The Andy Warhol Diaries

by Andy Warhol

  Thursday, October 16, 1986

  Brigid’s really upset because her mother’s really bad, and she finally is realizing she’ll be an orphan.

  Had to leave the office early at 6:30 because it was the night of a Japanese boat ride party, and it was black tie and I had a black tie with me but I only had white Reeboks but Fred and I went over anyway.

  Rupert came by with finally some good paintings that I’ve done. I could actually have a good show, 10’ x 36’ Camouflages. So the car picked us up. I couldn’t close the alarm and I looked like a mess and I just knew it was one of those things where they treat you like royalty to get you there, but then when you step off the boat at the end of the ride, they won’t even hand you a token for the subway, they’ve already “had” you.

  Mr. Kuraoka from Nippon was so cute, it was all his food. And Dick Cavett got Bianca to talk on mike and she took a look at me and said, “What are you wearing?” I’m telling you, I was really a mess. My buttons didn’t button, my tie wasn’t straight, the turtleneck was showing through the white shirt. And Skitch Henderson was there and I told him how much I missed him on TV and how he really developed that whole format of the host talking to the bandleader that they still use. And all I could think of was that big tax problem he’d had.

  It lasted till 9:30 and Fred was his old self, charming and nice to everyone. But at the end he whispered, “Let’s be the first off the boat.” And sure enough, there was no car for us. They do absolutely everything to get you there and absolutely nothing to get you home. So we paid a limo ($25) to take us and Fred dropped me.

  Saturday, October 18, 1986

  Stuart called and said that he was interested in a platinum flute at Christie’s that was going at auction, and he was trying to get me interested in the gold one. I met him and Sam there and looked at it and it would’ve made a good necklace. Stuart decided he wouldn’t go above $120,000 for the platinum one. The silver one went for $4,400, and then I started bidding on the gold one but my last bid was $22,000 and it went for $40,000. The platinum flute was estimated at $40,000 but the bidding kept going up and up. Stuart kept his paddle up and I could feel his whole body next to me shaking as if he was having an orgasm. He was in a panic to see who the other person was who was bidding, but we looked around and couldn’t figure out where the other bids were coming from but when the bidding was over it was Stuart’s flute for $170,000, which with the tax and commission is about $200,000. Stuart was in shock. Just in shock.

  Everybody there thought it was me who’d bought it, not Stuart. People ran over and started giving me their cards and handing me copies of Flutist magazine. It was really funny. Then reporters came and asked why I wanted it, and to some of them I said because it had the World’s Fair emblem on it so I needed it for my collection of World’s Fair plastic knives and forks, and to some others I said I was buying it to melt down. Stuart couldn’t even open his mouth to tell them it was his flute, he was still shaking, so I dragged him out of there. The other guy bidding turned out to be from New Hampshire and he looked rich. I told Stuart to invite him to one of his musical soirées and try to sell him something. The flute had a whole story, some man willed it to his mistress but then after he died his family couldn’t believe he’d have a mistress so they held it up for ten years. It’s American. Boston. Kincaid.

  Then Stuart wanted two double martinis and four hot chocolates, so we went and got them.

  Then we went to the Antiques Center to see if we could find another flute for $2. Stuart’s trying to think of how to pay for this. Then he went home and I cabbed ($6) downtown. I’d made plans to see Sid and Nancy with Stephen Sprouse. It was at the 57th Street Playhouse (tickets $18, popcorn $5). Ann Lambton played herself, the movie was sick, real—nobody would ever want to be a punk after they saw it.

  Sunday, October 19, 1986

  Stuart was still in a daze over the $200,000 flute.

  Monday, October 20, 1986

  Stuart’s flute was on the front page of USA Today but they didn’t use his name. It just said (laughs): “Record Price Paid for Flute.” And he’s funny, he pretends he doesn’t want publicity, but then you can see he’s so crushed when he doesn’t get it. Like that story Steve Aronson wrote, he’s so excited about it but he still pretends not to be.

  John Powers called me from Japan and he’s looking for an Elvis to buy. There’s one coming up at auction and the reserve is so low. It says “Three Elvises” but I don’t know if it’s a really big one or just where the images overlap three times.

