warholstars.org

home - news - about - superstars - interviews - articles - soup can - films - art - timeline - abstract expressionism - sources - citations

WARHOLSTARS 1968

1928 - 1959 - 1960 -1962 - 1963 - Jan - May 1964 - June-December 1964 - 1965 - 1966 - 1967 - 1968 -1969 - 1970 - 1974 - 1975 - 1979 - 1980s+

 

JANUARY 2, 9, 16, 1968: BRIGID BERLIN STRIKES!

Brigid performed her one-woman show at the Bouwerie Lane Theatre billed as Brigid Polk Strikes! Her Satanic Majesty in Person - a "mixed media event" in which she phoned friends and family from the stage and broadcasted the live telephone conversations to the theatre audience without telling the person on the other line that they were part of the show. (PS)

Brigid Berlin:

"I did this theatre performance at the Bouwerie Lane Theatre. They had a monitor into the audience and I made telephone calls from the stage. Now, all the people that I called up did not know I was in a theatre giving a performance. I lay on the couch and called up Huntington Hartford, asked him for the money for an abortion, that I was deeply into trouble and he said he would give it to me and I said to the audience, would you hold on for a few minutes, I'm just going to race uptown in a cab, pick up the cash, and come back to the theatre and show it to you all - and that's exactly what I did do. Then I called my mother and father and I woke them up..." (BB)

A.D. Coleman reviewed the show and described the set which was "festooned with icicles of dripping transparent cellophane. On the stage is a mattress thrown over two stainless steel boxes. On this bed is a telephone. It is monitored and amplified: at the moment it is also off the hook, so the rafters ring with a busy signal. Beep, beep... (Ibid)

END JANUARY 1968: ANDY WARHOL FILMS LONESOME COWBOYS.

Taylor Mead, Joe Dallesandro and Eric Emerson

Taylor Mead, Joe Dallesandro and Eric Emerson in Lonesome Cowboys

1968. ANDY WARHOL MOVES THE FACTORY.

After returning from filming LONESOME COWBOYS, Andy Warhol moved the Factory from 47th Street (the building was being torn down) to the sixth floor of 33 Union Square West, the eleven story Union Building across Union Square Park from S. Kleins, one and a half blocks from Max’s. It was Paul Morrissey who found the new loft and “Fred [Hughes] pointed out that the Union Building was mentioned in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story May Day, and ... the Communist party still had their offices on the eighth floor. SAUL STEINBERG was renting the top floor. (POP263) During the move to the new premises, the big curved couch was stolen when they left it on the street for a short period of time. (POP264)

Sign in the entrance of the second 'Factory' - Warhol's new offices at 33 Square Union Square West (Photo: Nat Finkelstein)

Andy Warhol (via Pat Hackett in Popism):

“Everyone could sort of sense that the move downtown was more than just a change of place - for one thing, the Silver Period was definitely over, we were into white now. Also, the new Factory was definitely not a place where the old insanity could go on. Even though the ‘screening room’ had couches and a stereo and a TV and was clearly for lounging around, the big desks up front as you came in off the elevator gave people the hint that there was something going on in the way of business, that it wasn’t all just hanging around anymore. We spent more time than ever at Max’s, since it wsas so close and since Mickey still gave us credit for art. It was like an answering service for us - say we wanted to get in touch with a certain superstar, we’d just leave a message at Max’s for them to call the Factory or else just put out the word in the back room.” (POP265)

The Union Square factory "looked more like an office than an artist's studio... Paul [Morrissey] hired a new full-time employee from Sacramento named Jed Johnson to replace Gerard [Malanga]." (LD290) Gerard Malanga was on "an extended visit to Rome and played no role in the Factory's move". (DB278)

FEB. 1968: GERARD MALANGA SELLS FAKE WARHOLS.

While Gerard was in Italy, he attempted to sell fake Warhol paintings in Rome. (DB291)

FEBRUARY 14 - 16, 1968: ANDY WARHOL FILM FESTIVAL AT THE RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN, PROVIDENCE.

Included The Thirteen Most Beautiful Women.

MARCH 1968: ANDY WARHOL HAS HIS FIRST SHOW IN LONDON.

