Read I'll Be Your Mirror: The Selected Andy Warhol Interviews Online
Authors: Kenneth Goldsmith
R.H.: What did you do, then? Were you the man that was sleeping?
A.W.: Oh, you mean we’re talking about the other–not the
Tarzan
movie.
R.H.: No, I’m talking now about–oh, by the way, does your film have a title?
A.W.: Uh, no.
R.H.: Will it?
A.W.: No.
T.M.:
Sleep
, I guess it is.
A.W.: No, it won’t have any title at all. It just starts, you know, like when people call up and say “What time does the movie start?” you can just say “Anytime.”
R.H.: I imagine that one of the interesting things about this film is that I would suspect that there is not a repetitive moment in your film. I have a feeling that probably the human face changes.
T.M.: Well, there won’t be when I get to the. . . .
R.H.: I mean even visually. Fixing a camera on a man who’s asleep, I wonder whether his face does change perceptibly.
A.W.: It doesn’t change for a long time.
R.H.: It doesn’t?
A.W.: Some scenes, yes, they sort of last for a long time.
R.H.: By the way, I’m sort of curious, how did you find the subject who. . ..
A.W.: Well, it took a long time. He was just somebody who likes to sleep.
R.H.: And he would do it without. . . .
A.W.: Well, yeah, I had a key and I just came in and it never bothered him.
R.H.: And he was aware that this was going to happen?
A.W.: Yeah, but it didn’t matter because he just–I guess he has a problem.
R.H.: Maybe he doesn’t have any.
T.M.: Yeah, he’s wealthy, he doesn’t need movie contracts.
R.H.: He went right on.
A.W.: Yeah.
R.H.: Right. Are you going to edit it?
A.W.: It’s half edited–it’s mostly edited–yeah.
R.H.: How do you decide, well, if you take this. . . .
T.M.: The editing is just splicing, is all.
R.H.: Are you going to take something out, or, I wonder how you edit a film like that. Like, if the idea is to do eight hours of a man sleeping do you take anything out for a particular reason?
A.W.: No, no, just the little holes in the camera, you know, the film, that you have to cut out.
R.H.: Right. Otherwise it’ll be straight?
A.W.: Yeah.
R.H.: Taylor, does this appeal to you as a way of making films?
T.M.: If I do the sound track it does.
R.H.: But you won’t do. . . .
T.M.: But to see it silent, it, uh, you have to be able to come and go–
A.W.: It won’t be silent. Taylor’s going to do the music.
T.M.: I’m going to do a spontaneous sound track, I think. With using pianos or whatever’s available in the studio, and everything. My radio, and everything.
R.H.: Then hopefully it’ll be available to the New York Film Cooperative, and a group that wants to get them can apply for them there.
T.M.: Yeah.
R.H.: Right. Thanks very much, Andy Warhol and Taylor Mead.
1
The Flower Thief
(1962). Directed by Ron Rice.
2
In September of 1963, John Cage organized the first complete performance of Erik Satie’s "Vexations" at the Pocket Theatre in New York City. Ten pianists worked in two-hour shifts. The concert lasted 18 hours and 40 minutes.
Poet Gerard Malanga was Andy Warhols primary studio assistant at the Factory during the 1960s. They met at a party in June of 1963 and Malanga began working for Warhol shortly thereafter. He had previously been employed as a silkscreener in a tie manufacturing plant and brought that knowledge to the Factory just as Warhol was moving toward a more mechanical means of painting.
The Factory environment rubbed off on Malanga and he began a series of interviews with Warhol based on Warholian concepts, the first of which was this interview published in the small but influential 1960s literary magazine Kulchur. (The other interviews from this series, “Interview With Andy Warhol on EMPIRE” [1964] and “Andy Warhol on Automation: An Interview with Gerard Malanga’ [1968] follow.)
As Malanga recalls, “It was just a very casual thing. I had this idea to sit down and do a questionnaire-type of interview with Andy. We sat in chairs opposite each other and I had a notebook in my hand. Because of his monosyllabic answers, it was very easy to transcribe, just write down what he was saying. Basically I was taking dictation.”
