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The Third Andy Warhol Factory

Bob Colacello:

"The third Factory occupied the entire floor of 860 Broadway, a six story building that curved with the corner and extended through the middle of the block to East 18th Street, where there was a rearentrance with a freight elevator and a second staircase. This meant that Andy could escape undetected if disgruntled Superstars and off-the-wall fans came knocking at the bullet proof door we took across the square with us. We also installed a proper security system in the new place, with closed-circuit TVs, instead of trying to pass off Keith Sonnier's conceptual video sculpture as high-tech protection. We tried to get the landlord, who was Larry River's brother-in-law, to hire an armed guard for the lobby, but he said the other tenants would object, and Andy said it was too expensive for us to hire our own. Nonetheless, we were leaving the place where Andy had been shot and we all felt less afraid.

Andy, of course, found new things to fret about in the new space: the curving wall of windows facing Union Square and Broadway, which let in lots of light and air, might also allow a rock or bomb to be thrown from the street. 'It's only three floors up,' said Andy, 'and everybody can see right in and know if I'm here. Did you ever think of that Fred?' That didn't stop Andy from making the window sill his favorite place to sit and read the newspapers.

Another 'security' measure, which only Fred Hughes could have dreamed up, was to hire foreign receptionists. Jane Forth, who retired to have a second child, Branch Emerson, was replaced first by Frank Waill, a Parisian friend of the Beauvau-Craons... and then by Laura Moltedo, a Venetian friend of the Rattazzis who took the job there to learn English.

This ruse actually worked: The troublesome old Superstars stopped calling after having to spell their names four or five times before Monsieur Waill announced that Monsieur Warhol wasn't in, and when Signorina Laura answered the phone with 'Ciao', most of the nut cases assumed they had the wrong number and hung up." (BC234)

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