Collaboration as Social Exchange: /A Diary by Gerard Malanga and Author(s): Reva Wolf Reviewed work(s): Source: Art Journal, Vol. 52, No. 4, Interactions between Artists and Writers (Winter, 1993), pp. 59-66 Published by: College Art Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/777625 . Accessed: 23/02/2012 13:06

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http://www.jstor.org Collaborationas Social Exchange ScreenTests/A Diary by GerardMalanga and Andy Warhol

RevaWolf

T he friends are foreverinvolved in the 'familyphoto,"' photographcomes from a moving image (bringing to mind a line by the poet GerardMalanga, who was a close Gertrude Stein's comparison of her literary "portraits"to associate of Andy Warholduring the 1960s, alludes cinema, in which "one second was never the same as the to the dynamic connectionsthat exist between portraitsand second before or after").4Conceptually, the moving-picture social interaction. Understoodin this broad sense, the line portraits correspond nicely to the "diary" format of the would be a fitting epigraph to the book of 1967 in which it poems, as both are meant to signify records of particular appears,Screen Tests/A Diary, a collaborationby Warholand momentsin time.5 59 Malanga that consists of a collection of stills from film The design of Screen Tests/ADiary is apparentlyby portraits,or "screen tests," each with a poem on the facing Warhol,6and in its original conception, the connectionbe- page by Malanga(fig. 1). Inclusionin this compendium,like tween film and poetry was to have operatedcompositionally being in the "familyphoto," is a person'sdeclaration of social as well as metaphorically.To underscorethe origin of the affiliation. images in film footage, they were to have been printed on The strata of processes involved in the productionof acetate, ratherthan on the semitransparentvellum-type pa- Screen Tests/ADiary were in themselvesstatements of social per that, as a compromise,was actuallyused; the poemswere affiliation.These processes begin with Warholand his asso- to have been positioned underneaththe sheets of acetate.7 ciates' filming of the screen tests, and include their selection This collagelike layout, in which Malanga'swords were to of the screen-test stills that wouldfigure in the book and even appear across the faces of those to whom they are written, their acquisition of legal rights to reproducethe images. In would have served as an apt visual metaphorfor Malanga's this instance, collaborationought to be regardedas a series tendencyto absorbothers into his own identity,in his poems of social interactions,in which public and professionalaffairs as well as in life. tend to be inseparable from personal and sexual relation- One of the most readily discernible ways this absorp- ships. And these social exchanges not only affect the out- tionoccurs in Malanga'spoetry is in referencesnot only to the come of the book, but also parallel its content. ostensible subjects of his poems, but also to Benedetta By providinga sense of the social complexitiesinvolved Barzini (fig. 2), with whomhe remainedobsessively in love in this collaboration,we can begin to take a fresh lookat what followinga brief relationshipthat ended shortlybefore many the roles of Warhol'sassociates were, and to consider how of the verses were composed in August 1966; Screen Tests/A misconceptionsabout the social elementof his workhave led Diary is dedicatedto Barzini. FacingJohn Ashbery's portrait to the omission of Screen Tests/ADiary and other, similar (fig. 3), for example, are the lines, "Butthe Italian / collec- projectsfrom both the literatureon Warholand studies of the tionsfor Fall are notable,"alluding to Barzini'sthen success- history of collaborationbetween poets and visual artists in ful career as a fashion model. the twentiethcentury.' But the first line of this same poem-"What had you The fifty-four stills of Screen Tests/ADiary-which been thinking about"-does concernAshbery; it is the first picture actors and poets, socialites and thieves, models, line of Ashbery'sown poem "TheTennis CourtOath."8 This consumers of amphetamine, painters, filmmakers, and brings us to a second, rather curious device employedby musicians2-are frame enlargementsfrom short black-and- Malangain his literaryabsorption of others: appropriation. white silent-film portraitsmade between 1964 and 1966 by Such self-conscious copying has multiple significations in Warholwith the assistance of Malangaand/or Billy Linich, Malanga'sverses: it is a verbal parallel to Warhol'swell- also known as Billy Name, who lived at .3 Each knowntechnique of appropriatingexisting visual imagery;it still consists of one or two entire frames from the film footage, is a way to flatterthe poet being copied-which, in the case and part of either one or two additional frames. The idea of Ashbery, operates dually, since Ashbery himself relied behind such cropping is to provide visual evidence that the heavilyon appropriation.9This flattery,in turn, is a meansof

ART JOURNAL Isthe firstmovementof thewill powertoward keeping a secret an effectof grace or simplyafree, autonomoushuman act andwhyis there analogy betweentwo typesof being complexwhen we do not know whatthe meaning of ourlanguage is? Whatare the relationships between the swapped destinies? Whatlight does theuse of thediary text reveals the crucial ideas, andthe loss of heavenin lifeis authentic. Therain becomes rain again. Thefriends are forever involved in the"family photo." 8/28/66

