Pop Art brought art back to the material realities of everyday life, to popular culture (hence ``pop´´), in which ordinary people derived most of their visual pleasure from television, magazines, or comics.
Pop Art emerged in the mid 1950s in England, but realized its fullest potential in New York in the '60s where it shared, with Minimalism, the attentions of the art world. In Pop Art, the epic was replaced with the everyday and the mass-produced awarded the same significance as the unique; the gulf between ``high art´´ and ``low art´´ was eroding away. The media and advertising were favorite subjects for Pop Art´s often witty celebrations of consumer society.
Perhaps the greatest Pop artist, whose innovations have affected so much subsequent art, was the American artist, Andy Warhol (1928-87). The term ``Pop Art´´ was first used by the English critic Lawrence Alloway in a 1958 issue of Architectural Digest to describe those paintings that celebrate post-war consumerism, defy the psychology of Abstract Expressionism, and worship the god of materialism. The most famous of the Pop artists, the cult figure Andy Warhol, recreated quasi-photographic paintings of people or everyday objects.Roy Lichtenstein's pop art. Along with Warhol, he was a founder of the style
Pop Art Design
One sign of the times with far-reaching consequences was design: consumer goods design, media design and fashion design. Various branches of business expanded, creating their own "types" in acccordance with the patterns of taste and norms dictated by demand - advertising stereotypes engineered in close cooperation with marketing departments, statistical research and behavioral science. These "types" were then portrayed in relation to certain accessories, to things they (supposedly) loved. They were shown applying make-up or perfume, doing their hair, reading, driving, smoking, eating, drinking and travelling, shown surrounded by the objects of their preference. They were, in fact, shown just as they really were - externally controlled human beings caught up in the image-dependent web of a perfectly functioning, integrated system of brand names. In the course of the sixties - with America well out in the lead - design was professionalized and perfected in such a way that it became no longer necessary to link specific characteristics with a product in an obvious way. Instead, the creative aspirations of designers were applied to forging such links psychologically at a subconscious level - to making inroads into the private sphere of the addressee at a sublimal level. This exploitation of depth psychology - though difficult enough to grasp in any concrete sense - enabled design to out-manoeuvre the consumer's freedom of choice. The "unlimited freedom" of the consumer society was thus built upon the seducability, lack of independence, lack of freedom and indeed addiction of the consumer. Many artists were stimulated to take on work designing requisites for domestic, enviromental and consumer product promotion; the homgeneity this process encouraged, the loss of everything personal and vital, was felt as a challenge to their whole sense of being and art. For their part, the artists were able to perfect certain aspects of consumer goods design, of layout, and of the adaption of subjects to the photographic process, thus acquiring techniques of communicating the more suggestive and brash elements of trivial behavior. This development in the language of images corresponded to a similar development in vulgar colloquial language, whereby advertising slogans were viewed as a kind of literature and ghostwriters' and copywriters' texts assumed the status of art. Similar reactions occured in the cinema, in music and in other art forms. ANDY WARHOL Coming of age as a homosexual in the late 1940s, it was, perhaps, inevitable that Andy Warhol would be drawn to New York City, the mecca for both artistic and sexual freedom. Soon after his move to New York, Warhol began to win national awards for his commercial work. From the 1950s to the end of his life, Andy Warhol continued to transform commercial art and advertising. The fashion, photography, and magazine worlds were entranced by his delicate, brilliant line drawings and illustrations for various clients, including Glamour, Harper's Bazaar, I. Miller shoes, and others. While making a name for himself in New York, Warhol also absorbed the volatile metropolitan cultural life of the city. He attended dance and opera performances, visited galleries, museums, and the New York Public Library, where he researched images which he later transformed in his work. For close to 40 years, Warhol brought the popular culture of magazines, movies, and music together with the avant-garde of art. His close friendships crossed all boundaries. Early Pop After traveling around the world in 1956, Andy Warhol decided that his ambitions exceeded the bounds of the commercial art world. For the first time since his student years, he returned to painting on canvas. Warhol enlarged images from newspaper and magazine advertisements, comic strips, and other mundane sources of popular culture, making hand-painted paintings like Coca-Cola (1960), Telephone (1960), and Campbell's Soup Cans (1960 - 62). In 1962 he developed the technique of silkscreening images directly onto canvas, using commercial labels, film stills, and other photographs as subjects. His Elvis, Liz, Marilyn, and film stars became definitive emblems of American Pop art. Warhol himself, his entourage of Superstars, and his silver-painted studio, known as the Factory, became world-famous. and other paintings of Warhol began to make films in 1963. In addition to being projected daily in the museum theater, his early films, such as Sleep and Empire, have been transferred to videodisc and are shown continuously in a gallery adjacent to his 1960s paintings, prints, and drawings of film stars.Interview Magazine We started the magazine Interview so we could get free tickets for all the premieres. . . --Andy Warhol Andy Warhol founded Interview magazine in 1969. An avid reader of movie magazines and tabloids since his youth, Warhol transformed his obsession with Hollywood and fans into a monthly review of popular culture. Having used movie stars and sensationalism in his paintings, he now ventured into celebrity journalism. Historically, many aesthetic movements gave rise to journals, such as the Vienna Secessionists' Ver Sacrum,Surrealism's Minotaure,and various Fluxus publications. These served to disseminate the movements' ideologies and provide an additional forum for creative expression. Warhol's magazine, initially titled inter/VIEW: A Monthly Film Journal,was dedicated to film reviews and interviews with movie stars and directors. Within a few years, the coverage expanded to include other aspects of Pop culture, embracing fashion, art, music, television, gossip, and celebrity nightlife--especially New York's notorious disco, Studio 54. Warhol and Interview's editors pioneered and developed the concept of celebrities interviewing celebrities: Mae West by Anjelica Huston, Calvin Klein by Bianca Jagger, Bette Midler by Armistead Maupin. Truman Capote was both subject and conductor of interviews. When asked who read the publication, Warhol replied, "Our friends. And whoever is on the cover." Appearing in the first year were Jane Fonda, Robert Redford, Raquel Welch, and Mick Jagger--twice. The cover of Interview became prominent on newsstands as the hip equivalent of Lifeor Vogue,both of which had earlier played important roles in Warhol's careers as a commercial and fine artist. Interview's regular columns have included Bob Colacello's "Out," Fran Lebowitz's "I Cover the Waterfront," and Glenn O'Brien's "Beat." The magazine promoted the early work of photographers Bruce Weber and Robert Mapplethorpe, whose homage to Kim Novak appeared in 1972. Interview has also consistently published the photos of Ara Gallant, Bill King, Steven Meisel, Herb Ritts, Francesco Scavullo, and other important photographers. From 1972 until 1989, the artist for nearly all Interview covers was Richard Bernstein. The following are excerpts from Warhol's famous diaries, edited by Pat Hackett Sunday, December 12, 1976 I read the Ruth Kligman book Love Affair about her "love affair" with Jackson Pollock - and that's in quotes. It's so bad - how could you ever make a movie of it without making it a whole new story? Ruth told me she wants me to produce it and Jack Nicholsen to star. In the book she says something like, "I had to get away from Jackson and I ran as far as possible." So do you know where she went? (laughs) Sag Harbor. He lived in Springs. So that's - what? Six miles? And she was making it like she went to the other side of the world. And then she said, "The phone rang - how oh how did he ever find me?" I'm sure she called hundreds of people to give them the number in case he asked them. Monday, December 27, 1976 Got the invitation to President Carter's inaugural. It was addressed to (laughs) "Mr. And Mrs. Andy Warhol." Don't you love it? Tuesday, January 11, 1977 Halston came in with a little painting Elizabeth Taylor had done for me because she didn't come down - he'd just been with her. When I think about that I'm really disappointed - it would have been so great if Liz had come to the opening. That would have made it something, wouldn't it? Wednesday, March 15, 1977 Anita told me that she's managed to stay friends with Paulette by never asking her a direct question. I said I made my big mistake saying, "What was your sex life like with Chaplin?" (Andy's talking to Anita Loos about Paulette Goddard - John) Saturday, January 21, 1978 We went outside to try to get a cab but we couldn't. Then along came a white guy and a black girl in a car who offered us a ride anywhere we wanted to go, and we took it. They said that Stevie wouldn't let them in to Studio 54 because they didn't look right, but they looked okay to me - I mean, he looked like a fairy and she looked like a drag queen, it was the Studio 54 look. Friday, February 3, 1978 Jaquine Lachman wants a painting but she wants a bargain price. I mean, her husband owns a third of Revlon! Bob is going to tell her no bargain. Tuesday, March 7, 1978 I want to invent a new kind fast food, and I was thinking, what about a waffle thing that had the food on one side and the drink on the other - like ham and Coke? You could eat and drink at the same time. Saturday, March 11, 1978 I had a lot of dates but I decided to stay home and dye my eyebrows. Monday, April 3, 1978 - New York I hated the Awards, I hated the whole thing. I hated every nominee and I hated everything that won. I must be really out of it. But nobody good like John Travolta won. I mean, Richard Dreyfuss? I mean, if he's a sex symbol, I don't know what the world is coming to. Friday, April 14, 1978 I talked to Suzy Chapstick and she said she's noticed that most girls who get famous are tomboys when they're little, and I said that I'd been a tomboy. Thursday, July 27, 1978 After work I just stayed in. Watched 20/20 and instead of saying, "In the future everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes," it was so funny to hear Hugh Downs say, "As Andy Warhol once said, in fifteen minutes everybody will be famous." People on TV always get some part wrong, like - "In the future fifteen people will be famous." Wednesday, August 23, 1978 Oh, and Susan Blond called me earlier and says that a girl had called her up because she was upset because Bruce Springsteen was upset because he said I'd taken pictures on Monday night. She said that he doesn't like anybody to take pictures - that his girlfriend's a photographer and even she can't take his picture. But the funny thing is, I'd just gotten my contact sheets back and I was sitting there trying to figure out what night I was looking at and who I'd taken picture of - I didn't even recognize that it was Bruce Springsteen - I thought it was Al Pacino. I'd forgotten where I went! Why is Bruce Springsteen big, though? He talks the dumb way. Like Sylvester Stallone. Is that why these people are big? Because they talk that way and people identify? He does work really hard. Saturday, September 30, 1978 And you know, I was thinking the other day about commercial movies and then all the great art movies, and I've decided something: Commercial things really do stink. As soon as it becomes commercial for a mass market it really stinks. I know I always rave and say my favorite movies are things like The Other Side of Midnight and The Betsy, but I guess I'm going to change my tune. You have to do stuff that average people don't understand, because those are the only good things. And even though the arty foreign movies are boring to sit through, at least they try to do creative things. So I'm going to start going to the New Yorker and seeing strange movies again. I'm missing so much, going to parties. Thursday, April 5, 1979 Picked up Catherine and we went over to Regine's. Paloma Picasso was there with her husband and her boyfriend. Or his boyfriend. Or their boyfriend. I don't know how that one works. Wednesday, September 5, 1979 Picked Bob up at 7:45 and went to the Magno screening room to see Yanks. I invited Curley and he and Bob loved the movie but I couldn't stand it. It was a forties movie, and if you want to see a forties movie they're on TV all the time and you can have great-looking people like Tyrone Power, not Richard Gere! The movie had no war and no bombing. Monday, September 17, 1979 They had an orchestra and all the old bags were out on the floor doing the foxtrot, and there's always that one seventy-five or eighty-year-old lady who gets out there and is the first to start really jumping. These old bags still want men to go to bed with them. They look like the ladies at Bonnie & Clyde, that dyke bar downtown where every table it's women who look like anybody's mother. Wednesday, July 16, 1980 There's so much in the papers about Ronald Reagan, and it looks like he's on his way to become president, it does look scary. I voted once. In the fifties, I don't remember which election. I pulled the wrong lever because I was confused, I couldn't figure out how to work the thing. There was no practice model outside, it was a church on 35th Street between Park and Lex. This was when I was living at 242 Lexington. And then I got called for jury duty and I wrote back: "Moved". I've never voted again. Tuesday, July 22, 1980 I met someone on the street who said wasn't it great that we're going to have a movie star for president, that it was so Pop, and (laughs) when you think about it like that, it is great, it's so American. Monday, March 8, 1982 Victor gave me a call and said that he'd been with some Amsterdam boys and that everybody's afraid of getting the gay cancer so now they fuck with their big toe. Now it's (laughs) whoever has the biggest toe. He said, "It's wild." Wednesday, June 9, 1982 Went home and was picked up by Richard Weisman to go to the Grease II premiere. Jon was taking Cornelia Guest. The movie was everything I dreamed for. I loved the Pfeiffer girl and the Caulfield boy and Pat Birch's direction was great. It was so good. John Travolta is so dumb for not doing Grease II. What is he doing now? Can you imagine being a star and not working? Do you sit in your palace and take (laughs) acting lessons, or what? Thursday, August 5, 1982 I watched Tarzan on cable and Bo Derek is the worst