Candy Darling Turns 70.
by Josephina Allison Jones
A Look Back At A High Heeled Drifter!
This project started after I saw “Beautiful Darling,” a documentary film about the life and times of late Warhol Superstar Candy Darling produced by her onetime friend, roommate, and post humous editor Jeremiah Newton.
After I saw the movie “Beautiful Darling,” I found Jeremiah Newton on Facebook and began corresponding with him about Candy Darling. I asked Newton if he knew of any books where I could find more information about Candy. He replied that he couldn’t recall any except Candy Darling’s diary.
I ended up finding around a dozen books (see Works Cited) that were written by people who knew and interacted with Candy Darling. Two of the books had excerpts in them written by Newton, so I find it perplexing that Newton didn’t mention these books.
Based on a couple of the conversations I had with Newton and the statements he made to me, and the fact that he didn’t seem to want to steer me to any other written material, I began to wonder what exactly had been written about Candy Darling. That’s when I started digging into these written works by various people who crossed paths with Candy in the late 1960's and early 1970's.
In all fairness to Newton and much to his credit, he has produced two books containing selections of Candy’s diary, and one film entitled “Beautiful Darling,” which was completed and released in 2010. According to Newton, he has not made a dime on any of these productions and in fact often uses his own money to fund these projects.
Newton said he wants to publish another book and he said there were unpublished portions of Candy’s diary from her childhood years that will be included. Newton says that he has no money at this time to publish the book.
The article that follows is as accurate a description of Candy Darling’s life that I could assemble, based on the information that other people have provided. A majority of the information is pieced together through information I gathered from examining written material. I also used information from “Beautiful Darling,” and information I received from speaking to Newton on numerous occasions.
I want to thank Jeremiah Newton for corresponding with me. I know he got tired of hearing from me a long time ago.
I attempted to correspond by Facebook with numerous people who knew Candy. The people who accepted me as friends ignored my requests for information. Those include Holly Woodlawn, Susan “Viva” Hoffman, Anton Perich, Victor Bockris, and Yvonne R. Sewall. Craig Highberger was willing to talk to me, however, he only met Candy two or three times and was not able to offer any additional information.
Other people would not accept me as friends on Facebook, and ignored my messages requesting information. Those people include Joe Dallesandro, Bob Colacello, Ultra Violet, Peter Hujar, Francesca Passalacqua, Ruby Lynn Reyner, Penny Arcade, Glenn O’Brien, and Cynthia Carr, who reportedly is presently working on a biography of Candy Darling.
This article does not purport to discuss every aspect of Candy Darling’s life, or mention all of her theatrical performances etc. If there are any inaccuracies in the article, they are unintentional.
Pre-ramble
The Rolling Stones were once described as ‘dirty lay abouts’ and the same has been said about the late Andy Warhol Superstar Candy Darling, who was the revolutionary and pioneering transgender female who came over for a short visit, but ended up moving in for a year.
Candy Darling was born as a boy named James Lawrence Slattery in 1944, but so desperately wanted to be a little girl, and then a gorgeous movie starlet like Kim Novak or Lana Turner. From her mother’s home in Long Island, Candy eventually made her way to Greenwich Village in NYC in the early 1960's.
Candy Darling did not dub herself a Rolling Stone as the cheesy New York City disk jockey Murray the K. did with the Beatles in 1964. With a respective nod to Ian Stewart, perhaps Candy Darling should be the sixth Rolling Stone since she was even more of a rolling stone than the Rolling Stones.
Candy Darling dined with Royalty and rubbed elbows with stars, but she slept on other peoples’ couches and in hotel rooms she couldn’t pay for. She could never afford to have an apartment of her own because as a transgender woman she was perpetually an outsider—an outcast even in New York City.
The Rolling Stones built their image upon masquerading as chic bad boys from the wrong side of the tracks who were perpetually living on the edge. Candy Darling was a criminal. By all accounts she endured a hard scrabble existence on the fringes of respectable society — forced into that role by her refusal to submit to traditional gender roles.
Candy Darling was a criminal as soon she put on lipstick and a dress and stepped outside.