The exhibition was at the Rowan Gallery and included twelve works from Warhol's Most Wanted series and a portfolio of Marilyn prints. (RNA026)

APRIL 1968: JOHN CALE AND BETSEY JOHNSON GET MARRIED.

The wedding had been previously postponed because Cale came down with hepatitis and had to spend several weeks in the hospital. (LR157)

Betsey Johnson:

"I must have established some kind of something for myself at Paraphernalia, the press was really great. Ladies Home Journal found out we were getting married and was going to pay for this huge bash. They just wanted to be there and photograph the freaky little rock'n'roll scene wedding ceremony and party even through we did it at City Hall. It was all set up and we had all the wedding invitations printed and they were all set ot go to the mailbox and the day that they were supposed to go in the mail John was turning bright yellow! He went to the hospital and I said, 'Well, dear, when shall I mail these out? I'll wait for you to get your blood test.' He didn't even leave the hospital. He went straight into quarantine with hepatitis and a non-existent liver... Ladies Home Journal was so outraged that they wanted me to go on with the whole wedding, go to City Hall, no John and they they said, 'Well later we'll take a picture of John and strip him in!'" (UT114)

MAY 1968: ANDY WARHOL FILMS SAN DIEGO SURF.

Andy Warhol, Paul Morrissey and Viva go out west to give talks to a few colleges and while there start filming a surf movie in La Jolla, California.

JUNE 3, 1968: VALERIE SOLANAS SHOOTS ANDY WARHOL.

Andy Warhol in New York Post

Warhol was pronounced clinically dead at the hospital, but survived. (Paul Morrissey tells Taylor Mead what the shooting was like here.

JULY 1968: PAUL MORRISSEY SHOOTS FLESH.

While Warhol was in hospital recovering, PAUL MORRISSEY began filming FLESH with JED JOHNSON as his assistant. He shot it on two weekends in July at a cost of $4,000. (L&D309

July 28 1968: ANDY WARHOL LEAVES THE HOSPITAL.

The first trip out of his house took him down to Forty-second Street (accompanied by VERA CRUISE (POP294), "where he sees a porno movie and buys the dirtiest magazines he can find.” (UV180) He has all the footage from LONESOME COWBOYS brought over and, working with a projector and splicer, he chops hours of footage down to a standard two - hour running time. (POP284)

JED JOHNSON moved into Andy's townhouse to take care of him. Andy's mother JULIA also lives there. According to Bob Colacello, although Jed and Andy were companions, it is unlikely that they ever had sex (BC74). Andy had his own separate bedroom.

1968: LOU REED AND BILLY NAME HAVE SEX.

Billy Name: "My favorite remembrance of Lou was at the second Factory. Lou came and everything and was getting ready to go and I said, 'Wait a minute, I didn't come.' So I made him sit on my face and he said grudgingly 'Okay,' so I could get off. So it was a playful relationship. But he could turn it off. I would never turn it off... He was a brat. Other than that, the relationship was purely bonding, real friends, love and respectful, really into art and esoteric literature and very young type things." (LR170)

1968: HOLLY WOODLAWN WORKS AS GO-GO DANCER AND BECOMES MISS DONUT 1968.

Holly got a job as a weekend go-go dancer in a bar in Syracuse. She wore bikini panties with flourescent flowers that she made out of crepe paper, placed strategically around her crotch to hide any bulge, as well as over her nipples. When a black light was turned on, the flowers lit up “like Las Vegas” as she danced to the Bee Gees’ song To Love Somebody. She loved the job - “it beat being a file clerk, that was for sure.” (HW99) At the bar, she met a “cute twenty-two year old”. They had a “passionate romp” ending up in “an assortment of precarious positions” to hide her manhood. The father of the 22 year old owned a donut factory and they needed a Miss Donut to ride in the local Homecoming parade. Holly obliged happily, riding in the parade in the backseat of a Chevy convertible wearing a tiara and a sash that said Miss Donut 1968. In return, she got a year’s supply of free donuts. (HW102)

1968: JOE DALLESANDRO MOVES IN WITH PAUL MORRISSEY.