  Tuesday, October 21, 1986

  Diane Von Furstenberg was having a party for her boyfriend, Alain Elkann, who was married to the Agnelli daughter. He’s French. He’s written four books, and in France if you’re an intellectual, you don’t have to work, they just treat you like this big—“intellectual.” Like Loulou de la Falaise’s husband who’s supposed to be a novelist but I don’t think he’s ever finished anything. So Diane’s going the Marilyn Monroe route of marrying one person for the name, and now she’s going with this guy who’ll write books about her.

  Worked. Fred decided to come along. Closed up fast. Went to the Carlyle, ran into Sue Mengers in the elevator who’d been at the party, she was with her same husband and she’s thin and I don’t know what she’s doing. She lives here now. The cake was in the shape of a book. Bob Colacello was there. I read his article on Bianca in the new Vanity Fair. She’s back big again, the pictures of her walking with the Salvadorean children in the fields.

  Jean Michel called, back from the Ivory Coast. He said they sell meat with four million flies on it—they cut off a piece and just sell it with the flies. He sounded normal, like he was off drugs and missing old times, he wants to do prints together.

  Friday, October 31, 1986

  Benjamin was supposed to pick me up but he never showed. I wandered around. This was the day of the surprise birthday party Steven Greenberg was giving for Paige at Nell’s. For days I’d just been shuffling papers for Paige’s party, trying to help Tama do a good guest list, and I couldn’t get it together, and then Gael took over and did it all really fast. Worked all afternoon. I went home and then Paige picked me up, and as far as she knew, we were just going to a blind—date dinner at Nell’s.

  So we get to Nell’s and Paige still doesn’t suspect anything and then right at the last second, right outside at the door Glenn O’Brien’s wife Barbara was getting out of a cab and said, “Hi, Paige, we’re here for your surprise party.” We couldn’t believe it, but Paige was distracted enough so it didn’t really sink in and I think she actually was really shocked when she walked into the club and everybody screamed, “Surprise!”

  Gael did a really great job pulling it all together and the party was so nice. I sat right where I did on the opening night—right by the front door—and I didn’t move once. The party took up the whole street—level floor, and then they let the public in at 10:00 but they sent them downstairs. And it’s the new look in restaurants—going for the sort of phony rich look. Dark with stuffed furniture.

  And let’s see, Thomas Ammann was there and Tama, and Nick Love from L.A. who’s staying at Fred’s. And Larissa was there, and Jay, and Wilfredo, and Gina and Peter Koper. And the new kid who works for Interview who was at Paramount, Kevin Sessums.

  Halloween has really turned into a big holiday. It just used to be for kids but now it’s the whole city. All the drag queens came in and I didn’t recognize Kenny Scharf, I didn’t at all. I finally recognized Joey Arias. I figured him out. And Jean Michel came late with his face wrapped in tin foil and nobody knew who he was (laughs)—Paige was even talking to him because she didn’t know.

  Let’s see who else was there. Calvin came with Kelly and Bianca and Steve Rubell came and Doug Henley. And Jimmy Buffett’s wife. It was a lot of great people. I wanted Martin Burgoyne to come, but he said he had cancer all through his body, so that was … it was sad.

  Sunday, November 2, 1986

  Richard Turley cal
led to tell me that Monique Van Vooren was on TV in a Tarzan movie. So I turned it on and it was just incredible—there she was with dark hair and a different nose and so ugly, and it was with Lex Barker. In the end she was shot in the belly.

  Ran into Janet Sartin on Park Avenue when I was throwing out bread for the pigeons in the middle of the avenue. She said she did it, too.

  Monday, November 3, 1986

  Went over to the West Side to Dr. Li’s (cab $5, newspapers $6). It was a really nice day. Kind of busy at the office. Sam was depressed, what else is new. He had big circles under his eyes, it seemed like he spent the night out. Vincent had been up till 6 A.M. working on a video.

