The Factory
Encyclopedia
The Factory was Andy Warhol
's original New York City studio from 1962 to 1968, although his later studios were known as The Factory as well. The Factory was located on the fifth floor at 231 East 47th Street
, in Midtown Manhattan
. The rent was "only about one hundred dollars a year". The building no longer exists.
users, and the Warhol superstar
s. It was famed for its groundbreaking parties. In the studio, Warhol's workers would make silkscreens and lithographs. In 1968, Andy moved the Factory to the sixth floor of the Decker Building
, 33 Union Square West, near Max's Kansas City
, a club Warhol and his entourage would frequently visit.
Speaking in 2002, John Cale
said "It wasn't called the Factory for nothing. It was where the assembly line
for the silkscreens happened. While one person was making a silkscreen, somebody else would be filming a screen test. Every day something new."
By the time Warhol had become famous, he was working day and night on his paintings. To create his art, Warhol used silkscreens so that he could mass-produce images the way capitalist corporations mass produce consumer goods. In order to continue working the way he did, he assembled a menagerie of adult film performers, drag queens, socialites, drug addicts, musicians, and free-thinkers that became known as the Warhol Superstar
s, to help him. These "art-workers" helped him create his paintings, starred in his films, and basically developed the atmosphere for which the Factory became legendary.
, who was also the in-house photographer at the Factory. Warhol would often bring in silver balloons to drift around the ceiling.
Upon visiting Billy Name's apartment, which had been decorated in a similar manner, Warhol fell in love with the idea and asked him to do the same for his recently leased loft. The silver represented the decadence of the scene, as well as the proto-glam of the early sixties. Silver, fractured mirrors, and tin foil were the basic decorating materials loved by the early amphetamine users of the sixties. Billy Name was the perfect person to take this style and cover the whole factory, even the elevator. By combining the industrial structure of the unfurnished studio with the glitter of silver and what it represented, Warhol was commenting on American values, as he did so often in his art. The years spent at the Factory were known as the Silver Era, not solely because of the design, but because of the decadent and carefree lifestyle full of money, parties, drugs and fame.
Aside from his two-dimensional art, Andy also used the Factory as a base to make shoes, films, commissions, sculptures and just about everything else that the Warhol name could be attached to and sold. His first commissions consisted of a single silkscreen portrait for $25,000, with additional canvases in other colors for $5,000 each. He later made that $20,000. Warhol used a large portion of his income to finance the lifestyle of his Factory friends, practically showering them with resources.
, Bob Dylan
, Truman Capote
and Mick Jagger
. Other, less frequent visitors included Salvador Dalí
and Allen Ginsberg
. Warhol collaborated with Reed's influential New York rock
band The Velvet Underground
in 1965, and designed the famous cover for The Velvet Underground & Nico, the band's debut album. The album cover consisted of a plastic yellow banana that the listener could actually peel off to reveal a flesh-hued version of the banana. Warhol also designed the album cover for The Rolling Stones
' album Sticky Fingers
.
Warhol included the Velvet Underground in the Exploding Plastic Inevitable
, a spectacle that combined art, rock, Warhol films and dancers of all kinds, as well as live S&M enactments and imagery. The Velvet Underground and EPI used the Factory as a place to rehearse, though the definition of "rehearsal" should only be taken loosely.
"Walk on the Wild Side", Lou Reed's best known song from his solo career, was released on his first commercially successful solo album Transformer
. The song is about the superstars
he hung out with at the Factory. He mentions Holly Woodlawn
, Candy Darling
, Joe Dallesandro
, Jackie Curtis
and Joe Campbell (referred to in the song by his Factory nickname Sugar Plum Fairy).
characters appear in some form in almost all of his work filmed at the Silver Factory. Considered socially unacceptable, even appalling at the time, theaters showing his underground films were sometimes raided and the staff arrested for obscenity.
However, by making the films, Warhol created a sexually lenient environment at the Factory for the happenings that they staged, such as fake drag weddings, porn theater rentals, and vulgar plays. A large amount of free love
took place in the scene, as sexuality in the 1960s was becoming more open. Sex was practically a must for anyone hanging around, and was encouraged by Warhol, who used footage of sexual acts between his friends in his work.