The Candy Darling era and phenomenon occurred at a time in what could be considered the dark ages in the gay history of America. And even less was known and accepted about gender dysphoria and female impersonation. Despite the gay and transgender people who flocked to Greenwich Village from all parts of the United States to seek the company of those people who were like them, the 1960’s was not an easy time in NYC, especially if you were a man who wore women’s clothing in public.
The attitudes of the majority and the people in power were against female impersonation, and most of the laws were stacked against any type of gender bending. The NYPD regularly raided gay bars and men who were wearing women’s clothes were arrested, and herded into paddy wagons. These harsh and cruel abuses of police power eventually culminated in the Stonewall Inn riots in June of 1969.
According to writer Fran Lebowitz, “It was dangerous for a man to walk down the street in a dress…it was illegal, and it wasn’t just dangerous with cops…it was dangerous. And believe me, if someone got beaten up for doing that, no one would have felt sorry for that person.”
There are several accounts of Candy Darling’s life and adventures as she haunted the streets and avenues of Greenwich Village in the 1960’s and early 1970’s. Although some versions tend to contradict one another on certain facts, dates and circumstances, there are two common elements present in all of these tales.
The first is that Candy Darling was uncommonly and strikingly beautiful — so much so that few people could discern that she was really a male upon first meeting her. According to filmmaker and director John Waters, Candy, “Was beautiful in a way that really put people off and drew them to her at the same time because it confused them.” Waters added that Candy was, “Witty, funny, smart, beautiful and had a certain cache [???] in being revolutionary just by how she lived her life…especially at that time.”
The second common element in these various and vibrant anecdotes was the ever present sadness and disappointment Candy Darling felt at not being able to live her life to its fullest because of being transgender. According to Candy Darling’s diary, “…can’t go swimming, …can’t visit relatives, …can’t get a job, …can’t have a boyfriend. I see so much of life that I can’t have……I’m living in a veritable prison.”
Early Years.
Jimmy Slattery was born on Nov. 24th, 1944 in Queens but grew up in Massapequa Park, Long Island about thirty miles from Manhattan. Jimmy’s mother and father divorced leaving Jimmy living with his mother. Jimmy realized at an early age that she wanted to be a girl, and more importantly she realized that a small town like Massapequa Park was not a place for a young man who liked to dress up in women’s clothing.
Especially for a girl like Jimmy who memorized the lines of famous movie heroines from the 1940’s and the 1950’s and tirelessly recited them to anybody who would listen. Word eventually got around the neighborhood about the peculiar Slattery kid, and soon other children were forbidden from playing with him……..or her.
Isolated and all alone, Jimmy began to immerse herself in these female personas and she created a self identity based on these fictional and fantasy movie characters. Jimmy fantasized about being a Hollywood movie starlet, and she knew that that wasn’t going to happen in Massapequa Park, Long Island.
Sometime in the early sixties Jimmy started taking the Long Island Railroad, which ran right through Massapequa Park, into Penn Station in Manhattan. From there she would take a bus or a subway into Greenwich Village — the most populous gay community in the United States at that time.
Throughout the early to mid 1960’s, Jimmy Slattery expertly and diligently transitioned herself into the personage we have come to know as Miss Candy Darling, after using other nom de plumes such as Hope Slattery, Hope Dahl, Candy Dahl, Candy Cane, and finally settling upon Candy Darling.
There are conflicting accounts on whether Candy’s mother approved and/or encouraged Candy to dress up in women’s clothing. Fellow transgender pal Holly Woodlawn said she used to frequently visit Candy on weekends in Massapequa Park and claims Candy’s mother encouraged Candy’s masquerading as famous movie starlets. Newton says Candy’s mother tolerated it but wasn’t excited about it.
Looking back at a list of Candy Darling’s known residences since the time she started venturing into Manhattan from her mother’s house in Massapequa Park, Long Island is like reading a laundry list of the women Rolling Stone’s founder Brian Jones slept with in London.
If a rolling stone gathers no moss then Candy Darling had even less moss on her than electrolysis and laser treated body hair, because she rolled all over New York City for ten years.
