Speeding into the Future: The Amphetamine-Fueled Generation

By Catherine O'Sullivan Shorr

A vivid oral history of how Andy Warhol and his superstars revolutionized the art world and the nature of celebrity in the mid-1960s.

Spanning from 1965 to 1966, two years that could be considered the pinnacle of Andy Warhol’s creative output, Speeding into the Future features firsthand accounts of life inside the Silver Factory. Powered by a steady supply of amphetamines, Quaaludes, and other drugs, the artists and misfits of the Factory crowd generated Warhol’s controversial films and art while their own star-quotients rose and declined—and as they fell in and out of love with one another.
 
During this period, Warhol created the notion of the “It Girl” by declaring debutante Edie Sedgwick the 1965 “Girl of the Year” and predicting her skyrocketing yet short-lived fame; he introduced German-born singer Nico to Lou Reed and John Cale of the Velvet Underground, hosting their rehearsals at the Factory; and codirected, with Paul Morrissey, his most commercially successful film, Chelsea Girls, featuring Nico, Brigid Berlin, Ondine, and other superstars. Speeding into the Future includes revelatory images snapped by Billy Name and other photographers as Bob Dylan visited the Factory, and goes behind the scenes of Warhol’s films of Ondine, Ultra Violet, Taylor Mead, and Viva. In this powerful chronicle based on her documentary—newly available from libraries via the Kanopy streaming service—Catherine O’Sullivan Shorr captures the events of these dizzying, outrageous years through the words of those who lived through them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Media
• Release date: Aug 4, 2015
• ISBN: 9781504010528

Catherine O'Sullivan Shorr

Catherine O’Sullivan Shorr is an award-winning writer, film and sound editor, and documentary filmmaker. She earned an Emmy Award for her editorial work on the TV movie The Day After for ABC, and an Oscar nomination, along with Richard Shorr, for their contributions to the feature film Die Hard. Her motion picture credits also include: Prizzi’s Honor, Predator, A Soldier’s Story, and the César Award–winning film Farinelli. O’Sullivan Shorr’s stories and articles have been published in newspapers and journals both in the United States and abroad, including the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, and the New York Press. She attended St. Lawrence University and the Universidad de las Américas in Mexico City. O’Sullivan Shorr splits her time between Paris and Los Angeles, and she writes in Siesta Key, Florida.

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Speeding into the Future

Andy Warhol’s Factory People

Catherine O’Sullivan Shorr

If someone wants to be in movies, you can buy their life.

—Andy Warhol

CONTENTS

FACTORY FAMILY INTRODUCTIONS

THE SIXTIES IN NEW YORK CITY

FACTORY LIFE

DYLAN VISITS THE FACTORY

FACTORY SEX LIFE

ANDY MAKES A MOVIE … EVERY TWO WEEKS

EDIE SEDGWICK … SILVER GIRL

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND AND NICO … SILVER GODDESS

CHELSEA GIRLS … AND BOYS

TRILOGY … FILMS! BOOKS! MUSIC!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

In the TV series, our intros offered a hint of cinematic sixties excitement to come, as I hope they do here. Like the first part, our interviewed subjects, charming as they were, would not dominate screen time, since we’d unearthed so many photos, archive film clips, and art shots of, well, what they were talking about. Some French documentarians who still love Talking Heads (not the band) had a problem with that. Exit one more film editor. By now I was running out of ship hands and we were not even halfway across the straits. Should we turn back now before we lose our shirts? Shucks no. Inspired by Billy Name’s vivid recall and his vast photographic collection, we forged ahead with Warholian abandon, three sheets to the wind …

* * *

We shot reels, and reels, and reels, of film, which most people would say are boring or uninteresting, but people who curate his films know these films as art pieces.

—Billy Name: Warhol Photographer, Factory Foreman

I think the movies are non-commercial, and really have to be raw material in Andy’s thinking, the basis for future (art) work.

—Henry Geldzahler (1935–1994): Art Critic, Curator, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1965

He seems to prefer to do filmmaking to painting.

—Leo Castelli (1907–1991): Famed Gallery Owner, Warhol Art Dealer

Andy created his own Hollywood, based in part on having been rejected. He wanted to be taken seriously by a Hollywood that shut its doors on him.

—Gerard Malanga: Poet, Warhol Factory Assistant, The Prime Minister

You were a star! That was just great not to having to go through all the Hollywood producers, and banging and having the door close. If he chose you, you were an immediate star.

—Ivy Nicholson: Warhol Superstar

We were just shooting. There was no name. I mean, there was no script, how could there be a name? I never in my life believed that these would be considered films.

—Allen Midgette: Actor, Warhol Star

… The Screen Tests were murky, with poor contrast and focus. Except mine. The lens had been covered with debris and fingerprints (Andy didn’t think it mattered!) and I spent two minutes cleaning it for him with my T-shirt.

—Kip Bima Stagg: Co-star of Beauty 1 with Edie Sedgwick

Reels and reels of film! Gerard Malanga and Edie Sedgwick act out in Warhol’s Vinyl, 1965.

Vinyl was Edie’s first role in a Warhol film. She did not have much to do, except sit on Billy’s silver storage trunk and look beautiful, even with hair teased into a beehive. (Photos: Billy Name)

With a Warhol movie they would carry on, and they stopped when the film ran out. It was all improvisation. So they are real sleepers. The concept was extraordinary.