Also part of 'the scene' at the factory were famous drag queens such as Holly Woodlawn
and Jackie Curtis
, and the transgendered Candy Darling
. As an artist, Andy Warhol frequently used these women and other sexual non-conformists in his films, plays, and on-goings.
Because of the constant drug use and the presence of sexually liberal artists and radicals, drugged orgies were a frequent happening at the Factory. Andy met Ondine
at an orgy
in 1962.
Ondine "I was at an orgy, and [Warhol] was, ah, this great presence in the back of the room. And this orgy was run by a friend of mine, and, so, I said to this person, 'Would you please mind throwing that thing [Warhol] out of here?' And that thing was thrown out of there, and when he came up to me the next time, he said to me, 'Nobody has ever thrown me out of a party.' He said, 'You know? Don't you know who I am?' And I said, 'Well, I don't give a good flying fuck who you are. You just weren't there. You weren't involved...'"
. During its stay at the Factory, the couch became a focal point for many photographs and films from the Silver era, including Couch and Blow Job
. It was stolen in 1968 during the move when they left it on the sidewalk for a short while.
Friends of Warhol and superstars who hung around the Factory include Edie Sedgwick
, Gerard Malanga
, Ondine
, Ivy Nicholson, Ingrid Superstar, Anita Pallenberg
, Nico
, The Velvet Underground
(Lou Reed
, Sterling Morrison
, Maureen Tucker
, and John Cale
), Johnny Conflict, Candy Darling
, Jeremiah Newton, Jim Morrison
, Jackie Curtis
, Gage Henrich, Frank Holliday
, Holly Woodlawn
, Viva
, Billy Name
, Rotten Rita
, Freddie Herko
, Mario Montez
, Brian Jones
, Mick Jagger
, Noelle Wolf, Joe Dallesandro
, Naomi Levine
, Joe Dro, Paul Morrissey
, Stephen Shore
, Betsey Johnson
, Truman Capote
, Becky D, Fernando Arrabal
, Taylor Mead
, Mary Woronov
, Ronnie Cutrone
, Jane Forth, Lenny Dahl, Neke Carson, Baby Jane Holzer, Ultra Violet, Brigid Polk, Rickpat F, Paul America
, Penny Arcade
, Bobby Driscoll
, Herbert Muschamp
Peter Gramlique, and John Giorno
, Brigid Berlin
, Danny Williams, Chuck Wein, William Burroughs, Ulli Lommel
, although there were many other visitors as well.
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
Later movies were filmed away from the Factory, or in another one of Warhol's New York apartments.
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
's original New York City studio from 1962 to 1968, although his later studios were known as The Factory as well. The Factory was located on the fifth floor at 231 East 47th Street
47th Street (Manhattan)
47th Street is an east-west running street between First Avenue and the West Side Highway in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. Traffic runs one way along the street, from east to west, starting at the United Nations Headquarters....
, in Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan, or simply Midtown, is an area of Manhattan, New York City home to world-famous commercial zones such as Rockefeller Center, Broadway, and Times Square...
. The rent was "only about one hundred dollars a year". The building no longer exists.
The studio
The Factory was the hip hangout for artsy types, amphetamineAmphetamine
Amphetamine or amfetamine is a psychostimulant drug of the phenethylamine class which produces increased wakefulness and focus in association with decreased fatigue and appetite.Brand names of medications that contain, or metabolize into, amphetamine include Adderall, Dexedrine, Dextrostat,...
users, and the Warhol superstar
Warhol superstar
Warhol superstars were a clique of New York City personalities promoted by Andy Warhol during the 1960s and early 1970s. These personalities appeared in Warhol's artworks and accompanied him in his social life...
s. It was famed for its groundbreaking parties. In the studio, Warhol's workers would make silkscreens and lithographs. In 1968, Andy moved the Factory to the sixth floor of the Decker Building
Decker Building
The Decker Building, periodically also named the Union Building, located at 33 Union Square West in Manhattan, New York City was built in 1892 for the Decker Brothers piano company, to designs by the radical anarchist architect John H. Edelmann, working in the office of Alfred Zucker...
, 33 Union Square West, near Max's Kansas City
Max's Kansas City
Max's Kansas City was a nightclub and restaurant at 213 Park Avenue South, in New York City, which was a gathering spot for musicians, poets, artists and politicians in the 1960s and 1970s.-Origin of name:...
, a club Warhol and his entourage would frequently visit.