In that span of ten years, Candy was welcome to come home to be with her mother at times, and in order to relax and get away from the grinding struggles in New York City, she used her mother’s small house as a temporary and occasional refuge.According to Newton, Candy wanted to stay in Manhattan all of the time, but she had trouble finding places to live.
Candy Darling’s life is a big giant question mark between the years of 1964 and 1973, as she drifted in and out of peoples’ lives. She was here today, gone tomorrow, and maybe she’d be back again if she needed someone or something. Candy kept diaries, some of which were released in two books by Newton, but there are huge gaps in time periods.
Candy’s mother destroyed some of her personal property after Candy died in 1974, and what diaries remain are the property of Jeremiah Newton and reside in his custody.
NYC for busts!
When Candy started going into New York City from Long Island isn’t exactly known but is believed to be in 1964 when she was just seventeen years old. Warhol Superstar Eric Emerson places her in Manhattan in 1964 when Candy started getting hormones from a German doctor on 79th Street and 5th Avenue.
In 1964 Candy met fellow transgender gal Holly Woodlawn near Sutter’s ice cream parlor around W. Eight Street and 6th Ave. in Greenwich Village. According to Woodlawn, Candy was having trouble with a male street hustler who was trying to get friendly with Candy, and Candy was snubbing him. The hustler smashed an ice cream cone into Candy’s face and Woodlawn came to her aid.
Woodlawn said that Candy had a reputation on the street for being a “snot-nosed bitch.” Woodlawn also added that, “Candy didn’t think she had to be nice to anybody.” Steven Watson stated that Candy, “Already had a reputation on the street as thinking she was too good.”
It is also not known when Candy first moved to the city ‘permanently.’ According to Woodlawn, Candy started living with Woodlawn and her straight boyfriend, Jack, in Queens sometime around October of 1964. Woodlawn stated that, “Candy never cleaned up after herself when she stayed over. She had no shame.” Woodlawn also referred to Candy as a “piglet.”
Woodlawn also stated that Candy always left a sink full of dirty dishes, and Woodlawn’s boyfriend complained that Candy smelled because she never bathed. Woodlawn countered that Candy bathed at 3 AM in the morning because she would go into a state of devastation if any living being saw her genitalia.
Woodlawn also stated in a You Tube video, that Candy used to borrow Woodlawn’s clothes to go out on dates, and that usually Candy would come home with the clothes ripped and torn. Woodlawn stated that Candy always seemed to get beat up when she had borrowed Woodlawn’s clothes.
Woodlawn said that Candy would sometimes try hitchhiking from Massapequa Park and she would flirt with guys and kiss guys and put her tongue down their throats, but that she wouldn’t have sex with them. That undoubtedly would upset them and whoever was giving Candy the ride would pull over and throw her out of the car.
Candy, who had the helpless heroine role perfected, would call Holly and cry to Holly about it and tell Holly she was stranded, and to come and pick her up. Woodlawn stated that sometimes Candy didn’t even know where she had been dropped off.
Holly’s straight boyfriend Jack didn’t want Candy around anymore, so Candy left for a rooming house off of Gramercy Park. This could have been late 1964, early 1965. It could have been the Hotel Washington.
It was also in this time period that Candy worked as a file clerk and did so well she was promoted to a front office receptionist. There is not much information available about this time period. According to Woodlawn, “Not very many people really like knew her during that…because she was Hope Slattery then. She went through many personas. She was trying to figure out…like…where she was going.”
In the film, “Beautiful Darling” there was a picture of Candy dressed in women’s clothing at the Club 82 in Manhattan dated 1965.
According to a picture of an IRS tax document in the movie, “Beautiful Darling,” sometime in 1966 Candy was living at 424 Shore Rd. in Long Beach, N.Y.
According to Steve Watson, in 1966 Candy was hanging around a salon on Bleecker Street operated by Seymour Levy and it was at Levy’s house where Candy Darling and Holly Woodlawn first met Jackie Curtis. They all were there to watch the Streisand TV special called, “Color Me Barbra.”
According to Andy Warhol, sometime in the spring of 1966 Candy met Jackie Curtis near Sutter’s ice cream parlor. Jackie Curtis was an actor, and a playwright who became a part time drag queen at Candy’s urging. Jackie and Candy grew to be very close friends and Jackie wrote a couple of plays with roles specifically for Candy.
