Saturday, December 04, 2004

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Monday, February 12, 1979

Forgot to remember the most important thing--lunch on Friday at Christie's. I picked up and we walked over there and this guy had all this jewelry there for me to look at and he said, "You can get it cheap." And that's when it started to dawn on me--these auction houses can put the gavel down any time they feel like it. Right? Right? Think about it: Like you'll be at Sotheby's and the guy will go, "Twennnty dollars... Thirrrrrty dollars..." You know, really milking it, so slow. But then some other time it'll be: "Nine thousand-nine five-ten-ten five-sold! History!" You know? So fast. So then they took us down and showed me the drawings of mine that are up for sale, and there was one fake.

And Christie's is doing a big dress sale, selling Diors and Schiaparellis and things. They'll get $8--10,000 for a Fortuny. So I've just ot to track down that man who had that great shop in the Village--Fabulous Fashions. He had to move and now he's somewhere on West End Avenue, selling out of his apartment. I've got to find him.

And Iran really fell. It's so weird watching it all on TV, it really could happen here. And Brigid was telling me about the boy on the news whose mother died and he didn't tell anybody, he just kept her in the house for eight months.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Saturday, January 6, 1979

Walter Steding called and wanted to freelance, so I had him deliver a Shadow painting up to John Curry (cab $10).

Vincent was calling Montauk because Mr. Winters was failing, and Mrs. Winters was upset. I just couldn't believe that anybody who looked as good as Mr. Winters did was in bad health. But he has been really cranky, I think last summer with Tom Sullivan out there really made him cranky.

Then Bob called and said that Rod Stewart and Alana Hamilton wanted to see us for dinner, and that sounded like a fun thing. I worked at home until 10 :00, and then Bob picked me up and we went to Elaine's (cab $2.50). It turned out to be actually Swifty Lazar's dinner party, and the Erteguns were there, and Rod's manager, I think , or assistant, he was funny, talking gay with Bob. Well, the party was so stuffy, poor Rod looked miserable, you could see he really wanted a good time, and they all wanted blows and nobody had any. And then Francoise and Oscar de la Renta left and suddenly--it was incredible--everything picked up. Who would think that just two people leaving could do so much--the whole mood of the dinner changed.

Rod and Alana had the most beautiful coats. He had black mink and she had a matching white mink. He looked so great--he looked better than she did.

Then we went ot Studio 54. Truman was there. He goes up into the crow's nest where the DJ plays the records and it's like his private office. People come up to see him, and he stays until 8:00. Truman said that Ivan Karp had seen Bob MacBride's art and said he'd put him in a group show in December of next year.

Rod and Alana were in the back, I introduced them to the manager. It's hard to get coke there now, they're really selling it. And some guy was sort of bothering me and John Fairchild, Jr. came over and asked if I wanted the guy beatnen up, and I really should get to know him better because he mut have a bad temper, which is always interesting.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Monday, January 1, 1979

Maxime said she was giving me a dinner party, which I didn't want. So I told her to invite Bianca and the Herreras and I picked up Catherine. And I also invited Allen Brooks, then porn star. Cabbed to 19th and Fifth ($5). Gloria Swanson was there with her new young husband. Gloria used to be married to Maxime's ex-brother-in-law, the Count de la Falaise. And she started saying, "I smell terrible fumes. I have to go to the window to get away from them. Where are they coming from? Check your stove. I have a very good nose and I know there are fumes escaping." And I just knew it was the perfume I had on that she was smelling. It was Jasmine from Shelly Marks. PH and I are doing research for a new perfume line and I was trying it out. And so I didn't want to go near Gloria. I went into the bathroom and tried to wash it off, and then for the rest of the night I stayed about four feet away from her even when she was trying to talk to me. I ran over and talked to Sylvia Miles. Gloria looked good, though, with shoort grey hair. Maxime served spaghetti.

Mario Amaya, that person who stopped by the Factory in '68 and wound up getting shot in the arm by Valerie Solanis when she was shooting me--he was there and he just quit his job at the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Sunday, December 31, 1978

Fred's in the Amazon--no, wait. The Andes. I talked to David Bourdon, he was going to go to Rosenquist's New Year's Eve party. Rosenquist was hiring a live band again. It was so successful the year before that he's doing it again.

I worked all afternoon at the office. It was nice working on New Year's Eve, I painted backgrounds. Walter Steding came over to help me. Ronnie was having an alcoholics Anonymous new Year's, and Brigid stopped by to pick up some tapes.

I didn't know the evening at Halston's was going to be so chic, my dear. I'd asked if I could bring Jed and Halston said fine so we went over. Catherine brought Tom and Winnie--Halston'd said fine to that, too. Tom told me that he was giving Catherine points in the movie, and that they had to reshoot a little more, that somebody had just given $150,000 so they coul. Bianca was in a Dior.

Oh, and Vincent called earlier and said that Mrs. Winters had called and siad that Mr. Winters had what they think was a heart attack.

Diana Ross looked beautiful. and she had asked Halston over the phone if he was going to soul food. And when she got there Halston was cooking ham hocks and ribs. A few people said and they were just rying to be nice. I guess she took it as an insult, though, because she said, "No, thank you darling, I think I've checked them enough."

And Mohammed the houseboy had a girlfriend there and she was Jake LaMotta's daughter. He's that boxer Bobby De Niro's playing in the new Scorcese movie. She's pretty.

While we were sitting at Halston's we had the radio on and it was "live from Studio 54," and we heard the announcer saying, "Oh, yes! Here they come! Halston, Bianca, and Andy Warhol! They're walking in the door right now!"

Then we all did go to Studio 54. They had decorated it great, put silver glitter on the floor, and they had someone on a trapeze, and white baloons. And they were saying that Bobby De Niro had been there since 10:00. They'd been having a press party.

The whole night was spent losing and finding and looking and finding and looking. John Fairchild, Jr. has a crush on Bianca so we were looking for her, and then losing her, and then losing him and finding her, and the losing me, and looking for me, and losing him...

I was sober. I had lots of Perrier. The place was still jumping at 7:00 Went outside, it was warm out, and people were still waiting to get it, as if it were only 1:00. Only the light was different.