Celebrity Encounter: Warhol meets Dalí

Photographer David McCabe remembers the artists' first meeting:
"I went with Andy to see Dalí at the St. Regis Hotel. Dalí used to paint his suite at the St. Regis. He was working on two enormous paintings at the time. He greeted us at the door, ordered up all sorts of lavish room service - bottles of wine and so on - and that was that. After "Hello, welcome to my humble atelier for the fabrication of dollars" or whatever folderol Dalí was putting out that day, Dalí and Andy barely said another word to each other. It was not possible. The music was playing so loudly. He had grand opera blasting at ear-splitting level. To add to the chaos, Dalí had picked up a stray cat on the street. It was wild, totally feral, and it was bouncing off the walls, bouncing off his paintings, careening off everything in the room. Dalí would grab it and try to hold it, but he'd have to let it go because it was trying to claw him. Dalí was in shock, I think, because he loved cats. It was a hair-raising situation. Andy was just stunned. It was the first time I'd seen Andy drink. He was slugging back white wine. Dalí turned the whole event into theater, and Andy wasn't theatrical in that way. At one point Dalí grabbed this elaborate Inca headdress that he had been using as a prop - you can see its outline in that painting behind him - and put the headdress on Andy. He positioned himself very melodramatically behind Andy still wearing the silly-looking headdress, glared into the camera, and gestured wildly with his walking stick. A total Dalí performance. Theater of the Absurd. Gala drifted in and out. At one point, I remember Dalí gesturing to her menacingly with his walking stick, as if to say that she shouldn't be in the photograph.
Dalí took over the situation outrageously. He just staged the whole thing. Andy was petrified. He sat there frozen, like a statue, utterly speechless. He couldn't have spoken anyway, because the volume of the music was so loud. An ingenious way Dalí had perhaps devised to avoid having to talk to anyone. But of course with Andy he needn't have worried. Andy wouldn't have said anything anyway."

(Photos by David McCabe.)

Celebrity Encounter: Baby Jane meets Jagger

"The pictures with Mick were taken at a party that I had at my 955 Park Avenue apartment. I can tell by the Warhol Flower paintings on the wall. Andy really loved how I hung them. I had six Flower paintings and hung them all from their corners (like a diamond)." - Jane Holzer

Weirdly, these are the only photos I've found of that event, which took place in winter of 1964/65 (the book I have doesn't specify). Also, according to the book, the girl behind Mick is Peggy Moffitt, which I highly doubt. The makeup is wrong, the hair is wrong... But, she was a very lucky girl indeed. I like these photos because, as it was 1964, 'Baby' Jane was the reigning 'girl of the year' in the Warhol crowd - Edie had yet to arrive, she came in March 1965. Also, Mick is practically a baby here - before Marianne, before (excessive) drugs, before basically... everything.

 

(Photos by David McCabe.)

Sorry for the supreme randomness of this post, I just got the book A Year In the Life of Andy Warhol and got a little scanner-happy. ;) And if you haven't noticed, I will probably explode if I don't share this stuff!

Chelsea Girl

 Christa Päffgen, better known as Nico, was a German model, actress, singer, composer, and Warhol superstar. Born October 13, 1938 in Nazi-controlled Germany, she left school at age 13 to become a model in Italy and France. Her 5'10" height and unique look made her a top model throughout the '50s, and she adopted the name Nico. In the late fifties, she began appearing in movies and on album art. She had a son in 1962, Ari. 

Despite being deaf in one ear, Nico began a music career in the U.S. 1965, when she recorded "I'm Not Saying"/"The Last Mile" and mingled with music's elite: Brian Jones, Jimmy Page, Andrew Loog Oldham, and Bob Dylan. Most importantly, though, she joined Andy Warhol's crowd. She recorded her debut album, Chelsea Girl (though she had little input writing- and production-wise). While hanging out with Warhol, she met members of the Velvet Underground, who took her into the group at Andy's insistence, and she sang on "Femme Fatale," "All Tomorrow's Parties," and "I'll Be Your Mirror," from the band's debut album. This was in 1967, when she was really swingin' - she dated both Brian Jones (Monterey Pop!) and Jim Morrison (who she called her "soul brother"and taught her to write songs). Nico recorded The Marble Index in 1969, and from then on she wrote original lyrics and music, and played the harmonium. She began making Philippe Garrel films in England, doing heroin, and made two more albums in the '70s. She made a "comeback" in '79 at CBGB and recorded two more albums in the '80s while touring. Trying to kick her heroin habit, she went into therapy and took up a healthy lifestyle. She died in 1988 due to a brain injury she got from a bicycle accident.

I was fascinated by Nico waaaay before I even had a clue who Edie Sedgwick was. Most Warhol Superstar enthusiasts like Edie best, but for some reason Nico's my favorite. Yes, I know - she wasn't typically pretty, and her voice is definitely not a common sound. She was just striking. It's almost the Bob Dylan factor, his voice is the topic of much discussion, but he's a definite icon. So what's with the lack of Nico-love? Don't believe what you saw/heard in the Doors movie.

 

(Photos from Nico and  Lucy Who.)