According to Jackie Curtis, Candy was living at the Hotel Seventeen on Seventeenth Street where she was dodging her bill. The hotel had seized Candy’s belongings and were holding them because she had failed to pay her rent on the room. Candy was apparently exiting the hotel by crawling out of her window.
In 1966 Candy appeared in an off off Broadway production called, “Give my Regards to Off Off Broadway,” directed by Tom Eyen. At this time she still had brown hair and was going by the name of Hope Slattery. Her reviews were so good that Eyen decided to do a second run of the show with Candy in the lead role. For the rest of 1966 it is not known where else Candy Darling was resting her pretty little head.
1966 is also when Jeremiah Newton met Candy Darling. According to Newton he was living at Flushing, Queens at the time and had met Candy in Greenwich Village. Newton said that Candy was trying to get out of the place she was living and wanted to know if she could move in with Newton. Newton explained that he didn’t want her moving in because he didn’t want his neighbors to think he was living with some sort of drag queen.
Newton stated in the film, “Beautiful Darling,” that, “I met her when I was around 15 years old. Her personality was just so strong. I wasn’t ready for her. I was frightened of her. I didn’t know whether she wanted me sexually. She told me to call her and I called her.”
Newton said in a You Tube video that one of the first times he met Candy, she took him to a rooming house where she was staying. The caretaker, a lady in a wheelchair, told Candy she couldn’t take visitors up to the room. Newton said that Candy taunted the caretaker by boasting that the caretaker couldn’t do anything about it.
Newton went up to the room with Candy, and when someone else up there told him that Candy was a boy, he quickly left. Newton said that on his way out, the lady caretaker was trying to put on her prosthetic legs so she could come upstairs.
Secret
Behind the stunningly and astonishingly beautiful face of Candy Darling lay a secret that Candy did her best to try and hide. It is a secret that is mentioned in print by several of Candy’s acquaintances. Jeremiah Newton refused to go into details about the subject.
Candy had not taken very good care of her teeth and she commonly referred to them as her “fangs” [… she referred to another unwanted appendage as her ‘flaw.’].
Jeremiah Newton claims that Candy had bad teeth as a result of her love of sweets. Others have suggested that it was the result of drug abuse, particularly amphetamines. She self-admittedly had insomnia in her late teens and was using a lot of sleeping pills. And of course, one of her best gal pals, Jackie Curtis was renowned for not only abusing amphetamines, but according to Woodlawn, Jackie Curtis made her own concoction of speed in her grandmother’s basement.
According to glam rocker Jayne County, “Jackie and Candy were completely in the grip of drugs.” Jayne County added that, “It seemed to dominate their personalities completely.” According to Jayne County, they were doing a lot of amphetamines and dropping acid, and Jayne County readily admits that she was also into drugs pretty heavily.
Actor Stephen Holt said in a You Tube video that during rehearsal breaks for “Vain Victory,” most of the cast (which included Candy Darling) went off to shoot up drugs.
According to actress Melba LaRose Jr., “Drugs were the cause of Candy’s teeth becoming so bad, but I don’t know when exactly she started using.”
Summer of hair discontent
The Calendar turns to 1967. Candy’s appearance in “Give my Regards to Off Off Broadway” in 1966 resulted in good reviews, and that attention and love from an audience coupled with the delusional mindset from abusing speed and hallucinogens gave Candy even more belief she was destined for greatness.
So Candy Darling decided to dye her hair blond.
According to Woodlawn, “Candy’s brain had been pickled by peroxide and filled with notions that she was the next blond goddess to rule filmdom.” Of course, along with the blond hair, came the obligatory blond attitude.
Fellow Warhol Superstar Ultra Violet met Candy in 1967 at a dive called Slugger Ann’s on Second Ave. and 10th Street where Candy was working as a barmaid and was wearing only a bra and panties. Candy also reportedly regularly showed up for work wearing only a slip and the bar owner never knew that Candy was a male. Candy also carried a see through purse with a tampon visibly showing.
