Saturday, July 09, 2005

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Thursday, March 18, 1982

I read that Jean Stein's book Edie got six figures from the Bok-of-the-Month Club, and I got an idea what to do about Billy Name and his pictures--I think that if the book becomes big and Edie becomes a cult again, it would be better for Billy to publish his own portfolio of Edie pictures, he could make more doing it that way. I've got to write him a letter ot tell him that because i just don't want to give the pictures to Jean. I mean, there's probably not even anything really bad about me in the book, but still I just don't want to.

It was a sunny cold day. Cabbed to the Mayflower Hotel ($6) to interview Cher. She has a glamorous penthouse, like a two-story house on top, and she wanted to do it in the bedroom. Her bed overlooks Central Park. It was the fourth day she couldn't eat, she couldn't even swallow a vitamin pill, and she was taking medicine for her throat and it made her face break out and swell up and so she just drinks thick rich malteds so her weight doesn't go down too much.

She was great, she just said everything. She said she has two boyfriends now, it just happened in one week, and she's so happy because they're real men, and I brought up Ron Duguay, that we'd heard she'd been seeing him and she said yes but that he was too interested in himself, he wasn't for her. She talked about anything except her father, she said that was a "No."

And Cher said that when they called and told her she had the second lead after Meryl Streep in the Karen Silkwood story she said she cried for five hours because everything she'd done up to now has been shit, except for the Come Back to the Five and Dime play, and she's so happy.

Dropped Bob ($3.50) then was picked up by Jon and went to Ahmet Ertegun's house. Bob said it was just for "Sandwiches" but the stupid butler, he should have taken us upstairs, but he led us right in and everybody was sitting down at dinner, and Mica and Ahmet had to get up.

Then we went to the Bottom Line in a bus to see Ahmet's new act, Laura Branigan, who was absolutely great.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Tuesday, March 16, 1982

Paul Morrissey came down and he said that Jean Stein called him and read him something that Rene Ricard had said about him in her Edie book, and he told her that if she printed it he'd sue her, and she said she was going to print it anyway. And Fred said I should be generous and find Billy's pictures and give them to Jean, but I said, "You know, Fred, I really don't mind spending all the time it would take to find the pictures, but I hear that Jean has some rotten things about me in her book and so I just don't want to." And he sai,d "Well if you feel that way, why don't you just call her up yourself and tell her that." And so I told him he should, but then I did, I called her and said, "You know, Jean, It'd take me a couple of afternoons to find the pictures and I would do it, but I hear that you put me down in your book." And she said, "Oh, well--well--well--I--I--I--it's tape recorded, it's taped interviews." And I said, "Oh so then other people put me down." And she goes, "Well, I--I--but Billy wrote you that wonderful letter." "Yes, Billy wrote me that wonderful letter."

I mean she's just that tough type of girl--it's like Brooke Hayward. They're just--Suzie Frankfurts. You know? They're the same type. They pretend to be so Femme and they're these tough--things. You know? And the point is, none of the stuff she has in the book would bother me, I'm sure, because I'm sure I'd think it's fascinating. But the one thing that bothers me is tha she calls me a "social climber." Isabel Eberstadt let that slip out of me--and that's--that's just not true. Meeting rich kids wasn't anything to me, and being invited to her stupid parties. It bothers me because it's not true! The other things, I'm sure they'll be fascinating, whether they're true or not, but the "social climbing" thing just isn't true. Oh but why does it bother me so much? I don't know why, it just does, I don't know...

Oh and Paul said he saw Ondine and that he's still traveling around the country with a 16mm print of Chelsea Girls, showing it and giving lectures. What is Ondine going to do when that print just disintegrates? Or if it gets lost? Now that's a play. And he's teaching rich kids acting at some school like Buckley so there'll be this whole group of kids who'll (laughs) act like Ondine. Oh and I can just see it if Billy Name comes to New York. Oh he won't, he's too shy, he won't want us to see him fat. Oh but if he does--I can just see it--he'll come on the bus with a YMCA satchel. And Tom Baker's doing the same thing, he's traveling around with a print of I, a man.

And of course the big news of the day was that Claus VonBulow was found guilty in Rhode Island. I guess he'll appeal the verdict.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Saturday, March 6, 1982--Paris

At 6:30 I had an opening at the Daniel Templon Gallery which I didn't know I was having but since I was in town I had to go to it. We got there and it wasn't so bad. It was the Dollar Signs and they looked pretty good. We ran into Sao Schlumberger there, and she didn't know I'd be in town. She offered us a ride back to the hotel. She was cute, wearing leather and foxtails. And then we invited lots of models to a party Lord Jermyn was giving for me--he said it was a party for me but I think I was just a good excuse. That was at 9:00. We picked up Chris and walked over.

Johnny Pigozzi told me that John Belushi died from an over dose.

Then the models said they had another party to take us to and Eric de Rothschild said he wanted to come with us and that he had "a limo" outside, but it turned out he just had a Volkswagen, and so about eight of us had to fit into it. And we got to the party and it was really great, all these beautiful models, one better than the other. Dancing to beautiful tunes, American, smoking joints and cooking frankfutters with the windows open. Then the police came and we got scared, everybody had to throw their dope away. It was about 2:00 and we had to think about getting ack and packing for our trip back to New York.