The questions Malanga asked were taken from an employment questionnaire that he found. “I changed a few questions here and there and repeated certain questions for a more Warholian effect. Andy was interested in a readymade situation so I thought this method of interviewing was very applicable
”
–KG
Q. What is your name and address?
A. My name is Andy Warhol. I live on Lexington Avenue in New York. Actually I spend most of my time at “the factory” on East 47th Street.
Q. Where were you last employed?
A. I. Miller Shoe Salon.
Q. What is your profession?
A. Factory owner.
Q. Do you have a secret profession?
A. Commercial artist.
Q. Do you have a secret profession?
A. Yes.
Q. If so, what?
A. I can’t think of it.
Q. Why aren’t you doing what you should be doing?
A. Because I’m making films.
Q. Are you allowed to do what you should by circumstances?
A. No.
Q. What is beyond your control?
A. What’s that mean?
Q. Why should anyone hire you?
A. Because I’m dependable.
Q. Does society owe you anything?
A. Yes.
Q. If you are happy doing what you do, should you be paid for it?
A. Yes.
Q. If so, why?
A. Because it will make me more happy.
Q. And how much?
A. As much as I want.
Q. Are you human?
A. No.
Q. Why do you answer what you answer?
A. Because I’m sensitive.
Q. If you are unhappy, should you be paid for this?
A. Yes.
Q. Who should not be allowed to be paid?
A. Talented people.
Q. Why?
A. Because they can do it so easy.
Q. If you were very stupid, could you still be doing what you are doing?
A. Yes.
Q. If so, why do you do it?
A. Because I’m not very smart.
Q. If not, should you be compensated for this?
A. Yes.
Q. Should very stupid people be compensated?
A. Yes.
Q. Does your physique affect what you do?
A. Yes.
Q. How?
A. Because, sometimes, when I put on some weight from eating too much I get depressed.
Q. What do you need?
A. Nothing.
Q. Where should what you need come from?
A. From God.
Q. What are you?
A. A man.
Q. What do you know?
A. Nothing.
Q. Are you glad you know this?
A. Yes.
Q. Does it pay?
A. Yes.
Q. How much?
A. Nothing.
Q. Should it pay?
A. Yes.
Q. What would you like to forget?
A. Everything.
Q. Who are you glad you are?
A. I don’t know.
Q. How does this affect our educational standards?
A. It doesn’t.
Q. Is it more wonderful than awful to know the right people?
A. Yes.
Q. Why?
A. Because they’re right.
Q. Who do you know?
A. Almost no one.
Q. Are you sure you know them?
A. I’m not sure of anything.
Q. Of what are you certain?
A. I’m not certain of anything.
Q. Could you be hired on this basis?
A. It’s not what I’m not certain of, it’s what I can do that counts, I suppose.
Q. How can you help?
A. I can help by doing everything right.
Q. Whom do you want to help?
A. Those whom I know that deserve help.
Q. Is there any necessary connection between wanting to help and a potential value of helping?
A. No.
Q. Why not?
A. Because wanting to help does not necessarily lead to actually helping; therefore no potential value can exist.
Q. Do your answers to the above make you useful to people?
A. It’s not that I am made useful to people, it’s those people who are made useful to me.
Q. Do your answers to the above make you some kind of Communist?
A. No. But I’ve been referred to as a Platonist.
Q. Please tell me about yourself.
A. I already have.
In his 1966 interview for the film USA: Artists, Andy Warhol said “I mean, you should just tell me the words and I can just repeat them because I can’t uh . . . Ym so empty today. I cant think of anything. Why dont you just tell me the words and they’ll just come out of my mouth.”
1
The following two “interviews” are just that: invented dialogues by Warhols assistant, poet Gerard Malanga, in the spirit of Andy Warhol. Both “interviews” were done with Warhols knowledge and consent “Interview with Andy Warhol on EMPIRE” appears in print here for the first time; “Andy Warhol on Automation: An Interview with Gerard Malanga,” was published in the literary magazine Chelsea in 1968.