Speaking in 2002, John Cale
John Cale
John Davies Cale, OBE is a Welsh musician, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground....
said "It wasn't called the Factory for nothing. It was where the assembly line
Assembly line
An assembly line is a manufacturing process in which parts are added to a product in a sequential manner using optimally planned logistics to create a finished product much faster than with handcrafting-type methods...
for the silkscreens happened. While one person was making a silkscreen, somebody else would be filming a screen test. Every day something new."
By the time Warhol had become famous, he was working day and night on his paintings. To create his art, Warhol used silkscreens so that he could mass-produce images the way capitalist corporations mass produce consumer goods. In order to continue working the way he did, he assembled a menagerie of adult film performers, drag queens, socialites, drug addicts, musicians, and free-thinkers that became known as the Warhol Superstar
Warhol superstar
Warhol superstars were a clique of New York City personalities promoted by Andy Warhol during the 1960s and early 1970s. These personalities appeared in Warhol's artworks and accompanied him in his social life...
s, to help him. These "art-workers" helped him create his paintings, starred in his films, and basically developed the atmosphere for which the Factory became legendary.
The Silver Factory
The original Factory was often referred to by those who frequented it as the Silver Factory. Covered with tin foil and silver paint, the Factory was decorated by Warhol's friend Billy NameBilly Name
Billy Name, , is an American photographer, filmmaker and lighting designer. He was the archivist of the Warhol Factory, from 1964 to 1970. His brief romance and subsequent friendship with Andy Warhol led to substantial collaboration on Warhol's work, including his films, paintings and sculpture...
, who was also the in-house photographer at the Factory. Warhol would often bring in silver balloons to drift around the ceiling.
Upon visiting Billy Name's apartment, which had been decorated in a similar manner, Warhol fell in love with the idea and asked him to do the same for his recently leased loft. The silver represented the decadence of the scene, as well as the proto-glam of the early sixties. Silver, fractured mirrors, and tin foil were the basic decorating materials loved by the early amphetamine users of the sixties. Billy Name was the perfect person to take this style and cover the whole factory, even the elevator. By combining the industrial structure of the unfurnished studio with the glitter of silver and what it represented, Warhol was commenting on American values, as he did so often in his art. The years spent at the Factory were known as the Silver Era, not solely because of the design, but because of the decadent and carefree lifestyle full of money, parties, drugs and fame.
Aside from his two-dimensional art, Andy also used the Factory as a base to make shoes, films, commissions, sculptures and just about everything else that the Warhol name could be attached to and sold. His first commissions consisted of a single silkscreen portrait for $25,000, with additional canvases in other colors for $5,000 each. He later made that $20,000. Warhol used a large portion of his income to finance the lifestyle of his Factory friends, practically showering them with resources.
Music in the Factory
The Factory became a meeting place of artists and musicians such as Lou ReedLou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
, Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, Truman Capote
Truman Capote
Truman Streckfus Persons , known as Truman Capote , was an American author, many of whose short stories, novels, plays, and nonfiction are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's and the true crime novel In Cold Blood , which he labeled a "nonfiction novel." At...
and Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
. Other, less frequent visitors included Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
and Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
. Warhol collaborated with Reed's influential New York rock
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
band The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City. First active from 1964 to 1973, their best-known members were Lou Reed and John Cale, who both went on to find success as solo artists. Although experiencing little commercial success while together, the band is often cited...
in 1965, and designed the famous cover for The Velvet Underground & Nico, the band's debut album. The album cover consisted of a plastic yellow banana that the listener could actually peel off to reveal a flesh-hued version of the banana. Warhol also designed the album cover for The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
' album Sticky Fingers
Sticky Fingers
-Personnel:The Rolling Stones*Mick Jagger – lead vocals, acoustic guitar on "Dead Flowers", electric guitar on "Sway", percussion*Keith Richards – electric guitar, six & twelve string acoustic guitar, backing vocals...
.
Warhol included the Velvet Underground in the Exploding Plastic Inevitable
Exploding Plastic Inevitable
The Exploding Plastic Inevitable, sometimes simply called Plastic Inevitable or EPI, was a series of multimedia events organized by Andy Warhol between 1966 and 1967, featuring musical performances by The Velvet Underground and Nico, screenings of Warhol's films, and dancing and performances by...
