A Day in the Life of Andy Warhol


A Day in the Life of Andy Warhol

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Transcript


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OPERA MUSIC

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HE LAUGHS

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So glamorous!

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PHONE RINGS

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-Hello, this is Stephen, can I help you?

-Um...

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I forget who I'm calling.

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-Who is this, please?

-Um...

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Lavine.

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MUSIC: All Tomorrow's Parties by The Velvet Underground

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The forgetful caller was Andy Warhol.

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The call was made from a payphone painted silver, on the silver

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wall of his New York City studio called the Factory.

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When the Factory opened its doors in January 1964,

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Warhol was already a famous pop art painter.

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His depictions of everyday consumer goods and Hollywood icons had

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already jolted the art world and redefined an era.

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But in his new Factory studio,

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Warhol's creative ambitions exploded in new directions.

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He bought a movie camera and set out to become a famous film-maker.

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OK.

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He'd discover his very own screen stars...

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..and even become a rock and roll producer.

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And he went to work on perhaps the most ambitious creation

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ever to come out of the Factory...

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..Andy Warhol himself...

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the enigmatic superstar.

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OK.

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Yeah.

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MUSIC: Going To A Go-Go by The Miracles

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I'm going this way, aren't I? That's the idea.

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Warhol was called simplistic.

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-You have just copied a common item?

-Yes.

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In public he was famously tight-lipped and aloof.

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But who was the real Andy Warhol?

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Where better to look than in the private details of his daily life?

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Based on unique access to Andy Warhol's planning diary,

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and with the involvement of his most intimate friends and Factory

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colleagues, I'm going to experience 24 hours living on Andy time.

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'Richard, everyone thinks that Andy was so quiet.

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'Well, I can contradict that perfectly because he never shut up.'

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Andy took speed, but by the handful.

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Before he went out, he put on a costume, he put on make-up,

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like an actor going to play a role.

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'We were doing something that I consider to be very important,'

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and that the future would recognise this.

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I'll piece together a typical day in Andy's life from the mid-1960s,

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which in true Warhol fashion should look

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and feel just like the real thing.

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'WABC, the station New York is listening to...'

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In the mid-'60s, New York was the city that proverbially never slept...

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'This is Dan Thompson, WOR-FM...'

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..and Andy Warhol was right at home.

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The pop art painter had already made people see the commercial

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world around them in a new way.

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Now any aspect of everyday life might be his raw material.

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It's a round-the-clock blur of activity.

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So our day with Andy starts not with an early-morning alarm clock...

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..but in the middle of the night, with Andy working on one of his first

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film projects, called Sleep,

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and starring his close friend, the poet John Giorno.

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It's six hours of changing camera angles of Giorno catching Z's.

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-What have we got here, John?

-These are Tibetan Buddhist cushions.

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On the bottom pallet is the bed on which Sleep was filmed.

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It was a bed, it sort of had legs on, they were taken off years ago.

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It is quite an intimate thing to allow somebody to film you

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when you are in a sort of vulnerable state like that.

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Well, it never crossed my mind. It's like making love to somebody.

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Andy was a very good friend, and that was what he wanted to do,

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and I was happy to be the one that was there doing that, you know.

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You have been described as lovers. Was that right, you and Andy?

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We...we made love, we were lovers, yes.

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Why did you decide to just shoot somebody sleeping for eight hours?

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Wh... He just said that he sleeps so soundly. You can just put...

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He falls asleep,

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and he left his door open in New York, which is so strange.

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You can just walk right in.

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As he slept, Warhol couldn't sleep.

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Even if he'd wanted to.

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'In '64, Andy took speed by the handful,

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'he did something called Obedrin.'

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For me, this is incredibly important for his work,

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because what speed did for him in those years, it made him fearless.

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When he had these great ideas, he had the ability to do them.

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On behalf of all your fans and the Warhol fans who are watching this,

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would it be OK for me to touch the storied bed?

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-Oh, yes, go right ahead.

-Are you sure?

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-Do anything else that you want to.

-Really?

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It is that kind of atmosphere, isn't it?

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Let's have a look down here, let's check it for springiness.

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-It is very firm.

-Yes, there is a little give...

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after these years, but...

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-she's still there.

-It is a very old mattress, I think it is even a horsehair.

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-You know horsehair?

-Is it?

-Yes.

-That is old school.

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-Well, thank you very much.

-Yes.

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At around 4:30am, after Warhol completes filming Sleep,

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he hails a taxi and heads home to his townhouse on the Upper East Side,

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where he lives with his mother.

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He makes it home just before 5am.

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Warhol's definitely not a morning person,

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and it is his mum who usually does the shopping.

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But on rare occasions he'd stumble out of bed

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and head to this very supermarket, where he found inspiration.

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Art history settled on one key point about Andy Warhol, that the

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man enjoyed Kellogg's cornflakes almost every morning of his life.

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Now, this aisle in the supermarket had an almost sacramental

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quality for Warhol. This was the altar of the supermarket.

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It was the home of the Campbell's soup products that he painted

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so often.

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And he wasn't taking the mickey out of a ho-hum, everyday staple.

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On the contrary, to Warhol, this was the food of life,

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a square meal you could depend on.

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And he ate them almost every day.

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The Andy Warhol we think we know from those countless photographs

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and reproductions is the kooky guy who took everyday household stuff,

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Brillo Pad boxes, cans of soup, bottles of pop,

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and prodded us into seeing them in a different way.

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But there was another Warhol

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who by the mid-'60s was determined to do everything

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he could to demolish the boundaries between his art and his life.

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Even before Andy has had his routine breakfast of Kellogg's cornflakes...

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the Factory is waking up.

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And a key Factory worker has already clocked in.

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Around 10am, the studio is coming to life.

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And starting work for Warhol in 1963,

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one minimum-wage worker was intimately involved in the

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production of virtually all the iconic silkscreens in the mid-1960s.

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This hired hand was also a poet...

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and was considered the Factory stud.

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Meet Gerard Malanga.

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-Why can't you eat that?

-Well, I have a cholesterol problem.

-Oh, dear.

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My hours have changed.

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If I'm in the country, I go to bed at 9:30.

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I get up at six, though, because the cats want to be fed.

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He was a bit tight with wages. Do you remember what you were making?

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I do. It was embarrassing.

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1.25 an hour.

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-Does that pluck at your innards slightly?

-No, not at all!

