EDIE: GIRL ON FIRE (REVIEWED)
The care and attention that has gone into the recently published book about Warhol star Edie Sedgwick, Edie Girl on Fire, is apparent from the first page. It is a stylish labor of love wrapped up in a clear acetate book jacket with interesting font selections, a variety of page colors and excellent reproductions of photographs on high-quality glossy paper. But the publishers have not made the mistake of emphasizing style over substance. There is enough substance in Edie Girl on Fire to please even the most die-hard Edie Sedgwick addicts.
The book's design reinforces the intention stated by Melissa Painter in her introduction "to capture the sensation of standing next to Edie Sedgwick, of getting caught off guard by her, of holding her attention." Photographs of Edie are interspersed with quotes from people who knew her culled from more than thirty interviews which, presumably, will also form the basis of the upcoming documentary about Edie that Melissa Painter and her co-author David Weisman are directing.
Weisman, along with John Palmer, directed Edie's final film, Ciao! Manhattan, and there are quite a number of new photographs from the shooting of the film included in Edie Girl on Fire. Wesley Hayes, Edie's co-star in Ciao! Manhattan, is also in the book, noting that Edie "would talk about what she expected from Ciao! Manhattan, what she kind of wanted. She felt like she had this story to get out. She wanted to talk about herself, her experiences. To her, it was a documentary... She felt like this was going to be her story... Everything that ever happened to her." Previous accounts of the filming of Ciao! Manhattan have focused on Edie's irresponsible behavior during the filming - showing up late or not showing up at all - so it was refreshing to read that, according to Palmer, she "was absolutely committed the same way David and I were committed. Come hell or high water, she was gonna do this, and this had to get done. It had to get finished, didn't matter what."
The quotes and photographs in the book are arranged more or less chronologically in chapters ranging from "Cambridge" to "Reactions to Her Death." Although many Warhol books promise "previously unpublished" photos, this one really delivers. Particularly mesmerizing are the early photographs such as the one taken by Edie's brother Jonathan on page 18. It's easy to dismiss Edie as a sort of Pop icon but she was a real person and her "realness" is reflected in Jonathan's photo.
The photographs of Edie before she moved to New York can be particularly disturbing because the reader knows something that she doesn't know - her future. Edie's untimely death of a drug overdose at the age of 28 is commented upon by her then husband Michael Post who was with her when she died. He recalls both the good times and the bad - the good times when Edie would manage as much as "almost a month of sobriety" and the bad times when drugs came back into the fray and Post didn't want to drag himself "through another sleepless night," or go to the hospital the "couple of times" that Edie slashed her wrists during their short marriage.
Drugs were, of course, a big part of Edie's life. The book does not shy away from her drug use, but at the same time does not fall into the trap of blaming Andy Warhol for it. Edie was doing drugs before she met Warhol and was certainly doing them after she left the Factory. She was born with the disease of addiction at a time when the disease concept of addiction was unknown - and before the popularity of twelve step "fellowships" that other Warhol stars would use to overcome their drug habits. Instead, Edie's psychological problems were treated with intensive shock treatments - a practice still used today despite its mechanisms being unknown. On the CD that accompanies the book, Edie speaks openly about her addiction to drugs and recalls the incident where she was committed to Bellevue while suffering the effects of barbiturate withdrawal:
"Left alone with a substantial supply of speed, I forgot that I was heavily addicted to barbiturates and I started having strange convulsive behavior... I was shooting up every half hour... thinking with each fresh shot I'd knock this nonsense out of my system... And when I finally cooled down to an extent where I thought I was calm, cool and collected... I flipped on a little muu-muu, ran down barefoot taking the stairs to the lobby... and my eye caught a mailman's jacket and a sack of mail in the hallway and before I knew what I was doing I whipped on the jacket, flipped the bag over my shoulder and flew out the door whistling a happy tune. Got half way round the block and suddenly I thought my god this is a federal offense, fooling around with the mail, so I turned around and rushed back and 'bam' the manager was there and he just ordered me to the back office, standing there and... they telephoned an ambulance from Bellevue, packed me into it... and was rushed to Bellevue which is one of the most insane institutions I have ever walked the hallways of... I proceeded to tell the doctors... that I was heavily addicted to speed and barbiturates, that I'd run out of barbiturates and that I'd overshot speed so that I was in this state of convulsion... if you just listened to what I had to say it was sane, but if you just looked at me you wouldn't bother to listen. And none of them did. God it was a nightmare. Finally about six big attendants came and held me down and put me on a stretcher... and I got twice as bad...."
Inclusion of the CD - hearing Edie's actual voice - is an excellent touch that helps to achieve Melissa Painter's stated goal of capturing the "sensation" of standing next to Edie. There are six monologues by Edie on the CD taken from the Ciao! Manhattan tapes - Edie on love, on breaking contracts, on being a reluctant fashion icon, on being committed, on addiction and on life after New York City. If you didn't know Edie before reading this book or listening to the CD, you will certainly feel like you knew her afterwards.
The book is available from Amazon U.S. at the usual discount here, or in the U.K. here.
Gary Comenas
Warholstars/December 2006
Edie: Girl on Fire links:
For more information on shock treatment go to www.ect.org/index.shtml.
Andy Warhol