, a spectacle that combined art, rock, Warhol films and dancers of all kinds, as well as live S&M enactments and imagery. The Velvet Underground and EPI used the Factory as a place to rehearse, though the definition of "rehearsal" should only be taken loosely.
"Walk on the Wild Side", Lou Reed's best known song from his solo career, was released on his first commercially successful solo album Transformer
Transformer (album)
Transformer is the second studio album by American rock musician Lou Reed, released in November 1972.-Background:Unlike its predecessor, Lou Reed, eight songs of which were written during his Velvet Underground days, Transformer contains mainly new material...
. The song is about the superstars
Warhol superstar
Warhol superstars were a clique of New York City personalities promoted by Andy Warhol during the 1960s and early 1970s. These personalities appeared in Warhol's artworks and accompanied him in his social life...
he hung out with at the Factory. He mentions Holly Woodlawn
Holly Woodlawn
Holly Woodlawn is a Puerto Rican-born transgendered actress and former Warhol superstar, who appeared in his movies Trash and Women in Revolt .-Early life:...
, Candy Darling
Candy Darling
Candy Darling was an American actress, best known as a Warhol Superstar. A male-to-female transsexual, she starred in Andy Warhol's films Flesh and Women in Revolt , and was a muse of the protopunk band The Velvet Underground.-Early life:Candy Darling was born James Lawrence Slattery in Forest...
, Joe Dallesandro
Joe Dallesandro
Joseph Angelo D'Allesandro , better known as Joe Dallesandro, is an American actor, and Warhol superstar. Although he never became a mainstream film star, Dallesandro is generally considered to be the most famous male sex symbol of American underground films of the 20th century, as well as a sex...
, Jackie Curtis
Jackie Curtis
John Curtis Holder, Jr. , better known as Jackie Curtis, was an actor, writer, singer and Warhol Superstar.-Early life and career:...
and Joe Campbell (referred to in the song by his Factory nickname Sugar Plum Fairy).
Sexual radicals
Andy Warhol commented on mainstream America through his art while disregarding its strict social views. Nudity, graphic sexuality, drug use, same-sex relations and transgenderTransgender
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
characters appear in some form in almost all of his work filmed at the Silver Factory. Considered socially unacceptable, even appalling at the time, theaters showing his underground films were sometimes raided and the staff arrested for obscenity.
However, by making the films, Warhol created a sexually lenient environment at the Factory for the happenings that they staged, such as fake drag weddings, porn theater rentals, and vulgar plays. A large amount of free love
Free love
The term free love has been used to describe a social movement that rejects marriage, which is seen as a form of social bondage. The Free Love movement’s initial goal was to separate the state from sexual matters such as marriage, birth control, and adultery...
took place in the scene, as sexuality in the 1960s was becoming more open. Sex was practically a must for anyone hanging around, and was encouraged by Warhol, who used footage of sexual acts between his friends in his work.
Also part of 'the scene' at the factory were famous drag queens such as Holly Woodlawn
Holly Woodlawn
Holly Woodlawn is a Puerto Rican-born transgendered actress and former Warhol superstar, who appeared in his movies Trash and Women in Revolt .-Early life:...
and Jackie Curtis
Jackie Curtis
John Curtis Holder, Jr. , better known as Jackie Curtis, was an actor, writer, singer and Warhol Superstar.-Early life and career:...
, and the transgendered Candy Darling
Candy Darling
Candy Darling was an American actress, best known as a Warhol Superstar. A male-to-female transsexual, she starred in Andy Warhol's films Flesh and Women in Revolt , and was a muse of the protopunk band The Velvet Underground.-Early life:Candy Darling was born James Lawrence Slattery in Forest...
. As an artist, Andy Warhol frequently used these women and other sexual non-conformists in his films, plays, and on-goings.
Because of the constant drug use and the presence of sexually liberal artists and radicals, drugged orgies were a frequent happening at the Factory. Andy met Ondine
Ondine (actor)
Robert Olivo aka Ondine was an American actor. He is best known for appearing in a series of films in the mid-1960s by Andy Warhol, whom he claimed to have met in 1961 at an orgy....
at an orgy
Orgy
In modern usage, an orgy is a sex party where guests engage in promiscuous or multifarious sexual activity or group sex. An orgy is similar to debauchery, which refers to excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures....
in 1962.