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FIG. 1 GerardMalanga and AndyWarhol, "Billy Linich," Screen Tests/A Diary, No. 29 (NewYork: Kulchur Press, 19671 91516 x 7V4inches (page).

seeking the approvalof a literary model, and throughap- proval,of getting workpublished.10 Such appropriationis also a formof theft, or of denying another'sprivacy. To take anotherexample, the line "Today notmuch happened," which is foundin six of the poems, was, accordingto Malanga'srecollection, copied froman entryin the diary of a former girlfriend, Debbie Caen, who also figures in ScreenTests/A Diary (wherethe routinethefts of the amphetamineculture to which she belongedare alludedto by the poet-"the illegal / transactions,the hot/ bicycles stored in the hall"). Appropriationhere, aside fromposing problems of aesthetic judgment, signifies an unstable social environ- ment, in that it implies a lack of trust, and an unstable artistic identity, in that it suggests a struggle in finding a "voice"of one's own. A blatant and constant stream of self-referenceruns throughthe poems, announcedimmediately by the cover of ScreenTests/A Diary (fig. 4). The frontcover consists of a still froma colorscreen test of Malanga.Here, throughthe poet's rathercocky gaze, his vanity is made to speak foritself. The same image is found on the back cover, but printed in

FIG. 2 BillyName, Benedetta Barzini posing for a portraitfilm at the Factory, 1966, photograph,14 x 912 inches.

WINTER1993 What had you been thinkingabout the boy wrotein his diary notebookfor no one to read. You misunderstoodhow itrisnot possibleto breatheunder water.I worry,sometimes. But the Italian collectionsfor Fall are notable for some of the newestcoats in Europe you missed and I thought it was not Spring to decidethe sharp edge of the cloudburstcoming over the hill. Somehowyour fears are justifiedin the detailsturned inside out of the dreamof the friends who will notrstay behindthe wind blowingacross your face. 8222166

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FIG. 3 GerardMalanga and AndyWarhol, "," Screen Tests/A Diary, No. 2 (NewYork: Kulchur Press, 1967), 915A6 x 7V4inches (page). negative. Warholfrequently used the photographicnegative the artcritic RobertPincus-Witten of his experienceof sitting iconographically,as a symbol of death, fromthe mid-1970s for his screen test: "I remember,Gerry Malanga and Andy on, in variantsof the traditionalvanitas theme that seems to were there, and Andy would say things like, 'Isn'tthis won- havealready been in his mind here.11It certainly is a suitable derful!Isn't he terrific!He's doing it!' As if one is really doing motif for the back cover-or the close of the book, which somethingwonderful by simply remainingstatic and unmov- might be understood as the end of the author'stemporal ing before the lens, but the hype was very, very exciting."'3 existence. Similarly, the white dots that traverse part of The power of flattery largely explains why Warholand his Malanga'sface on both frontand back covers can be viewed associates succeeded in getting several hundredindividuals as markersof time, forthese dotswere createdby the perfora- to sit for screen-test films. tions at eitherthe beginning or end of a standardreel of film A person'swillingness to sit fora screen test is a formof (and were a routine aesthetic and conceptual feature of vanity, but is also part of the collaborative process that Warhol'searly films, beginning in 1963). determinedthe contentof ScreenTests/A Diary. Indeed, it is a While some individuals, such as Malanga, tend to commonplace in the literature on portraitureto term the advertisetheir vanity, and othersto downplayor to disguise makingof a portraita collaboration,the result of an interac- it, vanityis fairlyuniversal (however much we maynot want to tion between painter or photographerand sitter.14 admit it). This is why flatteryis often an effective tool in so In certain portraitsincluded in Malangaand Warhol's many areas of human negotiation.The very act of producing book, sitterstook full advantageof their end of the job. At the screen tests, as well as their subsequentinclusion in Screen Factory,they were instructed to have a seat, usually in a Tests/ADiary, was, like Malanga'suse of appropriationin cubiclelike area set up expressly for the purpose of making some of the poems in this book, a form of flattery, on the screen tests. The camerarested on a tripod, one or two lights giving end, and vanity,on the receiving end (twocomponents were temporarilyinstalled, and at times a white or black of portraiturethat the essayist William Hazlitt, for one, had backdropwas added (seefig. 2). Warholgenerally framed the already acknowledged in the early nineteenth century).12 compositionof the head shot. Most often, sitters were in- This flattery-vanitydialogue is apparentin the descriptionby structedto gaze, withoutmoving, directly at the cameralens,

ART JOURNAL ......