Warhols career leaves a legacy of authorized impersonations, most famously when, in the fall of 1967, Factory denizen and seasoned actor Allen Midgette was hired by Warhol to do a series of college lectures impersonating Andy Warhol. Warhol himself found these engagements difficult and tedious. The students, expecting someone dynamic and glamorous, were often disappointed when the tight-lipped, shy Warhol appeared. Midgette on the other hand–charismatically donning his silver wig and dark sunglasses–was a smash hit with the students. The stunt went off without a hitch for some time, but the gig finally ended when a suspicious newspaper reporter called the Factory and Warhol spilled the beans. Andy Warhol–as himself–subsequently had to return to the colleges to make up for the impersonations.
In the summer of 1964, Warhol, Jonas Mekas, Gerard Malanga, Henry Geldzahler, and John Palmer convened in an office on the 44th floor of the Time-Life Building in midtown and filmed Empire, an eight-hour movie of the Empire State Building at night The shooting began at 6 p.m. and completed close to 1 a.m.
The majority of the questions and answers from “Interview with Andy Warhol on EMPIRE” were taken from an Empire State Building publicity brochure. The “interview” was written in the weeks following the filming of EMPIRE, not at 4:30 in the morning, following the shooting of EMPIRE, as Malanga falsely states in his introduction.
–KG
(The following interview was recorded with Andy Warhol at 4:30 A.M. on the 43rd floor of the Time-Life Building, just 30 minutes after the completion of the shooting of the 8-hour “underground” movie, EMPIRE,
in the summer of 1964.
)
GERARD MALANGA:
Could you tell me how you felt as you were being taken up into the building?
ANDY WARHOL: The actual elevator ride to the top of the Empire State Building took as little as one minute, but a visit to Empire State is an experience that each visitor will remember all his life.
My thrills began the moment I stepped aboard a modern express elevator which whisked me to the 86th floor Observatory at a speed of 1,200 feet per minute. A special elevator took me to the 102nd story peak.
GM:
What did you see once you reached the top?
AW: Once atop the Empire State Building, the most spectacular view in the world was spread at my feet. From the outdoor terraces or the glass-enclosed, heated Observatory on the 86th floor (1,050 feet or 320 meters), other buildings are dwarfed by this engineering marvel.
The view is even more amazing from the circular, glass-enclosed Observatory on the 102nd floor (1,250 feet or 381 meters). Here I was often at cloud level nearly a quarter of a mile above the streets.
I could distinguish landmarks as far away as 25 miles and was able to gaze as far as 50 miles into five states . . . Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York.
GM:
What were some of New York’s landmarks that you were able to see from atop Empire State?
AW: To the north the RCA Building stands out against the 840 acres of Central Park. The Hudson River to the left leads to upper New York State and New England. The Bronx is in the background.
From the northwest corner of the 86th floor Observatory, visitors look into Times Square (center) and the bustling piers along the Hudson River, where giant ships from all over the world tie up.
Looking northwest from the top of Empire State, the visitor looks down on such landmarks as the United Nations Building (center) on the bank of the East River and the Chrysler Building (left). The Borough of Queens is in the background.
By night, New York becomes a honeycomb of light, dazzling and unbelievable in its beauty. This view from the northwest corner of the 86th floor observatory looks down into Times Square and the heart of the theatre district.
GM:
What do you know about Empire State’s TV Tower?
AW: At the 102nd story level of the Empire State Building–on a space the size of a pitcher’s mound–a 22-story, 222-feet, 60-ton mast-like structure stretches upward to a height of 1,472 feet into the clouds. It is the world’s most powerful and far-reaching TV tower. From here all seven of the New York area’s television stations transmit their programs to a four-state sector in which 15 million persons live and own more than 5,200,000 TV sets. Programs transmitted from the Empire State Building, in other words, reach an area in which one of every ten persons in the United States lives.
GM: Andy,
can you brief me on some of Empire State’s vital statistics in comparison with other structures of similar nature?
