1966
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(codes
in parentheses refer to references)
Andy Warhol and the Velvet Underground entertain psychiatrists. Andy Warhol films the Velvet Underground. Lou Reed writes Femme Fatale. Andy Warhol gets uptight. Andy Warhol advertises. Edie Sedgwick leaves Andy Warhol. Holly Woodlawn meets Jackie Curtis. Andy Warhol does Cow Wallpaper and Silver Clouds. Andy Warhol meets Ronnie Cutrone and Eric Emerson. Andy Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable and the Velvet Underground with Nico tour. Henry Geldzahler and Andy Warhol drift apart. Andy Warhol shoots The Chelsea Girls, Kiss the Boot and the final Screen Tests. Danny Williams dies. Andy Warhol is sued for Flowers. Andy Warhol designs Aspen. Andy Warhol splits up with Richard Rheem.
JAN. 1966: NICO MOVES TO NEW YORK.
She continued her modeling career, signing up with the Ford Model Agency. (DB221)
JAN. 13, 1966: ANDY WARHOL TAKES THE VELVETS TO PSYCHIATRISTS.
Andy Warhol was invited to speak at the annual banquet of the New York Society for Clinical Psychiatry at the Delmonico Hotel. He brought along the VELVETS and other factory regulars. JONAS MEKAS and BARBARA RUBIN filmed the event. It was the first time that NICO performed publicly with the band. (members.aol.com/olandem2/perf6566.html)
JAN. 31, 1966: GERARD MALANGA READS DROP-OUT POEMS.
Gerard Malanga did a poetry reading at The Folklore Center of his "Debbie High School Drop-Out Poems".
1966: ANDY WARHOL FILMS THE VELVET UNDERGROUND.
In addition to the Warhol footage of the Velvet Underground, other filmmakers also filmed the band during this period. Rosalind Stevenson filmed them in their apartment in 1965 and Jonas Mekas/Barbara Rubin filmed the Psychiatrists' Convention on January 8, 1966. They were also filmed at the Balloon Farm (previously the Dom) in October 1966 and Ron Nameth filmed them playing at Poor Richard's in Chicago in June 1966. (UT123)
Victor Bockris:
"January to April 1966 was the golden period for the Velvet Underground and Andy Warhol. After the psychiatrist's convention, Warhol shot a scintillating film of the band rehearsing at the Factory, SYMPHONY OF SOUND, which remains the single best visual record of the Velvet Underground. They also recorded sound tracks for two of Warhol's best movies shot at the beginning of the year, HEDY and MORE MILK YVETTE." (LR108)
According to Stephen Koch, More Milk Yvette was filmed in November of 1965. (SG147) Hedy was shot in February 1966 - inspired by Hedy Lamarr's arrest for shoplifting which appeared in the press on January 29, 1966. (BN68)
Lou Reed on Andy Warhol:
"The thing is that Andy works very hard. One of the things you can learn from being at the Factory is if you want to do whatever you do, then you should work very, very hard. If you don't work very hard all the time, well then nothing will happen. And Andy works as hard as anybody I know... Whenever he'd ask me how many songs I'd written that day, whatever the number was Andy would say, 'you should do more.'" (UT128)
The filming of THE VELVET UNDERGROUND AND NICO: A SYMPHONY OF SOUND was broken up by the NYC police after complaints about the noise. (UT34)
to filmography
1966: LOU REED WRITES FEMME FATALE ABOUT EDIE SEDGWICK.
Lou Reed:
"Andy said I should write a song about Edie Sedgwick. I said 'Like what?' and he said, 'Oh, don't you think she's a femme fatale, Lou?' So I wrote 'Femme Fatale' and we gave it to Nico." (LR107)
FEB. 1966: MARY WORONOV APPEARS IN HEDY.
HEDY was Mary's first full length Warhol film. The cast also included MARIO MONTEZ. Mary played the arresting officer in the film. (MW37) After leaving Cornell, Mary moved in with her parents in Brooklyn until eventually moving into an apartment on St. Marks that she shared with Jane, a friend from Cornell. (MW87)
to filmography
FEB. 8 - 13, 1966. ANDY WARHOL GETS UPTIGHT.
During the second week of February, Warhol presented a week of mixed media performances at the Film-Makers' Cinematheque which was then using a venue on West 41st Street. The ad for the event that ran in the February 3rd, 1966 issue of the Village Voice announced 'ANDY WARHOL, UP-TIGHT/presents live/The Velvet Underground, Edie Sedgwick, Gerard Malanga/Donald Lyons/Barbara Rubin/Bob Neuwirth/Paul Morrissey/Nico/Daniel Williams/Billy Linich', promising 'Up-tight Rock 'n Roll/Whip Dancers, Film-maker Freaks'. (DB221)
Also on exhibit were some of the photographs that NAT FINKELSTEIN had been taking of Warhol's entourage in the form of large contact sheets - the first documented show of large contact sheets.
