October 2008
21 posts
She Blew It
Barbara Allen was bringing Princess Firyal of Jordan, who’s dating Stavros Niarchos, down to the Factory.
The big drama was the Ronnie-Gigi-Spyro triangle. Ronnie called the Waldorf Towers late last night looking for Gigi and the desk wouldn’t put the call through to the Niarchos apartment so first he left a message saying that “Gigi’s husband called” and later he...
More Champagne and Caviar
Read an item in the newspaper that Liz Taylor was selling her diamonds on Madison Avenue secretly to help her husband’s campaign with money, so I kept an eye out. Walked over to office. Ronnie wasn’t at work for two reasons - first because Gigi had run off with Spyro Niarchos the night before at the party, and second because Wim Wenders was shooting a movie down at his loft - Dennis...
Great Party
It was a pretty day, walked around uptown, then went to the office. Jamie and Arnold were there. I thanked them for a good time the night before. Jamie said that Nureyev had fallen in love with Erskine, and that Erskine had almost given in, but didn’t, and that Nureyev’s last words were, “We can just watch TV.” He gave autographs to Erskine and Catherine.
Was picked up...
You Can Do Anything
Cabbed to Elaine’s to meet Jamie and Arnold and Rudolf Nureyev. Jamie was having a meeting of their minds. On the way in the friend of Lester Persky’s who always feels me up and grabbed me and introduced me to Neile McQueen, and she was actually pretty. He whispered “Ex-wife, Steve McQueen” in my ear.
Arnold walked in with three little girls, one of them was a...
Book Party
Woke up very cranky, left the house early, around 9:30, cabbed to Chembank. Got a letter at the office from the White House from Jimmy Carter. I wish I’d talked more last month when I met him, but I was so nervous. He’s really nice, though, a really nice man.
Jamie Wyeth still was painting Arnold Schwarzenegger who was still posing. Lunch for Jamie and Arnold. Alex Heinrici came...
Boring and Corny
Jamie Wyeth had invited me to lunch for Ted Kennedy’s birthday party, but in the morning he called and said that Rose Kennedy was only having a small one and he didn’t realize that, so I couldn’t go after all, but I think it was just maybe Jamie changing his mind. Went home at 8:30.
Saw on Metromedia that they took the idea from our proposal that they turned down and then went...
It Was Night in a Minute
Took five hours to get to Miami. Paid for Catherine’s ticket. It was night in a minute, a long flight. Charlie Cowles met us in a great car, warm and wonderful, but it was 11:00. Time changes. Past the Fontainebleau, things like that. Took us to his mother’s place on Indian Creek Island on the grounds of a private club, had a lot of waterfront property. Met the mother and...
On the Beach
Doug Christmas’s P.R. woman, Esther, arrived from church with an autograph from Jane Wyman, she’d asked for it while Jane Wyman was kneeling.
First supposed to have lunch with Bianca Jagger, but Wendy Stark said we could all have lunch at Coco Brown’s and I didn’t want to but Fred thought it was a good idea. The first car left, we were in the second, and we had a house...
Everyone Was Drunk
Suzie Frankfurt arrived with Marcia Weisman. They had a Rolls Royce so we Rollsed over to the hospital, Cedars-Sinai. Lots of people waiting, I sold $1,500 worth of stuff for a benefit. Marcia was very pushy. If anyone took a picture they had to pay $10. If I signed a can they paid $5. She told them that my prices would go up in the afternoon to $100 a poster, when actually they were going...
“After you PAY SOMEBODY BACK you never run into them any more. But before that,...”
Andy Warhol Day
Rode out to the Ace Gallery in Venice to do a press conference. Called the office in New York in the morning and Ronnie told me it was Andy Warhol Day on The Gong Show. Back at the hotel I had lots of messages. Dinner at Marcia Weisman’s. Ryan O’Neal was there and Sue Mengers. Ryan was leaning against the Morris Louis and put a big dent in it. He was sour. I had all the Guinness...
Jackson Browne
I went to tour the Gemini Gallery with Sidney Felsen and his partner. At Gemini I got an idea. They can now print 10’ x 10’ and I’m going to think about it. Done an hour earlier than supposed to, decided to walk around, the shops just so exciting.
A person ran after me and it turned out to be Jackson Browne. He invited me to come to the recording studio across the street to...
Sunny California
Arrived in sunny California. Dropped Suzie Frankfurt off at the Simon’s on Sunset Boulevard in glamorous Beverly Hills. Called the Beverly Hills Hotel but they were out of rooms so we had to stay at the Beverly Wilshire. Catherine called her half-uncle Erskine who was in town, he’s just a little bit younger than she is. He’s been traveling around the world all year with his...
A Funny Idea
Cabbed up to Suzie Frankfurt’s and there was a lot of traffic. Suzie is designing clothes for women who’re over the hill, and it’s a funny idea, they’re the wrong colors and they emphasize the wrong places, she’s going to try to get into that business on Seventh Avenue and she’s also trying to go into antiques as a business. She’s going to go with us to...
Vogue
Leo Lerman called in the afternoon and commissioned a portrait for Vogue’s one-time-use only of Queen Elizabeth.
Hi, Andy
Woke up at the crack of dawn, went to the airport. There was a guy cleaning the windows of the plane as I was going on, and some people can just look up and say, “Hi, Andy” so casually, and he was great, he did that. Later he came to find us and asked for an autograph for his high school teacher.
Cab in from the airport. Dropped off the bags and Fred. Sent Ronnie for supplies....
Scary
Went with John and Kimiko Powers to the forty acres I bought out near Aspen. Ran into two girls on the property riding horses. They said it was the most wonderful country they’d ever spent time in.
Caught a flight to Denver. Took forty minutes. Checked into the Stouffer Hotel near the airport.
At 3:00 in the morning thought I heard the doorknob being turned - it was the little brats in...
Rolls Royce, Dreadful Dinner, Cute Boys
Weather beautiful, fifty or fifty-five, blue skies. Tried to walk as much as possible. Walked to museum at 2:00, had to do some press interviews. They were boring.
The opening was at 7:00 but we decided to go at 8:00. We were getting the Rolls Royce again. At 7:30 Father Paul arrived and my niece Eva. Ordered double drinks and Father Paul got a little high and they wanted to ride with me so...
All the Women Too Ugly For Portraits
At the airport in the morning I ran into Jean Smith, who was on the same flight. She was with her son, who was sort of big and heavy. She asked about Jamie Wyeth. In Denver there was a blonde girl driving a Rolls Royce, she had on a chauffeur’s cap and gave a tour of the city. Dropped us at the Brown Palace Hotel, an old hotel with a new annex but I decided to stay in the old part. The...
I Never Know What I Want Until I See What I Don't...
Ronnie and I had a flight. He was upset when I said I didn’t want the Hammers & Sickles cut and stretched the way he’d done them while I was away, and he said that he’d done all the work for nothing. I asked him what he would have been doing if he hadn’t been doing that, anyway, so what did it matter if it wasn’t necessary. I said I never know what I want until...
The Cold Wave is the Big News
Joe Dallesandro came by 860 for lunch. I asked him how his brother Bobby had really died, and he finally changed it from the “accident” he said it was originally to what really happened. Bobby hung himself. Joe was quiet at lunch.
Finally got to bed early for a night. The cold wave is the big news. And the gas shortage they’re playing up.