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There were a lot of fringe benefits to the association,

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such as plane tickets, restaurants.

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Andy took care of all of that.

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I felt, when we were silk-screening, we were doing something that

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I considered to be very important, and that the future would recognise this.

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I already knew that.

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Did you feel that your contribution was recognised,

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because you were doing a lot of the hands-on work on these silkscreens?

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You know, a painting I silkscreened back in the '60s

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went up for auction at Christie's last week.

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A portrait of the Mona Lisa.

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What did it go for, like, 59 million?

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You know, I made that painting.

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'28 million to open it. 28 million. 30 million.'

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38 million I have. 50 million.

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Sold here at 50 million. Congratulations.

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At the then minimum wage,

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23.5 hours spent silk-screening the Warhol pictures would earn

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Gerard about 30 bucks in 1964.

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'Silk-screening with Andy was always an enjoyable situation because it was'

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the one place where he became very honest with me,

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very open with me.

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There was no facade there, as it were, we were there to create

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art, to create silkscreen paintings on canvas.

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You know, I gave him ideas for... for instance, the

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multiplication, superimposition of the Elvis paintings,

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where there would be more than one Elvis overlapping with each other.

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I said, "Let's just move the screen over a little bit

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"and we'll get a superimposition,

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"rather than just have a static image, one after the other."

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And he said, "OK, we'll try that."

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He liked that idea, and we did a number of those superimpositions.

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It is getting on for midday.

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Gerard is busy getting ink under his fingernails.

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And Andy hasn't even left the house yet,

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and will need all the help he can get to do so.

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The youngest and arguably most important worker at the Factory

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is about to leave his high school classroom in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn,

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jump on a subway train and head to the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

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For three years this was a daily journey from the outskirts

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of Brooklyn to another world.

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MUSIC: I'm Waiting For The Man by The Velvet Underground

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New York City is the art capital of the world, and

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Joseph Freeman, AKA Little Joey,

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is on his way to get its king out of bed.

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# I'm waiting for my man... #

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I was essentially hired by Andy to go to his house, wake him up,

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push him constantly to get ready

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so that he could be at the Factory at a reasonable time.

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Joseph was a geeky 13-year-old who heard about an artist obsessed with

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using cutting-edge tape-recording technology.

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Joseph was determined to get an interview

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with the artist for his high school newspaper.

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With New York charm and moxie, he got through to Warhol's dealer

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and eventually Andy himself.

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I got on the phone with Andy and I said, "Mr Warhol, I'm a big fan,

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"I want to interview you for my high school newspaper."

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And he said, "OK, come to the Factory."

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The interview was followed by a job offer.

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# I'm waiting for my man... #

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-Hello?

-Andy, it's me. What's pop art?

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Joey would be surprised by some of the antics of Andy's friends.

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Brigid Berlin, AKA Brigid Polk, was a close friend

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and confidante of the artist.

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She liked to make breast prints, as you do.

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Minimal, conceptual. What's pop?

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And she was also a Warhol superstar,

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who appeared in several of his films, including Chelsea Girls.

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-I'll talk to you later. Give your mother my love.

-All right.

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-If you ever see her.

-Goodbye.

-Bye.

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PHONE RINGS

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-Hello.

-Oh, hello, is that Brigid?

-Yes, it is.

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-This is Stephen from the BBC. How are you?

-Fine, good.

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In the spirit of those wonderful days,

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do you mind if I record this conversation now?

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-No, not at all.

-Great, OK, we will do that.

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Start.

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'I'll use the same model of cutting-edge recording technology

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'favoured by Brigid and Andy in the mid-'60s...

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'still in use amongst BBC staff today.'

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Um, nine o'clock in the morning, the phone rings.

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"Hi, Bridge.

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"What's new?"

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"Oh, Andy, there is nothing new.

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"It's nine o'clock in the morning!"

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"Well...

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"aren't there any good invitations in the book?"

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"Andy, no, the mail hasn't come.

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"The mail won't be here until 11.

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"Oh, Andy, I met this cutest boy.

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"He was a baseball player in Central Park."

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"Well, Bridge, did you do it last night?"

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And he would say, "Did he have a big dick?"

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SHE LAUGHS

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I did this every day.

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You couldn't have just done it by phoning him up and saying,

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"Andy, get out of bed"?

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HE LAUGHS

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And depending how fast I got here or not,

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I would run to his house or I would walk to his house.

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# Hey, white boy

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# What you doin' uptown? #

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He wanted to know about your sex life. What did you think about that?

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Well, no, he didn't. He...

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Listen. You have this wrong.

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Because he was a great friend of mine.

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And, you know, two people can be terrific friends

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-and they know everything about each other.

-That's true.

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You said all people are the same.

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And that you want to be a machine in your paintings. Is that true?

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Um...

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Is it true, Brigid?

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No, he just wishes it was all easier.

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'Can you... Listen,'

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everyone thinks that Andy was so quiet,

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that his reaction would be,

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"Oh, gee," or, "How fabulous," to everything.

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And he would just listen.

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Well, I can contradict that perfectly because he never shut up!

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MUSIC: How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) by Marvin Gaye

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Andy would be very un-monosyllabic with Brigid for an hour or more.

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So you would get to the Warhol place about 12.50.

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What would happen then?

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Well, I would knock on the door and after a few minutes Andy's mom would

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answer the door, and she usually had a couple of cats down by her legs...

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Joey Freeman's closing in on Warhol's townhouse,

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where he lived with his mother for 20 years and has

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since been branded The Warhol.

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The current owner has declined to let us have a peek inside,

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so we were left to our own imagination.

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-So this is the place, right here?

-This is the place.

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The door, I think, is the same door that was always here.

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And I imagine his mother to be

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pulling back the curtain.

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This is Andy's mum, Julia,

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making an appearance in one of her son's films

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called Mrs Warhola, as she acts the part of herself.

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I guess there's no harm in looking through the letterbox.

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What do you think, is that an intrusion?

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'Oh, look!'

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Julia did give her son his bowl of cornflakes almost every morning...

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after feeding about two dozen Siamese cats, all named Sam.

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WOMAN SINGS IN SLAVIC

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She got superstar treatment from her son.

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Andy produced a silkscreen portrait of her...

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..and hired a professional recording studio to tape her singing

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traditional Slavic folk songs.

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The Warhola family were staunch adherents of Byzantine Catholicism.