Ondine "I was at an orgy, and [Warhol] was, ah, this great presence in the back of the room. And this orgy was run by a friend of mine, and, so, I said to this person, 'Would you please mind throwing that thing [Warhol] out of here?' And that thing was thrown out of there, and when he came up to me the next time, he said to me, 'Nobody has ever thrown me out of a party.' He said, 'You know? Don't you know who I am?' And I said, 'Well, I don't give a good flying fuck who you are. You just weren't there. You weren't involved...'"
The couch
Not only was Billy Name responsible for the silver look of the Factory, but he also found The Factory's beloved red couch. He discovered it on the sidewalk of 47th street during one of his "midnight outings." He dragged it back to the Factory, where it quickly became a favorite place for Factory guests to crash, usually after coming down from speedAmphetamine
Amphetamine or amfetamine is a psychostimulant drug of the phenethylamine class which produces increased wakefulness and focus in association with decreased fatigue and appetite.Brand names of medications that contain, or metabolize into, amphetamine include Adderall, Dexedrine, Dextrostat,...
. During its stay at the Factory, the couch became a focal point for many photographs and films from the Silver era, including Couch and Blow Job
Blow Job (film)
Blow Job is a silent film, directed by Andy Warhol, that was filmed in January 1964. The 35-minute film is an innovative film, considering the time period. It depicts the face of an uncredited DeVeren Bookwalter as he receives fellatio from an unseen homosexual partner...
. It was stolen in 1968 during the move when they left it on the sidewalk for a short while.
Regulars
Edie Sedgwick
Edith Minturn "Edie" Sedgwick was an American actress, socialite, model and heiress. She is best known for being one of Andy Warhol's superstars. Sedgwick became known as "The Girl of the Year" in 1965 after starring in several of Warhol's short films in the 1960s...
, Gerard Malanga
Gerard Malanga
Gerard Joseph Malanga is an American poet, photographer, filmmaker, curator and archivist.-Early life:Born in the Bronx, New York, Malanga graduated from the School of Industrial Art in Manhattan and attended Wagner College on Staten Island...
, Ondine
Ondine (actor)
Robert Olivo aka Ondine was an American actor. He is best known for appearing in a series of films in the mid-1960s by Andy Warhol, whom he claimed to have met in 1961 at an orgy....
, Ivy Nicholson, Ingrid Superstar, Anita Pallenberg
Anita Pallenberg
Anita Pallenberg is an Italian-born actress, model, and fashion designer. She was the romantic partner of Rolling Stones multi-instrumentalist and guitarist Brian Jones and later the partner of the guitarist of the same band Keith Richards, from 1967 to 1979, by whom she has two surviving...
, Nico
Nico
Nico was a German singer, lyricist, composer, musician, fashion model, and actress, who initially rose to fame as a Warhol Superstar in the 1960s...
, The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City. First active from 1964 to 1973, their best-known members were Lou Reed and John Cale, who both went on to find success as solo artists. Although experiencing little commercial success while together, the band is often cited...
(Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
, Sterling Morrison
Sterling Morrison
Holmes Sterling Morrison, Jr. was one of the founding members of the rock group The Velvet Underground, usually playing electric guitar, occasionally bass guitar, and singing backing vocals.-Biography:...
, Maureen Tucker
Maureen Tucker
Maureen Ann "Moe" Tucker is a musician best known for having been the drummer for the rock group The Velvet Underground.- The Velvet Underground :...
, and John Cale
John Cale
John Davies Cale, OBE is a Welsh musician, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground....
), Johnny Conflict, Candy Darling
Candy Darling
Candy Darling was an American actress, best known as a Warhol Superstar. A male-to-female transsexual, she starred in Andy Warhol's films Flesh and Women in Revolt , and was a muse of the protopunk band The Velvet Underground.-Early life:Candy Darling was born James Lawrence Slattery in Forest...
, Jeremiah Newton, Jim Morrison
Jim Morrison
James Douglas "Jim" Morrison was an American musician, singer, and poet, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band The Doors...
, Jackie Curtis
Jackie Curtis
John Curtis Holder, Jr. , better known as Jackie Curtis, was an actor, writer, singer and Warhol Superstar.-Early life and career:...
, Gage Henrich, Frank Holliday
Frank Holliday
-BIO:Frank Holliday Born 1957, North Carolina, USAis a painter who became known in the New York art world in the 1970s and 1980s and is often associated with the East Village scene....