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FI G. 4 GerardMalanga and AndyWarhol, front ...... i 4ii~iiiiiii li~ and backcovers, Screen Tests/A Diary ...... ii• (:Kulchur Press, 1967), each 915/16 x 7/ inches.

although examples also exist of profile and three-quarter Beautiful Womenseries-remarked, regarding the screen 62 views (seefig. 1). Warhol,on his side of the collaboration, test of dancer Freddy Herko,who had committedsuicide in often aimed for particulareffects.15 1964: "thefootage became excruciatinglymoving as I uncon- Sittersresponded to Warhol'sstandard screen-test set- trollablyinvested Herko'sglowering expression with mean- up in various ways. Salvador Dali confrontedthe camera ings broughtfrom outside the film."18 ratheraggressively; he openedhis eyes as wide as possible (it Outsideassociations are also a characteristicfeature of seems), in an affirmationof his public image of being outra- the verses Malangacomposed to accompanythe screen-test geous (fig. 5). Malanga, on the other hand, gazed at the stills. In some cases, these associationsare highly personal cameraas if to seduce it (and us), playing out his role as sex (such as his referencesto Barzini);in othercases, they are object (of both womenand men). artistic;and in still others, both-as in the verse thatattends Vanitymight lead one to sit for a portraitfilm, and the the extraordinaryvisage of experimentalfilmmaker Marie nomenclature"screen test" might conjure up nothing more Menken(fig. 6), which alludes to herrole as his mother,a part than the superficiality of appearances.'16 Nonetheless, the she playedin Warhol's1966 film, TheChelsea Girls, and as a intensityof gaze that often resulted fromWarhol's instruction surrogate, at times, in life.'19 to sitters to stare directly into the camera lens had the On anotherlevel, the presence of Menken in Screen capacity to communicate more meaningful associations in Tests/ADiary, along with her husband, poet , the minds of sympatheticviewers of projectedscreen tests. and filmmakerJonas Mekas (the foremostsupporter of War- In a 1966 study, cultural critic John Gruen described the hol's early films), is a means of paying homage to three screen-test film as "anintense study in involuntarycharacter individualswhose ideas aboutfilm-notably the film "diary" revelation."Amplifying on this impression, he observed: and "notebook,"20and the "filmpoem,"21 a virtual synonym for experimentalfilm during the 1950s and early 1960s- The mostprobing aspect of Warhol'snearly immobilefacial were key sources for Screen Tests/ADiary, and for Malanga studies is the acutelypersonal discomfortfelt by the spectator and Warhol'swork overall. These sources are tightly linked as he realizes,perhaps for thefirst time, the natureof his own to social, and sometimessexual, relationships.For instance, habitual visual censorship.It is suddenlytoo shockingto face Maas had been Malanga's poetry instructor (and lover, theface, and the spectatorbecomes as involuntarilyvulnerable briefly)at WagnerCollege priorto his introductionto Warhol as the giant visage on the screen.17 in late spring 1963.22 (Such connectionsoften translateinto Gruenhad every reason to be struck by the "visual censor- "sources"throughout the history of art.) ship" to which he referred, since the face of his wife, the The verytitle, ScreenTests/A Diary, signals the conflu- painterJane Wilson, was amongthe fourteenscreen tests he ence of public image and interpersonalrelations contained viewed, in a series put together by Warholin 1964-65, within the book: "screen test"denotes a public image, while entitled The ThirteenMost Beautiful Women(the miscountof "diary"suggests privatemusings. Whatwe have (in addition portraitshas its own significations). Such personalassocia- to Malanga'sromantic free associations) is a microcosm, tions affected a person'sunderstanding of the films, and also composed of intersecting New York social worlds, of the of the stills in the Screen Testsbook. As one viewer of The desire, pervasive in society at large, to glimpse at both the ThirteenMost Beautiful Boys-the male pendantto the Most outerappearances and the privatelives of celebrities.

WINTER1993 The youngboy wakes up one morning. inThethelightsourcedescending hot day evaporates fromheaven. Theremaybeatree in thedesert, in the universethat would not havebeen possibleto burn in thedream makingnmusic.This is nonight mareno afterthoughtcan hide histrackssin the snow bankand the children no longerremain children,notreven pretending to forget whothey are whilehe dreams. The adultsare no help for hisheart. Evenin summerdaylight saving timeis accurate and the rain falling falls. 8/22/66

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FIG. 5 GerardMalanga and AndyWarhol, "Salvador Dali," Screen Tests/A Diary, No. 11 (NewYork: Kulchur Press, 1967) 91a16x 7%inches (pagel

Mymother's son belongsto someonein the beginning, beforeshe bandagedhisaknee as thoughethebruise did notheal in thesameway at different times, growingup. Still it is not too late to write theseoccurrences in the diary notebook,provided thatrwe could live in the sunlightall yearwithoutrcatching a cold,wishing to go far awayfrom the troublesthat sometimes press him into service,projects he is completely out of thisworld for, free forthe stimulationthe livescoming in contact, witheach other the day afteretomorrow. 8/25/66