Ultra Violet reports that Candy’s teeth were in pretty bad shape in 1967, and that in fact many had fallen out. Despite the ghastly appearance of her teeth, Candy was expecting Hollywood to come calling at anytime, and Candy seemed stunned that she hadn’t already been discovered. Ultra Violet also said that Candy didn’t need any urging to pontificate about how, “I belong on the screen. I was born to be a star,” and, “My mother always knew I’d be a movie star.”
1967 is also when Candy appeared in Curtis’ play, “Glamour, Glory And Gold,” and when she met Andy Warhol at a restaurant called the Tenth of Always. According to Candy, “Andy came into a luncheonette where I was working as a waitress…and he came over to me and said, ‘You should be in movies.’”
Andy Warhol came to see Curtis’ play, “Glamour, Glory and Gold,” and liked it. Jackie Curtis was a shameless opportunist and saw this as a chance to try to get in good with Warhol. Jackie Curtis convinced Candy that Andy Warhol was their ticket to superstardom.
Because of Jackie Curtis’ influence over Candy, and because of the altered state of Candy’s drug-addled mind, Candy Darling never let go of the idea that Andy Warhol was going to make her a star.
Candy got good reviews by the New York Times for her appearance in “Glamour Glory and Gold,” and in late October of 1967 she received a certificate of achievement from the playwright’s workshop for her performance.
Towards the end of 1967 Jackie and Candy began showing up at Max’s Kansas City in hopes of being able to rub elbows with Andy Warhol and his stable of “Superstars” who held court in the back room.
In 1967, according to Andy Warhol, Candy had met some of the Rolling Stones at the Hotel Albert on Tenth Street and 5th Avenue. It is highly likely Candy was also living in the Albert as well and at the time it was a drug riddled, roach infested, flea-bag flophouse.
It is widely believed that after that meeting the Stones had written part of a song about Candy and a transgender friend named Taffy Tits Terrifik (aka Clyde Meltzer). The song was titled “Citadel” and it appeared on the album, “Their Satanic Majesties Request,” that was released in December, 1967.
The refrain of the song was, “Candy and Taffy / Hope you both are well / Please come see me / In the Citadel.”
For a couple of months at the end of 1967 Candy stayed at a residence behind the Cafe Cino with actress Hope Stansberry, whom Candy admired. Candy was reportedly studying Stansberry’s acting techniques which might explain why Candy had, for a brief period of time, gone by the name, “Hope.”
The ancillary effects of gunfire
As 1968 opens we don’t know where Candy Darling is living. In May Candy appeared in the second running of “Glamour, Glory, and Gold.”
On June 3rd Andy Warhol is shot by disgruntled writer Valerie Solanas.
According to Steve Watson, “After the shooting, many speculated that Andy no longer felt comfortable with biological women.” After the shooting the Warhol camp started relying less on biological women, and more on what they considered to be “drag queens” for their oddball, avant-garde film projects.
In the summer of 1968 while Warhol is recuperating from his gunshot wounds, Paul Morrissey begins to shoot scenes for the film, “Flesh” on weekends. This will be Candy Darling’s first film, and also starred Jackie Curtis and Joe Dallesandro.
According to Bob Colacello, while “Flesh” is being shot, Candy and Jackie “lived together on and off, first at the seedy Hotel Albert, a druggy Rock-star hangout, and later in various dark walk-ups in the East Village.”
According to Ultra Violet, towards the end of 1968, Candy called her at two in the morning and wanted to know if she could spend the night because she had been kicked out of her hotel room for not paying the bill.
According to Ultra Violet, “Candy arrives, tipsy, wearing a long, black satin decollete dress torn at the rump, long white tattered kid gloves, a white moth eaten ermine wrap, and an almost Marilyn Monroe wig.”
By noon the next day there was no sign of Candy, so Ultra cracked open Candy’s door to check on her. According to Ultra, “Her head is tilted back and sideways, her mouth a grimacing pit bordered with three menacing lower canines. Her runny mascara blackens her cheeks, her purple lipstick is smeared. She is naked, one voluptuous pink round breast exposed. Her legs are spread wide. Her hated male organ sticks out like a water-spouting gargoyle.”