The Velvet Underground and Nico performed while VINYL, EMPIRE and EAT were screened in the background, “and BARBARA RUBIN and her crew ran around the audience as usual with movie cameras and bright lights. GERARD was up on stage whipping a long strip of phosphorescent rope in the air. The whole event was called Andy Warhol Up Tight." (POP148) Barbara Rubin had suggested the name. (UT3)
Also included was the premiere of Warhol's film, More Milk, Yvette, (based on Lana Turner), starring Mario Montez.(DB221)
Nico:
"They also played the record of Bob Dylan's song, I'll Keep It With Mine, because I didn't have enough to sing otherwise. I had to stand there and sing along with it. I had to do this every night for a week. It was the most stupid concert I have ever done." (LR109)
Sterling Morrison:
"We most certainly did not want to be compared with Bob Dylan, or associated with him. We did not want to be near Bob Dylan, either physically or through his songs. When Nico kept insisting that we work up I'll Keep It With Mine, for a long time we simply refused. Then we took a long time to learn it (as long as we could take). After that, even though we knew the song, we insisted that we were unable to play it. When we finally did have a go at it on stage, it was performed poorly. We never got any better at it either, for some reason." (UT53)
Warhol also appeared on WNET TV in New York in February and announced he was sponsoring a new band, The Velvet Underground.
ca. JAN/FEB 1966: ANDY WARHOL TAKES OUT AN AD.
Andy Warhol puts an ad in the Village Voice advertising his services. The ad says: ‘I’ll endorse with my name any of the following: clothing, AC-DC, cigarettes, small tapes, sound equipment, ROCK ‘N” ROLL RECORDS, anthing, film, and film equipment, Food, Helium, Whips, MONEY; love and kisses Andy Warhol. EL 5-9941”
Andy Warhol:
”We had so many people hanging around all the time now that I figured in order to feed them all we’d have to get other people to support them - like find a restaurant that wanted us to hang around that would give us free meals.” (POP152)
In 1966 Warhol also appeared in Piero Heliczer's
underground film, Joan of Arc (above)FEB. 13, 1966: EDIE SEDGWICK APPEARS IN THE NEW YORK TIMES.
Edie Sedgwick appeared in photographs, posing with ANDY WARHOL and CHUCK WEIN in the New York Times magazine. (AF201)
3RD OR 4TH WEEK OF FEB. 1966: EDIE SEDGWICK LEAVES ANDY WARHOL.
Edie Sedgwick left Andy Warhol after a public argument at the Ginger Man restaurant about money and her lack of role in the Velvet Underground. She left Andy to hang around with BOB DYLAN who, according to writer Victor Bockris, had an extreme drug problem with amphetamine.” (L&D244)
Although most accounts place the argument at the Gingerman, Gerard Malanga has written about an argument that took place at "a crowded table at Maxwell Plum (present were Andy, Paul Morrissey, Donald Lyons, Ingrid Superstar, Barbara Rubin, Nico, Chuck Wein, Lou Reed and John Cale)." (GMW117)
According to Malanga, Edie, unwilling to pick up the tab as was her usual habit, confronted Warhol about money for the films she had appeared in. Warhol protested that he wasn't making any money with the films and that she had to be patient. At one point she got up to make a phone-call, then returned to the table shortly thereafter and left the restaurant. (GMW117)
MARCH 3, 1966: KITCHEN, STARRING EDIE SEDGWICK, PREMIERES AT THE FILM-MAKERS' CINEMATHEQUE. (DB217)
MARCH 9, 1966: THE VELVETS GO TO COLLEGE.
Andy Warhol took The VELVET UNDERGROUND to perform at the college film society of Rutgers University and then on March 12th to the University of Michigan Film Festival in Ann Arbor. Warhol's entourage included the counter-culture journalist, John Wilcock, who would later write The Autobiography and Sex Life of Andy Warhol, by John Wilcock and a Cast of Thousands, consisting of interviews with many of Warhol's superstars.
John Wilcock:
"The eleven member Warhol group (supplemented by accompanying cars) had rented a microbus for the 1,500 mile round-trip to Ann Arbor ($50 per day plus 10 cents per mile) and although it offered some of the comforts of home - including a toilet that, like the one in the 47th Street Factory, didn't work - it proved to be far from the most reliable mode of transportation. The most chaotic moments came on the way back when a stop was made in the parking lot of a pop art monstrosity called the White Hut Superking for everybody to order hamburgers. Even before Nico, blonde locks falling about the shoulders of her black leather jacket, had brought the bus to a halt, a police patrol car came snooping around to see what else it contained." (UT40)
MARCH 1966: BETSEY JOHNSON HAS A PARTY.
Betsey Johnson hired Warhol to stage a party at Paraphernelia, the flagship store of Pilgrim Clothes who had hired Johnson to design the clothes.The Velvet Underground, who had returned to New York after playing Ann Arbor, performed at the party. Nat Finkelstein took photos.