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FaG. 6 GerardMalanga and AndyWarhol, "," Screen Tests/A Diary, No. 33 (NewYork: Kulchur Press, 19671 9156 x 7/4 inches(pagel HER MI INS GINGOLI) INSBERG, NAME) ALLEN NONE'F DH h~~Md"HOLD w ann'I'V, .tthetiffed back, eeLte~eteeeteeBACK the 0V said Williete edges tyr pop inthis iitroduction to Alice AedGnse ott01 "thewindowWhenItep betatnklthem helle Cd'losWtlletie inthc mornin, 'and Eeoillv o1,h-S'!air healdstyl tilerghe rba l hc most :acl ll th wa Andt.tl. dependsfl, exactly tee t he [ritishe lentdmothpieentheohipsters Aindtistomedienete bedame eeiCtidBtt"ei tie etl teebe.....01he 1[Ceatete uddiha Jtckprose. c on tmiedietet..... tet ttAnic iedioftct•al••,i~zdS'[Clain...... idef he has a mutualKerout ;admnirtion (with whoem so- lcam...tOCrY fifew YorkiP hartl harIbor," vciety) i --eontinlues to spi o ,t an a says, "andtrodsil~~~~~~~s, tht'iledhtbree~ tstttu e s n rni itranLO the t litt lightt v iti dttis of in litie, iteteehroll tette .t. ..e.h,i,e ,"United grity tet.t.t wtteJudith ttledertmtdAer wortit) lndtttatioenStates thet coughslife eit nieht ts e hteeer hihhitt A ltep," "sortof E Donaldson AwardorAttteecJ toree tet4e woneie iehe and oet beeeowl, et teeC 1 lSte Broadway weo'ttet slet s ebstrtactexprcs-ltmett Ferdinands ttiegoldin Londont on e 9 agnificeett though in " Hermiones Cite espoee, etsoud em tc e jazzlike Decemerh1897,tBeen ehe Londonstge there seldom Ginsberg'st"whimpert madeher debutot is bute the tee ste (ssdee the emie eof Rosie Phillips) Hee he get hue sebedy subdueldknows te ed e 't later she age signs ofieea vagabond and a longingshte te are y Pitkti attndtheof ve 3 192mt is occntl-N withNoeein tShe bhe etc egative,Born Junentture z CetewardFairiets,i'woyectrsin the Raeiebow Eeds appeeered (f a kind of social world beensmaeteriedtwice sihete (both ended in first to sone the: tof Louis Ginsbergf for m(ho hashe written wasmePateese, thet Just as this collection creates MichaeeJeJoeph, to Erite divoree),betoth in onventionattst, lWtmyspoetry, on she secondby Whens However,yeare'), after oe don)ssetsaeedh has it Itwo hersons eerBfirstMaschwite marriageshe Some-Loe-:more potitthe goingBaway.' the ere wasalive, replied, Bum,"te•fhetcreated, witheHotttand ceightsubsecqent yeamsKat. around Gerard the act of a husheantd What•s idiest which-mwy out or the (revolving Malanga), producing Although eal not-(thad mattertt•itoeinios (she sealedhEsa tfr risgtoahipse•e "scersys thoeughthe'd live to mw tup primariltytanetherprettyfaeektoiswn Bfoeeslapstick "itsh,.sheberoied dedste and wsiite poettey"•i WallaceStevens ButtGinsberg or the d s screen tests was often a formof bringing people together, Ma•sel•ititest (1958) Tte MusictMiA iet nmeec wteleesspoeiespos•ac does not wearto a htehcoat) a her book,Sirets ShoetetBh Seen leeWt62).Hteardeshe aretrycc now ig a says,"Ican'•oviesGgimt ll y teetand Notspeltl eitherWe onwhose•scoatttais(ho.itgh:he' tehist how : epsteec sceeetcry ecy cc tt and a focus of seantteeeneoeeupw ceitds isthe edictionaryee tidet`see•c0 1)i, Lightell•ethase SanFrantiscotCalifeh even of seducing them, provided ready-made donteknwteshowtemfiBd theset* bteeec .es 405 E, 54thSt- NeweYteehN. to the to GISH, DOROTHY activity for visitors Factory. According Warhol, GINGdRICHtARNOLD Bt pcIF VtSIONSt PeettyGilstitstiltl Aei Het AVEasecrooked tfacee.Youtcan' sometimes these events, when the sitter was chosen by dance itt hit heed, it's htecaueetthe thinkihoweKfirSeed IUselettete eteteeitil r it esthe seece cty hs foueindertsd publih eeriteof ieeSuthe m were from the romanticliterary rememberss myselfcas Malanga, inseparable poet's magzinese adptede itseteilfsto i tone with::wo:ilte wisetly esbliec auiee eseedieseceseSqirrel, hssesteve she tcheesgingthee.ihid:deys:i.•e•orewineds of : eheekttoenl•eityeone•ntis tasteec (thei Ste tirted tef the faintly s t lti ewith hee sister, Lillians C" pursuits: eceeemtg Fo•emt i eewdhoi comic•ti: sneesedfome Ginegrichit•.Btqtue•e a letter adeescedte ehughtise S, has C hbeeshtbeesh t•o cllof A, Gingrieh,e sqte, aed",s" them bUsies-tmit tle peblietatit since its Americani•• meetnec tteie td ito or at a and bieth he 29 •.. He would see a in a magazine party really :fatheredin 933 when was just : roaseandtheater sittBfilmsOtetes girl e.teandbrimfull oe ideas foe eniens et ette Born teuiIt Marchtelevision. 