Ultra Violet goes on to say that when Candy finally arises at 4pm, “she spends an hour putting on her glamorous face, whispers ‘Thank you,’ and runs out the front door for another hot night on the town.”
Candy rises….A Stone sinks
1969 was a new beginning of sorts for Candy. She had just appeared in “Flesh,” and she was having legitimate hopes this was the beginning of a profitable movie career. Andy Warhol had helped Candy get her teeth repaired even though, according to actress Melba LaRose Jr., the caps had been done poorly by a low rent dentist and often fell out at the most inopportune times.
According to Ultra Violet, “Candy, at twenty-five, is at the height of her glory. Her teeth have been fixed. She uses good makeup. The press goes wild over Candy.”
But behind the glamorous facade Candy is still struggling. To the legitimate entertainment industry she is considered merely a “drag queen,” and only marketable in avant-garde types of B films, which coincidentally only Andy Warhol is doing. Candy only received $25 per scene for the movie, “Flesh,” and she has no other permanent employment prospects in the film industry, besides whatever projects Andy Warhol cooks up for her.
Candy Darling’s biggest professional disappointment was not getting the part as a transvestite in a new film being shot called, “Myra Breckinridge.” For several months there was a nationwide, greatly advertised search for somebody to play the part. Candy repeatedly lobbied both the producer and the director for the part.
According to a very small “Time” magazine article in 1969, the producer, Robert Fryer, tested 8 transvestites and Raquel Welch for the role. Ultimately, the part was given to Raquel Welch. At the time, Candy quipped, “They decided Raquel Welch would make a more believable transvestite.”
Behind the light heartedness of the witticism was a resentment and bitterness that stayed with Candy for the rest of her life. According to Ultra Violet, “When Candy learns the role is going to Raquel Welch, something in her is destroyed. Her dream of Hollywood dies.”
Behind the outward appearances of success, Candy is still essentially homeless in New York City.
According to Holly Woodlawn, Jayne County had a one room apartment on 13th St. and fairly soon there were about ten drag queens living in it, including Candy Darling and Woodlawn. Woodlawn adds that there was a lot of drug use taking place, and very little sleeping.
According to Newton, he got his first apartment in Manhattan in 1969 at 301 West 46th Street, and that is when Candy Darling stayed with him the first time. According to Newton, Candy stayed with him for several months in 1969. For the rest of 1969, according to Newton, she would stay a night or two here and there. According to Newton, Candy was sometimes staying with her mother on the weekends and coming into Manhattan during the week.
I asked Newton what it was like living with Candy Darling. He was kind of vague in his response and said something to the effect that they had their good days and bad days.
Newton said that Candy only carried a large leather travel bag with her that she would keep her toiletries and belongings in, including one outfit. Reportedly she only had one pair of black sling back pumps that were fairly well worn. Newton said that Candy never had a key to his apartment, she would just stay overnight and leave in the morning. Apparently she was staying a night or two with other various people that she would meet at the back room of Max’s Kansas City.
In 1969, According to Newton, Candy also stayed with actress Helen Hanft around the theatre district in the “West 40's.” Newton stated that Candy would stay a night or two with her at various times.
Helen Hanft appeared in the movie, “Beautiful Darling,” where she said in reference to having Candy living with her, “…I would go to work in the morning, and she’d be sleeping….and I’d come home at 6–7 o’clock, and she’d still just be getting out of bed…in a black slip. And I used to get very annoyed. I’d say, ‘Look at this. How does she get away with this?’”
On July 3rd, 1969, Rolling Stones founder Brian Jones was found dead at the bottom of his swimming pool. He had been asked the month before to leave the band because of drug abuse. Perhaps the Rolling Stones could have used Candy Darling in his place.
In May of 1963 the Rolling Stones manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, told keyboardist Ian Stewart that his square-jawed and burly appearance did not fit the Rolling Stone’s image. Stewart was a very talented musician, and a cofounder of the Rolling Stones. Stewart was told he was not to appear on stage anymore, but that he could stay on as road manager and play keyboards on recordings.
Since all the Rolling Stones seemed concerned about was appearance, Candy Darling would have been the perfect member of the group.