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THEY SING A HYMN

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Julia was the most artistic in the family.

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She sang, she did her own type of art.

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She loved doing ink drawings.

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You know, a lot of this concern for creativity

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and making things was passed on to Andy.

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Julia was kind of that magical input.

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Well, I mean, most people have a sort of public self or a work self

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and then, perhaps, they're slightly different at home.

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Maybe a bit more relaxed at home.

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But you think this was particularly pronounced in...?

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Oh, yes, I think so.

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I think he kept his two worlds apart -

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his home life, his family life...

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And that was the part that we knew him, as Uncle Andy.

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And he lived with his mother, Julia.

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We had this wonderful kind of relationship with him there.

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..and then there was this other aspect

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of him being a famous painter,

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going off to this place called the Factory.

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When he went to church

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or he said his prayers with his mother,

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that was at home.

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That wasn't something that the people at the Factory would know.

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And of course, he had his crucifix above his bed that was always there.

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-And...

-You say "of course" but people might be surprised by that.

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Oh, I think the crucifixes were always all over the house.

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After I was there for a little bit,

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he would come down in his jockeys.

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And it's so funny because he came down in his jockeys

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but he had those sunglasses on and he had his wig on,

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although I never knew it was a wig back then.

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It was just a person who had thinning hair covering that up.

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I was 13 and a little bit chunky and I had a little Beatle haircut.

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After working with him for one year, I was skinny and part of the scene.

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You know?

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Was that from observing what was going on

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-or was somebody telling you, "You need to do this"?

-No, no, no.

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You knew that being thin was the ideal.

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And you just did it by being so busy.

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We'd walk onto the kerb

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and at that time there was no traffic here at all.

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And Andy would step on the kerb and he'd go like this.

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Why would he do that?

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Cos that's the way that Andy hailed a cab.

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Sort of a little bit twinkling of his fingertips, like that.

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Did it work much or not really?

0:22:290:22:31

-It did.

-Oh, hang on. Here we go!

-It did! And lo and behold.

0:22:310:22:35

-It was a Checker cab and Andy loved Checker cabs.

-OK.

0:22:350:22:40

Look at this one.

0:22:400:22:42

47th Street between 2nd and 3rd.

0:22:420:22:46

A lot of times Andy would look out the window

0:22:570:23:00

and he would sort of space out and get his act together.

0:23:000:23:03

You could see an actual transformation

0:23:040:23:07

-before your very eyes, as it were?

-Yes,

0:23:070:23:09

he got in his cab and he would decompress.

0:23:090:23:11

He was quiet and he would look out the windows,

0:23:110:23:14

because when we got to the Factory,

0:23:140:23:17

he emerged and everybody went to him.

0:23:170:23:22

Everybody had something that they wanted him to do.

0:23:220:23:25

I saw that happen time and time again.

0:23:250:23:28

Andy and Joey arrive at the Factory at about 1:45.

0:23:300:23:34

We're on 47th Street between 2nd and 3rd.

0:23:340:23:37

And the Factory would have been over there,

0:23:370:23:40

where that brick wall,

0:23:400:23:42

that half brick wall is.

0:23:420:23:44

And it would have been maybe three windows wide.

0:23:440:23:49

It wasn't a big building.

0:23:490:23:50

And I think there were only maybe eight floors

0:23:500:23:53

in the entire building.

0:23:530:23:56

A key thrown down to the street

0:23:580:24:01

would get you into the studio freight elevator.

0:24:010:24:03

LAUGHTER

0:24:080:24:11

-I thought maybe you'd like to see it.

-Oh, I do.

0:24:110:24:16

When Warhol finally arrives at the Factory at around two

0:24:160:24:18

o'clock in the afternoon, the needs and challenges of running

0:24:180:24:22

an expanding multimedia enterprise await him.

0:24:220:24:26

Has anyone important called? Was the film stock picked up at Kodak?

0:24:260:24:30

Has the latest version of some Flower silk-screens arrived for Gerard?

0:24:300:24:36

Did Henry confirm for lunch? Can that press interview be pushed back?

0:24:360:24:41

And which party invite to accept this evening?

0:24:410:24:45

And while all that's going on, on Sundays the Velvet Underground, the

0:24:450:24:49

new rock group Andy was producing, would turn up for a rehearsal.

0:24:490:24:53

This is the buzzing silver Factory kingdom of Andy Warhol

0:24:560:25:00

in the mid-'60s.

0:25:000:25:03

Victor Bockris was a Factory regular

0:25:030:25:05

and the unauthorised biographer of Andy Warhol.

0:25:050:25:09

Was there a court?

0:25:090:25:10

Yes, of course, the Factory was a court. Absolutely.

0:25:100:25:13

He had his jester in Ondine.

0:25:130:25:16

Ondine, who called himself the Pope, is an amphetamine head

0:25:160:25:20

known for his scathing wit and his appearances in several Warhol films.

0:25:200:25:25

He had his prime minister in Malanga. He had his manager in Billy Name.

0:25:250:25:31

Billy Name is a lighting designer who also gave

0:25:310:25:34

the Factory its distinctive silver look.

0:25:340:25:36

He had his female companions. The king was always the girl of the year.

0:25:360:25:40

Yes, it was a court.

0:25:410:25:43

His closest artistic associates compared him to Louis XIV.

0:25:430:25:47

His presence was everything. His presence was so...

0:25:480:25:52

That's like Louis XIV.

0:25:520:25:53

Yeah, his presence was so powerful. People would die for him.

0:25:530:25:58

Literally, people would die for him.

0:25:580:26:01

Look at his self-portraits. This great thing like... He's very regal.

0:26:010:26:05

He's a king.

0:26:050:26:07

In spite of all the new initiatives,

0:26:110:26:13

the silk-screens remain at the core of Factory production.

0:26:130:26:18

Gerard's wrapping up the smallest edition of some recently

0:26:180:26:21

completed prints in the Flower series.

0:26:210:26:25

It was very easy to multiply the Flower paintings

0:26:250:26:28

just like in nature.

0:26:280:26:29

He wanted... Everybody would have the opportunity to own an original

0:26:290:26:35

painting, even though it was the same as another original painting.

0:26:350:26:39

So we must have silk-screened close to 100 paintings.

0:26:390:26:42

But it's the new films of Warhol which are consuming his energy

0:26:430:26:47

and are starting to generate publicity,

0:26:470:26:50

albeit mostly as objects of ridicule.