  The Dia Foundation was having my opening. And there was the sixties party that Jane Holzer was having at the Ritz, Fred said we had to go to that. Doc Cox had called in the afternoon and wanted a ticket to the Ritz thing. I was surprised he wouldn’t pay because it was a benefit for displaced or disabled kids.

  So after the Dia Foundation thing we went to Jane’s party and Jane didn’t show the whole time we were there. We were walking out and Stephen Sprouse was there and he’s really broke. He may be getting kicked out of his apartment. The deal he was going to sign got complicated. Everything always sounds so great until you start talking to the lawyers.

  Wednesday, November 5, 1986

  Stuart picked me up and we went over to Christie’s and they (laughs) wouldn’t give him a paddle because he hadn’t paid for his flute yet. I bought Stuart lunch at Sotheby’s ($3.15). He had a bologna sandwich and it looked so good. Remember sandwiches like that? With mustard. And the slices were so thick. Like 3/8”. The girl serving coughed in my tea, but I figured that since the tea was so hot, it’d be sterilized.

  Then Stuart’s driver drove me down to the office and he’s great, the Brazilian bandleader, he got me there really fast.

  It was pouring rain. Sam was going to go with me on the Forbes yacht but he didn’t bring a jacket and tie like I’d told him to the day before so I disinvited him and took Fred who was thrilled to go.

  So we went to the boat. This party was to publicize a new line of underwear. James Brady was a lot of fun, and Susan Mulcahy was there and Fred was in a skirt—pulling mood. And I talked to Mr. Tisch and his wife and (laughs) we were standing there saying oh—how—tacky something was and right at that moment this lady from Texas came over to me and said that she’d just seen the ad for my portraits (laughs) in the Neiman—Marcus Christmas gift catalogue. So that cut me down to size and I started to laugh and Fred gave me a look like, “I hope you’re happy,” but he was laughing, too. He’s still so mad that I okayed it for their catalogue while he was away in Europe. So that was really funny.

  Thursday, November 6, 1986

  This was the night Larry Gagosian was supposed to be giving a pre-opening dinner for me, I thought, but then Fred sort of told me it was cancelled. Somehow he didn’t want me at it, I’ll get to that later. So when Paige called and said there was a business dinner at Chantilly’s which is a good restaurant on Park and 57th, I said I’d go to that.

  Paige picked me up and we got to the restaurant forty minutes late. Steven Greenberg and Margaux Hemingway were invited and Michael Gross from the Times and Barbara Hodes who he just got married to, she used to design for Paraphernalia and she still looks the same as she did in the sixties. Sonia Rykiel was there, too.

  Then Steven wanted to go to Nell’s so we went down there, and we walk in and I saw Larry Gagosian and then I saw Fred sitting with Faye Dunaway and Jerry Hall! I’m not kidding! I don’t know how that happened, if they were there and just coincidentally were sitting with him, but it seemed like this was the dinner that Larry was supposed to be giving for me. Fred was mumbling something like that he’d wanted to talk business with them alone or something. But I do think this dinner was supposed to be for me and that he’d told me it was cancelled just so I wouldn’t go.

  And Gagosian told me, “I got your Rorschach Test for my California show,” and I said, “Where did you get it?” He said, “From Leo,” and I said, “Oh, really? Did you buy it?” and he said, “No, it’s consigned.” I said, “Well you can’t have it.” I got mad and tough. Because it’s just one more show not to have. And Larry, I don’t know, he’s really weird, he got in trouble for obscene phone calls and everything. He’s weird.

  Friday, November 7, 1986

  It was a messy day, raining and everything. Saw a great video on MTV by the Models, it’s done sixties and it’s like underground movies and there’s an Edie and a me, and the me looks so cute, he’s in a striped shirt, it’s great. I don’t know the title of the song.

  My opening was happening at Gagosian’s and Stuart sent his car and I locked up and we went over there and ran into Stellan from Sweden who has a girlfriend who works on fashion at Interview Marianne. And Yoko Ono was there. And we saw the show and Stuart was saying, “They’re masterpieces,” and I don’t know if he was just buttering me up or what. These are the Piss paintings, the Oxidations. And then these nice older women were asking me how I’d done them and I didn’t have the heart to tell them what they really were because their noses were right up against them. And it was so crowded.