Joe moved into a four-unit brownstone owned by PAUL MORRISSEY, helping to restore it and doing odd jobs at the Factory. He met a teenage girl of Sicilian heritage named Theresa ("Terry") and they eventually married after she became pregnant . (JOE23-4)

AUGUST 1968: MAURICE GIRODIAS PUBLISHES THE SCUM MANIFESTO.

1968: EDIE SEDGWICK MEETS VALERIE SOLANAS IN A MENTAL HOSPITAL.

According to Ultra Violet, EDIE SEDGWICK and VALERIE SOLANAS met in the hospital on New York’s Ward Island where Valerie was "under examination to find out if she is rational enough to stand trial for shooting Andy Warhol, and Edie is struggling to recover the sanity she lost in the Warhol years.” (UV212)

AUGUST/SEPT 1968: THE ANN ARBOR FILM FESTIVAL SHOWS WARHOL FILMS.

The festival showed I, A MAN, BIKE BOY, NUDE RESTAURANT and LOVES OF ONDINE on August 3rd, August 17th, August 31st and September 14th. (ATF)

SEPTEMBER 19, 1968: ANDY WARHOL HAS A PARTY.

Andy Warhol hosted the first Factory party since his shooting - a reception for approximately 200 people to celebrate the release of NICO's new album of original songs calledThe Marble Index. (DB297)

OCTOBER 1968: ANDY WARHOL FILMS BLUE MOVIE. (POP294)

1968: HOLLY WOODLAWN SPLITS UP.

HOLLY WOODLAWN split up with her boyfriend Jack in Queens and moved to Manhattan. She was "ignored" by CANDY DARLING and JACKIE CURTIS who were busy pursuing their acting careers.

Holly Woodlawn ended up moving in with some queens she had met at the Sonewall, the gay bar on Christopher Street across from Sheridan Square in the West Village.

They lived in a small, tawdry rooming house on West Tenth Street and Hudson. One of her neighboors in the rooming house was Miss Liz Eden, a notorious transvestite prostitute who had as one of her regular clients, a married straight man named Sonny. In order to get money to pay for a sex change for Miss Eden, he robbed a bank. The story made headlines and was the inspiration for the film, Dog Day Afternoon starring Al Pacino. (HW112)

1968: HOLLY WOODLAWN SHOOTS UP FOR THE FIRST TIME.

SILVER GEORGE and his friend PETER shot Holly up with speed for her first time.

Holly Woodlawn first met Peter at the Stonewall where she went every night. He introduced her to factory regular Silver George who Holly later described as, “a tall darkly handsome gentleman from the South who was the closest thing to Rhett Butler that I’ve ever known...” (HW114)

George dealt in speed and Peter lived off Social Security benefits as a result of being declared legally insane. Holly called her first shot of speed as “the most fabulous thing I’ve ever felt in all my life!” (HW115)

1968: HOLLY WOODLAWN MEETS ANDY WARHOL.

Holly met Andy for the first time at a screening party at the Factory for FLESH.

Ondine arranged the meeting with Andy Warhol after Ondine met Holly Woodlawn through Norman, a “toothless” speed user who Holly met through Silver George. At the Factory party, George introduced Holly to Andy who told her she was “so glamorous” and that she should be in one of his movies. When Andy asked Holly for her last name, she said that she didn't have one (not yet having come up with Woodlawn). (HW117)

SEPTEMBER 1968: FLESH PLAYS THE GARRICK.

FLESH ran for 6 months at the Garrick Theater on Bleeker Street from the last week of September 68 - April 69 (JOE79).

LATE OCTOBER 1968: ANDY WARHOL RETURNS - AND TALKS ABOUT HIS SCHRAFFT'S COMMERCIAL.

The Return of Andy Warhol in the New York Times

Warhol Film Ads

In an article by John Leonard, titled "The Return of Andy Warhol," that appeared in the 10 November 1968 issue of The New York Times Magazine, Warhol mentioned having just done the Schrafft's advert.