Nat Finkelstein:
"We staged a party in a fishbowl, a store window on Madison Avenue. Crowds gathered... the idea was that everybody who saw the party would buy clothes there. The girls showed the new fashion while they were dancing to the Velvet's music." (NF85)
MARCH 30, 1966: HOLLY WOODLAWN MEETS JACKIE CURTIS.
Candy Darling and Holly Woodlawn went to Candy’s friend Seymour’s house in the West Village to watch Barbara Streisand’s TV special Color Me Barbara on Semour’s color TV. Jackie Curtis was there - “an aspiring actor/playwright who worked as an usher at the Winter Garden Theater, where Streisand was starring in Funny Girl.” (HW76) Curtis wasn't in drag at this point, although Holly and Candy were.
APR. 2 - 27, 1966: ANDY WARHOL'S SECOND SHOW AT CASTELLI.
Andy Warhol's second show at the Leo Castelli gallery included the Cow wallpaper and the floating silver pillows. (L&D503/UW39)
Ronnie Cutrone:
"Andy said he wanted to end his painting career with those silver pillows, to let them fly away from the rooftop, but they didn't really fly away. It was a grand gesture; he was a master of the grand gesture." (UW59)
EASTER SUNDAY, 1966: EDIE SEDGWICK MAKES HER FIRST NON-WARHOL FILM. (EDIE285)
Bob Neuwirth:
"She [Edie Sedgwick] never made a film with Dylan. After Edie left Warhol, I was actually the first one to make a film with her. We made it on Easter Sunday in Eric Dolphy's old loft near the Fulton Fish Market - a Chaplinesque, satirical movie of Edie making breakfast and ending up with her wearing a nine-thousand-dollar leopard-skin coat and walking her huge rhinoceros, that big footstool of hers outfitted with four roller skates, up Fifth Avenue in the Easter Parade, pulling the rhino along behind her on a leash. It was very early in the morning. We'd been shooting since daylight. At one point on Park Avenue she tied her rhino to a fire hydrant, and the police, as a joke, gave it a ticket. I have footage of them giving her a ticket for parking her four-wheeled rhino, or actually her sixteen wheeled rhino." (EDIE285)
APRIL 1966: THE VELVETS PLAY THE DOM.
The Dom had been a Polish dance hall (Polsky Dom Narodny - the word “Dom” being Polish for home) called Stanley’s. The two people who had rented it from the owners did “sculpture with light” but were not ready to use the space until May. So Andy rented it during April to present the Plastic Inevitable. (POP156) Entry was $6 and it was a success, making $18,000 in the first week.
Sterling Morrison:
"But our actual salary from Paul Morrissey, who handled the business side for Andy, was five dollars a day, for cheese or beer at the Blarney Stone. He had a ledger that listed everything, including drug purchases - $5 for heroin. When the accountant saw it, he said 'What the hell is this?':" (LR122)
According to Gerard Malanga and Victor Bockris, all the people contributing to the show were paid the same amount - Lou Reed got the same for playing as Gerard did for dancing or Danny Williams for doing the lights: "On an average night at the Dom they would be paid a hundred dollars apiece". (UT52)
During the first week that the Dom was open, it took in $18,000.00.
While performing at the Dom, Lou Reed's Gretch guitar and record collection was stolen. (LR124)
DANNY WILLIAMS who did the lights/sound for the Exploding Plastic Inevitable would later mysteriously disappear in 1967 "off the coast of Cape Cod leaving his clothes by the side of his car." Although his body was never found, it is presumed to be a suicide. (GMW111)
Sterling Morrison:
"It was at this time that The Velvets started wearing dark glasses on stage, not through trying to be cool but because the light-show could be blinding at times." (UT54)
At the same time that the VELVETS were playing at the Dom, Andy’s film, MY HUSTLER was playing uptown at the Film-Makers’ Co-op and Warhol's silver helium-filled pillows and yellow and pink cow wallpaper was being shown at the Castelli Gallery. (POP162)
The final performance of The Exploding Plastic Inevitable at the Dom took place on April 30, 1966. (UT57)
1966: ANDY WARHOL MEETS RONNIE CUTRONE.
Ronnie Cutrone lived in the Velvet's apartment which was subleased from TOM O'HORGAN who would later direct the musical Hair. Cutrone would eventually work for Andy for ten years as his full-time painting assistant from 1972-82.
1966: ANDY WARHOL DISCOVERS ERIC EMERSON.
Andy Warhol noticed Eric Emerson dancing at the Dom - “...a small, muscular blonde kid made a ballet leap that practically spanned the dance floor". (POP212) Eric Emerson’s mother had sent him to ballet school as a youngster, while his father worked as a construction worker in New Jersey. Both Ronnie Cutrone and Gerard Malanga already knew Eric before Andy Warhol noticed him at the Dom. Eric had got married two years previously to someone he met at a party in Los Angeles. He fell in love instantly and they drove to Las Vegas the same night for a quick wedding.