1898,5 is.D feshtoeequarterly. Although e Ohio, her first "acting".esture.te. e make a out who she was-he'd turn these e "' point of finding semucihgleater emireness letheworld s-new sophisticae as "LitiiSteWillie" in a travetintg productionod Eest eidtet in today's issues ("eroes frontCoveret t liene Lili an did Lynetthere tiente es item the e got perts too and so Bymotter 1912,attd GUsh beak in 1936. the most wsemorthy was threhe of the nonecementeethatis: oue cioldfltow get beer in canse),eGiiian-e - gielst(exltusiwere, all mither)us were on theirewaymtombecortiee interestsinto sort Then he'dwrite actretess.") of poetic "quests." poems 64 hes by e sceh pefe Atericin rich alwats demttnded quseity material "tle a part the worldst folkloreBrookeiee Atkinsonstetsey tisteteas or Harrtt S. knownl ihe and unknowe"e as says" and tell them all a screentest when UrbheetBeheeesineshkin •ellsnowmn AArnold Gingrieh ("It's Jlack tetDurmte about the girls they'dget 5 Trumane"s antel afterThe appearing wiih Liltietenin such the toisto pstoppingsmokinge )ewas cceenibergeorious 1t903 eet OrphanpoeeBteee silents Gretd IRepids tih eteandgeeaduated feoete the LUnivttiersteyin screenSteetesi taCehc-ttlkices(ateetas Enete andIWee e bernt cgles i Bistf, , el td the stage (IBif came oft tihige int 1925l He ihas three by eeturned to her e love,s they by.26 we 1924 it d to Helen RB in (Ishechiltrenlt died 1055)ithts end etd She and Jaefirst Rennie re he is teew tmarried to Jane Kendelt With eFather)I actor s iorced tn.ereitege has e zest for life of eroomeAbell. forhPb but Consistentlysbhe never moderntrematriee.c witht an it beinge teetechaingetleft, conrtset te nabeeated book A Oti theette itetrhd, teorolthyis tetoa tie pairty)Nihs A direct link between these and the -ite lhaenkeeringforetlteugi ecesieoally hygeetoeleet ".y"admittieg is not worreet eStseetrnaieied. party "When partyt estops "poetic quests" ietich. in JitaLilianeone'tatid.ih ktetw ettonit v o is to keetp ther it T Puritanr evolution" ." liier- eIplaist elactiec teteique- "the ty'I of around liherty oflitertinCit epression intoheldec,"istimminenteoftt i suddetnithipartJelt ls." henitall Screen Tests/A was a piece tueecaltetUSeeet(f tJrebelionNee tagetaintstteietedegenerationt tek,t N.Y1', Hotelti walkitngroundviee, t0 E'.andesayingeyee 54th St, eoek NI Diary performance SMSAtodiwntA"c-e, ,Neet read 2140 e IItItttR etYtREBGrsE 1965, entitled Screen TestPoems, in which Malanga verses to screen tests of womenwhile they were projectedon three screens the lack of distinctionbetween image and FIG. 7 AllenGinsberg (upper right) as featuredin ClevelandAmory, Earl (and Blackwell,and MarianProbst, eds., CelebrityRegister: An Irreverent reality implied by such an arrangementhas parallels in of AmericanQuotable Notables (New York: and Row, Compendium Harper in the was, in turn, 1963),240, 105/s x 8 inches(page), poems book).27 Malanga'sperformance very probablyderived from events such as an early 1965 Portraits and texts are brought together in Screen Tests/ partyat the homeof Sally Kirkland(then the fashioneditor of A Diary in ways similar to severalpopular publications, such Life magazine), where The ThirteenMost Beautiful Women as a fascinating"who's who" of the famous,entitled Celebrity (one of which pictured Kirkland'sdaughter, Sally Kirkland, Register (first issued in 1959), which also combines head the actress) were projectedsimultaneously on three walls.28 shotswith biographicalsketches that often offerbits of gossip (The viewing of screen tests, like their production,was often about celebrities.23 The 1963 edition of CelebrityRegister enougha social event.) includesamong its over2,800 names the poet Allen Ginsberg An additional, but less obvious, social exchangethat (fig. 7), who appears in Malangaand Warhol'sbook as well shouldbe regardedas part of the ScreenTests/A Diary collab- (fig. 8) (andwho, in his strongrelationship with the media- orationoccurred in the legal sphere. In orderfor a portraitto along with that of his Beat colleague -was an be included in this compendiumof faces, the personpictured important immediate forebear of Warhol).24 Ginsberg's had to sign a photograph-releaseform. Failure to secure a screen test was also featuredin the Warholfilm Fifty Fantas- signaturemeant revising the book, and a few revisionswere tics and Fifty Personalities(1964-65), the title of which is, of made.29 In one instance, Malanga had hoped to put Bob course, whollyin the spirit (and partly a parody)of compila- Dylan's portraitin Screen Tests/ADiary, but was unable to tions such as CelebrityRegister (itself somewhatparodic in procure the necessary signature from Dylan's manager,30 tone).25 probablyon accountof the antagonisticrelations that existed As collections of people, Fifty Fantastics and the two between Dylan and Warhol (which became part of each Most Beautiful films are important precursors to Screen Tests/ artist'spublic identity). A Diary. The potential psychological impact of scale and Although the selection process, when it was not im- duration(around four minutes per portrait) of the screen tests, peded by such hostility regarding image ownership, seems to when projected, was undoubtedly somewhat diminished have been Malanga's domain, Warhol was not entirely aloof to when the images were transformedinto still photographsfor his assistant's choices. He apparently asked Malanga to the book. Whatwe gain, in exchange, is a considerablymore include a few specific images in Screen Tests/ADiary-those accessible, tangible collection of faces. of Warhol's friend, the art critic, curator, and early supporter