actress in the world. She was eating a banana, and she couldn't even eat a banana. It was like she had no teeth. Monday, August 16, 1982 But tell me why it is that everybody is so good-looking now. In the fifties, there were the really good-looking people and the all the rest who weren't. Today, everybody is at least attractive. A piece from Warhol's 'Rorschach' eraHow did it happen? Is it because there's no wars to kill the beauties? Monday, November 8, 1982 Sent Benjamin down to Chinatown (laughs) because I hadn't gotten any gifts for anybody when I was in China. And I also told him (laughs) that he was under consideration for being fired because I was so tired of looking at Chinese people. Friday, January 7, 1983 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. Sunday, March 27, 1983 Decided to stay in and watch The Thorn Birds. It was sick, all these people trying to make one priest. Tuesday, March 29, 1983 And oh, I love my Enquirer gift subscription that someone gave me for Christmas. Everything they say is true. Sunday, May 1, 1983 Edie's on the sides on the buses. The ads for the paperback. Poor Edie - when she went out she'd never even take a cab, it had to be limo, and now they've got her on the bus. Wednesday, May 11, 1983 You know, you begin to wonder if there isn't something to these Polish jokes. I mean, the Polish Institute is next door and they have a sign on the door that says to use the next door, and they have an arrow pointing to the second door. Well they walk right by that second door and come to my house and ring my bell. It really makes you wonder. Monday, June 6, 1983 And I love seeing the new People magazine with Tony Perkins on the cover, and it talked about him being gay, as if it were all in the past. Isn't that funny? And it talked about Brigitte Bardot and Ingrid Bergman and Jane Fonda trying to make him. Left out Tab Hunter and Chris Makos, but it didn't say that he used to hire hustlers to come in through the window and pretend to be robbers. Tuesday, June 7, 1983 It was really busy at the office. Jay came back to where I was working and told me that Sidney Poitier's son was there. And everybody at the office, they all believed it. It was like believing in the Du Pont twins or something. Jay really fell for it. Finally we got him out when he said that his mother Diahann Carroll was coming to meet him there, so I said "Oh, you might miss her if you don't wait for her downstairs." Oh, and Diana Ross was going to be coming with her. I forgot. Diana Ross, too, and still they all believed it. Wednesday, September 28, 1983 Oh, and I saw Mrs. Douglas MacArthur while I was waiting and she was great. Another of a series of Warhol's 'Rorschach' paintingsShe's eighty-four or something and still has all her marbles. And me, I can barely walk. Wednesday, October 19, 1983 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 people all let him stay at their houses! I mean, he could have been anybody, he could have just wiped out a whole family. (This incident inspired the movie "Six Degrees of Separation" - John) Tuesday, November 6, 1984 Entertainment Tonight got me on the way in and asked me who I voted for and I said, "For the winner," and they said, "Who's that?" and I said, "The winner is the winner." I don't even know what I meant. If they ever put all the clips they've ever gotten of me together they'd see that I'm a moron and finally stop asking me questions. Monday, June 16, 1986 Keith had a limo and I decided to go with him to the Carlyle for a party for the Ellis kid who wrote Less Than Zero. He graduated from Bennington. And as we were going in a bald girl with a fashionable ugly dress was going in. I wonder if regular nonfashion clothes are out forever, if these kids will ever dress normally like, you know, Phil Donahue again. It was such a cute party. I never read his book, but someone sent it to me. All the kids had the right fashionable hair and the fashionable right clothes. And I always think California kids are tall, but these kids were all three feet. Wednesday, August 13, 1986 Went to see Stand by Me at the Coronet or Baronet. These four little kids and there's the Fat kid and the Brilliant kid and the Crazy kid. The only disappointing thing was that the kid who's a writer they show writing about it later in life, and this really cute little kid has turned into Richard Dreyfuss! It should've been Richard Gere. Then I would've been happy. Thursday, August 28, 1986 People from Denmark talked to Fred and want me to do a Hans Christian Andersen portfolio.
These "types" were then portrayed in relation to certain accessories, to things they (supposedly) loved. They were shown applying make-up or perfume, doing their hair, reading, driving, smoking, eating, drinking and travelling, shown surrounded by the objects of their preference. They were, in fact, shown just as they really were - externally controlled human beings caught up in the image-dependent web of a perfectly functioning, integrated system of brand names.
In the course of the sixties - with America well out in the lead - design was professionalized and perfected in such a way that it became no longer necessary to link specific characteristics with a product in an obvious way. Instead, the creative aspirations of designers were applied to forging such links psychologically at a subconscious level - to making inroads into the private sphere of the addressee at a sublimal level. This exploitation of depth psychology - though difficult enough to grasp in any concrete sense - enabled design to out-manoeuvre the consumer's freedom of choice.
The "unlimited freedom" of the consumer society was thus built upon the seducability, lack of independence, lack of freedom and indeed addiction of the consumer. Many artists were stimulated to take on work designing requisites for domestic, enviromental and consumer product promotion; the homgeneity this process encouraged, the loss of everything personal and vital, was felt as a challenge to their whole sense of being and art.
For their part, the artists were able to perfect certain aspects of consumer goods design, of layout, and of the adaption of subjects to the photographic process, thus acquiring techniques of communicating the more suggestive and brash elements of trivial behavior. This development in the language of images corresponded to a similar development in vulgar colloquial language, whereby advertising slogans were viewed as a kind of literature and ghostwriters' and copywriters' texts assumed the status of art. Similar reactions occured in the cinema, in music and in other art forms.
While making a name for himself in New York, Warhol also absorbed the volatile metropolitan cultural life of the city. He attended dance and opera performances, visited galleries, museums, and the New York Public Library, where he researched images which he later transformed in his work. For close to 40 years, Warhol brought the popular culture of magazines, movies, and music together with the avant-garde of art. His close friendships crossed all boundaries.
In 1962 he developed the technique of silkscreening images directly onto canvas, using commercial labels, film stills, and other photographs as subjects. His Elvis, Liz, Marilyn, and film stars became definitive emblems of American Pop art. Warhol himself, his entourage of Superstars, and his silver-painted studio, known as the Factory, became world-famous. and other paintings of Warhol began to make films in 1963. In addition to being projected daily in the museum theater, his early films, such as Sleep and Empire, have been transferred to videodisc and are shown continuously in a gallery adjacent to his 1960s paintings, prints, and drawings of film stars.