Eric Emerson:
“I got really attached to my wife, and when she went out free-loving the way I did, I got crazy and went through a heavy gay scene for awhile...” (POP212)
Eric leaps while
Ronnie Cutrone watches1966: EDIE SEDGWICK FALLS APART.
Edie Sedgwick, “falling apart” and “hooked” on drugs “goes through eighty thousand dollars in six months...” ONDINE became her French maid “serving her drug paraphernalia and a saucer filled with speed” for breakfast. “Desperate for money, Edie steals English antiques and pieces of art from her grandmother’s elegant apartment and sells them to buy drugs.” (UV211) “Dealing drugs, she gets busted, goes to jail briefly, and is put on probation for five years”. (UV212)
1966: ANDY WARHOL PRODUCES THE VELVET UNDERGROUND LP.
Warhol invested some of the Dom money (along with an investment by NORMAN DOLPH, a former Columbia Records sales executive) to produce The Velvet Underground and Nico album. The Cameo-Parkway Studios on Broadway were rented for $2,500 for three nights. Lou Reed did not want Nico on the album and Nico wanted more songs to sing.
John Cale:
"Lou was paranoid and eventually he made everybody paranoid."
Andy Warhol:
"The whole time the album was being made, nobody seemed happy with it."
Lou Reed:
"Andy made a point of trying to make sure that on our first album the language remained intact. He would say, 'Make sure you do the song with the dirty words, don't change the words just because it's a record." (LR129-30)
The album was turned down by every record company in New York.
When Warhol and The Velvet Underground went Los Angeles to perform at the Trip, they met with various record companies to try and flog the album. Ahmet Ertegun rejected it, saying "no drug songs". Elektra rejected it, saying "no violas". (UT68)
Tom Wilson at Columbia (who was a friend of Nico) was interested and told the band to wait until he moved to MGM so that he could release them on the Verve label. They were eventually signed by MGM who also signed The Mothers of Invention at the same time. Tom Wilson suggested they make the album more commercial by adding more Nico songs and releasing one as a single. Lou complies by writing 'Sunday Morning', which Wilson later produced for the banana album. Andy suggested making it a song about paranoia which Lou did with lyrics like 'Watch out, the world's behind you, there's always someone watching you...' (LR135) Lou insisted on singing the song himself on the recording even though Nico sang it at live performances.
Although contracted to receive 25% of the Velvet's earnings, Andy Warhol never received any money from the album sales due to legal complications with the contract which failed to state what royalties the band would receive. (LR135)
MAY 3 - 18, 1966: THE VELVETS PLAY THE TRIP.
Charlie Rothschild booked Warhol and the EXPLODING PLASTIC INEVITABLE (consisting of fourteen Factory regulars) to play at the Trip in Los Angeles. The Mothers of Invention featuring Frank Zappa opened for them and were cheered by the L.A. crowd. The Velvet Underground were greeted with boos. (UT65)
Lou Reed on Frank Zappa:
"He's probably the single most untalented person I've heard in my life. He's a two-bit pretentious academic, and he can't play rock'n'roll, because he's a loser. And that's why he dresses up funny. He's not happy with himself and I think he's right." (UT65)
Among the celebrities attending the opening night were JOHN PHILLIPS of the MAMAS AND THE PAPAS, RYAN O'NEAL, JIM MORRISON (who was a film student at UCLA) and CHER who commented that the Velvet's music would replace nothing, except perhaps suicide. (LR133) The reviews were terrible and on the third night the sheriff’s office shut the club down for disturbing the peace. They stayed in LA as Union rules stated that in order to be paid, they had to remain in Los Angeles, even if they didn't perform. (MW23-4)
Warhol and most of his entourage stayed in the Castle in Los Angeles - "a large imitation-medieval stone structure... where many rock stars put up their entourages at $500 a week." (LD250) Bob Dylan had just stayed there with Edie Sedgwick. Photographer Nat Finkelstein and Velvet road manager Faison both stayed at the Tropicana instead of the Castle. Sterling Morrison joined them there after a week and a half in the Castle. (UT65/7)
While in L.A. The Velvet Underground met Steve Sesnick who would become their manager in 1967. According to Sesnick, it was himself who originally came up with the concept for the Exploding Plastic Inevitable. He also said that it was himself who arranged for The Velvets to perform at the Fillmore on May 26 and 27. However, this contradicted Andy Warhol who, in Popism, said (via Pat Hackett) that Bill Graham kept calling Paul Morrissey to set up the date. (UT69)
Steve Sesnick:
"My room-mate at the time was Tim Hauser who was the founder of the Manhattan Transfer. I told him I had come up with this space idea. All that was an idea of film and dancing and music - space music - and he was working at the time on doing 30s and 40s so we were very diametrically opposed in our personal interests. I mentioned it to Andy at a party at the Factory and he said, 'Oh gee, Steve, that sounds great. Do you think we can do it?' I said, 'Yes,' and we had a series of meetings with Brian Epstein on the telephone through Nat Weiss. Danny Williams was the only one I remember, besides Andy and Edie Sedgwick, who was in on the original meetings for this whole idea. Epstein and Nat Weiss were partners. Nat was his American attorney. I was very friendly with Nat for a number of years, prior to his even getting into music. So having access to him I went to speak with him about this idea and he passed it on to Brian, and Brian went nuts over it. He said it really is fantastic and they did want to get involved. But their idea of what it was and mine and Andy's were just really different." (UT70)
The Exploding Plastic Inevitable arrived in San Francisco to play for two nights at BILL GRAHAM's Fillmore Ball Room with the MOTHERS OF INVENTION and the early JEFFERSON AIRPLANE. The Warhol crowd hated the hippie culture of San Francisco. Bill Graham pulled the plug on the Velvets the second night when the band left the stage after leaning their instruments against the amplifiers creating a "barrage of sonic feedback".