WINTER1993 We arekept cold, sometimes, while advicelasts in the miraculousreflection of so much that is to come in our lives. The friendshad not expectedthat theheadlightsawould be like this to discoverthe road markingsnot to crosson the sharp turns,and dreamsmight occurinto something for life, the fear dismantled to be the deceptionwhich surrounds us for thewhite rose growing restlesslyas the sun light reappearsafter night fall, exalting the impossibilityof the peace formulain our time we may never achieve. 8/26/66

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FIG. 8 GerardMalanga and AndyWarhol, "Allen Ginsberg," Screen Tests/A Diary, No. 19 (NewYork: Kulchur Press, 19671 x inches(pagel 91V56 7, of Pop art, Henry Geldzahler,and Warhol"superstar" Ultra langa has claimed that this omission was inadvertent.33Yet Violet. But Malangaomitted both Geldzahlerand Ultra Vio- Warholdoes figure in the manuscript of the book.34 Who let from the volume. He later explained: decided to exclude him from the final productremains un- clear, but this seems likely to be another case in which I had to be inspiredby the peopleI was writingpoems about. artistic choice can be equated with social discord. S. . So I wasrit inspiredto write a poem to Ultra, I wasrdt Malanga'srepeated allusions, in his verses, to conflict inspiredto write a poem to HenryGeldzahler. Henry was very among friends, especially in his recurring reference to insulted that he was not included.He thoughtjust becauseof "swappeddestinies" (seefig. 1), is an anxious characteriza- his associationwith Andy, and thatAndy and werecoauthors l tion of his social world, in which the sense of affiliation of the book, that he was going to be included.But I'm the one broughtabout by being in the "familyphoto" means, on the that's writing the poems, and if I'm not inspiredto write a negative side, conflict, jealousies, competitiverelationships poemabout Henry, thenHenry's not going to be in the book .... (such as with Billy Name, to whomMalanga writes, "andwhy Otherthan maybeUltra and Henrybeing suggested byAndy, is there analogy / between two types of being") and finally, Andy really didrn'tsuggest anyoneelse.31 perpetualinstability. It is as if Malangawas attemptingthe The divisiveness that contributeddirectly to the content of impossible task of taking controlof his unstable social envi- Screen Tests/ADiary emanatedlargely from Malanga'srela- ronmentby articulatingit. tionship with Warhol,which was in fact markedby conflict The fact that Screen Tests/ADiary is largely about throughoutmuch of 1966. The tensions between them are Malanga'sresponses to this environment,and is by both alluded to, obliquely, in a few of the poems, as in the Malangaand Warhol(in additionto the individualswho sat concludinglines of the verse that accompanies the poet Ted for their screen tests), partly explains its omission from Berrigan'sportrait: "I am temptedmost not to returnhome/or studies of Warhol'sart.35 True, anothercollaborative book to hate anothernature. But I don't.I do."32 Warholproduced around the same time does figure in some Such hostile feelings may explain the conspicuous overviewsof the artist'swork-namely, a: a novel(published omission of Warholhimself from Screen Tests/ADiary. Ma- in 1968), which is based on tape-recordedconversation pri-