Interview Magazine We started the magazine Interview so we could get free tickets for all the premieres. . . --Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol founded Interview magazine in 1969. An avid reader of movie magazines and tabloids since his youth, Warhol transformed his obsession with Hollywood and fans into a monthly review of popular culture. Having used movie stars and sensationalism in his paintings, he now ventured into celebrity journalism. Historically, many aesthetic movements gave rise to journals, such as the Vienna Secessionists' Ver Sacrum,Surrealism's Minotaure,and various Fluxus publications. These served to disseminate the movements' ideologies and provide an additional forum for creative expression. Warhol's magazine, initially titled inter/VIEW: A Monthly Film Journal,was dedicated to film reviews and interviews with movie stars and directors. Within a few years, the coverage expanded to include other aspects of Pop culture, embracing fashion, art, music, television, gossip, and celebrity nightlife--especially New York's notorious disco, Studio 54. Warhol and Interview's editors pioneered and developed the concept of celebrities interviewing celebrities: Mae West by Anjelica Huston, Calvin Klein by Bianca Jagger, Bette Midler by Armistead Maupin. Truman Capote was both subject and conductor of interviews. When asked who read the publication, Warhol replied, "Our friends. And whoever is on the cover." Appearing in the first year were Jane Fonda, Robert Redford, Raquel Welch, and Mick Jagger--twice. The cover of Interview became prominent on newsstands as the hip equivalent of Lifeor Vogue,both of which had earlier played important roles in Warhol's careers as a commercial and fine artist. Interview's regular columns have included Bob Colacello's "Out," Fran Lebowitz's "I Cover the Waterfront," and Glenn O'Brien's "Beat." The magazine promoted the early work of photographers Bruce Weber and Robert Mapplethorpe, whose homage to Kim Novak appeared in 1972. Interview has also consistently published the photos of Ara Gallant, Bill King, Steven Meisel, Herb Ritts, Francesco Scavullo, and other important photographers. From 1972 until 1989, the artist for nearly all Interview covers was Richard Bernstein. The following are excerpts from Warhol's famous diaries, edited by Pat Hackett Sunday, December 12, 1976 I read the Ruth Kligman book Love Affair about her "love affair" with Jackson Pollock - and that's in quotes. It's so bad - how could you ever make a movie of it without making it a whole new story? Ruth told me she wants me to produce it and Jack Nicholsen to star. In the book she says something like, "I had to get away from Jackson and I ran as far as possible." So do you know where she went? (laughs) Sag Harbor. He lived in Springs. So that's - what? Six miles? And she was making it like she went to the other side of the world. And then she said, "The phone rang - how oh how did he ever find me?" I'm sure she called hundreds of people to give them the number in case he asked them. Monday, December 27, 1976 Got the invitation to President Carter's inaugural. It was addressed to (laughs) "Mr. And Mrs. Andy Warhol." Don't you love it? Tuesday, January 11, 1977 Halston came in with a little painting Elizabeth Taylor had done for me because she didn't come down - he'd just been with her. When I think about that I'm really disappointed - it would have been so great if Liz had come to the opening. That would have made it something, wouldn't it? Wednesday, March 15, 1977 Anita told me that she's managed to stay friends with Paulette by never asking her a direct question. I said I made my big mistake saying, "What was your sex life like with Chaplin?" (Andy's talking to Anita Loos about Paulette Goddard - John) Saturday, January 21, 1978 We went outside to try to get a cab but we couldn't. Then along came a white guy and a black girl in a car who offered us a ride anywhere we wanted to go, and we took it. They said that Stevie wouldn't let them in to Studio 54 because they didn't look right, but they looked okay to me - I mean, he looked like a fairy and she looked like a drag queen, it was the Studio 54 look. Friday, February 3, 1978 Jaquine Lachman wants a painting but she wants a bargain price. I mean, her husband owns a third of Revlon! Bob is going to tell her no bargain. Tuesday, March 7, 1978 I want to invent a new kind fast food, and I was thinking, what about a waffle thing that had the food on one side and the drink on the other - like ham and Coke? You could eat and drink at the same time. Saturday, March 11, 1978 I had a lot of dates but I decided to stay home and dye my eyebrows. Monday, April 3, 1978 - New York I hated the Awards, I hated the whole thing. I hated every nominee and I hated everything that won. I must be really out of it. But nobody good like John Travolta won. I mean, Richard Dreyfuss? I mean, if he's a sex symbol, I don't know what the world is coming to. Friday, April 14, 1978 I talked to Suzy Chapstick and she said she's noticed that most girls who get famous are tomboys when they're little, and I said that I'd been a tomboy. Thursday, July 27, 1978 After work I just stayed in. Watched 20/20 and instead of saying, "In the future everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes," it was so funny to hear Hugh Downs say, "As Andy Warhol once said, in fifteen minutes everybody will be famous." People on TV always get some part wrong, like - "In the future fifteen people will be famous." Wednesday, August 23, 1978 Oh, and Susan Blond called me earlier and says that a girl had called her up because she was upset because Bruce Springsteen was upset because he said I'd taken pictures on Monday night. She said that he doesn't like anybody to take pictures - that his girlfriend's a photographer and even she can't take his picture. But the funny thing is, I'd just gotten my contact sheets back and I was sitting there trying to figure out what night I was looking at and who I'd taken picture of - I didn't even recognize that it was Bruce Springsteen - I thought it was Al Pacino. I'd forgotten where I went! Why is Bruce Springsteen big, though? He talks the dumb way. Like Sylvester Stallone. Is that why these people are big? Because they talk that way and people identify? He does work really hard. Saturday, September 30, 1978 And you know, I was thinking the other day about commercial movies and then all the great art movies, and I've decided something: Commercial things really do stink. As soon as it becomes commercial for a mass market it really stinks. I know I always rave and say my favorite movies are things like The Other Side of Midnight and The Betsy, but I guess I'm going to change my tune. You have to do stuff that average people don't understand, because those are the only good things. And even though the arty foreign movies are boring to sit through, at least they try to do creative things. So I'm going to start going to the New Yorker and seeing strange movies again. I'm missing so much, going to parties. Thursday, April 5, 1979 Picked up Catherine and we went over to Regine's. Paloma Picasso was there with her husband and her boyfriend. Or his boyfriend. Or their boyfriend. I don't know how that one works. Wednesday, September 5, 1979 Picked Bob up at 7:45 and went to the Magno screening room to see Yanks. I invited Curley and