  Then went to Nippon with Sam and Wilfredo and Benjamin and Stuart and Barbara Guggenheim (dinner $280).

  Saturday, November 8, 1986

  Sam called and said he’d been to four clubs with Benjamin: Rolodex, Beat the Zombie—something like that—and Save the Robot. Dolly Fox called and said that we were on for the Demi Moore play that night. Stuart called and picked me up and we went to a skeleton place on 14th Street, where they had bones from a one-year-old up to a twenty-six-year-old. Then I went to the office and worked all afternoon.

  Closed up and went to Seventh Avenue and 4th Street (cab $5, tickets $30) and after the play we went “backstage” which turned out to be (laughs) outside. I got Demi Moore to invite me out to her wedding on December 13th to Emilio Estevez, so that’ll be a good time to go out, it’s the big art time there.

  Elizabeth Saltzman had invited me for dinner at Indochine. She was inviting Barry Tubbs and I was the draw. She’s with Jellybean now, though. Cabbed to Indochine ($6). Barry Tubbs never came. Elizabeth didn’t pay, which was odd because she’d invited us (dinner $200). Somebody came in and told us the whole story of the night before at Nell’s, how Fred had stood on a table and pulled down his pants in front of the whole restaurant.

  Then we went down to Nell’s and there were eight of us (admission $40) and they got us the table in the back. We were there for a couple of hours and then I ran out without paying the check at Nell’s. I just felt like it (cab $10).

  Sunday, November 9, 1986

  Donald was coming over, my nephew, and he’s going back to Pittsburgh, giving up his job at the office, and I told him he was giving up a big opportunity. He never changed his name from Warhola to Warhol, that should have given me the clue. He just doesn’t like New York, I guess. I never took him out to anything. I don’t know if that would have made a difference. I don’t think so, but I don’t know. He said he’s going back to take care of his mother and father because they’ve been so good to him. I told him oh sure, who’re you kidding. His father John is the one who worked for Sears, he just retired.

  I called Fred and he was acting grand with me, telling me off. I just couldn’t take it. I told him he was sounding very grand for somebody who’d dropped his pants at Nell’s and then when I said that he became a different person—he didn’t think I knew about that and it stopped him cold.

  Watched MTV—the rebroadcast of our Fifteen Minutes show—to see if it had aged well, and it did still look current, it looked modern. We’ve got to get the colors brighter, though. I’ve got to work on that. It should look the way Madonna looks in her “Papa Don’t Preach” video where she’s dancing like Marilyn or Kim Novak. Those strong colors. Blond hair and orange lipstick on black.

  Monday, November 10, 1986

  Iolas came by, he’s
having a prostate operation and so my Last Supper show is being changed to December 15, which I’d hoped would be postponed even more, to March. Talked to Michel Roux about doing paintings of the bottles for his new mineral waters.

  It was the night of the Barneys fashion show benefit for AIDS in the women’s shop. Wilfredo was going and at first Sam said he didn’t want to go but then when he heard Madonna was going to be there he felt he might.

  We went over (cab $8) and we asked if Madonna was there yet and they said no, but she must have come in some disguise because when Iman came down the stairs, Madonna swooped in front of her and then all the photographers swooped after Madonna. The show was good, great jackets. Good ideas. Everybody was in the show—Joey Arias and John Sex and the girl with the shape, Dianne Brill, and Teresa Scharf. Madonna had on Martin Burgoyne’s denim jacket. And then as we were leaving Chris Makos shoved some nuns at me for a picture and then somebody else started to take the picture and he screamed at the guy, “It’s my picture, I set it up!” They were from St. Vincent’s, the benefit was for them.

  Howard Read from the Robert Miller Gallery was there and he’d just been at the auction where Jasper Johns’s painting went for $3.3 million! Which is $3.6 with tax and commission and stuff. So it’s the highest price ever paid for a painting of a living artist. And it wasn’t even that great a painting, there were better ones. It wasn’t a Target or—it was maybe the Numbers. I had Dollar Bills in this sale and it went for $385,000, and a Mona Lisa went for $70,000.