September 2008
46 posts
Worked until 7:30. Went to Regine's.
Vincent heard that Joe Dallesandro’s foster mother died on Long Island last week. This is two weeks after his brother Bobby died, and Joe’s still here in this country - he hasn’t gone back to Europe yet.
Worked until 7:30. Went to Regine’s. Warren Beatty was there looking a little older and heavier. Jack Nicholson was there looking a little older and heavier. Anjelica...
Popcorn, Don Johnson and Social-Climbing
The museum opening of the portraits by Jamie and me was at 6:00. The tour organizer took Catherine and me around the Fine Arts Center at Cheekwood. We tried to grab hot dogs, we were so hungry, but he whisked us away. There was a staircase there brought from England. The popcorn machine was at the top of it and Catherine and I went to get some, we were eating and talking and we noticed that...
Cheerleaders
Catherine off the plane first, given a bouquet, and then everyone was. About eight cheerleaders were there to greet us in blue outfits with “W” on them, pom-pom girls, doing Warhol-Wyeth cheers.
Staying with a guy named Martin and his wife Peggy who are the Jack Daniel’s people.
Went backstage at the Grand Ole Opry, went into the dressing room. Marty Robbins was practicing.
People kept coming in and out of the apartment all day starting at 5:00. Mick arrived so drunk from an afternoon with Peter Beard and Francis Bacon that he fell asleep on my bed. At 11:00 we tried to wake him up but he was too asleep. Club Sept with Peter and Mona Christiansen and Jed.
Lots of Attention
Up at 10:00. Staying at Fred’s apartment. Made a lunch date with Peter Beard. Went out shopping and ran into Mick Jagger.
Went to Schiaparelli’s show. They gave us a good seat and lots of attention. The show was awful, based on “The Three Graces” by Botticelli. One dress was worth $2 million or something and the best thing was the armed guards around it.
Sobered Up
Alitalia flight. Five and a half hours. Read the Rome Daily American, Carter inaugurated. Disgusting drinks on the plane. Airport empty, disorganized. While standing there ran into Marina Cicogna and Florinda Bolkan coming from St. Moritz. Hotel suite wasn’t ready so we had to have lunch in the dining room. While we were there we ran into Helmut Newton and Patrick the makeup artist. And...
Learn the Customs
Went to the exhibition for a tea party and had to drink more tea and then we were invited by the English ambassador to drop by. His daughter was there, she was seventeen and drew cartoons about fags. She was cute and funny. Had her father’s chin, which was no chin. There were a lot of English people there who’d been living and working in Kuwait for years. Left. Big rainstorm.
...
Not One Original Style
Up after restless night at 9:00. James Mayor urgently calling - we were always late because it was always so boring we weren’t in a hurry. Visited a Kuwaiti artist atelier. Three artists in each room. This time tea or orange pop. Visited each stall, had to. One guy painted in Picasso-Chagall style. Not one original style. They sit on the floor and paint on rugs and pillows, it looked...
Only the Rich
Carred over to see a rich collector named Fahad al Dabbous. Chubby and cute. He had a lot of paintings around on the wall, some Dalis, one sort of big one, lots of male friends there, most in costume, a couple of wives. They had drinks there, also - only the rich, remember? A big spread on table, nothing compared to Iran’s big spreads. The men looked fat, but usually in costume you...
When Am I Leaving?
Visit to the National Museum, there’s no history to this place, it goes back twenty-five years. There were like eight rooms, one had three coins in the whole room. Think there was one room that Alexander left some pots in. Alexander the Great - three pots and four coins. A room with yesterday’s dresses. More tea and coffee with the director. Just sat there, there was nothing to do....
“So I guess everybody has their own time and place when they turn themselves on....”
Sex and Girls
Went to Nadja’s gallery. Had some more of the sweet funny coffee they offer you all the time, you go crazy. We didn’t know that if you don’t shake your cup they keep pouring it in.
Bought five more copies of the Kuwait Times. Calligraphy beautiful, no Pop there. Went to different drugstores looking for A-200. To hotel. Ordered dinner before dinner. The people we were having...
Some Dump
Up at 9:30. Breakfast toast and tea. James called, meeting downstairs at 12:00. We were taken to a place that looked like some dump, but then everything here does, and it wasn’t until days later that we realized it had been a chic place. Outside the sun was warm with a lot of cars going by - big Rolls Royces, big American cars. They gave us two cars but we only used one. Went back to the...
Strange Coffee
Woke up when the plane landed. Arrived at 11:00 late at night. Met at the airport by some Arabs. There was a girl Nadja, from the Council of Culture, who’d arranged the show. They made us drink some strange coffee at the airport.
To Kuwait
Up at 7:00 for the flight to Kuwait. Tired. Packed, showered. Looked for crabs, still. Sent the hotel bill to the Mayor Gallery. Picked up James Mayor at his place. He’d gotten us second-class seats, I was really mad, but there was one first-class one and I got it. Kuwait Air. The plane had to stop at Frankfurt and lots of people got on there. Read The Users by Joyce Haber, very boring,...