he and Bob loved the movie but I couldn't stand it. It was a forties movie, and if you want to see a forties movie they're on TV all the time and you can have great-looking people like Tyrone Power, not Richard Gere! The movie had no war and no bombing. Monday, September 17, 1979 They had an orchestra and all the old bags were out on the floor doing the foxtrot, and there's always that one seventy-five or eighty-year-old lady who gets out there and is the first to start really jumping. These old bags still want men to go to bed with them. They look like the ladies at Bonnie & Clyde, that dyke bar downtown where every table it's women who look like anybody's mother. Wednesday, July 16, 1980 There's so much in the papers about Ronald Reagan, and it looks like he's on his way to become president, it does look scary. I voted once. In the fifties, I don't remember which election. I pulled the wrong lever because I was confused, I couldn't figure out how to work the thing. There was no practice model outside, it was a church on 35th Street between Park and Lex. This was when I was living at 242 Lexington. And then I got called for jury duty and I wrote back: "Moved". I've never voted again. Tuesday, July 22, 1980 I met someone on the street who said wasn't it great that we're going to have a movie star for president, that it was so Pop, and (laughs) when you think about it like that, it is great, it's so American. Monday, March 8, 1982 Victor gave me a call and said that he'd been with some Amsterdam boys and that everybody's afraid of getting the gay cancer so now they fuck with their big toe. Now it's (laughs) whoever has the biggest toe. He said, "It's wild." Wednesday, June 9, 1982 Went home and was picked up by Richard Weisman to go to the Grease II premiere. Jon was taking Cornelia Guest. The movie was everything I dreamed for. I loved the Pfeiffer girl and the Caulfield boy and Pat Birch's direction was great. It was so good. John Travolta is so dumb for not doing Grease II. What is he doing now? Can you imagine being a star and not working? Do you sit in your palace and take (laughs) acting lessons, or what? Thursday, August 5, 1982 I watched Tarzan on cable and Bo Derek is the worst actress in the world. She was eating a banana, and she couldn't even eat a banana. It was like she had no teeth. Monday, August 16, 1982 But tell me why it is that everybody is so good-looking now. In the fifties, there were the really good-looking people and the all the rest who weren't. Today, everybody is at least attractive. A piece from Warhol's 'Rorschach' eraHow did it happen? Is it because there's no wars to kill the beauties? Monday, November 8, 1982 Sent Benjamin down to Chinatown (laughs) because I hadn't gotten any gifts for anybody when I was in China. And I also told him (laughs) that he was under consideration for being fired because I was so tired of looking at Chinese people. Friday, January 7, 1983 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. Sunday, March 27, 1983 Decided to stay in and watch The Thorn Birds. It was sick, all these people trying to make one priest. Tuesday, March 29, 1983 And oh, I love my Enquirer gift subscription that someone gave me for Christmas. Everything they say is true. Sunday, May 1, 1983 Edie's on the sides on the buses. The ads for the paperback. Poor Edie - when she went out she'd never even take a cab, it had to be limo, and now they've got her on the bus. Wednesday, May 11, 1983 You know, you begin to wonder if there isn't something to these Polish jokes. I mean, the Polish Institute is next door and they have a sign on the door that says to use the next door, and they have an arrow pointing to the second door. Well they walk right by that second door and come to my house and ring my bell. It really makes you wonder. Monday, June 6, 1983 And I love seeing the new People magazine with Tony Perkins on the cover, and it talked about him being gay, as if it were all in the past. Isn't that funny? And it talked about Brigitte Bardot and Ingrid Bergman and Jane Fonda trying to make him. Left out Tab Hunter and Chris Makos, but it didn't say that he used to hire hustlers to come in through the window and pretend to be robbers. Tuesday, June 7, 1983 It was really busy at the office. Jay came back to where I was working and told me that Sidney Poitier's son was there. And everybody at the office, they all believed it. It was like believing in the Du Pont twins or something. Jay really fell for it. Finally we got him out when he said that his mother Diahann Carroll was coming to meet him there, so I said "Oh, you might miss her if you don't wait for her downstairs." Oh, and Diana Ross was going to be coming with her. I forgot. Diana Ross, too, and still they all believed it. Wednesday, September 28, 1983 Oh, and I saw Mrs. Douglas MacArthur while I was waiting and she was great. Another of a series of Warhol's 'Rorschach' paintingsShe's eighty-four or something and still has all her marbles. And me, I can barely walk. Wednesday, October 19, 1983 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 people all let him stay at their houses! I mean, he could have been anybody, he could have just wiped out a whole family. (This incident inspired the movie "Six Degrees of Separation" - John) Tuesday, November 6, 1984 Entertainment Tonight got me on the way in and asked me who I voted for and I said, "For the winner," and they said, "Who's that?" and I said, "The winner is the winner." I don't even know what I meant. If they ever put all the clips they've ever gotten of me together they'd see that I'm a moron and finally stop asking me questions. Monday, June 16, 1986 Keith had a limo and I decided to go with him to the Carlyle for a party for the Ellis kid who wrote Less Than Zero. He graduated from Bennington. And as we were going in a bald girl with a fashionable ugly dress was going in. I wonder if regular nonfashion clothes are out forever, if these kids will ever dress normally like, you know, Phil Donahue again. It was such a cute party. I never read his book, but someone sent it to me. All the kids had the right fashionable hair and the fashionable right clothes. And I always think California kids are tall, but these kids were all three feet. Wednesday, August 13, 1986 Went to see Stand by Me at the Coronet or Baronet. These four little kids and there's the Fat kid and the Brilliant kid and the Crazy kid. The only disappointing thing was that the kid who's a writer they show writing about it later in life, and this really cute little kid has turned into Richard Dreyfuss! It should've been Richard Gere. Then I would've been happy. Thursday, August 28, 1986 People from Denmark talked to Fred and want me to do a Hans Christian Andersen portfolio.
Historically, many aesthetic movements gave rise to journals, such as the Vienna Secessionists' Ver Sacrum,Surrealism's Minotaure,and various Fluxus publications. These served to disseminate the movements' ideologies and provide an additional forum for creative expression. Warhol's magazine, initially titled inter/VIEW: A Monthly Film Journal,was dedicated to film reviews and interviews with movie stars and directors. Within a few years, the coverage expanded to include other aspects of Pop culture, embracing fashion, art, music, television, gossip, and celebrity nightlife--especially New York's notorious disco, Studio 54.