ART JOURNAL marily with Robert Olivo, also known as "Ondine";but a, Quarterly 20 (Fall 1966): 38. The individuals who figure in The Thirteen Most Women one version; there have been are listed in Priscilla unlike Screen Tests/ADiary, was initiated Warhol,and Beautiful (in may others) by Tucker,"13 Most Beautiful ... ,"New YorkHerald Tribune, late city ed., January10, only his name appearson the title page, as "author."Warhol, 1965, 2:3. The makeup of The Thirteen Most Beautiful Boys remains to be determined. of course, verymuch enjoyed playing such authorshipgames. 19. See Andy Warholand Pat Hackett, POPism: The Warhol'60s (NewYork: Harcourt Yet we still have much to learn about the openly human, Brace Jovanovich,1980), 26. unidealized nature of his and his associates' activities as 20. On Menken'sfilm, Notebook(1962-63), see Sheldon Renan, An Introductionto the American UndergroundFilm (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1967), 171. Several collaborators,as well as aboutthe light these activities might discussions of Mekas's film diaries are found in David E. James, ed., ToFree the cast on the dynamic connections between art and social Cinema: Jonas Mekas and the New YorkUnderground (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton UniversityPress, 1992). For Warhol'sassessments of his associations with Menken, interactionthat exist throughouthistory. Mekas, and Maas, see Warholand Hackett, POPism, 25-26, 47-50. 21. An excellent of the "film is in David E. Notes study poem" found James, Allegoriesof Cinema:American Film in the Sixties (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton UniversityPress, I developedsome of the ideas in this article while I was an AndrewW. MellonFaculty 1988), 29-32. Fellowat HarvardUniversity in 1990-91, and I am gratefulfor the supportI received 22. Malanga, telephone interview by the author, August 27, 1990, tape recording. from several members of this institution. For their generous assistance with my 23. The lineage of CelebrityRegister, as well as of Screen Tests/ADiary, can be traced research, I would also like to thank Callie Angell, Bill Berkson, Vincent Fremont, to collections of texts accompanied by engravedportraits and, beginning in the mid- Heloise Goodman, Lita Hornick, Tim Hunt, Terry Irwin, MargeryKing, Gerard nineteenth century, photographs of "celebrities," such as Charles Perrault's Malanga, Billy Name, Ron Padgett, Faith Ward, Richard Wendorf,and Matthew Les Hommes illustres and the Galerie Wrbican. (1696) contemporaine,litt6raire, artistique (1876-84). 1. Poets and Painters, exh. cat. (Denver: Denver Art Museum, 1979); and David 24. The extensive media coverageof the Beats was a subject of commentaryby the late Shapiro,"Art as Collaboration:Toward a Theoryof Pluralist Aesthetics, 1950-1980," 1950s; see, forexample, Paul O'Neil, "TheOnly Rebellion Around,"Life 47 (Novem- in Cynthia Jaffee McCabe,Artistic Collaborationin the TwentiethCentury, exh. cat. ber 30, 1959), in ThomasParkinson, ed., A Casebookon the Beat (NewYork: Thomas (Washington,D.C.: SmithsonianInstitution Press, 1984), 45-62. But see RobertC. Y. Crowell, 1961), 234. Hobbs, "RewritingHistory: Artistic Collaborationsince 1960," in ibid., 71, for a 25. The number of screen tests in Fifty Fantastics and Fifty Personalities, which considerationof Warhol'scentral role in the recent history of collaboration more 66 possibly existed in more than one variation, remains to be determined. generally. 26. Warholand Hackett, POPism, 151. 2. The alphabetical arrangementby name and the focus on portraiturein ScreenTests/ 27. Screen Test Poems is described in Gregg Barrios, "Introductionto Gerard A Diary are foreshadowedin A Is an Alphabet (1953), with texts by Ralph (Corkie) Malanga, Poet and Filmmaker,"typewritten ms. (1967), 3, Archives Malanga,Great Ward, one of the collaborativebooks that Warholproduced while pursuing a career Barrington,Mass. during the 1950s primarily in commercial art. 28. This screening is described in Priscilla Tucker,"13 MostBeautiful ,"3. Such 3. See StephenKoch, Stargazer:The Life, Worldand Films ofAndy Warhol,3rd ed., ... multiple projections foreshadow the more familiar audiovisual presentations of rev. (New York:Marion Boyars Publishers, 1991), 45; but for a differentaccount, see Warhol'srock band, . ibid., 9-11. Each screen test was filmed using a 100-foot reel of 16-mm film, and 29. Michel Foucault, in his influential discussions of the "author-function,"urged filmed at 24 frames per second but projectedat 16 frames per second; the durationof a readers to examine not only the content and aesthetic innovationsof texts, but also projected screen test is aroundfour minutes, ten seconds. their circulation within society, particularly the legal aspects of circulation; such 4. "Portraitsand Repetition," in Lectures in America (New York:Random House, legal concerns might be extended to include the collaborative process considered 1935), 187; see also ibid., 176-77, 179, 198. On the relationship of silkscreen here. Foucault makes his case in, for example, "What Is an Author?"in Josu, V. portraitsby Warholto Stein's work, see WendySteiner, Pictures