait. Look. Here’s how it all works: You meet rich people and you hang around with them and one night they’ve had a few drinks and they say, “I’ll buy it!” Then they tell their friends, “You must have his work, darling,” and that’s all you need. I mean, it’s like Schnabel sitting there with Philip Niarchos. That’s all it takes. So you get your price established. Get it?

  Monday,April 29, 1985

  Fred’s gone to Zurich, I don’t know what for. It’s a mysterious trip. Maybe he’s having his eyes done, or getting those sheep glands. But I don’t know why he’s doing all these things and not getting his nose done.

  Cornelia and also Jay have told me that they’ve seen my Diet Coke commercial on TV and that I’m in it a lot.

  Went to the Tuileries and got the big table in the back, and then this homely woman came in and a girl came over and said, “You have to be nice to Roxanne,” and it dawned on me that it was Roxanne Pulitzer and that this is really the eighties. I mean, after seeing von Bulow, having him come over and talk to me the other night, and then seeing him on TV crying about going back to the house at the trial, and now this one, it’s too abstract, you know—all these courtroom celebrities. I like this. It must be like the gangsters in the twenties.

  Tuesday, April 30, 1985

  Went to the Calvin Klein opening. Got there at 11:05 and there was Bob Colacello standing there looking preppie. His clothes are always perfect and immaculate, I don’t know how he does it. Calvin’s girls were meaty—small waists and big hips, that was the new look.

  Went to Sotheby’s. Ran into Patricia Neal in the elevator and I asked her if she was still seeing Barry Landau and she said yes so I didn’t put him down. She was selling a Bacon and she was upset with the low reserve, she said—$250,000. I guess she needs the money. She said they sold another Bacon to send the son to baking school which she said was a waste because he doesn’t bake. She was walking with a cane. She looks great.

  Ran into John Richardson and I began asking him about Andrew Crispo, and then the TV cameras were around us so we didn’t want them to know what we were talking about so I began calling Crispo “her” and John got it right away. He said, “I never knew her really well, I just thought she was a sleazebag.” And John was talking about the Hellfire Club and I’m surprised I’ve never been there, I’m surprised I never wound up there some night. But I can’t stand the smells of those places—even the preppie Surf Club is tough to take.

  I got catalogues, and the painting I did of Happy Rockefeller, an early one from ‘64, was up for sale. It’s estimated at $30,000 or $40,000, and if she’d donated it to one of the museums she could’ve gotten a $500,000 writeoff because of the new prices, so I don’t know why she’s selling it. Maybe it’s the kids. She sold that Nelson Rockefeller one, too, months ago.

  And it’s Fashion Week and all around town, everyone’s just a beauty, it’s so depressing.

  Oh, and Victor called me and I said he doesn’t come to visit, and he said he’ll start coming tomorrow. He lives on 57th Street—he’s with somebody, he’ll always get by, he still has his big dick.

  And I don’t know why Interview is having all these Bruce Weber editorial photos of naked people. I mean all those pages with no clothes—no fashion credits?! What’s the point? I don’t get it! We have advertisers to think about. I’m going to lay down the law: “No more birthday suits.”

  Wednesday, May 1, 1985

  Went into Vito Giallo’s to look at rare books. Then went to lunch with David Whitney, and Peter Brant’s back into art again. He bought a Rosenquist. They’re still underpriced. But they’ll run out of people and give him a big show and then his prices will go up. I mean, they’re selling David Salles for as much as Rosenquists!

  Thursday, May 2, 1985

  Cabbed to 82nd and First ($4) for Bianca’s birthday party. Her boyfriend Glenn Dubin had called. And Bianca was driving me crazy, saying how she’s researching my days in Pittsburgh for her book on Great Men, and she went on and on about how I broke the system, broke the system, broke the system, and I felt like saying, “Look, Bianca, I’m just here. I’m just a working person. How did I break the system?” God, she’s dumb.

  Friday,May 3, 1985

  It was raining out in the morning. Ran around with Benjamin. Had a 1:15 appointment with Stephen Sprouse to see a fashion show that he was putting on for Vogue and me (cab $6). Went to 860 Broadway, our old loft space, and it was great to give a cabdriver that address again: “17th and Broadway.”

  They’d divided it into some rooms, and then the front was all painted gold and there were beautiful models to show the stuff to us and it was fun and really exciting, and I just want to buy all his clothes.

  Then, I’d promised Jean Michel this dinner at Le Cirque. So Benjamin dropped me and I glued and went over there. He’d invited Eric Goode and his girlfriend and Clemente and his wife Alba and then when he ordered the most expensive wine they said they were out of it, and then when he ordered the next most expensive, they were out of it, too. I don’t think they wanted to give it to us, see, because it was a free dinner. Sirio’s been telling me for years he wanted to give me one, so here it was. And they gave all these excuses and apologies, and then Jean Michel ordered the cheapest wine, and that they had. And it was actually good. And the next day when Paige and I went there with Interviews, Sirio was still apologizing. But anyway, it cost me in tips ($200). Oh, and last time I was at Le Cirque there was this model there who said he was a friend of Tom Cashin’s and seeing him there with this slightly older man, at Le Cirque, I mean, it really made me decide that you can’t go to straight restaurants with just boys, it looks too funny. You wonder what they’re doing there, they’re a sore thumb.