, Holly Woodlawn
Holly Woodlawn
Holly Woodlawn is a Puerto Rican-born transgendered actress and former Warhol superstar, who appeared in his movies Trash and Women in Revolt .-Early life:...
, Viva
Viva (Warhol superstar)
Viva is an American actress, writer and a former Warhol superstar.-Career:She was born Janet Susan Mary Hoffmann in Syracuse, New York. She was given the name Viva by Andy Warhol before the release of her first film but later used her married last name . She appeared in several of Warhol's films...
, Billy Name
Billy Name
Billy Name, , is an American photographer, filmmaker and lighting designer. He was the archivist of the Warhol Factory, from 1964 to 1970. His brief romance and subsequent friendship with Andy Warhol led to substantial collaboration on Warhol's work, including his films, paintings and sculpture...
, Rotten Rita
Rotten Rita
Rotten Rita , was an influential denizen of Andy Warhol's The Factory and was sometimes referred to as "The Mayor" there. Although he worked by day in a fabric store, he spent many nights at the Factory bringing his unique influences to encourage others to become artists...
, Freddie Herko
Freddie Herko
Frederick Charles "Freddie" Herko was an artist, musician, actor, dancer, choreographer and teacher.-Biography:...
, Mario Montez
Mario Montez
Mario Montez was one of the Warhol superstars, appearing in thirteen of Andy Warhol's underground films from 1964 to 1966. He took his name as a male homage to the actress Maria Montez, an important gay icon in the fifties and sixties...
, Brian Jones
Brian Jones
Lewis Brian Hopkins Jones , known as Brian Jones, was an English musician and a founding member of the Rolling Stones....
, Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
, Noelle Wolf, Joe Dallesandro
Joe Dallesandro
Joseph Angelo D'Allesandro , better known as Joe Dallesandro, is an American actor, and Warhol superstar. Although he never became a mainstream film star, Dallesandro is generally considered to be the most famous male sex symbol of American underground films of the 20th century, as well as a sex...
, Naomi Levine
Naomi Levine
Naomi Levine was an actress, artist and filmmaker. She was a friend of Jack Smith and pop artist and filmmaker Andy Warhol. In 1964 she directed a film entitled Yes.-Filmography:* Jack Smith, Normal Love...
, Joe Dro, Paul Morrissey
Paul Morrissey
Paul Morrissey is an American film director, best-known for his association with Andy Warhol.Morrissey attended Ampleforth College, a private Roman Catholic boarding school and Fordham University, both Roman Catholic schools, and later served in the United States Army...
, Stephen Shore
Stephen Shore
Stephen Shore is an American photographer known for his deadpan images of banal scenes and objects in the United States, and for his pioneering use of color in art photography.- Life and work :...
, Betsey Johnson
Betsey Johnson
Betsey Johnson is an American fashion designer best known for her feminine and whimsical designs. Many of her designs are considered "over the top" and embellished...
, Truman Capote
Truman Capote
Truman Streckfus Persons , known as Truman Capote , was an American author, many of whose short stories, novels, plays, and nonfiction are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's and the true crime novel In Cold Blood , which he labeled a "nonfiction novel." At...
, Becky D, Fernando Arrabal
Fernando Arrabal
Fernando Arrabal Terán is a Spanish playwright, screenwriter, film director, novelist and poet. He settled in France in 1955, he describes himself as “desterrado,” or “half-expatriate, half-exiled.”...
, Taylor Mead
Taylor Mead
Taylor Mead is an American writer, actor, and performer. Mead appeared in several of Andy Warhol's underground films including Tarzan and Jane Regained.....
, Mary Woronov
Mary Woronov
Mary Woronov is an American actress and writer. She is primarily known for her roles in independent and cult films. Woronov has appeared in over 80 movies, as well as numerous appearances in mainstream television series, such as Charlie's Angels and Knight Rider.-Early life:Woronov was born in the...
, Ronnie Cutrone
Ronnie Cutrone
Ronnie Cutrone is a Pop artist best known for his large-scale paintings of America's favorite cartoon characters, such as Felix the Cat, Pink Panther and Woody Woodpecker....
, Jane Forth, Lenny Dahl, Neke Carson, Baby Jane Holzer, Ultra Violet, Brigid Polk, Rickpat F, Paul America
Paul America
Paul Johnson , better known as Paul America, was a member of Andy Warhol's Warhol Superstars group who starred in one Warhol-directed film, My Hustler...