Chris and I left and cabbed back t Fred's apartment ($10).

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Tuesday, March 2, 1982--Berlin

We went over to where Fassbinder was filming this movie called Querelle by Genet. Brad Davis is the star of it. I got my picture taken with Brad and I got his autograph on an ashtray for Jon. Met Fassbinder and he was wearing outrageous clothes, the leopard-skin jodhpurs, and one of the guys standing there said he thought Fassbinder had dressed up like that just for me because he usually wears just plain black leather. He looked like a circus trainer. And Brad Davis looks so strange, so delicate-looking. Much better than he did on the cover of Interview.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Saturday, February 6, 1982

I went to Jan Cowles's place at 810 Fifth Avenue where she was having a birthday party for her son Charlie. Gave Charlie a Dollar Sign painting and Leo was there. Joe MacDonald was there, but I didn't want to be near him and talk to him because he just had gay cancer. I talked to his brohter's wife.

At 11:00 cabbed to La Coupole ($5). Diana Ross was there with Patrice Calmette and Iman and Bianca and Barry Diller and Steve Rubell. They were just finishing dinner. I tried to make Barry Diller laugh because he never does and everydoby says it's impossile. I asked him to dance but he didn't even crack a smile, so then I gave up and just told him that I loved his movie Venom. The he laughed.

Then Calvin Klein invited us to see his new apartment on 66th and Central Park West (cab $6). Diana Ross went in a limo. The place is beautiful, a duplex, with a gym and modernized windows and he did it himself, all white and he has a stairway like Halston's, wooden with no banister, and it looks like a work of art and it's very scary. And everything's in order and he collects the same things I do, Steiglitz's pictures of Georiga O'Keefe. and Indian rugs and blonde Tortoiseshell.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Monday, February 1, 1982

After three weeks of planning our lunch with Mayor Koch it was finally going to happen today, then his father died, but they said he wants to reschedule. And James Brady on Page Six was so mean, because he reported that Mayor Koch had asked for all thirteen episodes of Brideshead Revisited on tape, to imply that that must mean he has a "problem," but it was mean to put it in the paper when his father just died.

So since our lunch was cancelled, I went down to Odeon where Leo's workers were having a surprise party lunch for him. The ride took an hour ($10).

It was just star-studded. There was a different artist at every table--Jasper Johns at one table, Robert Rauschenberg at another one, Dan Flavin at another, Artschwager at another, Richard Serra. I sat at a table with James Mayor and Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Lewis and I went over and said, "This is the table I want to sit at because everybody here owes me money." So Mrs. Lewis gave me a dime.

I gave Leo underwear and a snot rag with dollar signs and he loved it, no one else brought presents. And his wife Toiny was there and I had copies of Interview with me and people told me to put it away because it had the interview that showed Leo's girlfriend Laura de Coppet and she and Leo were still having an affair and people told me it'd caused a big fight--that Leo was supposed to go to Rome and Tony saw the interview and got so mad she tore up his ticket and he had to stay in town an extra day. It was the biggest fight ever, they said.

Hans Namuth took every artist to the bathroom to take pictures and I decided to be a camp and I cuddled and felt up Rauschenberg and found out he has a bad body.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Sunday, January 10, 1982

Not one phone call. That's what happens after being a big star the night before, not one person called all morning. Finally at 12:45 the phone rang, it was my brother. Brigid called and she said that she'd gone to the Chelsea to see Viva who'd just had her baby.

Called Jon and nobody answered. Jane Holzer called and said she was in Washington with the guy who wrote Shampoo and Chinatown. Robert Towne. His new movie, Personal Best, is about to come out, it's about dyke athletes. They were coming up to New York later and she wanted to have dinner. And she said, "Bring your tape because he's so fascinating, so fascinating." I don't know what she was trying to do.

At 10:20 I went to Elaine's (cab $4) and Elaine's fat again! So fat. After all she went through getting thin. Jane was already there with Robert Towne and they had the good table. For the first three hours I hated him. In fact I may still hate him, I'm not sure. He was just that California way. All those words that I hate like "asshole" and "bimbo." "Bimbo" drives me up a wall. He didn't want to tape, he said, because he's been working so hard on "my baby," but he said, "If you want me to, Jane, I'll do it."

His wife Julie was there and she gave up acting for real estate. She's good-looking but just almost at the stage where he'll trade her in. Just almost over the hill. And we were there the whole time and Jane didn't even tell me until she dropped me off that this was John Payne's daughter! I would have had a great time!

Robert Towne talked about "Warren" a lot so I said I'd just seen "Jack" in Aspen. Oh and in the beginning he quoted my line to me about "in the future everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes," only he said "ten minutes" and then it was funny because Mark Rydell the director came over fifteen minutes later and quoted me the same line and he said fifteen minutes and then he and Robert Towne argued over the time and I had to agree with Towne because I was with him. But what does this mean, that they both quoted it? So then I asked him if he'd like to buy the quote for a title and he said (laughs) "No, I like one-word titles best." So then I told him I'd sell him the title "THE" that Tennessee Williams once sold me. He laughed. I thought Jane was paying for dinner but then he did and I was embarrassed. He had a limo and we dropped him at the Carlyle and then Jane dropped me and she told me that she had had an affair with him before he married Julie.