Found a Crab
Arrived in London and didn’t expect anyone to meet us, but Lady Ann Lambton was standing there with a chauffer and we were really happy to see her. She had a broken neck, it was in a brace.
Stayed at the Ritz.
Ann called her sister Rose and Oliver Musker and we decided to meet them at Morton’s. Had orange and champagne to drink, and a steak sandwich which was horrible. Left for the...
A Great Dinner
Dropped Jamie at the art store. The office was jumping, Vincent was going crazy. Bianca called and said she was having a birthday dinner that night for Joel LeBon who works for Pierre Berge. Potassa the drag queen was at the office in a homemade black and gold fantasy dress and Jamie got fascinated and painted her in the dress with her cock showing. He’ll be painting at 860 for about two...
Elaine's
When I got to 860 a big CBS crew was filming Jamie Wyeth with Arnold Schwarzenegger posing for him for a show called Who’s Who. Cabbed up with Jamie and Arnold to a lunch at Elaine’s for Arnold’s movie Pumping Iron. Stopped at the Ritz Towers, had to wait five minutes for Paulette Goddard to come downstairs. She was wearing all her jewelry and was funny. She said, “If...
Gallery Opening (Continued)
Bianca and Tony Portago look really in love. This started over the holidays. C.Z.’s son, Alexander Guest was there. Giorgio Sant’Angelo, Sylvia Miles, Ronee Blakley, Francesco Scavullo and Sean Byrnes, Irving Blum and Charles Cowles. Moet Chandon champagne. The Soho News guy Michael Goldstein was there, being awful. I gave Jed money to entertain at dinner afterwards because I had to...
Gallery Opening
At six o’clock everyone was still at the office waiting around to go to my opening down at Castelli, so we went and at first it was empty, but we grouped around the bar setup drinking champagne and then it started getting jammed. There was the big “Hammer & Sickle,” and eight small ones. David Whitney, Philip Johnson, David White were there. Paulette Goddard arrived, she said...
Poppers
Victor gave out fake poppers. Regine said they smelled like feet and I told her they were called “Locker Room” and she liked that. Bianca started to giggle and she was carrying on over a popper with Tony Portago, and they were sort of making out, but she pulled herself together, she realized that she couldn’t do that in public, but she’s the most beautiful when she giggles,...
The Food Was Awful
Bianca was wearing a strapless Halston dress. There were South Americans at a lot of tables. The dinner hadn’t started yet, and while they were still in pre-dinner, at the bar, Catherine and Victor walked in for “coffee.” When dinner started they were put at a separate little table, and when Victor pointed at my table and said he wanted the same thing, they said,...
Come For Coffee
Fred had to go to a meeting at our lawyer Bob Montgomery’s about the New World distributing deal for Bad. Roger Corman himself hasn’t seen Bad but Fred says that doesn’t matter because Corman doesn’t pick the movies, that this other guy Bob Rehme does. They’ll try different ways of opening it around the country to see what works best before bringing it into New York.
...
Happy New Year, darling
Diane de Beauvau took my hand and we ran into the next room right as midnight was coming on. I sort of wanted to stay and kiss the old bags like I did the year before because actually it was so much fun to do - to kiss ninety-year-old Elsie Woodward and say, “Happy New Year, darling.” Then Minnie de Beauvau came in and got Diane and told her she had to go back in and say Happy New Year...
“If a person isn’t generally considered beautiful, they can still be a...”
Kitty Miller's Party
Worked at the office until 7:00. Went home to change for Kitty Miller’s party. Walked over to 550 Park. Fred was there. Elsie Woodward, my Kitty-date for last New Year’s, had called and cancelled because she said she was dizzy and that she can’t fight it - “I’m old.”
Princess Minnie de Beauvau was there with her father and stepmother and her sister Diane....
Hoveyda brought the Iranian ambassador to England to the office, they came to see the portrait I did of the empress, and they liked it, so it’s going to be shipped out.
Vincent drove out for the hearings on the Montauk property, wetlands commission.
Mr. and Mrs. Andy Warhol
Got the invitation to President Carter’s inaugural. It was addressed to “Mr. and Mrs. Andy Warhol.” LOL. Don’t you love it?
Christmas at the Jaggers'
It started to snow a little. Said thanks and left to go home to get ready for the Jaggers’. Got to East 66th and glued. Went up to East 72nd. We were one of the first to arrive. Nick Scott was at the door, working. This was a job he’d come up with to earn to money - being the Jaggers’ houseboy. Only he was supposed to get there at 8:00 in the morning to help and he...
I Can't Speak Spanish
Went out to Westbury to C.Z. Guest’s for lunch. It was a magazine Christmas - the decorations and the food and the house were just like a spread in McCall’s or House and Garden, like what a house should look like on Christmas. But you’d think with all C.Z.’s involvement with flowers and gardening that she’d have real stuff, but when you looked close the wreaths...
“What makes a painting beautiful is the way the paint’s put on, but I...”