0:26:500:26:54

They seem kind of inhuman, the movies.

0:26:540:26:56

No, they were supposed to be just very real.

0:26:570:27:00

And like it's called instant movie, instant sound. Everything is...

0:27:010:27:05

You don't cut anything out, everything is left in.

0:27:050:27:09

-But it's very machine-like.

-Oh, yes.

0:27:090:27:12

The camera is going on, you're sitting over here.

0:27:120:27:15

Yeah, you don't have to watch the movie.

0:27:150:27:16

I mean, it takes it all by itself.

0:27:160:27:19

At usually two o'clock, I met the film-maker at the Cinematheque

0:27:240:27:29

and maybe I would call Andy or Andy would call me.

0:27:290:27:33

Jonas Mekas was the Cecil B DeMille of underground

0:27:340:27:38

cinema in New York in the '60s.

0:27:380:27:40

He screened, promoted and even shot films of Andy Warhol.

0:27:400:27:45

Of course, nobody took early, first films of Andy's seriously.

0:27:450:27:53

I was the only one who was screening them.

0:27:530:27:56

And Jonas gave Sleep its world premiere.

0:27:560:28:00

But I never saw Sleep from the beginning to end.

0:28:000:28:05

Well, maybe that was a blessing,

0:28:050:28:06

because some people said it was very boring.

0:28:060:28:09

As boring as any painting, any modern painting,

0:28:110:28:15

like Malevich's The Black Square.

0:28:150:28:19

You can say it is boring. You know? But it is a masterpiece.

0:28:190:28:25

It's a landmark in the art of painting.

0:28:250:28:29

-So, you sit.

-Hang on a minute, Jonas.

-Now, I will tie you up to the chair!

0:28:290:28:35

For audiences,

0:28:350:28:37

Andy's excruciatingly unhurried films were a challenge to the mind.

0:28:370:28:41

And also the buttocks.

0:28:410:28:42

Mekas once tied him to his cinema seat to make sure

0:28:420:28:46

he viewed his own film Sleep in its entirety

0:28:460:28:49

and suffered for his art like the other moviegoers.

0:28:490:28:52

-Like that.

-No wonder you didn't have huge audiences at your cinema club

0:28:520:28:56

if this is how you treated the patrons!

0:28:560:28:58

For Andy, lunch is usually between 2:30 and 3:30.

0:29:060:29:11

It may just be a diet pill.

0:29:110:29:13

Or maybe a frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity,

0:29:130:29:16

a short walk away from the Factory.

0:29:160:29:19

So, what time would you expect to see Andy at your tables?

0:29:210:29:25

Well, he'd always come around 2:30, three in the afternoon.

0:29:250:29:28

Who comes through the door these days?

0:29:280:29:30

Any of the top movie stars that are in New York for PR productions.

0:29:300:29:36

You know, we've got the nickname of the ice cream parlour to the stars.

0:29:360:29:41

Andy has been coming to Serendipity

0:29:430:29:45

since his days as a graphic artist back in the late '50s.

0:29:450:29:48

-Oh, my goodness, look at this.

-Here's our famous drink.

0:29:500:29:54

-Frozen hot chocolate.

-This is nectar of the gods.

-Exactly.

0:29:570:30:01

So, you know, at this table, this was Andy's favourite table.

0:30:010:30:05

And I would always reserve it when I saw him at the door.

0:30:050:30:09

And I would say, "Your table is ready," and he'd of course come with

0:30:090:30:12

an entourage of five or six, up to ten people.

0:30:120:30:15

He would put his tape recorder here, right in the centre,

0:30:150:30:18

and order food for everyone and just let people talk.

0:30:180:30:23

In the beginning, we saw him

0:30:230:30:25

after he made his rounds on Madison Avenue and Glamour magazine.

0:30:250:30:29

And then we'd sit down, because lunch would be over

0:30:290:30:31

and it would be a quiet time.

0:30:310:30:33

We were just two friends talking and we discussed all

0:30:330:30:36

the things about what he should do, what he shouldn't do.

0:30:360:30:40

Or what he couldn't do.

0:30:400:30:41

That was an interesting aspect of Andy,

0:30:410:30:43

that he was not only open to ideas from his friends,

0:30:430:30:48

like yourself, and his contacts, but he almost depended on it. Do you...?

0:30:480:30:53

Yes, I agree with that, 100%. I think

0:30:530:30:55

he constantly asked people around him what he should do.

0:30:550:30:59

# I'm in with the in crowd... #

0:30:590:31:02

Lunch is a time to plan an exhibition of new silk-screens,

0:31:020:31:06

or ask friends and colleagues for their ideas.

0:31:060:31:10

And Andy would get good ones at Serendipity.

0:31:100:31:12

From the early '60s,

0:31:140:31:16

Andy regularly had lunch here with his close friend Henry Geldzahler.

0:31:160:31:22

Henry was the curator of contemporary

0:31:220:31:24

art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

0:31:240:31:27

There's a story which I hope you can clarify about him being here

0:31:270:31:31

with Henry Geldzahler, and Henry had a copy of the Daily News.

0:31:310:31:36

Some terrible accident had happened,

0:31:360:31:38

nearly 130 people being killed in a plane crash.

0:31:380:31:42

Do you recall that day and how it influenced art history,

0:31:420:31:46

if I might put it grandly?

0:31:460:31:49

I do recall that day, because it was sensational.

0:31:490:31:52

All over the paper, every paper had those headlines.

0:31:520:31:56

And they were both here discussing. I didn't stick my nose into the...

0:31:560:32:03

into the table to find out

0:32:030:32:04

but I know the newspapers were on the table.

0:32:040:32:07

So maybe history was written here. I don't know.

0:32:070:32:11

But their heads were together over the paper.

0:32:110:32:15

Over lunch with Henry,

0:32:150:32:16

an idea was discussed which may have directly led to the powerful,

0:32:160:32:21

dark and controversial Death and Disaster series of silk-screens

0:32:210:32:25

that redefined Warhol's output in the mid-1960s.

0:32:250:32:31

-So, shall we dig in?

-Let's try.

0:32:310:32:33

-After you.

-In memory of Andy, it was one of his favourite...

0:32:330:32:36

-I think he'd have liked it if we did.

-Of course.

0:32:360:32:39

It's interesting.