  Monday,May 6, 1985

  Ronnie looks so good these days and his art’s still really selling. He’s going with that Tama Janowitz girl who’s such a fast writer, she writes so many stories. He’s like Gerard Malanga. They both stay emotionally immature. Ronnie has a big cock. He services these girls, and he stays young, just like Gerard—they don’t grow up.

  And Debbie Harry called and said that it was a big secret but that she just signed with David Geffen. And Stephen Sprouse is so happy about that because he’s been turning down people like Madonna who wanted him to do clothes for her because Debbie was the one who really started Stephen and he wanted to be loyal to her, that’s the kind of person he is. So now she’ll be out there again.

  Tuesday, May 7, 1985

  Fred called from Europe and said he was coming in today.

  Jean Michel said he decided not to do anything for Steve Rubell’s new club because he asked what he was going to get out of it, and Ste
ve told him, “It’s for the glory, the prestige.” Can you imagine hearing this from Steve? I’m still trying to get the drink tickets I’m designing for him together, so I’ll ask about which day PH and I can tape him for the Party book as soon as I give them to him so he’ll feel guilty.

  Wednesday,May 8, 1985

  There was a big Area party. Jean Michel picked me up and we went down there. And my display window had my Invisible Sculpture in it and Jean Michel’s stuff looked great—a big record—and Keith and everybody was there. And the installations were great. And Steve Rubell was walking around saying, “Great, great,” being so jealous, wishing it were his club.

  Thursday, May 9, 1985

  I see there’s a Soup Can dress in one of the shows on Broadway because I see it in the TV ad. I can’t tell which show, maybe it’s Grind. Went to Jean Michel’s, picked him up (cab $6). And he’s working again and his work is wonderful, it’s so exciting, and I think he will last.

  We went to the Odeon and had dinner and talked with Steve Rubell and Eric Goode about the club openings and everything and it was fun, and Steve is getting artists to do things for his new club, the Palladium, and Keith did a backdrop that can be lowered from the ceiling down to the dance floor and Steve is sitting there saying, “If it isn’t any good we just won’t bring it down too often.” I mean … (dinner $240).

  And then Steve’s driver took us over to the Palladium and it’s what the movies in the thirties were all about—dirty on the outside and then inside these white pristine columns, and everything big and lacquered, blue poles and stairs like Ziegfeld Follies girls would come down. And Clemente’s painting a ceiling. But I mean, still, it’s just another place to go, and Area is already so successful at this, and they change themes all the time, so I don’t know. He and Ian are just “managing” the club because you can’t have a police record and own a club. Like we had to be fingerprinted and checked out when we had our club, The Dom, in ‘65. Everyone went on to Area and I went home (cab $6).

  Gee, Madonna was just a waitress at the Lucky Strike a year ago.

  Sunday, May 12, 1985

  Jean Michel called, he’s working on his painting for the Palladium. But it’s collapsible and he can take it away any time he wants.

  Monday, May 13, 1985

  Ian Schrager called and I finally finished the design for the drink tickets and Vincent got them Xeroxed and I went over to the Palladium with Benjamin and showed it to Steve Rubell and PH and I taped Steve for the Party book for an hour and a half. Got a good tape and went back to the office.

  Tuesday, May 14, 1985

  The day of the opening night of the Palladium. The day started off with the problem of Amos being sick. And then the guy painting the roof across the street came over and said mine needed doing. He got my name from the super over there, I guess, and I gave him the go-ahead to do it and he did it. Then he gave me a bill for $4,900. I hadn’t remembered to get an estimate. My fault. Then I get a note from the neighbor saying my roof is now silver and that they just can’t stand looking at it. They’re telling the right guy, right? No silver. Anyway, I told him to repaint it and I asked him how much that would be and he says it’ll take thirty gallons to spray it and it’ll cost $1,200. And he does it in five minutes. Five minutes! I thought it would take hours. And then later he says $1,500 and I reminded him that he’d said $1,200 before.

  So in the midst of all those problems, Benjamin picked me up early and we cabbed to the office ($4) and the place is so big and spread-out, I ran up and down stairs, up and down and sideways up and down and sideways. That’s my life there. That’s what I do for a living since we moved there.

  Keith showed up. We were waiting for Kenny Scharf to call to say if he wanted to go to Stephen Sprouse’s to get an outfit, but then he went on his own. He got pink Stephen Sprouse low-riders and wore them with a blouse made by his wife, Teresa. But I don’t think it’s attractive, seeing the crack in the ass. On girls either. I don’t like it, really.