AW: The internationally known Empire State Building is the world’s tallest building. Comparative statistics show that the 1,472-feet-high Empire State Building towers over such other international structures as the 984-feet-high Eiffel Tower, the 555-feet-high Washington Monument, the 480-feet-high Pyramid of Cheops, and the 179-feet-high Leaning Tower of Pisa.
GM:
What can you tell me about Empire State’s huge floodlights?
AW: The spectacular lighting of the tower portions of the Empire State Building allows the world-famous silhouette of the world’s tallest building to occupy the same dominant position on the horizon of nighttime New York as it does during the day. Basic light source for this gigantic floodlighting task is a 1,000-watt, iodine-quartz lamp which is in the same family of lamps as those used to illuminate missile launching pads at Cape Kennedy. The floodlights, which are distinguished for their high intensity, long throw, and fine beam control capabilities, are strategically located on various setbacks of the building so as to do the best job of illumination without interfering with the famous nighttime view from the Observatory.
GM:
Before the floodlights were installed to coincide with the World’s Fair, was there a time when Empire State had four powerful beacons?
AW: Yes; you are quite correct. Visible from the Observatory are the four Freedom Lights, the world’s most powerful beacons, which have made the Empire State Building the tallest lighthouse in the world . . . a landmark to sea and air travelers alike. A bronze plaque inscribed with famed author MacKinley Kantor’s 168-word tribute to the Freedom Lights is located on the western terrace of the 86th floor Observatory.
GM:
What about Empire State’s interior decoration?
AW: “The Eight Wonders of the World,” the eight original art works in the lobby of the Empire State Building, which were created by artist Roy Sparkia and his wife Renee Nemerov, have become a prime additional attraction at Empire State since their unveiling in 1963. Employing a new technique which permits the artist to paint with light as well as color, the subjects include the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World as well as the Eighth Wonder of the Modern World . . . the Empire State Building.
GM:
Can you tell me about the exterior of the Empire State?
AW: Not only the highest building in the world, Empire State is also one of the most beautiful. The exterior is of Indiana limestone trimmed with sparkling strips of stainless steel which run from the sixth floor all the way to the top. Whether seen in sunlight or moonlight, the effect is magnificent.
Marble in the cathedral-like lobby was imported from four different countries, France, Italy, Belgium, and Germany. Experts combed these countries to get the most beautiful marble, and in one case, the contents of an entire quarry were exhausted to insure matching blocks of exactly the right color and graining.
GM: Do
you feel that Empire State is a popular subject?
AW: The Empire State Building has been featured in many movies, Broadway plays and several big-hit musicals. Hardly a day passes that it isn’t mentioned in one television program or the other. It’s been included, too, in popular songs–and many, many books.
GM:
Who are some of Empire State’s celebrated visitors?
AW: Each year the Empire State Building plays host to many Heads of State or dignitaries and celebrities. Had you been here on the right days in the past, you might have seen Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip of England, or the King and Queen of Thailand, or Princess Birgitta and Desiree of Sweden, or Queen Frederika of Greece or even your favorite movie actor.
GM:
Oh, by the way, that reminds me, who is your favorite movie actor?
AW: My favorite movie actor is Troy Donahue.
GM:
In closing, do you know what others think of Empire State?
AW: Of the many publications that have commented on Empire State, the following superfluous praise has been said (I hope I get the quotes right.):
“Empire State . . . one of USA’s 7 engineering wonders.”–
Time Magazine
“The unbelievable Empire State Building.”–
Reader’s Digest
“. . . see New York from the top of Empire State. There’s nothing like it”-Dorothy Kilgallen
“From Empire State you can see 50 miles.”–
Allentown Sunday Call Chronicle
“No visitor should miss Empire State.”–
New York Times
“Empire State’s best view is at night.”–
Glasgow
(Scotland)
News
“Empire State’s view is breathtaking.”–Britain’s Queen Mother
“New York’s most visited building.”–NBC
1
"USA Artists: Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein," Lane Slate (1966), p. 79.