Warhol and Interview's editors pioneered and developed the concept of celebrities interviewing celebrities: Mae West by Anjelica Huston, Calvin Klein by Bianca Jagger, Bette Midler by Armistead Maupin. Truman Capote was both subject and conductor of interviews. When asked who read the publication, Warhol replied, "Our friends. And whoever is on the cover." Appearing in the first year were Jane Fonda, Robert Redford, Raquel Welch, and Mick Jagger--twice. The cover of Interview became prominent on newsstands as the hip equivalent of Lifeor Vogue,both of which had earlier played important roles in Warhol's careers as a commercial and fine artist.
Interview's regular columns have included Bob Colacello's "Out," Fran Lebowitz's "I Cover the Waterfront," and Glenn O'Brien's "Beat." The magazine promoted the early work of photographers Bruce Weber and Robert Mapplethorpe, whose homage to Kim Novak appeared in 1972. Interview has also consistently published the photos of Ara Gallant, Bill King, Steven Meisel, Herb Ritts, Francesco Scavullo, and other important photographers. From 1972 until 1989, the artist for nearly all Interview covers was Richard Bernstein.
Sunday, December 12, 1976
I read the Ruth Kligman book Love Affair about her "love affair" with Jackson Pollock - and that's in quotes. It's so bad - how could you ever make a movie of it without making it a whole new story? Ruth told me she wants me to produce it and Jack Nicholsen to star. In the book she says something like, "I had to get away from Jackson and I ran as far as possible." So do you know where she went? (laughs) Sag Harbor. He lived in Springs. So that's - what? Six miles? And she was making it like she went to the other side of the world. And then she said, "The phone rang - how oh how did he ever find me?" I'm sure she called hundreds of people to give them the number in case he asked them. Monday, December 27, 1976 Got the invitation to President Carter's inaugural. It was addressed to (laughs) "Mr. And Mrs. Andy Warhol." Don't you love it? Tuesday, January 11, 1977 Halston came in with a little painting Elizabeth Taylor had done for me because she didn't come down - he'd just been with her. When I think about that I'm really disappointed - it would have been so great if Liz had come to the opening. That would have made it something, wouldn't it? Wednesday, March 15, 1977 Anita told me that she's managed to stay friends with Paulette by never asking her a direct question. I said I made my big mistake saying, "What was your sex life like with Chaplin?" (Andy's talking to Anita Loos about Paulette Goddard - John) Saturday, January 21, 1978 We went outside to try to get a cab but we couldn't. Then along came a white guy and a black girl in a car who offered us a ride anywhere we wanted to go, and we took it. They said that Stevie wouldn't let them in to Studio 54 because they didn't look right, but they looked okay to me - I mean, he looked like a fairy and she looked like a drag queen, it was the Studio 54 look. Friday, February 3, 1978 Jaquine Lachman wants a painting but she wants a bargain price. I mean, her husband owns a third of Revlon! Bob is going to tell her no bargain. Tuesday, March 7, 1978 I want to invent a new kind fast food, and I was thinking, what about a waffle thing that had the food on one side and the drink on the other - like ham and Coke? You could eat and drink at the same time. Saturday, March 11, 1978 I had a lot of dates but I decided to stay home and dye my eyebrows. Monday, April 3, 1978 - New York I hated the Awards, I hated the whole thing. I hated every nominee and I hated everything that won. I must be really out of it. But nobody good like John Travolta won. I mean, Richard Dreyfuss? I mean, if he's a sex symbol, I don't know what the world is coming to. Friday, April 14, 1978 I talked to Suzy Chapstick and she said she's noticed that most girls who get famous are tomboys when they're little, and I said that I'd been a tomboy. Thursday, July 27, 1978 After work I just stayed in. Watched 20/20 and instead of saying, "In the future everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes," it was so funny to hear Hugh Downs say, "As Andy Warhol once said, in fifteen minutes everybody will be famous." People on TV always get some part wrong, like - "In the future fifteen people will be famous." Wednesday, August 23, 1978 Oh, and Susan Blond called me earlier and says that a girl had called her up because she was upset because Bruce Springsteen was upset because he said I'd taken pictures on Monday night. She said that he doesn't like anybody to take pictures - that his girlfriend's a photographer and even she can't take his picture. But the funny thing is, I'd just gotten my contact sheets back and I was sitting there trying to figure out what night I was looking at and who I'd taken picture of - I didn't even recognize that it was Bruce Springsteen - I thought it was Al Pacino. I'd forgotten where I went! Why is Bruce Springsteen big, though? He talks the dumb way. Like Sylvester Stallone. Is that why these people are big? Because they talk that way and people identify? He does work really hard. Saturday, September 30, 1978 And you know, I was thinking the other day about commercial movies and then all the great art movies, and I've decided something: Commercial things really do stink. As soon as it becomes commercial for a mass market it really stinks. I know I always rave and say my favorite movies are things like The Other Side of Midnight and The Betsy, but I guess I'm going to change my tune. You have to do stuff that average people don't understand, because those are the only good things. And even though the arty foreign movies are boring to sit through, at least they try to do creative things. So I'm going to start going to the New Yorker and seeing strange movies again. I'm missing so much, going to parties. Thursday, April 5, 1979 Picked up Catherine and we went over to Regine's. Paloma Picasso was there with her husband and her boyfriend. Or his boyfriend. Or their boyfriend. I don't know how that one works. Wednesday, September 5, 1979 Picked Bob up at 7:45 and went to the Magno screening room to see Yanks. I invited Curley and he and Bob loved the movie but I couldn't stand it. It was a forties movie, and if you want to see a forties movie they're on TV all the time and you can have great-looking people like Tyrone Power, not Richard Gere! The movie had no war and no bombing. Monday, September 17, 1979 They had an orchestra and all the old bags were out on the floor doing the foxtrot, and there's always that one seventy-five or eighty-year-old lady who gets out there and is the first to start really jumping. These old bags still want men to go to bed with them. They look like the ladies at Bonnie & Clyde, that dyke bar downtown where every table it's women who look like anybody's mother. Wednesday, July 16, 1980 There's so much in the papers about Ronald Reagan, and it looks like he's on his way to become president, it does look scary. I voted once. In the fifties, I don't remember which election. I pulled the wrong lever because I was confused, I couldn't figure out how to work the thing. There was no practice model outside, it was a church on 35th Street between Park and Lex. This was when I was living at 242 Lexington. And then I got called for jury duty and I wrote back: "Moved". I've never voted again. Tuesday, July 22, 1980 I met someone on the street who said wasn't it great that we're going to have a movie star for president, that it was so Pop, and (laughs) when