Lou Reed:
"We had vast objections to the whole San Francisco scene. It's just tedious, a lie and untalented. They can't play and they certainly can't write... You know, people like Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead are just the most untalented bores that ever came up. Just look at them physically, I mean, can you take Grace Slick seriously? It's a joke! It's a joke! The kids are being hyped." (UT71)
While in San Francisco, the poet/playwright MICHAEL MCCLURE refused to sign a release for a film that Andy Warhol had made of McClure's controversial play 'The Beard'. (Warhol's film of the play starred Gerard Malanga and Mary Woronov).
to filmography
At a cocktail party that both Andy Warhol and Michael McClure attended in San Francisco, Warhol met someone identified as "RICHARD GREEN" by Victor Bockris. When Warhol returned to New York, Richard and himself entered into an "erotic correspondence" which led to Richard moving in with Warhol in October. "Richard Green" is probably Richard Rheem. Rheem appeared in the film Mrs. Warhol and there are several letters from him to Warhol in the archives of The Warhol museum. (W8/8/07)
After the second night in San Francisco Gerard Malanga was arrested in an all night cafeteria in North Beach for carrying an offensive weapon (his whip) and spent the night in jail. He had gone to the diner with Lou Reed and Nancy Worthington Fish, a friend of Warhol who was performing with The Committee. (UT73)
While In San Francisco, Lou Reed shot up some bad speed causing his joints to seize up and he was incorrectly diagnosed as having a terminal case of lupus.
Upon their return to New York, Lou Reed checked into Beth Israel hospital with a serious case of hepatitis and had a six week course of treatment. Nico left for Ibiza while the rest of the Velvets started rehearsing for an upcoming June booking in Chicago - a one week stint at Poor Richard's. ANGUS MACLISE returned as drummer and MAUREEN TUCKER switched to playing bass.
Gerard Malanga:
"Just before the Chicago gig, Andy, Angus MacLise and I went to visit Lou in the hospital, because Angus was going to play with the group in Chicago. I distinctly remember Lou telling Angus, 'Just remember you're only coming back for two weeks. You're on a temporary basis. I don't want you to get any idea that you're coming back into the group again." (UT74)
JUNE 1966: ANDY AND HENRY DRIFT APART.
Warhol and HENRY GELDZAHLER drifted apart when Henry was made Commissioner for the Venice Biennale and did not tell Andy and also did not use his art in the show (using instead HELEN FRANKENTHALER, ELLSWORTH KELLY, JULES OLITSKI, and ROY LICHTENSTEIN).
Henry Geldzahler:
"I had to get out of there to save myself. It was so unattractive I walked away. There was one tense moment. There was a blackboard in the studio and I wrote: 'Andy Warhol can't paint any more and he can't make movies yet.' That was when he was between the two. But he never forgot that." (L&D256)
JUNE 1966: MAY WILSON MOVES.
Artist MAY WILSON moved first into the Chelsea Hotel, then into a studio apartment next to the hotel at 208 West 23rd Street. VALERIE SOLANAS would store the gun she would later use to shoot Andy Warhol on June 3, 1968 under May's bed in a laundry bag in the studio apartment. (RE/WSW)
JUNE 21 - JULY 3, 1966: THE VELVETS PLAY POOR RICHARD'S.
The performed at Poor Richard's in Chicago without LOU REED who was recuperating from hepatitis at Beth Israel Hospital. Although NICO was advertised to appear, she stayed in Ibiza instead.
Poor Richard's was a club inside an poorly ventilated old church in which the temperature rose to 106 degrees. (UT75)
Angus returned to play drums, Maureen played bass and STERLING MORRISON and JOHN CALE did vocals. INGRID SUPERSTAR replaced MARY WORONOV as Gerard Malanga's dance partner. DANNY WILLIAMS flew in from San Francisco to do the lights. Warhol was supposed to attend to do interviews but sent BRIGID BERLIN in his place. RON NAMETH filmed one of the shows.
