I came home tonight from a screening of the new Yves Saint Laurent biopic to find that my friend Wilson Kidde had posted a couple of old photos of Henry Geldzahler and me from a brunch we were all having at the old Paris Commune in New York City circa 1981. I had just been reading this morning the section of my next book that is all about Henry. It is in the chapter called The Mentor. He is also woven into the chapter called The Factory Worker in which I write about my time working for Andy Warhol as Executive Editor of Interview magazine. Henry was the person who first introduced me to Andy as he did to so many people back when he cut me out of the herd and gathered me into his rarified fold of artists and doyennes and others who made up the cultural realm of the city. I was only 25 years old but Henry made sure I was literally given a place at the table in such a world. Hed take me to many events and parties and dinners with him and make a mischievous point of changing his place card with mine and, in so doing, making sure I took my place next to Diana Vreeland and Jacqueline Onassis and Kim Stanley, among many others, which I write all about in the book. Henry made his name as the Curator of 20th Century Art at the Metropolitan Museum but when I met him - he sat down next to me at the old One Fifth restaurant when I was there with a mutual friend and, in that moment, changed my life forever - he was Mayor Kochs Commissioner of Cultural Affairs for the City of New York. He was indeed, a commissar of culture on so many levels, and led me graciously into his world and let me know it was mine as well. In so many ways he made me feel at home for the first time in my life. He made the dreams of a little country bumpkin boy back in Mississippi come true. His nickname for me was even Missippi. My editor has told me that the sections in the book on Henry contain some of the best writing in the 500 page manuscript I turned in. It was certainly some of the most heartfelt. Thank you, Wilson, for the gift of these photos tonight. Missippi was moved by them.
Posted on: Sun, 22 Jun 2014 05:01:07 +0000
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