0:32:420:32:43

There's a kind of marshmallowy top and then this refreshing, cold rush.

0:32:430:32:49

-Like a melting glacier in the mouth...

-Exactly.

0:32:490:32:53

-..of the icy bottom, if I can put it that way.

-Yes, I like your explanation.

0:32:530:32:57

After lunch, Warhol hit the nearest payphone to call the carpenter

0:32:590:33:03

he paid 365 bucks to build the wooden boxes on which he'll

0:33:030:33:08

make his now famous silk-screens of Brillo Pad boxes.

0:33:080:33:13

Andy wants another 30 boxes.

0:33:130:33:16

We had to find a carpenter to make these boxes.

0:33:160:33:20

They had to be lightweight. We had to paint every box.

0:33:200:33:22

But we had a silkscreen one side of a whole series of boxes.

0:33:220:33:26

So it was basically five sides to a box.

0:33:270:33:30

It almost seemed like a very Duchampian idea, actually,

0:33:300:33:34

to find a three-dimensional ready-made.

0:33:340:33:37

And Andy was very good at executing ideas.

0:33:370:33:40

The Brillo boxes were selling wholesale for 300 each

0:33:420:33:45

at Warhol's gallery.

0:33:450:33:47

But a cash offer of 50 bucks on the side might also get you one.

0:33:470:33:52

Whatever it took to keep the lights on at the Factory.

0:33:520:33:55

After that, Andy jumps in a cab to head back to the Factory.

0:33:590:34:02

Between three and 4:30pm is prime time for filming the Screen Tests.

0:34:060:34:12

Screen Tests would translate Warhol's passion for doing

0:34:160:34:19

-portraits into real-time encounters with a movie camera.

-Say cheese!

0:34:190:34:27

Can we do a cheese movie? All you have to do is say, "Cheese, cheese".

0:34:270:34:32

All right. No, the next segment could be a cheese movie. All right?

0:34:320:34:37

-What's the spirit of this one?

-Just... You don't have to do anything.

0:34:370:34:41

-Just what you're doing.

-Can I move?

-Yeah, you can move.

0:34:420:34:46

But not too much.

0:34:470:34:50

HIS CAMERA WHIRS INTO ACTION

0:34:500:34:51

How come your camera doesn't make any noise?

0:34:510:34:53

These silent, three-minute black and white portraits of the famous

0:34:560:35:00

and the unknown have been likened to modern-day Rembrandts,

0:35:000:35:05

with their uncanny power to reveal personality

0:35:050:35:09

while their subjects were being directed to do nothing.

0:35:090:35:13

For Warhol, the Screen Tests might discover the next

0:35:150:35:18

superstar for his alternative Hollywood.

0:35:180:35:21

At the same time, they were also a rite of passage for those

0:35:240:35:28

invited to be part of the Factory scene.

0:35:280:35:31

The camera on which all the Screen Tests were shot was bought by Andy and

0:35:370:35:41

Gerard at a shop called Peerless, since bought out by Willoughby's.

0:35:410:35:46

Willoughby's still has some vintage camera equipment in stock.

0:35:480:35:53

-..two or three locations. Right?

-How are you doing?

-Good afternoon.

0:35:530:35:57

What can we get for you?

0:35:570:35:58

Well, we were curious about this early model Bolex.

0:35:580:36:02

The Bolex purchased in the winter of '63 was

0:36:020:36:05

the beginning of the end of one Warhol era and the start of another.

0:36:050:36:10

How long is it since you've handled one of these, Gerard? Years?

0:36:100:36:14

-I would say... 1968.

-Is that right?

-Yeah.

0:36:140:36:19

-And then you'd put it on a tripod, would you?

-No, no, hand-held.

0:36:190:36:23

-Hand-held always.

-You could... We put it on the tripod for the Screen Tests.

0:36:230:36:29

Do you recall, now, how many Screen Tests you did?

0:36:290:36:32

-We did somewhere between 480 and 500.

-Gosh.

0:36:320:36:38

It's nice. It's...kind of...

0:36:380:36:40

I haven't held one of these in a long time, actually.

0:36:400:36:44

Yeah, oh, I see you are looking at it through this viewfinder. All right.

0:36:440:36:48

-I see!

-I like it.

0:36:490:36:51

An afternoon Screen Test transformed an uptown housewife whom

0:36:550:36:59

Warhol met near Bloomingdale's into one of his first superstars.

0:36:590:37:03

-Oh, my God, I love that blouse!

-Which one?

-And I love that... This one.

0:37:070:37:12

-It's so pretty.

-It's like a hoodie. A see-through hoodie.

0:37:120:37:14

Yeah, but it's beautiful.

0:37:140:37:16

And I love this pink and the flowers. Yum.

0:37:160:37:19

That would be great for me at Palm Beach.

0:37:190:37:22

-We did lots of Screen Tests. Oh, gosh, I guess I did 11.

-11?

0:37:240:37:30

-That's a lot.

-And what were you doing while the camera was rolling?

0:37:300:37:35

Oh, he'd tell me things like, "Don't blink".

0:37:350:37:38

You try not to blink for three minutes. It's really hard.

0:37:380:37:41

So you had a great look. That's partly what he liked about you.

0:37:460:37:50

What did you get out of it? Why were you associating with him?

0:37:500:37:54

Well, I don't know.

0:37:540:37:56

What I got out of it was not being a bored housewife.

0:37:560:37:59

What about Andy's habit of making somebody a superstar

0:38:030:38:07

and then they were yesterday's plaything?

0:38:070:38:11

You know, that really isn't how it worked,

0:38:110:38:13

because everybody remained a superstar.

0:38:130:38:15

-It just depended what you did with your life, you know?

-I see.

0:38:150:38:19

MUSIC: Baby Love by The Supremes

0:38:210:38:24

Bibbe Hansen had her chance encounter with Warhol

0:38:260:38:29

while she was in a diner with her dad, who happened to know Andy.

0:38:290:38:33

Suddenly I felt these eyes peering at me

0:38:330:38:36

and Andy leaned over the table and said, "And you?

0:38:360:38:42

"What do you do?"

0:38:420:38:43

And my father leapt up, very proudly, and said, "I just sprung her from jail!"

0:38:450:38:51

"Thanks, Dad(!)"

0:38:520:38:54

Warhol was eager to hear more about this young delinquent

0:38:540:38:58

and her stories of truancy, shoplifting, drugs and prison.