The Chicago shows were so successful that the band were held over another week. Originally booked until June 26, they stayed until July 3, 1966. (UT75)
While in Chicago the band was also hired by Playboy to perform at an afternoon fashion show which was written up in their VIP magazine. They also appeared on Studs Terkel's TV show and did some radio shows. (UT76)
It was at the Poor Richard's concerts that SUSAN PILE first met GERARD MALANGA and the rest of the E.P.I. crowd. The following month, on her way to the Newport Folk Festival with a friend from high school, she stopped into the Factory to say hello and Gerard introduced her to Andy.
Malanga needed help pulling together his literary output, beginning with a special issue of Film Culture magazine. Susan contributed an essay and typed/proofed most of the other content.
When Susan moved to New York to study at Barnard College, she ended up working at the Factory (until approximately February of 1968) and transcribed some of the tapes that would be published as 'A: A Novel' by Andy Warhol. She also looked after Nico's son, Ari, when the Velvet Underground played two nights a week at the Gymnasium. (S)
Susan documented her activities at the Factory in weekly letters to her friend and co-conspirator Edward K. Walsh who dated each letter upon its receipt.
Susan Pile [July 26, 1966]:
"Dear Ed,
...Indeed, I did start working for ('lurking about' might be more accurate) Andy and Gerard at the Factory, but nothing has happened - it’s total Catatonia until the filming starts (very late usually - the Factory never opens until 2pm daily). They’re filming tomorrow night, and we get to watch...[color sequences for Chelsea Girls with line-up of Superstars]." (S)One of Susan's classmates at Barnard was Pat Hackett who would also later work for Warhol. Hackett co-wrote 'Popism' with Warhol and, after his death, edited The Andy Warhol Diaries, published in 1989.
SUMMER 1966: INTERNATIONAL VELVET JOINS THE FACTORY.
SUSAN BOTTOMLY (INTERNATIONAL VELVET) was “the new girl in town.” (POP175) Her father was a district attorney in Boston and her family paid her rent at the Chelsea Hotel and gave her an allowance. (POP175)
Andy Warhol (via Pat Hackett in Popism):
“Gerard stayed with Susan at the Chelsea for the first couple of months she was in town, and all that time he was writing poems to her and about her. Her parents weren’t happy with her new ‘career’ - modeling in New York - and later on, when she was on the cover of Esquire, phototographed in a garbage can (‘Today’s Girl, Finished at 18’), they were really upset... but they went on supporting her, and she went on supporting lots of her friends.” (POP176)
SUMMER 1966: ANDY WARHOL SHOOTS THE CHELSEA GIRLS.
ca. SUMMER/AUTUMN 1966: BOB DYLAN'S MANAGER TAKES OVER THE DOM.
BOB DYLAN's manager AL GROSSMAN and Oliver Coquelin took over the Dom and renamed it the Balloon Farm.
PAUL MORRISSEY arranged for Nico to sing in a small bar underneath the Dom called Stanley's. (LR139) After a few weeks of Nico singing alone to tape recorded guitar solos by Lou Reed, Paul Morrissey hired unknown folk singer TIM BUCKLEY to accompany her, later replacing him with an unknown JACKSON BROWNE who Morrissey discovered sitting at the bar - Jackson Browne having come there to hear Tim Buckley. Browne ended up writing some of the tracks on Nico's first solo album, Chelsea Girl as well as performing on it. (UT86/90) Jackson Browne lived with Nico for awhile on Columbus Avenue at 51st Street. (UT106)
The Velvet Underground played the Balloon Farm (The Dom) in October. SUSAN PILE was there and recorded her impression of the performance in letters to Ed Walsh.
LATE AUGUST 1966: ANDY WARHOL GOES TO LOS ANGELES
Andy Warhol and his entourage (Paul Morrissey, Ultra Violet, Ondine and Billly Name) went to Los Angeles for personal appearances when The Chelsea Girls opens at the Presidio Theater. (POP231)
SEPT. 3 - 4, 1966: THE EPI GOES TO PROVINCETOWN.
The Exploding Plastic Inevitable played the Chrysler Art Museum in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Steve Sesnick, who would later become the manager of The Velvet Underground after they were dropped by Warhol in 1967, arranged the dates. In addition to The Velvet Underground (consisting of Maureen Tucker, John Cale, Lou Reed and Sterling Morrison) and EPI regulars Gerard Malanga, Ronnie Cutrone, Mary Woronov, road manager Faison, Warhol assistant Paul Morrissey and Andy Warhol, the group also now included Susan Bottomly (aka International Velvet), her boyfriend, fashion illustrator David Croland - and Eric Emerson who stayed with Nico in Provincetown.
The police interrupted one of the performances and untied Eric Emerson from a post (which he was strapped to in preparation for being whipped by Mary Woronov) in order to retrieve some belts and whips that were stolen from a leather store in Provincetown. (UT83)
There was also a problem with the landlord of the house that Warhol's entourage had rented in Provincetown. The toilets in the house had stopped up and Warhol's stars were throwing shit out the window.