you think about it like that, it is great, it's so American. Monday, March 8, 1982 Victor gave me a call and said that he'd been with some Amsterdam boys and that everybody's afraid of getting the gay cancer so now they fuck with their big toe. Now it's (laughs) whoever has the biggest toe. He said, "It's wild." Wednesday, June 9, 1982 Went home and was picked up by Richard Weisman to go to the Grease II premiere. Jon was taking Cornelia Guest. The movie was everything I dreamed for. I loved the Pfeiffer girl and the Caulfield boy and Pat Birch's direction was great. It was so good. John Travolta is so dumb for not doing Grease II. What is he doing now? Can you imagine being a star and not working? Do you sit in your palace and take (laughs) acting lessons, or what? Thursday, August 5, 1982 I watched Tarzan on cable and Bo Derek is the worst actress in the world. She was eating a banana, and she couldn't even eat a banana. It was like she had no teeth. Monday, August 16, 1982 But tell me why it is that everybody is so good-looking now. In the fifties, there were the really good-looking people and the all the rest who weren't. Today, everybody is at least attractive. A piece from Warhol's 'Rorschach' eraHow did it happen? Is it because there's no wars to kill the beauties? Monday, November 8, 1982 Sent Benjamin down to Chinatown (laughs) because I hadn't gotten any gifts for anybody when I was in China. And I also told him (laughs) that he was under consideration for being fired because I was so tired of looking at Chinese people. Friday, January 7, 1983 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. Sunday, March 27, 1983 Decided to stay in and watch The Thorn Birds. It was sick, all these people trying to make one priest. Tuesday, March 29, 1983 And oh, I love my Enquirer gift subscription that someone gave me for Christmas. Everything they say is true. Sunday, May 1, 1983 Edie's on the sides on the buses. The ads for the paperback. Poor Edie - when she went out she'd never even take a cab, it had to be limo, and now they've got her on the bus. Wednesday, May 11, 1983 You know, you begin to wonder if there isn't something to these Polish jokes. I mean, the Polish Institute is next door and they have a sign on the door that says to use the next door, and they have an arrow pointing to the second door. Well they walk right by that second door and come to my house and ring my bell. It really makes you wonder. Monday, June 6, 1983 And I love seeing the new People magazine with Tony Perkins on the cover, and it talked about him being gay, as if it were all in the past. Isn't that funny? And it talked about Brigitte Bardot and Ingrid Bergman and Jane Fonda trying to make him. Left out Tab Hunter and Chris Makos, but it didn't say that he used to hire hustlers to come in through the window and pretend to be robbers. Tuesday, June 7, 1983 It was really busy at the office. Jay came back to where I was working and told me that Sidney Poitier's son was there. And everybody at the office, they all believed it. It was like believing in the Du Pont twins or something. Jay really fell for it. Finally we got him out when he said that his mother Diahann Carroll was coming to meet him there, so I said "Oh, you might miss her if you don't wait for her downstairs." Oh, and Diana Ross was going to be coming with her. I forgot. Diana Ross, too, and still they all believed it. Wednesday, September 28, 1983 Oh, and I saw Mrs. Douglas MacArthur while I was waiting and she was great. Another of a series of Warhol's 'Rorschach' paintings
Monday, December 27, 1976
Got the invitation to President Carter's inaugural. It was addressed to (laughs) "Mr. And Mrs. Andy Warhol." Don't you love it?
Tuesday, January 11, 1977
Halston came in with a little painting Elizabeth Taylor had done for me because she didn't come down - he'd just been with her. When I think about that I'm really disappointed - it would have been so great if Liz had come to the opening. That would have made it something, wouldn't it?
Wednesday, March 15, 1977
Anita told me that she's managed to stay friends with Paulette by never asking her a direct question. I said I made my big mistake saying, "What was your sex life like with Chaplin?" (Andy's talking to Anita Loos about Paulette Goddard - John)
Saturday, January 21, 1978
We went outside to try to get a cab but we couldn't. Then along came a white guy and a black girl in a car who offered us a ride anywhere we wanted to go, and we took it. They said that Stevie wouldn't let them in to Studio 54 because they didn't look right, but they looked okay to me - I mean, he looked like a fairy and she looked like a drag queen, it was the Studio 54 look.
Friday, February 3, 1978
Jaquine Lachman wants a painting but she wants a bargain price. I mean, her husband owns a third of Revlon! Bob is going to tell her no bargain.
Tuesday, March 7, 1978
I want to invent a new kind fast food, and I was thinking, what about a waffle thing that had the food on one side and the drink on the other - like ham and Coke? You could eat and drink at the same time.
Saturday, March 11, 1978
I had a lot of dates but I decided to stay home and dye my eyebrows.
Monday, April 3, 1978 - New York
I hated the Awards, I hated the whole thing. I hated every nominee and I hated everything that won. I must be really out of it. But nobody good like John Travolta won. I mean, Richard Dreyfuss? I mean, if he's a sex symbol, I don't know what the world is coming to.
Friday, April 14, 1978
I talked to Suzy Chapstick and she said she's noticed that most girls who get famous are tomboys when they're little, and I said that I'd been a tomboy.
Thursday, July 27, 1978
After work I just stayed in. Watched 20/20 and instead of saying, "In the future everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes," it was so funny to hear Hugh Downs say, "As Andy Warhol once said, in fifteen minutes everybody will be famous." People on TV always get some part wrong, like - "In the future fifteen people will be famous."
Wednesday, August 23, 1978
Oh, and Susan Blond called me earlier and says that a girl had called her up because she was upset because Bruce Springsteen was upset because he said I'd taken pictures on Monday night. She said that he doesn't like anybody to take pictures - that his girlfriend's a photographer and even she can't take his picture. But the funny thing is, I'd just gotten my contact sheets back and I was sitting there trying to figure out what night I was looking at and who I'd taken picture of - I didn't even recognize that it was Bruce Springsteen - I thought it was Al Pacino. I'd forgotten where I went! Why is Bruce Springsteen big, though? He talks the dumb way. Like Sylvester Stallone. Is that why these people are big? Because they talk that way and people identify? He does work really hard.
Saturday, September 30, 1978
And you know, I was thinking the other day about commercial movies and then all the great art movies, and I've decided something: Commercial things really do stink. As soon as it becomes commercial for a mass market it really stinks. I know I always rave and say my favorite movies are things like The Other Side of Midnight and The Betsy, but I guess I'm going to change my tune. You have to do stuff that average people don't understand, because those are the only good things. And even though the arty foreign movies are boring to sit through, at least they try to do creative things. So I'm going to start going to the New Yorker and seeing strange movies again. I'm missing so much, going to parties.