0:38:580:39:02

So, far from you being this kind of innocent that the Factory exploited,

0:39:030:39:07

you'd have been amongst the toughest cookies in there, probably,

0:39:070:39:10

-even at 14, wouldn't you?

-Yes, I would think so.

0:39:100:39:14

I mean, it was on a par, certainly.

0:39:140:39:16

Sure enough, she received a Screen Test invite from Andy.

0:39:180:39:22

I instantly knew that it was a vetting process. I mean, I got it.

0:39:250:39:31

Bibbe would end up co-starring in a Warhol film about prison,

0:39:310:39:35

with his newest Factory superstar, Edie Sedgwick.

0:39:350:39:40

She told me the best, most black eyeliner that you could get.

0:39:400:39:44

And I stole her one.

0:39:450:39:48

She also taught me how to put on false eyelashes.

0:39:480:39:51

And I would give her drugs.

0:39:520:39:54

This bright new charismatic personality was

0:39:540:39:57

considered by Warhol a possible dream ticket to the real Hollywood.

0:39:570:40:03

It's a mid-afternoon fashion shoot for British photographer

0:40:110:40:15

David McCabe.

0:40:150:40:17

His rooftop assignment is to photograph the newest Factory

0:40:170:40:20

superstar, Edie Sedgwick.

0:40:200:40:23

Warhol has tagged along with Edie.

0:40:230:40:26

On a whim, I just asked Andy, "Jump up on the ladder with Edie,"

0:40:270:40:31

and just took that one shot with the Empire State Building behind him.

0:40:310:40:36

Warhol's presence steals the show and creates an iconic image

0:40:390:40:44

of the impresario and his new star that helped define the Warhol era.

0:40:440:40:49

It's one of many iconic images by McCabe that defined the times.

0:40:530:40:57

Andy had already met McCabe, knew his work and decided to hire him

0:40:590:41:03

in 1964 to follow and photograph a year in his life and art.

0:41:030:41:10

It was such a pivotal, pivotal time.

0:41:100:41:13

McCabe documented the changing scene at the Factory and Warhol's

0:41:130:41:18

star-studded encounters.

0:41:180:41:20

It was crucial to the image-conscious Andy that McCabe

0:41:280:41:32

was on hand to capture his encounters with the famous,

0:41:320:41:35

wherever and whenever they occurred.

0:41:350:41:38

When he received my contact sheets, he would pore over them

0:41:430:41:47

with a magnifying glass.

0:41:470:41:49

And after the year was over, what Andy was doing, actually,

0:41:490:41:53

was trying to figure out what kind of an image he should be projecting.

0:41:530:42:00

From the beginning, he was very kind of open, and I actually took

0:42:040:42:08

photographs of him laughing and being a regular guy.

0:42:080:42:11

He had turned into the Andy that we now know, the quiet,

0:42:150:42:21

mysterious Andy.

0:42:210:42:22

I mean, now everybody has, you know, they've got the paparazzi,

0:42:270:42:30

they've got their own photographers.

0:42:300:42:32

They curate their own brands,

0:42:320:42:34

-to use a couple of terrible modern coinages, don't they?

-Exactly.

0:42:340:42:38

-But he was perhaps the first.

-I think so.

0:42:380:42:41

He really transformed himself.

0:42:460:42:48

He transformed himself physically, he transformed himself emotionally,

0:42:480:42:52

by not allowing emotions to interfere with his work.

0:42:520:42:55

He transformed himself, you know, deeply

0:42:550:42:58

and to become really one of the great beauties in the world.

0:42:580:43:02

Andy Warhol...

0:43:020:43:04

There are photographs of Andy Warhol that are just, like,

0:43:040:43:06

incredibly beautiful.

0:43:060:43:07

But close friends of Warhol knew that the image he worked

0:43:100:43:14

around the clock to create and maintain was just that -

0:43:140:43:18

an image.

0:43:180:43:19

He thought himself ugly.

0:43:190:43:21

But when you saw Andy naked - he looked like a beautiful boy.

0:43:210:43:25

I'd say, "Andy, don't you look at yourself in the mirror? You're beautiful."

0:43:250:43:30

And then on this beautiful body sat the Andy Warhol head

0:43:310:43:34

with the wig!

0:43:340:43:36

And he, of course, he had a big dick...

0:43:390:43:42

A... Quite a big dick.

0:43:420:43:43

At around 4.30 in the afternoon, Andy playfully heads to a

0:43:450:43:49

Times Square photo booth a few blocks from the Factory,

0:43:490:43:53

to take some self-portraits his way -

0:43:530:43:56

fast, cheap and easy.

0:43:560:43:59

In spite of anxieties about his looks,

0:43:590:44:02

Andy never met a photo booth he didn't like.

0:44:020:44:05

So, in the spirit of Andy, I'm getting made up

0:44:060:44:09

for my close-up.

0:44:090:44:11

John Richardson, the biographer of Picasso,

0:44:110:44:14

who knew Warhol, said this about him,

0:44:140:44:16

"He hid his blotchy looks behind a smokescreen of windswept wigs,

0:44:160:44:21

"unevenly dyed eyebrows, heavy layers of calamine

0:44:210:44:25

"and Harpo Marx mutism."

0:44:250:44:26

Of course, I don't really need this, I'm a natural English rose,

0:44:280:44:31

but thanks anyway.

0:44:310:44:33

By the mid '60s Andy often turned up at photo booths with a

0:44:330:44:37

roll of quarters, to shoot himself or for a growing franchise

0:44:370:44:42

of commissioned portraits.

0:44:420:44:43

Here she is - what a beauty.

0:44:450:44:48

Guaranteed to get your photos in two and a half minutes, folks.

0:44:480:44:51

None of that hanging about for three minutes.

0:44:510:44:54

I like the instructions here -

0:45:010:45:03

Number three - "Attempt to look good."

0:45:030:45:06

It's as if they knew I was coming, "Attempt to look good."

0:45:060:45:09

And number four - "Have a drink. Your photos will be delivered

0:45:090:45:12

"in four to five minutes."

0:45:120:45:14

That's service.

0:45:140:45:16

OPERATIC SINGING

0:45:190:45:21

The photo booth was used by Warhol for his first

0:45:280:45:31

commissioned portrait of the collector Ethel Scull in 1963.

0:45:310:45:36

I thought, "Where are we going?"