, Penny Arcade
Penny Arcade (performer)
Susana Ventura , better known by her stage name Penny Arcade, is an American performance artist, actress, and playwright based in New York City.-Career:...
, Bobby Driscoll
Bobby Driscoll
Robert Cletus "Bobby" Driscoll was an American child actor known for a large body of cinema and TV performances from 1943 to 1960. He starred in some of The Walt Disney Company's most popular live-action pictures of that period, such as Song of the South , So Dear to My Heart , and Treasure Island...
, Herbert Muschamp
Herbert Muschamp
Herbert Mitchell Muschamp was an American architecture critic.- Early years :Born in Philadelphia, Muschamp described his childhood home life as follows: “The living room was a secret. A forbidden zone. The new slipcovers were not, in fact, the reason why sitting down there was taboo. That was...
Peter Gramlique, and John Giorno
John Giorno
John Giorno is an American poet and performance artist. He founded the not-for-profit production company Giorno Poetry Systems and organized a number of early multimedia poetry experiments and events, including Dial-A-Poem. He became prominent as the subject of Andy Warhol's film Sleep...
, Brigid Berlin
Brigid Berlin
Brigid Berlin is an American artist and former Warhol superstar.-Early years:Berlin was the eldest of three daughters born to socialite parents, Muriel Johnson "Honey" Berlin and Richard E. Berlin, into a world of Manhattan privilege. Her father was chairman of the Hearst media empire for 32 years...
, Danny Williams, Chuck Wein, William Burroughs, Ulli Lommel
Ulli Lommel
Ulli Lommel , is a German actor and director, noted for his many horror films, and for his career as an actor on Rainer Werner Fassbinder's films.-Career:...
, although there were many other visitors as well.
Films
Warhol started shooting movies in the Factory around 1963, when work began on Kiss. Warhol would screen movies at the Factory for his friends before they were released for public audiences. When Warhol could not find traditional theaters to show some of his more provocative films, he would sometimes turn to night-clubs or porn theaters. Here is listed all movies filmed entirely or partly at The Factory. Warhol also shot other films not on this list, however, many have been lost or were never completed.1963
- Kiss
- Rollerskate
- Haircut no. 1
- Haircut no. 2
- Haircut no. 3
1964
- Handjob
- Blow JobBlow Job (film)Blow Job is a silent film, directed by Andy Warhol, that was filmed in January 1964. The 35-minute film is an innovative film, considering the time period. It depicts the face of an uncredited DeVeren Bookwalter as he receives fellatio from an unseen homosexual partner...
- Screen TestsScreen TestsAndy Warhol's Screen Tests are a series of silent film portraits consisting of several-minute unbroken shots of Factory regulars, Warhol superstars, celebrities, guests, friends, or anyone he thought had "star potential".-Production background:...
(1964–1966) - Jill Johnston Dancing
- EatEat (film)Eat is a 45-minute American film created by Andy Warhol.Eat is filmed in black-and-white, has no soundtrack, and depicts fellow pop artist Robert Indiana engaged in the process of eating for the entire length of the film. The comestible being consumed is apparently a mushroom. Finally, notice is...
- Couch
- Henry GeldzahlerHenry GeldzahlerHenry Geldzahler was a curator of contemporary art in the late 20th century, as well as a modern art art historian and art critic...
- Shoulder
- Taylor Mead's AssTaylor Mead's AssTaylor Mead's Ass is a film by Andy Warhol featuring Taylor Mead, consisting entirely of a shot of Mead's buttocks, and filmed at The Factory....
- Mario Banana
- Harlot
- 13 Most Beautiful Women
- 13 Most beautiful Boys
- 50 Fantastics and 50 Personalities
1965
- John and Ivy
- Screen Test #1
- Screen Test #2
- Drink
- Suicide (Screen Test #3)
- Horse
- VinylVinyl (1965 film)Vinyl is a black-and-white experimental film directed by Andy Warhol at The Factory. It is an early adaptation of the novel A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, starring Gerard Malanga, Edie Sedgwick, Ondine, and Tosh Carillo, and featuring such songs as "Nowhere to Run" by Martha and the...
