Saturday, April 03, 2004

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Tuesday, November 30, 1976

Daniel Morera, our Italian Interview Correspondent, came by the office with Olivier Coquelin who invited me to Haiti for the Nima Framanfarmian--Chris Isham wedding in January. He owns that resort there. He should be interviewed for Popism--he's the one who owned Cheetah in the sixties, the big discotheque on Broadway and 53rd.

I don't want to talk to long this morning, I want to get over to Bloomingdale's before it's too crowded.

Original Entry: Sunday, November 28, 1976--Chadds Ford--New York

Catherine called New York, to Jodie Foster's place, to confirm the interview she and I were supposed to do that afternoon, and Jodie's mother hedged saying Jodie was sick and maybe she couldn't do it, but to call when we got back to town. Got back at 12:30 (gas $16.50, tolls $3.40). Dropped Catherine and Fred. Catherine called Jodie again and she said okay.

It was a beautiful day, in the sixities again. Picked up Catherine and walked over to the Pierre Hotel to meet Jodie. Said hello to lots of people who said hello to me. At the Pierre I saw a beautiful woman staring at me and it turned out to be Ingrid Bergman. While I was talking to her, Coco Brown started waving and yelling from a car. Ingrid's I think husband came for her and then Catherine and I went into the restaurant to wait for Jodie. She came in with her mother and a guy they said they'd picked up I think in liverpool, and I couldn't tell if it was a bodyguard or the mother's boyfriend. Jodie had on high boots and a hat and was really cute and we loved her ($30 with tip).

Then we all walked over to F.A.O. Schwarz and looked at toys. Bought some for Jodie ($10). She signed autographs. On the way back to the Pierre a guy was selling big candy canes and he gave Jodie one and me one.

Went home. Nelson Lyon called from L.A. and told me about his Thanksgiving--Paul Morrissey had invited him to dinner at Chase Mellen's house and then called back to disinvite him saying it was going to be "small and intimate" and that he's made a mistake inviting anyone. As soon as Nelson hears that anything is "small and intimate" he gets paranoid he's not invited and goes crazy to get there, so he put his mind to it and got there through someone else. It turned out to be thousands of people there so when he saw Paul he said, "Small, intimate world, isn't it?"

Brigid Polk called and said she's down to 197. Ever since she saw herself in Bad weighing 300 pounds and went on a diet, she's so boring to talk to--she never does anything, she never thinks anything, she just lies there in bed in her room at the George Washington Hotel and wiats for the fat to roll off. I told her I'll give her a job--that she could let some roll off around the Factory while she answers phones, but she won't. It's taken her thirty-nine years to lose weight and it'll probably take her another thirty-nine years to get to work.

I was too tired to meet the Vreeland crowd for dinner. Watched twenty-five years of Lucille Ball on TV instead.

Victor Hugo, Halston's "art adviser," called me from San Francisco because I'd told him I loved the display window he did of turkey bones at Halston's Madison Ave store, and now someone broke in and took the turkey bones, so he thought it was (laughs) me.

ORIGINAL POST: Saturday, November 27, 1976--Chadds Ford

Went to the carriage again. This time Frolic had his carriage out, too. He was drinking all day. He took his drinks onto the wagon with him and he was riding around drinking. Jamie took me to his aunt's house to see a 5' dollhouse. It was like an old-fashioned Christmas. Then went over to the museum where an antique dealer was having a benefit for an opera school, and I really enjoyed that, they were singing an opera. They passed a hat around and Frolic gave Catherine $20.00 of his own money for her to drop in and I dropped in $20.00, too. Didn't get to bed until aroudn 4:00.

ORIGINAL POST: Friday, November 26, 1976--Chadds Ford

Went on a tour of Winterhur in the morning (tickets $24, books $59). Then Phyllis Wyeth got the buggy together, we had an all-American breakfast, fed Archie and Amos, then we went out for a ride. We went across the Brandywine River in it, it wasn't that deep. Jed went to meet Vincent and Shelly and Ronnie and Gigi at the train station. Went with Jamie to the Brandywine Museum and we were photographed and had a press conference. Went back to Amie and Phyllis's and there were cocktails. Mrs. Bartow who I bought the East 66th Street house from was there and she asked when I was going to sandblast it and why was I never home because it always looked dark. Carter Brown was there and Jane Holzer with Bob Denison.

Rode to the museum. I introduced Gigi as "George"--I'd told this guy she was a drag queen and he didn't know I was kidding, he got excited and then she said, "No, it's Georgette," which concidentally is her real name--I didn't know it. So everything was coming out right--I mean it was just what a drag queen would say, so that was funny. And the guy really liked her and she didn't have a clue it was because he tought she was a boy.

ORIGINAL POST: Thursday, November 25, 1976--New York--Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania

Fred called at 8 A.M. to find out when we were leaving. Barbara Allen called and said that if we were leaving after 12:00 she would come (film $19.98). Cabbed to 860 [860 Broadway, at 17th Street, at the northeast corner of Union Square Park, where Andy rented the entire third floor for both his offices and the offices of Interview Magazine] to pick up some things to take. Left around 1:00 (cab $3.60, gas $19.97, tolls #3.40). Beautiful day.

Jed somehow drove straight to the Wyeth's door, with just one phone call for directions (phone $.10) at a turnoff right near the place to get the last bit. Arrived around 4 :00. The traffic was okay. Barbara Walters didn't come after all.

Andrew Wyeth, Jamie's father, was there. Frolick Weymouth was there, a neighbor--his wife who's Andrew Wyeth's niece had just left him for an antique dealer or something after lots of married years--he's a du Pont--and he was depressed, so he was over for dinner. And Andrew's two systers, one nutty who looks like she drinks and paints.

We sat for hours and hours at dinner, it was perfect, so good. Lots of drinks. I was still so tired from all the traveling at the beginning of the week. Jed went to bed around 2:00, everyone else stayed up until around 4:00.

There was a romantic interest going on. Robin West--He's a neighbor of the Wyeths, too, he works for the Pentagon but he'll be losing his job soon because Carter's coming in--he was there, and Catherine talked about shit and piss for him and about the Anvil S&M bar, and he seemed to like that and got interested. He's looking for a rich girl to marry, he asked me where oh where was his tub of butter on the other side of the rainbow, and I told him it could be a tub of Guinness beer if he played his cards right. He said he'd take us for a ride in an aircraft carrier before his job gets given to a Democrat.

ORIGINAL POST: Wednesday, November 24, 1976--Vancouver--New York

Got up at 7 A.M. in Vancouver and cabbed to the airport ($15 plus $5 tip, magazines, $5). This is the end of the trip to Seattle for the Opening at the Seattle Art Museum there, then we'd gone to Los Angeles for Marisa Berenson's wedding to Jim Randall, then to Vancouverfor my Ace Gallery Show opening there. Nobody in Vancouver buys art, though--they're not interested in painting. Catherine Guinness didn't get edgy till the last day when she started this annoying thing the English do--asking me over and over again, "What exactly is Pop Art?" it was like the time we interviewed that blues guy Albert King for Interview, when she kept asking "What exactly is soul food?" So for two hours on the plane she tortured me (cab from La Guardia $13, tip $7--Catherine was grand and gave him the whole $20). Dropped Fred off. Got home. Ate an early Thanksgiving dinner with Jed. He'd gotten the car serviced for the drive down to Chadds Ford in the morning to Phyllis and Jamie Wyeth's.