0:45:360:45:38

"Just down to 42nd Street and Broadway."

0:45:380:45:40

I said, "What are we going to do there?"

0:45:400:45:42

He says, "I'm going to take pictures of you."

0:45:420:45:45

I said, "For what?" He said, "For the portrait."

0:45:450:45:48

I said, "In those things?" I said, "My God, I'll look terrible."

0:45:480:45:52

He said, "Don't worry." And he took out -

0:45:520:45:55

he had coins, about 100 worth of silver coins.

0:45:550:45:58

And he said, "We'll take the high key and the low key,

0:45:580:46:01

"and I'll push you inside and you watch the little red light."

0:46:010:46:05

By the mid-'60s, photo booth portraits were an important

0:46:050:46:09

source of income for Warhol.

0:46:090:46:11

Ethel paid 700 for hers -

0:46:110:46:14

adjusted for inflation - 6,000.

0:46:140:46:18

The photo booth helped pay the costs of running the Factory,

0:46:180:46:22

one quarter at a time.

0:46:220:46:24

Before Andy, the photo booth was a largely functional place,

0:46:260:46:30

to get your ID or your passport sorted out.

0:46:300:46:34

After all, not every family had its own camera in those days.

0:46:340:46:37

But it was small wonder that Warhol saw the potential for art

0:46:370:46:41

in this extraordinary space.

0:46:410:46:43

On the one hand, it threw forward to the selfie

0:46:430:46:47

that we're obsessed with and deluged by today.

0:46:470:46:50

On the other hand, though, the photo booth, the confines,

0:46:500:46:54

the screen, the darkness, recalled nothing so much as

0:46:540:46:58

the confessional of his Catholic upbringing.

0:46:580:47:00

In anticipation of the evening's activities,

0:47:040:47:07

between six and seven o'clock Warhol would make a quick

0:47:070:47:10

round trip to his townhouse to "get glued."

0:47:100:47:14

Getting glued was his expression for wig and make-up management.

0:47:140:47:19

He'd also put on a fresh splash of his favourite cologne -

0:47:190:47:22

Eau de Savage.

0:47:220:47:24

BRIGID: I didn't want to be with Andy at night,

0:47:250:47:27

I'd been with him all day.

0:47:270:47:30

I'd look at the clock, and I'd say,

0:47:300:47:33

"I'm getting out of here."

0:47:330:47:36

He'd look closely down at his watch -

0:47:360:47:40

with his eyes one inch away from the face of the watch.

0:47:400:47:44

And he'd say, "Brig, why are you leaving?

0:47:440:47:50

"The fun is just beginning."

0:47:500:47:53

The favourite time of the day was at the beginning of the evening,

0:47:580:48:02

like, at seven o'clock, because that was the beginning of the night,

0:48:020:48:05

whatever party it was.

0:48:050:48:07

From seven o'clock at night to four in the morning

0:48:070:48:10

is peak partying time for Warhol and his entourage -

0:48:100:48:14

almost nightly.

0:48:140:48:16

The evening circuit might begin at an uptown gallery opening...

0:48:160:48:20

..then move on to a fashion banquet at the Waldorf Astoria.

0:48:220:48:27

Sometimes Andy would get invited to a very, you know,

0:48:270:48:30

exclusive dinner somewhere!

0:48:300:48:32

Warhol was the best possible guest for any self-respecting

0:48:320:48:36

New York host or hostess.

0:48:360:48:39

It might be some museum patrons enjoying a light snack at the

0:48:390:48:42

St Regis Hotel.

0:48:420:48:44

Warhol once said he'd go to the opening of anything -

0:48:470:48:50

even a toilet seat.

0:48:500:48:51

Andy had to show up, Andy had to tap-dance for his supper.

0:48:530:48:58

And he had to hobnob with the rich and famous.

0:48:580:49:02

Andy wanted to have some kind of power.

0:49:020:49:05

He wanted to possess a certain kind of power...

0:49:050:49:08

..possessing a power that could manipulate the media,

0:49:090:49:13

or possessing a power where he... he could make money.

0:49:130:49:18

But it almost always ends up with Andy holding court,

0:49:180:49:22

and his entourage falling apart at the seams

0:49:220:49:25

at Max's Kansas City in the wee small hours of the morning.

0:49:250:49:30

Andy enjoyed himself, and he did stay out late sometimes.

0:49:300:49:33

But it wasn't something that he wanted to do all the time -

0:49:330:49:36

it could be a bit tiring.

0:49:360:49:37

As a complete change of pace from all-night partying,

0:49:440:49:48

Warhol would occasionally use the slot from seven at night

0:49:480:49:51

to four in the morning to make a movie.

0:49:510:49:53

In 1964, Andy bought himself a new Auricon film camera.

0:49:570:50:02

It held much larger reels of film than the old Bolex,

0:50:040:50:08

and it could record sound.

0:50:080:50:10

But Warhol's first film with his new sound camera

0:50:120:50:15

wasn't going to have a soundtrack at all.

0:50:150:50:18

The irony is we shot a sound movie without sound.

0:50:180:50:22

We made a silent movie with a sound movie camera.

0:50:220:50:25

Tonight, at around 6:30, Andy and five co-conspirators,

0:50:260:50:30

including Henry Geldzahler, Gerard Malanga, Jonas Mekas,

0:50:300:50:34

and Jonas's protege John Palmer, jump into taxis,

0:50:340:50:38

with camera, tripod and about 50 kilos of raw film stock,

0:50:380:50:43

and head to a friend's office

0:50:430:50:45

with an unobstructed view of New York City's most iconic building.

0:50:450:50:49

John Palmer suggested the idea for this evening's new film -

0:50:500:50:53

and Andy was running with it.

0:50:530:50:55

Tonight, they'll gleefully subvert the fundamental rules

0:50:570:51:01

and expectations of movie-making, and make underground film-making history.

0:51:010:51:06

Tonight, they'll shoot the film Empire.

0:51:080:51:11

It's the Memorial Day holiday weekend, when everything

0:51:140:51:17

in Manhattan is shut tight...

0:51:170:51:19

..including the office building from which Empire was originally shot.

0:51:200:51:24

This is the window from which the original was filmed.

0:51:260:51:30

The unobstructed view, though, is history.

0:51:300:51:34

Gerard and I are determined to recapture one of the most

0:51:340:51:37

eventful moments in the film.