- Bitch
- Poor Little Rich Girl
- Face
- Afternoon
- Beauty No. 1
- Beauty No. 2Beauty No. 2Beauty No. 2 is a 1965 film by Andy Warhol starring Edie Sedgwick, Gino Piserchio, and Chuck Wein.-Synopsis:The movie has a fixed point of view showing a bed with two characters on it, Sedgwick and Piserchio. Chuck Wein is heard speaking but is just out of view...
- Space
- Factory Diaries
- Outer and Inner Space
- Prison
- The Fugs and the Holy Modal Rounders
- My Hustler
- Camp
- More Milk, YvetteMore Milk, YvetteMore Milk, Yvette is Andy Warhol's tribute to Lana Turner and Johnny Stompanato, and features Warhol superstar Mario Montez in the role of Turner, and also features Paul Caruso and Richard Schmidt....
- Lupe
1966
- Ari and Mario
- Eating Too FastEating Too FastEating Too Fast is an Andy Warhol film made at the Factory. It was originally titled Blow Job #2 and features art critic and writer Gregory Battcock . The film is 67 minutes long and is, in effect, a sound film remake of Warhol's Blow Job...
(aka Blow Job #2) - The Velvet Underground & Nico: A Symphony of Sound
- Hedy (aka Hedy the Shoplifter)
- The Beard
- Salvador DalíSalvador Dalí (film)Salvador Dalí is a 35-minute film directed by Andy Warhol. The film features surrealist artist Salvador Dalí visiting the Factory and meeting the rock band The Velvet Underground.-External links:*...
- Superboy
- The Chelsea GirlsChelsea GirlsChelsea Girls is a 1966 experimental underground film directed by Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey. The film was Warhol's first major commercial success after a long line of avant-garde art films...
- The Bob Dylan Story
- The Kennedy Assassination
- Mrs. Warhol
- Kiss the Boot
- The Andy Warhol Story
- A Christmas Carol
- **** (four stars) (aka The 24-Hour Movie)
1967
- Imitation of Christ
- I, a ManI, a ManI, a Man is an Andy Warhol film featuring Warhol Superstars Tom Baker, Ivy Nicholson, Ingrid Superstar, Cynthia May, Bettina Coffin, Ultra Violet, Nico, and Valerie Solanas. The latter appeared in the film as compensation for a script she had given to Warhol called Up Your Ass, which he had lost...
- The Loves of Ondine
- Bikeboy
- Tub GirlsTub GirlsTub Girls is an Andy Warhol film.The film stars Viva, one of the Warhol Superstars, who sat naked in a bathtub talking with some of the other regulars found inside The Factory, like Brigid Berlin who was also known by the name Brigid Polk....
- Nude Restaurant
- Sunset
1968
- Lonesome CowboysLonesome Cowboys (1968 film)Lonesome Cowboys is a film by American filmmaker Andy Warhol. Written by Paul Morrissey, the film is a satire of Hollywood westerns. The film features Warhol superstars Viva, Taylor Mead, Eric Emerson and Joe Dallesandro...
- FleshFlesh (film)Flesh is a 1968 film directed by American filmmaker Paul Morrissey.Flesh is the first film of the "Paul Morrissey Trilogy" produced by Andy Warhol. The other films in the trilogy include Trash and Heat. All three have gained a cult following and are noted examples of the ideals and ideology of the...
- Blue MovieBlue MovieBlue Movie , a.k.a. Fuck, is a film by Andy Warhol starring Viva and Louis Waldon.Warhol describes the film, "in October '68 I shot a movie of Viva having sex with Louis Waldon...
- TrashTrash (film)Trash is a 1970 American film directed and written by filmmaker Paul Morrissey.The movie stars Joe Dallesandro, transsexual Holly Woodlawn and Jane Forth. Dallesandro had previously starred in several other Andy Warhol/Paul Morrissey films such as The Loves of Ondine, Lonesome Cowboys, and Flesh...
(1968–1969) - Women in RevoltWomen in RevoltWomen In Revolt is a 1971 satire film produced by Andy Warhol and directed by American filmmaker Paul Morrissey.The stars of the film are Jackie Curtis, Candy Darling and Holly Woodlawn, three transgendered superstars of Andy Warhol's Factory scene. Jackie and Candy had previously appeared in Flesh...
(1968–1971)
Later movies were filmed away from the Factory, or in another one of Warhol's New York apartments.