And Eric Emerson stole a work of Art from the town's museum "just to see if he could get away with it. Paul Morrissey had to act as a liaison between Eric and the Museum, restoring the painting in order to avoid having charges pressed." (UT84)
Gerard Malanga expressed his displeasure with direction that the EPI show was taking in a letter to Warhol that he wrote in his diary, but never sent. (UT82)
SEPTEMBER 1966: PAINTERS AND POETS DRIFT TO MAX'S.
The Factory crowd started going regularly to “a two-story bar/restaurant on Park Avenue South off Union Square that MICKEY RUSKIN had opened in late ‘65” called Max’s Kansas City. Previously, Mickey had a “place on East 7th Street called Deux Megots that later became the Paradox, and then he’d had the Ninth Circle, a Village bar with a format similar to what Max’s would have, and then an Avenue B bar called the Annex... at Deux Megots, he’d held poetry readings - and now painters and poets were starting to drift into Max’s.” (POP185)
SEPT. 15, 1966: THE CHELSEA GIRLS OPENS AT THE CINEMATHEQUE.
The Film-makers' Cinematheque was on 41st Street at the time, but due to public demand the film was moved to the larger Cinema Rendezvous on West 57th Street.
According to BILLY NAME, Chelsea Girls made $20,000 in one week at the Regency Theater. (UW42)
Billy Name:
"I think Chelsea Girls and Lonesome Cowboys are the classic Warhol films. The previous movies are really art films." (Ibid)
Andy Warhol:
“It was the movie “that made everyone sit up and notice what we were doing in films... It was eight hours of film, but since we were projecting two reels side by side on a split screen, it only took about half that time. Parts of it were in color but it was mostly black and white.” (POP185)
MARY WORONOV’s mother sued Andy for showing the film without a release and settled out of court. (L&D259)
AUTUMN 1966: STERLING AND JOHN CALE MOVE IN TOGETHER.
Sterling Morrison:
"In the Fall of 1966 John and I got a place on East 10th Street just east of First Avenue. Shortly thereafter, Lou [Reed] got his place on East 10th just west of First Avenue, so the three of us were living about 50 yards apart. We would have lived together if we could have found a place large enough. We were hanging around together day and night." (UT97)
SEPT. 1966: DANNY WILLIAMS DROWNS.
DANNY WILLIAMS, who had rejoined the EPI (minus Andy, Nico and Lou) in June for a week of shows in Chicago, drove to the shore, undressed, leaving his clothes "in a neat pile by the car", swam into the sea and drowned to death. (LD257)
OCTOBER 5, 1966: ANDY WARHOL SHOOTS THE FRENCH BOB DYLAN.
French singer Antoine (real name: Pierre Antoine Muracciolo), known as the French Bob Dylan, arrives in New York and is greeted at the airport by Nico holding a bunch of bananas. At the Factory Warhol gives him a poster featuring a peel-off banana and films (in color) Antoine, Nico and Susan Bottomly (International Velvet) sitting under the poster eating bananas. (The footage has become known as Nico/Antoine.) He also shoots Antoine's black and white Screen Test. (AD30)
OCTOBER 1966: EDIE SEDGWICK GETS BURNED.
The candles that EDIE SEDGWICK always had burning in her apartment on East 63rd Street started a fire in the middle of the night and she was rushed to Lenox Hill Hospital with burns on her arms, legs and back. (POP188)
OCTOBER 29, 1966. THE EPI GOES TO BOSTON.
The Velvet Underground and Nico performed as part of Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable show at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in Boston Massachusetts. Warhol also exhibited paintings in an adjoining room of the Boston Institute of Contemporary Arts.
Ronnie Cutrone and Rona Page (aka Rona Paige) - the girl who Ondine slapped in The Chelsea Girls - joined Gerard Malanga onstage for the last number. (UT98)
Susan Pile, who was also part of the Warhol entourage, recalled the event in her weekly correspondence to Ed (aka Edward K. Walsh).
HALLOWEEN 1966: JACKIE CURTIS DOES DRAG.
Jackie Curtis dressed in full drag for the first time, with the help of Candy Darling and Holly Woodlawn. (HW297)
NOV. 3 - 7, 1966: THE EPI TOURS THE MIDWEST.
The Exploding Plastic Inevitable show did a short tour of the Midwest, with Paul Morrissey acting as road manager. Some of the venues paid less than $1,000 a night. Nico was now sleeping with John Cale. (LR141) Warhol did not accompany them on this trip. (GMW59-61) From the end of October through mid-December the EPI played various dates in the Midwest, the East Coast and Canada. (UT97)
NOVEMBER 1966:THE DOORS PLAY ONDINE.
The Doors came to New York for the first time and played at the nightclub, Ondine.