John Leonard ("The Return of Andy Warhol, NY Times, 10 November 1968):

On a Sunday afternoon late last month, for no reason whatsoever, there was a very nice picnic in a courtyard at 5 Ninth Avenue at the foot of Little West 12th Street. The picnickers roasted a pig on a spit and chopped it up with an ax. They also made wine, removing their shoes to tromp on grapes, then conveying the sludge to a press. Children were present, enjoying themselves. And such stars of the Velvet Underground as Viva, Ultra Violet and Nico (with a black and silver saddle slung over her shoulders). And newspaper photographers, movie cameras, tape recorders, microphones. All thralled under the Oriental lash of reciprocity: snapshots were snapped of people snapping snapshots; tongues and microphones were intertwined; there were various kinds of mirrors to record the various forms of eating.

At the calm eye of this eating stands Andy Warhol, former pop artist (he "retired" three years ago) and prolific film maker (over 150 of them so far)... what has he been up to since he got out of the hospital?

Paul Morrissey, Warhol's prime minister... replies "A new movie next week." (Its name isn't fit to print.)... And we're going to make a full-length videotape movie."

It's incredible what you can do with videotape," says Warhol. "I mean, all those cameras. You can just cut away. We just made a videotaped commercial for Schrafft's. Sixty seconds. It's, uh, all about a cherry. A maraschino cherry. You know, on top of a chocolate sundae. It was really great."

[Viva and Ultra Violet were not, of course, members of the Velvet Underground as suggested by the journalist.]

1968: JACKIE CURTIS AND CANDY DARLING BECOME ROOMMATES.

JACKIE and CANDY rented a room together at the Hotel Albert on 10th Street and University Place, by which time Jackie, like Candy was in total drag. (POP292)

Andy Warhol:

“Jackie as a full-blown woman wasn’t that hard to take because he played it like a total comedy; it was his in-betweeen stage that had been so creepy. He’d started taking female hormones sometime in ‘68 and by that summer, when Paul was filming him and Candy in Flesh, he was in that weird part man/part woman stage - but still a long, long way from both.” (POP293)

NOV. 1968: BILLY NAME RETREATS TO HIS DARKROOM.

Andy Warhol:

“After Billy finished working on the galleys of a... he went into his darkroom and didn’t come out... In the mornings we would find take-out containers and yogurt cups in the trash, but we never knew whether he went out himself at night to get food or whether some of his friends brought it in to him... but then one day Lou Reed came by and spent three whole hours in the darkroom with Billy. Lou came out regretting that he had given him three Alice Bailey books on witchcraft. Billy had shaved his head completely because he believed the hairs were growing in, not out - and was only eating whole-wheat wafers and rice crackers now - following the white magic book that shows you how to rebuild your cell structure.” (POP290)

People who hung out at the Factory could also hear Billy talking to himself in the dark room in two different voices. (ibid)

NOV. 1968: GROVE PRESS PUBLISHES A: A NOVEL.

Warhol's book, a: a novel, was based on the amphetamine fueled tape recordings of Ondine that Warhol made in 1965. (LD318/DB297)

EARLY DECEMBER 1968: VALERIE SOLANAS IS RELEASED FROM MATTAWAN STATE HOSPITAL.

In January 1969 the Village Voice would report that she was back in court on Friday, January 17, 1969 "to find out whether the court psychiatric clinic report agreed with Mattawan State Hospital's verdict when it released her early in December: that she is fit to stand trial for shooting Andy Warhol..." (Howard Smith, "Scenes," Village Voice, January 23, 1969)

CHRISTMAS 1968: VALERIE SOLANAS CALLS THE FACTORY.

VALERIE SOLANAS, released on bail, called the Factory. Andy answered the phone. She wished him a Merry Christmas and threatened to shoot him again if he didn't meet her demands which include her appearance on the Johnny Carson show, publication of the SCUM Manifesto in the Daily News and $25,000 in cash. She was locked away again and later pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and was sentenced to three years, one of which she had already served while awaiting trial. (UV187)

1968: ONDINE CLEANS UP.

Ondine went to AA meetings and moved into his mother’s house in Queens. (BRIGID BERLIN eventually cleaned up by going to AA as well in the late 70's.)

to 1969

home - news - about - superstars - interviews - articles - soup can - films - art - timeline - abstract expressionism - sources - citations