Thursday, April 5, 1979
Picked up Catherine and we went over to Regine's. Paloma Picasso was there with her husband and her boyfriend. Or his boyfriend. Or their boyfriend. I don't know how that one works.
Wednesday, September 5, 1979
Picked Bob up at 7:45 and went to the Magno screening room to see Yanks. I invited Curley and he and Bob loved the movie but I couldn't stand it. It was a forties movie, and if you want to see a forties movie they're on TV all the time and you can have great-looking people like Tyrone Power, not Richard Gere! The movie had no war and no bombing.
Monday, September 17, 1979
They had an orchestra and all the old bags were out on the floor doing the foxtrot, and there's always that one seventy-five or eighty-year-old lady who gets out there and is the first to start really jumping. These old bags still want men to go to bed with them. They look like the ladies at Bonnie & Clyde, that dyke bar downtown where every table it's women who look like anybody's mother.
Wednesday, July 16, 1980
There's so much in the papers about Ronald Reagan, and it looks like he's on his way to become president, it does look scary. I voted once. In the fifties, I don't remember which election. I pulled the wrong lever because I was confused, I couldn't figure out how to work the thing. There was no practice model outside, it was a church on 35th Street between Park and Lex. This was when I was living at 242 Lexington. And then I got called for jury duty and I wrote back: "Moved". I've never voted again.
Tuesday, July 22, 1980
I met someone on the street who said wasn't it great that we're going to have a movie star for president, that it was so Pop, and (laughs) when you think about it like that, it is great, it's so American.
Monday, March 8, 1982
Victor gave me a call and said that he'd been with some Amsterdam boys and that everybody's afraid of getting the gay cancer so now they fuck with their big toe. Now it's (laughs) whoever has the biggest toe. He said, "It's wild."
Wednesday, June 9, 1982
Went home and was picked up by Richard Weisman to go to the Grease II premiere. Jon was taking Cornelia Guest. The movie was everything I dreamed for. I loved the Pfeiffer girl and the Caulfield boy and Pat Birch's direction was great. It was so good. John Travolta is so dumb for not doing Grease II. What is he doing now? Can you imagine being a star and not working? Do you sit in your palace and take (laughs) acting lessons, or what?
Thursday, August 5, 1982
I watched Tarzan on cable and Bo Derek is the worst actress in the world. She was eating a banana, and she couldn't even eat a banana. It was like she had no teeth.
Monday, August 16, 1982
But tell me why it is that everybody is so good-looking now. In the fifties, there were the really good-looking people and the all the rest who weren't. Today, everybody is at least attractive. A piece from Warhol's 'Rorschach' eraHow did it happen? Is it because there's no wars to kill the beauties?
Monday, November 8, 1982
Sent Benjamin down to Chinatown (laughs) because I hadn't gotten any gifts for anybody when I was in China. And I also told him (laughs) that he was under consideration for being fired because I was so tired of looking at Chinese people.
Friday, January 7, 1983
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.
Sunday, March 27, 1983
Decided to stay in and watch The Thorn Birds. It was sick, all these people trying to make one priest.
Tuesday, March 29, 1983
And oh, I love my Enquirer gift subscription that someone gave me for Christmas. Everything they say is true.
Sunday, May 1, 1983
Edie's on the sides on the buses. The ads for the paperback. Poor Edie - when she went out she'd never even take a cab, it had to be limo, and now they've got her on the bus.
Wednesday, May 11, 1983
You know, you begin to wonder if there isn't something to these Polish jokes. I mean, the Polish Institute is next door and they have a sign on the door that says to use the next door, and they have an arrow pointing to the second door. Well they walk right by that second door and come to my house and ring my bell. It really makes you wonder.
Monday, June 6, 1983
And I love seeing the new People magazine with Tony Perkins on the cover, and it talked about him being gay, as if it were all in the past. Isn't that funny? And it talked about Brigitte Bardot and Ingrid Bergman and Jane Fonda trying to make him. Left out Tab Hunter and Chris Makos, but it didn't say that he used to hire hustlers to come in through the window and pretend to be robbers.
Tuesday, June 7, 1983
It was really busy at the office. Jay came back to where I was working and told me that Sidney Poitier's son was there. And everybody at the office, they all believed it. It was like believing in the Du Pont twins or something. Jay really fell for it. Finally we got him out when he said that his mother Diahann Carroll was coming to meet him there, so I said "Oh, you might miss her if you don't wait for her downstairs." Oh, and Diana Ross was going to be coming with her. I forgot. Diana Ross, too, and still they all believed it.
Wednesday, September 28, 1983
Oh, and I saw Mrs. Douglas MacArthur while I was waiting and she was great.
Another of a series of Warhol's 'Rorschach' paintings
She's eighty-four or something and still has all her marbles. And me, I can barely walk.
Wednesday, October 19, 1983
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 people all let him stay at their houses! I mean, he could have been anybody, he could have just wiped out a whole family. (This incident inspired the movie "Six Degrees of Separation" - John)
Tuesday, November 6, 1984
Entertainment Tonight got me on the way in and asked me who I voted for and I said, "For the winner," and they said, "Who's that?" and I said, "The winner is the winner." I don't even know what I meant. If they ever put all the clips they've ever gotten of me together they'd see that I'm a moron and finally stop asking me questions.
Monday, June 16, 1986
Keith had a limo and I decided to go with him to the Carlyle for a party for the Ellis kid who wrote Less Than Zero. He graduated from Bennington. And as we were going in a bald girl with a fashionable ugly dress was going in. I wonder if regular nonfashion clothes are out forever, if these kids will ever dress normally like, you know, Phil Donahue again. It was such a cute party. I never read his book, but someone sent it to me. All the kids had the right fashionable hair and the fashionable right clothes. And I always think California kids are tall, but these kids were all three feet.
Wednesday, August 13, 1986
Went to see Stand by Me at the Coronet or Baronet. These four little kids and there's the Fat kid and the Brilliant kid and the Crazy kid. The only disappointing thing was that the kid who's a writer they show writing about it later in life, and this really cute little kid has turned into Richard Dreyfuss! It should've been Richard Gere. Then I would've been happy.
Thursday, August 28, 1986
People from Denmark talked to Fred and want me to do a Hans Christian Andersen portfolio.