Went with Jed to Fred’s Christmas dinner at 1342 Lexington. Jed’s brother Jay and his sister Susan picked us up. Fred had invited Carroll Baker and she was there with her daughter, Blanche, who’s gotten to be a beauty in the last few months, she slimmed down. Anselmino, one of our Italian art dealers, was there and Chris Makos the cute photographer we met from Dotson Rader...
Tavern on the Green
Went over to the party at Tavern on the Green.
Streisand was wearing a black tuxedo. Elsa Peretti was there and she was saying how wonderful it was to be with me and not be on anything, that she didn’t take anything anymore. I admired a light bulb she had in her purse, a tiny one that lit up when you put a penny next to it, and she gave it to me, and then Victor liked it so I gave it to him...
Office Christmas Party
Maxime de la Falaise arrived late, to pick up a Mao painting. Mike the super came in off the freight elevator with his wife and son but maybe the son is a stepson, I’m not sure. He’s cute. John Powers came by and wanted me to sign two Flower posters that he had, they weren’t authentic but I was going to just sign but Fred wouldn’t let me and so we gave John two ...
Used Up
A car came to take me to be photographed for a Merce Cunningham thing to help it get publicity. Up to 660 Park Avenue. Newsweek and other photographers were there. When I got there they said they’d take me home in the car, but then when I was leaving I realized they’d used me up and sent the car away, so I just walked home.
In the afternoon Jane Holzer stopped by my house to drop...
His Taste Was Oak
Catherine called Dustin Hoffman who said that the screening was at 5:45 at 666 Fifth. Dustin had filmed his wife Anne doing a Balanchine dance, his kids were in it, and I think he got a very good guy to cut it because it looks very professional. When it was over, Dustin invited us back to his house on East 61st Street. It’s back to back with Phyllis Cerf’s house. Dustin was nervous,...
Really Un-busy
Met Victor, went over to Halston’s store, it was really un-busy, but then everything is so expensive that if they just sell one little hanky they can have dinner. While I was there, Jackie O. came in and was whisked up to the third floor. Victor told me that she doesn’t buy much, just a few little things.
Went around Fifth Avenue looking for ideas for art projects. Went to 860 for...
Lincoln Faux Pas
Jean was the first to leave lunch, and then we relived the faux pas that Lincoln had made in front of her; he forgot she was a sister and when they were talking politics he said that John Kennedy was “corrupt,” and she just said, “No, he wasn’t.”
After lunch we went down to Lincoln’s house on East 19th Street and he showed us his art, it was good paintings -...
“Whenever I’m interested in something, I know the timing’s off,...”
American Quilt
Jamie Wyeth had invited me to Les Pleiades for lunch. Cabbed to 76th and Madison. Jamie was there with Lincoln Kirstein and Jean Kennedy Smith. They asked me to turn off my tape recorder, natch. So Jamie is now the Carter court painter. He’d just been in Plains for a week. Isn’t that interesting? It seemed like Jean Kennedy Smith really has a crush on Jamie because she asked me to go...
Kicked in the Balls
Went to work. Lou Reed called and that was the drama of the day. He’d come back from a successful tour, he was a big hit in L.A., but he said Rachel had gotten kicked in the balls and was bleeding from the mouth and he wanted the name of a doctor. Lou’s doctor had looked at Rachel and said that it was nothing, that it would stop, but Lou wanted another doctor to check. I said...
Shopping and Packing
Went shopping for office gifts at Bonwit’s and Bendel’s, then went over to Quo Vadis for lunch to introduce Robin West and Delfina Rattazi to each other. I had thought Catherine liked him from the weekend at the Wyeth’s, but she said she didn’t mind, that she wanted to give him up to Delfina or something. And Delfina liked him, she was aggressive - it was the first time...
Women's Movement and Junk Like That
Worked at 860 all afternoon, then Francois de Menil arrived to take me out to Norman Mailer’s in Brooklyn Heights. He used to live in a whole house but now he lives on just the top and rents the bottom out and he’s had the front part made all glass looking out over Manhattan and it’s beautiful.
Wall to wall, it was an intellectual party like from the sixties. Arthur ...
All the Chic Girls
In the afternoon I got a letter from our editor, Steve Aronson, that said he’s leaving Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, and that he’d asked Mr. Jovanovich himself to take over on Popism.
Walter Stait from Philadelphia took me to La Grenouille for lunch, he told Maxime and Loulou de la Falaise to meet us there. On the other side of the room was the new skinny Truman Capote. He looks now...
Androgyny
Victor Hugo picked me up and we went to U.N. Plaza for Mrs. Kaiser’s dinner for Halston. But then we realized we’d forgotten Bianca so we had to go back to pick her up at the Pierre. Victor gave her some coke but she didn’t want it.
The first person we saw at Mrs. Kaiser’s was Martha Graham, and C.Z. Guest was there. Paul Rudolph had done the apartment, and he was...
Love Affair
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 Nicholson to star.
In the book she says something like, “I had to get away from Jackson and I ran as far as...