of Romance:Form Harari, ed., intro., and trans., TextualStrategies: Perspectives in Post-Structuralist against Contextin Painting and Literature(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, Criticism (Ithaca, Cornell Press, 1979), 141-60. Warholhad 1988), 176-78. N.Y.: University spe- cified in a contractualletter to KulchurPress of January10, 1967, that the screen-test 5. On this often-noted facet of the diary genre, see esp. Felicity A. Nussbaum, stills were his property,and that, while the publisherwas permittedto copyrightthem, "TowardsConceptualizing Diary," in JamesOlney, ed., Studiesin Autobiography(New future rights to the pictures were to revert to Warhol;Kulchur Press Papers, Rare York:Oxford University Press, 1988), 128-40. Book and ManuscriptLibrary, Columbia University, New York. 6. Lita Hornick, The GreenFuse: A Memoir(New York:Giorno Poetry Systems, 1989), 30. Malanga, interviewby the author, New York,August 15, 1989, tape recording. 42; Hornickwas the publisherof Screen Tests/ADiary. Malanga's testimony is corroboratedby the appearance of Dylan's name on the 7. GerardMalanga, telephoneinterview with the author,July 25, 1990, tape record- contents page of the manuscriptof Screen Tests/ADiary; KulchurPress Papers. See ing; Malangarecalled that HarryGantt, who is listed on the copyrightpage of Screen also, on Malanga'sdifficulties in obtaining a few signatures, his note of September Tests/ADiary as the printerof the book, was unable to find someonewho could printon 24, 1966, in "FromThe Secret Diaries," in Anne Waldman,ed., Outof This World:An acetate and thus selected the substitute semitransparentpaper. Anthologyof the St. MarksPoetry Project, 1966-1991 (New York:Crown Publishers, 8. The TennisCourt Oath (Middletown,Conn.: WesleyanUniversity Press, 1962), 11. 1991), 288. 9. Malanga'sappropriations of Ashbery and otherpoets were inspired above all by his 31. Malanga, interview by the author, New York, August 15, 1989, tape recording. friend, the poet Ted Berrigan, who, for example, in "PersonalPoem #7," recorded 32. Malangahas indicated that these lines referto Warhol;telephone interview by the (amusingly)that he "Madelists of lines to/steal" after reading Ashbery's"How Much author,July 25, 1990, tape recording. On the conflicts amongMalanga, Warhol, and LongerWill I Be Able to Inhabit the Divine Sepulcher";see Berrigan,Many Happy Geldzahler 1966, see Victor Bockris, The and Death ofAndy Warhol(New Returns(New York:Corinth Books, 1969), 7. during Life York:Bantam Books, 1989), 198-99; and Warholand Hackett, POPism, 193-96. 10. In fact, Malanga's "The Rubber Heart: A One-Act Soap Opera," a largely 33. interview the author, 25, 1990, tape recording. work, was in a co-edited Art and Malanga, telephone by July appropriated published journal by Ashbery; name Literature9 172-91. 34. Warhol's appears on both the contents page and on a page marked (Summer1966): "Andy/44,"indicating that a poem to Warholand his screen test were to have been 11. On Warhol'suse of the vanitas see Trevor in motif, Fairbrother,"Skulls," Gary numberforty-four in the book; KulchurPress Papers. The Work Warhol 93-114. Garrels, ed., of Andy (Seattle: Bay Press, 1989), 35. Dan Cameronhas dismissed altogetherthe study of Warhol'scollaborations, on 12. William "On forOne's Picture," ThePlain in P P Hazlitt, Sitting Speaker(1826), the assumption that these were a formof exploitationinvolving unequal partners, in Works 12:107-8. Howe, ed., Complete (London:Dent, 1931), "AgainstCollaboration," Arts Magazine 58 (March1984): 83. However,if exploitation 13. Interview PatrickS. Smith, November15,1978, in Warhol'sArtand by idem, Andy existed, it was usually on both sides, while the blanket dismissal of Warhol'smany Films Arbor: UMI Research 457. (Ann Press, 1986), collaboratorsis, in my view, a misunderstandingof his work(which might be called 14. for the Harold "Portraits:A See, example, exceptional essay by Rosenberg, "work the of on in Avedon:Portraits York: Straus and as social serving to perpetuate neglect as Meditation Likeness," Richard (New Farrar, Screen Tests/ADiary. exchange"), The routine omission of collaborationsfrom projects major studies such of n. Giroux, 1976), p. in 15. An interviewwith Warholof March3, 1965, during which he filmed a screen test individualartists or writersis cogently discussed ThomasJensen Hines, Collabora- tive Form:Studies in Relationsof the Arts (Kent, Ohio: Kent State UniversityPress, of Ted includes a record of how he orchestratedsuch Berrigan, fascinating filmings; 1991), 11-12. see David Ehrenstein, "An Interviewwith Andy Warhol,"Film Culture40 (Spring 1966): 41. "Fixer des en 16. For an exposition of this viewpoint, see Yann Beauvais, images REVA WOLF,assistant professorof fine arts at Boston in Cinema Editions CarrY, 102. mouvement," Andy Warhol, (Paris: 1990), a on Warhol'sassociations 17. The New Bohemia: The CombineGeneration (New York:Shorecrest, 1966), 94. College, is currently writing book 18. James Stoller, "BeyondCinema: Notes on Some Films by Andy Warhol,"Film with poets in the 1960s for Universityof Chicago Press.

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