ON IMITATING ANDY WARHOL

Well, they liked him better than they would have me.

—Andy Warhol

Allen Midgette: I spent the night at Paul’s apartment. The next morning, we get into a taxi. Nothing’s been planned, you have to understand. So I said, “You’d better stop at a pharmacy, and I’ll get some makeup.” I buy the lightest shade of Erase, Max Factor, and just smear it on until it’s so thick it’s almost dripping … Then I have talcum powder, and hairspray. I spray my hair silver, in the cab, in this tiny mirror. And I put the talcum powder over the silver hair spray. I’ve got Andy’s black leather jacket on already, and the sunglasses. So we go down to the Silver Factory to get the film that we’re going to show, and Billy is just waking up, and comes from the back and he sees me. He thinks at first that it’s Andy. That was great for me, because if I could fool Billy for even a second! … When we got to the airport, I bought a Pan Am bag, and a Vogue magazine that had Jackie O on the cover. I was thinking, “God, if this plane crashes, no one will know that I died!” Well, it didn’t crash. We arrive in Rochester, and it’s one of those clear, autumnal days. We’re walking down the street, a little early for the lecture. I’m checking myself out in the store window. And I’m thinking, “This doesn’t look so bad.” Suddenly, Paul turns to me and says, “Andy—” Then he catches himself.

* * *

Allen Midgette really did look enough like the ephemeral Warhol when he dressed the part. He was better than a look-alike, because he even sounded like Warhol … but why was Warhol sending Allen around to pose as him? According to biographer Victor Bockris, “The typical Warhol road show included segments of his most boring and worst film, ‘The 24 Hour Movie.’ After which Paul the professor would put down art films and hippies, and Viva would rant, “We make these movies because it’s fun, especially the dirty parts.” Warhol, togged out in leather jacket would remain totally passive, saying nothing. The audience would respond appropriately by becoming hostile, hissing and booing. They hated all of them, but were especially disgusted with the non-communicative Andy … Accommodating actor Allen Midgette, in his capacity as Warhol’s stand-in, never worked harder at Improv.

* * *

Allen Midgette: We get into this basketball gymnasium and students are coming in. I had never seen this film before. So first, I have to watch it, because they’re going to ask me questions about this damn movie. And the movie was basically somebody asking, “Have you ever smoked or taken drugs?” And people saying, “Yeah, I smoke it all the time.” Nothing too clever, to be honest … so the movie’s over and I come up to the podium, and the first question is, “Mr. Warhol, why do you have so much makeup on?” Then, “Mr. Warhol, are you homosexual?” And I thought, well, if I were speaking for myself it would be one thing. But I’m not Andy Warhol, either. So I said, without hesitating, “No.” And you could hear a pin drop. It was like, “Why would you look like that if you’re not completely gay and out of your mind?!” Suddenly, there’s this revolutionary type, beard, long black hair, dark glasses. And he sits in the front, lotus position, and says, “When I saw this movie I thought it was a piece of shit, but after hearing you talk about it, it’s really interesting.” Now I’m thinking, “Oh my God, what am I getting into here? I’m convincing people who don’t like something, that it’s actually quite good!” Then this TV crew comes in, and they want an interview. Oh my God, maybe I’m committing some kind of crime! Finally, we get out of there, and Paul says, “We have to go to a cocktail party.” And I’m, “Now wait, Paul.” To boot, I’m going to the house of one of the art professors who’s met Andy before, and he’s going to present me with a drawing he did of Andy. I get to the house, he presents me with this drawing, which looks exactly like Andy. And he still doesn’t know! It shows you how the mind works—nobody knows anybody. By now I am saying, “Paul! Get me out of here!” Then the students arrive. One brought me this poster, a guy kissing a girl, the scene from the movie of me and Susan Bottomly, which had become a famous photograph. And he said, “My girlfriend thinks this is you and her.” So, as Andy, I signed it. That was the Rochester trip. I don’t know if you want me to do another …

* * *

Oh my God, please no! By this time we were too stoned from Allen’s casual toking to even continue filming. I seem to remember room service making frequent snack and fizzy drink deliveries. Fun! The Chelsea Hotel was still its charming and eccentric self, but, sadly, the scaffolding had gone up and the writing was literally on the wall. We took our leave. A few days later, we headed for California, where Louis Waldon had his own Allen Midgette story …

Allen channels Andy. The actor even mimicked Warhol’s distinctive voice perfectly, fooling quite a number of university folk, who were understandably outraged (and embarrassed) when the revelation came out in Time and Newsweek. (Photo: Billy Name)

To deflect possible lawsuits for fraud, Andy was obliged to go back to all those schools and bravely face a firing squad of disgruntled students and professors. He could have cared less. As Mickey Ruskin of Max’s would say, “Oh, fuck ’em if they can’t take a joke.” (Photo: Nat Finkelstein)

Allen as an actor, starring in ****, also known as ‘Four Stars,’ also known as ‘The Twenty-Four Hour Movie.’ (1966/67) (Photo: Billy Name)

Andy, starring as himself. Although he was reluctant to appear in front of the camera, Louis Waldon contends that Andy “really wanted to be a famous personality.” (Photo: Billy Name)

Louis Waldon: ‘Andy’ (Allen Midgette) was traveling around doing universities at that time. While we were down in Santa Barbara filming ‘Surf’s Up.’ ‘Andy’ would be talking and showing his movies. Viva would talk, and Allen would play Andy. They caught up with him in Oregon. Allen was out there with someone who had known Andy. He saw Allen up close and said, “You’re not Andy Warhol.” Started yelling really loud in the audience, “That’s not Andy Warhol—that’s a fake!” Allen just backed off and kept quiet … But Allen could talk. He could imitate. He’s an actor, a good actor. He could imitate Andy really well. He looked like him, but much better looking. He made Andy look really good. In fact, I’d love for him to come out if I did a show. I’d love for him to come out and play Andy at the show.

Interviewer Aaron Sloan

Andy, how many college tours do you do a year?

Andy Warhol

Oh, we did about fifty this year.

* * *

According to Louis Waldon, when Allen Midgette was finally outed in the press, Warhol told the New York Post, “Well, they liked him better than they would have me.” We interviewed Louis on his ramshackle rented sailboat, docked in Marina Del Rey, California, the ‘Old Man and the Sea’ sort of, though I’m not sure if it ever moved out of the harbor. He was living the bachelor life (we noted the dishes piled in the sink), rocking serenely on the water, a dream he’d had since shooting ‘San Diego Surf’ with Warhol in 1968 … Louis became an increasingly important person to Warhol in the late sixties, interceding for frustrated Family members, and basically being a heterosexual bar-hopping buddy for Warhol, who was still nervous about his homosexuality. Louis will be missed by his friends. He was charming, funny, very frank, and happy to share with us the secret of his post-Warhol success: making silk screen copies of Warhol’s most famous art works, using the original silk screens from the Factory … Louis’ choice of career did seem ironic, in light of the fact that he—like most of the other Factory members—had always refused Warhol’s art as payment for their work, since, as he said, “Warhol’s own work at that time wasn’t selling for more than two or three hundred dollars a painting.” On another ironic note, Warhol convinced one of his secretaries to accept a self-portrait in lieu of payment. She kept it in her closet for decades, and then recently auctioned it for over $6 million. So Louis’ philosophy no doubt harked back to Marshall McLuhan, who once wrote, “Art is anything you can get away with.”

“It’s so easy!” Andy & Gerard churn out bananas & portraits. (Photo: Billy Name)