Andy Warhol:
“Gerard took one look at JIM MORRISON in leather pants just like his and he flipped. ‘He stole my look!’ he screamed, outraged." (POP189)
Jim Morrison had seen Gerard Malanga performing earlier that year at The Trip in L.A., as part of the Exploding Plastic Inevitable. Morrison was supposed to be the star of Andy Warhol's first "blue" (porn) movie. According to Warhol, Morrison had "agreed to bring a girl over and fuck her in front of the camera but when the time came, he never showed up.” (POP190)
NOVEMBER 20, 1966: ANDY WARHOL GIVES AWAY A BRIDE.
The event was called "The Mod Wedding." The bridal couple, Randi Rossi and Gary Norris won the wedding in a competition on WKNR radio. Films and psychedelic lighting were courtesy of Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable. Music was by the Velvet Underground.
The unusual wedding ceremony included a man smashing a car with a sledgehammer and Warhol applying paint and ketchup to to a woman's paper dress while she was wearing it. Warhol's wedding gift to the couple was an inflatable copy of a Baby Ruth candy bar measuring five feet long. The couple was also invited to the Factory for a screen test. The wedding was part of the Carnaby Street Fun Festival in Detroit which also featured the Yardbirds, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, Sam the Sham and Dick Clark. (AWM47)
NOV. 1966: WARHOL IS SUED FOR USING FLOWERS.
PATRICIA CAULFIELD, who took the photograph that Warhol used for his Flower paintings, brought a lawsuit against him. After a "long, costly court case", Warhol eventually agreed to give her several paintings and a percentage of all profits from future reproductions of the painting as prints. (LD260)
1966: SUSAN AND GERARD BREAK UP.
After breaking up with Gerard, Susan Bottomly (International Velvet) started seeing DAVID CROLAND. Andy Warhol had met David Croland “at a party Paraphernalia had for those big earrings he designed.” (POP178) Gerard Malanga started seeing model BENEDETTA BARZINI, the daughter of author LUIGI BARZINI. (POP176)
1966: HOLLY WOODLAWN ALMOST GETS A SEX CHANGE.
Holly went to the Johns Hopkins Medical Centre in Baltimore to get a sex change with money given to her by her (straight) boyfriend, Jack. When she found out that she had to wait a year, she used the money for a shopping spree instead. (HW96)
WINTER 1966: ANDY WARHOL FILMS KISS THE BOOT.
Andy Warhol filmed GERARD MALANGA and MARY WORONOV performing their whip dance at the Factory and called it KISS THE BOOT - after the lyrics of the LOU REED song Venus in Furs. (BN84)
to filmography
DECEMBER 1966: ANDY WARHOL DESIGNS ASPEN.
Each issue of Aspen- the "magazine in a box" - had a different guest editor.The December issue was designed by Andy Warhol and David Dalton and looked like a box of FAB detergent. The issue contained a flip book which. when flipped in one direction, presented Jack Smith's Buzzards Over Broadway and, in the other direction, Andy Warhol's Kiss. (JS147)
2ND WEEK OF DEC. 1966: ANDY WARHOL SPLITS UP WITH "RICHARD GREEN."
The day after Warhol threw "Richard Green" (as referred to in the Bockris biography of Warhol but who was probably Richard Rheem) out of his townhouse, Warhol started seeing Rod La Rod.
Gerard Malanga:
"It appeared to be a physically violent relationship, but Rodney was always very corny about his physical overtures towards Andy. It wasn't like he slugged him, they were always love taps, or Andy pushing him away or trying to block the punches." (LD267-8)
DEC. 1966: ANDY FILMS GINSBERG AND ORLOVSKY.
Warhol filmed the poet Allen Ginsberg and his boyfriend, Peter Orlovsky for their SCREEN TESTS.
Susan Pile [December 1966]:
...Allen Ginsberg and Peter Orlovsky arrive at the Factory for their Screentests. I am introduced and they blow me (goodbye kisses) upon their departure, in the midst of another argument between Rene [Ricard] and Gerard with me in the middle. Everyone is at the Factory... Billy Linich insists that everyone leave because of the vice raid, and every one goes - Andy, Rodney, Mary, Gerard, Billy Smith and me--in the limousine.... We proceed to Il Mio at the Delmonico Hotel for a party with the Yardbirds, me very casually school-clothed and looking vile. Il Mio=ultra chic. Gerard is doing dying swans, and I have to dance with him.... (S)
Susan was told that Antononi originally wanted The Velvets for his movie Blow Up, but that the part went to the Yardbirds instead.
Ginsberg had originally met Orlovsky in December 1954 and they became lovers. Warhol had previously filmed them in COUCH.
Allen Ginsberg:
"I was interested in the films, the civil liberties and the beautiful boys he [Warhol] had. But they were unobtainable or in another realm of some sort. I didn't find any serious Angels there to talk to who wanted to know about poetry." (GAB331-2)
DEC. 1966: THE CHELSEA GIRLS PLAYS THE REGENCY.
The film moved further uptown to the Regency on Broadway and 68th after leaving the Cinema Rendevous on West 57th Street.