—Ultra Violet: Socialite, Artist, Warhol Superstar

I don’t remember ever saying anything to Andy where he didn’t say it was a good idea. He was so glad to have any ideas.

—Paul Morrissey: Filmmaker, Warhol Co-Director

Everybody loved Andy. People like Danny Williams, who got bumped because Andy thought it more valuable to work with Paul Morrissey.

—Nat Finkelstein: Photojournalist with Black Star Agency, Warhol Chronicler, 1964–67

Andy used to let other artists do their thing, too. There would be poetry readings, and people would do plays. He really was a very generous person.

—Baby Jane Holzer: Socialite, Girl of the Year ’64

Edie was actually the second choice to star in Prison with me. The first had been Jane Holzer. But there was some talk that the film would be salacious, and she was concerned about offending her family.

—Bibbe Hansen: Youngest member of Warhol Family

Edie, how does your family feel about your being in these movies?

—Dave Dugan, CBS News Interviewer, 1965

Agghhhh! They hate it! And they’ve decided I shouldn’t have any money.

—Edie Sedgwick (1945–1971): Warhol Icon, Girl of the Year, 1965

Everyone gets to the point where the family tries to cut you off. Who could blame them? Why do you need this wild person going around and spending your hard inherited money?

—Danny Fields: Edie Sedgwick confidant, Music Entrepreneur (The Ramones)

Warhol had a goldmine in Edie, and he knew it … We’re going to make Edie the queen of the factory. At the moment Edie, literally, does her last film with Warhol, he brings the Velvet Underground in.

—Victor Bockris: Biographer, Warhol, The Velvet Underground

We introduced them to the Psychiatrist’s convention. That’s where the first public performance of the Velvet Underground took place!

—Jonas Mekas: Founder, Film-Maker’s Cinematheque, Anthology Film Archives

Nico, Paul Morrissey, Andy and Gerard Malanga share a limo, and good ideas, on the way to Philadelphia for a Velvet Underground gig. (Photo: Nat Finkelstein)

Factory Family get-together. See how many you can recognize by now. (Photo: Billy Name)

Bibbe Hansen looks up to Factory Prime Minister Gerard Malanga. (Photo: Billy Name)

This is not nuclear physics; this is three chords: I’m, waiting for my man, twenty-six dollars in my hand.

—Lou Reed (1942–2013): Rock Legend, Founder of The Velvet Underground

The Velvet Underground … I didn’t know at first what Waiting for the Man was about. I kind of thought it was something vaguely homosexual.

—Leee Black Childers (1945–2014): Factory Acolyte, Photographer, Music Manager. (David Bowie, Iggy Pop)

The Velvets would dress in black with their black goggles on and I would dress in black with my black goggles. And we would arrive at these people’s houses looking like the death crew!

—Mary Woronov: Writer, Artist, Cult Actress, Warhol Star

Andy was in the shadow, standing in the shadow, always behind the camera.

—Nico (1938–1988): Warhol Icon, Velvet Underground Star

They didn’t show Chelsea Girls, so we had a lot of time on our hands. We drove to St. Tropez with Nico driving. I’m thinking, "Okay, you have to keep your eyes on the road. You’re beautiful, but I want to live!"

—David Croland: Factory Boy, Publisher, LID Magazine

Andy spliced some of my play The Bed into Chelsea Girls. It was to be Andy’s first split-screen film, so I think it did influence the style, those rooms at the Chelsea.

—Robert Heide: Playwright, Warhol Confidant

Brigid Berlin’s father ran the Hearst Publishing Empire, so, to have a daughter who was in Chelsea Girls, and underground film, was quite shocking. You are talking about a very conservative background.

—Vincent Fremont, Founding Director Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts

Oh, you’d do anything, thinking it would never come out.

—Brigid Berlin: Warhol Muse, Movie Character, and Confidante

The art critics said, We don’t want to see any more two hour films of Taylor Mead’s ass. So Andy wrote a letter to the Village Voice: "We are rectifying this oversight with all the materials at our command."

—Taylor Mead (1924–2013): Poet, Underground Personality, Warhol Star

Art was dead. We were making movies! We said it over and over, If Andy offers a painting, take the hundred dollars. Don’t take his art.

—Louis Waldon (1934–2013): Actor, Artist, Warhol Star

… much too dirty to show. Ed Hood and Patrick Fleming feature in Chelsea Girls, banned from the Cannes Film Festival. (Photo: Billy Name)

Andy, why are you doing these movies?

—Interviewer, CBS News

Um, it’s just easier to do; it’s easier to do than painting.

—Andy Warhol

He just wishes it were all e-e-easier.

—Brigid Berlin

* * *

So did we-e-e. It was, alas, not to be. Not even halfway through editing, and we’d already blown the initial budget and were not even close to making our French broadcast deadline. You know the feeling—should we give up and chalk up our loss, or plough ahead into risky territory? We took a page from Warhol: You can give up, but it won’t get easier. So, dive, dive, dive, and damn the torpedoes …

Breaking News, New York 1965–1966

While Warhol gives up painting to put his Superstars—and anyone else who shows up—into the movie spotlight, Bob Dylan is causing his own electricity at the Newport Folk Festival by giving up his signature acoustical guitar. The Rolling Stones Can’t Get No Satisfaction, and the Beatles are here, there, and everywhere—which soon prompts Warhol to promote his own discovery, the dark and edgy Velvet Underground. Unfortunately, Lou Reed and his un-merry band of