0:51:370:51:40

All our hopes are now pinned to this location.

0:51:400:51:43

I'm told it has a rooftop garden, with an excellent view

0:51:430:51:47

of the Empire State Building.

0:51:470:51:48

Well, it's an excellent location. Only two things are missing -

0:51:560:52:00

the garden and that unobstructed view of the building we're

0:52:000:52:03

here to film.

0:52:030:52:04

Poor Gerard is nearing exhaustion, the jaws of defeat are

0:52:080:52:12

beginning to tighten around us.

0:52:120:52:14

In the depths of despair, with time running out,

0:52:210:52:24

we receive a promising tip-off about a nearby building.

0:52:240:52:28

Now, that's a view.

0:52:500:52:51

I set up the camera and I framed it and called Andy and said,

0:52:530:53:00

"Take a look, is this what you want?"

0:53:000:53:03

And Andy said, "Roll it."

0:53:030:53:05

And with that command, one of the most notorious and

0:53:090:53:12

controversial films of the underground era

0:53:120:53:15

was off and rolling.

0:53:150:53:17

It went and it went and it went and it went...

0:53:170:53:19

With a running time of eight hours and five minutes,

0:53:210:53:24

Empire provokes ridicule amongst many who haven't viewed

0:53:240:53:27

a second of it,

0:53:270:53:28

and pot smoking amongst those who try and view it all.

0:53:280:53:31

Thing is, we're not doing drugs cos it was Henry Romney's office

0:53:340:53:37

at the Rockefeller Foundation, so we were clean, we were squeaky clean.

0:53:370:53:41

After one hour and maybe a half, suddenly the lights go on.

0:53:450:53:50

What an event! What a fantastic event like...

0:53:540:53:57

..when lights went on on the Empire State Building.

0:54:000:54:04

'As luck would have it, tonight's the night

0:54:070:54:11

'when the lights of the Empire State Building are red, white and blue.

0:54:110:54:15

'What could be more pop than that?

0:54:160:54:18

'To help kill time, Gerard took verbatim notes of some

0:54:220:54:26

'of the historic late-night banter.'

0:54:260:54:29

Jonas Mekas - "Did you know that the Empire State Building sways?"

0:54:340:54:38

Andy - "Henry, what is the meaning of action?"

0:54:380:54:42

Henry - "Action is the absence of inaction."

0:54:420:54:45

John - "The lack of action in the last three 1,200-foot rolls

0:54:470:54:51

"is alarming."

0:54:510:54:52

John - "This is the strangest shooting session I've ever been in."

0:54:540:54:58

Andy - "The Empire State Building is a star."

0:54:580:55:01

And at some point, Andy said, "Maybe we've had enough."

0:55:040:55:08

And that's where it ended, like, eight hours later.

0:55:080:55:11

But you know, sometimes Andy would prefer to avoid parties

0:55:160:55:19

and late-night film-making, just to stay at home and watch

0:55:190:55:23

his favourite TV comedy - I Dream Of Jeannie.

0:55:230:55:26

Andy says, "OK."

0:55:290:55:32

I'd say, "Andy, what are you watching?"

0:55:320:55:35

He said, "Oh, Brig, I love I Dream Of Jeannie.

0:55:350:55:39

"I just love it."

0:55:390:55:41

Uh, Jeannie?

0:55:410:55:43

Jeannie, bedtime. Bong time.

0:55:430:55:46

-You are going to bed so early, master?

-Oh, yes.

0:55:460:55:49

Yeah, I got a rough day tomorrow.

0:55:490:55:51

Andy says, "Why can't we get to Hollywood?"

0:55:510:55:55

We used to sit in his tent and drink wine with him.

0:55:550:55:58

And I'd say, "Andy, we are never going to get to Hollywood.

0:55:580:56:02

"Because you don't believe in a beginning...

0:56:030:56:08

"a middle...or an end."

0:56:080:56:11

CANNED LAUGHTER

0:56:110:56:13

But Andy Warhol didn't really need to go to Hollywood,

0:56:170:56:20

his fame had already eclipsed most Hollywood A-listers.

0:56:200:56:24

He once said, "A whole day of life is like a whole day of television."

0:56:240:56:29

And Warhol lived his own life as if it was his

0:56:290:56:32

very own hit series, in which Andy Warhol was producer,

0:56:320:56:37

director, publicist and, of course, star.

0:56:370:56:40

MUSIC: I'll Be Your Mirror by The Velvet Underground

0:56:400:56:43

# I'll be your mirror Reflect what you are... #

0:56:430:56:46

On our last day of filming in New York City,

0:56:460:56:49

something extraordinary happened at three minutes to midnight

0:56:490:56:52

at the eternal flame of pop consumerism,

0:56:520:56:55

known as Times Square.

0:56:550:56:57

It was as if Andy was magically out there, and had

0:57:000:57:03

decided to help give an ending to our made-for-TV movie about him.

0:57:030:57:07

All at once, Andy Warhol's Screen Tests ignited upon

0:57:090:57:13

Times Square billboards.

0:57:130:57:15

Edie Sedgwick, Nico - the singer of The Velvet Underground...

0:57:170:57:23

He had a vision of the future in some weird way.

0:57:230:57:26

I think that's what creativity is.

0:57:260:57:28

Andy's whole life is based on an intuition of what's going to

0:57:300:57:33

happen...next.

0:57:330:57:34

And being in front of it and making it happen.

0:57:340:57:37

I think Andy Warhol is the... his best creation.

0:57:400:57:45

In his lifetime, some thought Warhol came from another planet.

0:57:490:57:54

In fact, he hailed from somewhere equally exotic - the future.

0:57:540:57:58

And as we endlessly post on social media,

0:58:020:58:04

consume celebrity culture,

0:58:040:58:06

or even take a selfie - we're living on Andy time.

0:58:060:58:11

# I'll be your mirror... #

0:58:120:58:15

Half a century on from the amphetamine-fuelled,

0:58:150:58:18

sleep-deprived, superstar-obsessed creative frenzy of

0:58:180:58:22

the Factory days, and Andy Warhol day hasn't really ended.

0:58:220:58:28

# I'll be your mirror

0:58:310:58:33

# I'll be your mirror

0:58:330:58:37

# I'll be your mirror

0:58:370:58:41

# I'll be your mirror

0:58:410:58:46

# I'll be your mirror... #

0:58:460:58:49

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