  Then we picked up PH and went down with Keith to the Palladium and went in the back door on 13th Street and the electricians and construction people were working fast. We went up to Steve Rubell’s office and the phones were ringing and he was saying, “There’s no door list, the invitations all were delivered yesterday and there is no list.” And in between people were coming in with the list. Then I left after taping some more for the Party book and taking some pictures. Dropped PH ($5). Went home and glued.

  Picked Cornelia up and she looked beautiful, she got this idea to wear a long braid and she looked like Britt Ekland or something (cab $6). And Halston came out for this, that was a big thing. So, anyway, we went in and stood in a couple of places. And Benjamin was there as Ming Vauze in a grape-colored strapless with a tulle skirt. And Beauregard who writes for Details was in drag, too. Boy George was there with Marilyn who’s always obnoxious, she had a camera. Eric and Shawn from Area were there looking glum. Chris in a striped outfit was there, he was complaining that the drinks weren’t free, but Cornelia was getting the Cristal from Dan, Steve’s driver from New Hampshire, who’s now the “general manager” there, but I don’t think that’s going to work out because he’s too nice, he’ll never be the type to manage a place.

  And Jean Michel was in a dark mood. He’d bought Jennifer a dress to wear to the opening and then he didn’t even bring her, he left her home. And I didn’t lecture him about the heroin he takes because I didn’t want to have a fight. And I’m worried about Ming turning into an alcoholic, because I saw what happened with Curley—it starts very happy and lots of fun but it doesn’t end up that way. And the Palladium, I don’t know, it was good for opening night but they’re going to have to have the bridge and tunnel people in there all the time to fill it up. And if it is a success, then we’ll know there’s no recession.

  And the funny thing about putting art in a disco is that in the end, when you pack all the people in, it doesn’t make a bit of difference. It really doesn’t. You don’t even see things. And like that Saturday Night Fever “discotheque room” they have—when it filled up you couldn’t even see what it was supposed to be, it’s just all bodies dancing and you don’t notice what anything is.

  So Steve Rubell really has a story now, jail and then the Big Comeback. “I never lost faith,” he says. But he lost hair. Left at 2:30.

  Wednesday,May 15, 1985

  Well, it was an awful day.

  Went to 80th and Second to Dr. Marder’s to see Amos. They’ve still got him there today. I hope he’s all right. And Dr. Marder made a faux pas and said he remembered my “beagle.”

  Then called the office and they said that the Talking Heads were waiting for me and I’d forgotten and by the time I got down there (cab $6) the lead one had left. They’ve friends of Don Munroe’s and he and Vincent were trying to get them to do video work. But I always felt I’ve known them for so long. They went to the Rhode Island School of Design.

  Cornelia called about eighteen times.

  Then right before we left the office, somebody called and said that Jackie Curtis O.D.’d. He’s gone. And that wasn’t something I wanted to hear.

  Monday,May 20, 1985

  After work got ready for the Claudia Cohen party at the Palladium. I was late picking up Cornelia, she was waiting downstairs. And we cabbed to 14th Street, and it was all limousines.

  Saul Steinberg was there with his third wife, Gayfryd, who’s so beautiful, she looks like the “Draw Me” girl in old magazines. And Claudia’s mother was there, so glamorous and really beautiful, whereas Claudia is just “cute.” But it’ll be a while before Ron Perelman trades her in, and she can help him a lot in the meantime.

  The party was all these old guys dancing around with their new young wives that they traded in for.

  And when you came in the door there was a guy holding a candle, and all along the way up, at intervals, would be another guy with a candle and then another. And they had drinks in the Mike Todd Room, and then out on t
he dance floor they had tables, with flowers on them, and each high flower had a spotlight on it, and it was beautiful. Like if the flower was blue, it would have a blue light and be bluer. It looked like glitter. And if it was pink, it would have a pink light on it and be pinker. And there were chairs sprayed silver. Five glasses for each person. And at the Palladium the sound is really good. A big stage with a great sound system. And Peter Duchin played al night. He came over and said hello, but said he was working. But I think he did stop to have dinner.

  Steve Rubell said the other day that Claudia was paying the Pointer Sisters $100,000. They came on after the dessert and did six or eight songs. And I had the best seat, right in front of them at table 7. Cornelia was at table 1 with Roy Cohn and his boyfriend, who was wearing a blue tuxedo that was half leather. Boy George and Marilyn came in at the end. Cornelia and Marilyn hit it off and instead of leaving with me she went off dancing with them.

  The food was pretty good—Glorious Food. But they don’t have the real beauties for waiters anymore. You aren’t knocked out. Now they have sort of the thirty-five look. Somebody else must be picking them because they used to look like Steve Rubell had hand-picked them—that look. And the Glorious Food waiters wear white gloves now, I guess Glorious makes them in order to prevent the fist-fucking from spreading. It’s a good idea because I spotted a friend of Victor’s among them. The only glittering personality there was Geraldo Rivera.