A favorite hangout of the New York City “in” crowd was in the back room of Max’s Kansas City. Max’s was a restaurant and nightclub at 213 Park Ave. South, where Candy Darling would hang out with other Warhol Superstars, musicians, artists, drag queens, and celebrities. People would come to Max’s Kansas City just to gawk at Candy Darling, and Candy Darling would come to Max’s just to be gawked at.
In March of 1970 filming began on another underground Warhol/Morrissey film entitled, “Women in Revolt.” Besides Candy, the film starred fellow transgender pals Jackie Curtis and Holly Woodlawn. By 1970 all three gals had attained some notoriety through their appearances in Warhol’s underground films, and now they were not so friendly rivals.
In October of 1970 Candy auditioned for the Broadway musical revival of “No, No, Nanette.” She did not get the part. In October the filming continued for “Women in Revolt,” at Kenny Jay Lane’s Murray Hill townhouse, and wrapped up in March 1971. Candy had a starring role in “Women in Revolt,” and got decent reviews.
Candy had also hired a manager named Sandy Amerling and Candy would occasionally spend the night with Amerling in Amerling’s West Village Apartment. There are conflicting accounts of when exactly Amerling served as Candy’s manager.
Holly Woodlawn mentioned in her book that during the filming of “Women in Revolt,” Candy had a stout manager on set who was kind of pushy. Woodlawn stated that there was an altercation whereby Woodlawn slapped both Candy and her manager, and there was possibly a………Cat Fight! Cat Fight! Woodlawn stated that Candy got huffy and stormed out of the room.
According to Woodlawn, “Candy was still as blond as ever! She was aloof and arrogant and would show up on the set with her manager at her side constantly fussing over her.” Woodlawn went on to say that Candy, “actually believed she was this superior being and the rest of us were peasants.”
Newton said he has a good idea of who Candy stayed with between 1971 and 1974, but he admits that the dates are a little fuzzy because it was “decades ago.” At some point around 1971 Candy starts living off and on with Jim Hanafy, though for how long it is not known. Perhaps a night or two here and there, maybe a little longer sometimes.
Dirty Lay About
Candy was also getting quite a reputation as somebody who was a dirty lay about and somebody who didn’t even try to get some type of employment to make ends meet like other aspiring actors and actresses in New York City.
According to her onetime personal assistant George Abagnalo, Candy had convinced her mother and some of her friends that she needed to devote her whole life to trying to become a movie star.
“So she didn’t even have to get a job,” Abagnalo stated. Abagnalo added, “I would say that Candy is probably one of the greatest hustlers I have ever known.”
Candy’s mother was sending her money from Long Island on a regular basis, and according to another roommate named Francesca Passalacqua, “Candy never had any money and always had to beg Andy to help her. She lived off other people, especially her good friend and supporter Sam Green.”
According to a short film clip of Candy in the film, “Beautiful Darling,” Candy didn’t pay for anything. The archival clip shows her looking in the mirror and examining her new hairdo, while stating, “I don’t pay for anything. I never have…I don’t have to. I never pay for a thing. I never pay rent. I never buy my own clothes. I never pay for anything. I put it all in the bank.”
In 1971 Candy was also apparently living for a while on East 6th Street with two drag queens and a straight couple. No further information is available.
In 1971 Candy also appeared in another of Jackie Curtis’ plays titled “Vain Victory: Vicissitudes of the Damned.” Candy landed a brief cameo in the movie, “Klute” with Jane Fonda, and a brief appearance in a movie with Sophia Loren called “Lady Liberty.” Candy also had a role as a victim of transgender bashing in the movie, “Some of My Best Friends Are.”
According to Newton, at the end of 1971 and beginning of 1972 Candy went to Vienna, Austria to make a couple of movies for experimental film director Werner Schroeter. One was called, “The Death of Maria Malibran.” The other movie wasn’t released. After Candy was done in Vienna she made a short visit to Sweden where Newton said that she made a lot of friends.
Inexplicably, there are no diary entries by Candy detailing her adventures in Europe (unless Newton has them and they haven’t been published).
Candy got back from Vienna at the beginning of 1972 and came to live with Newton at his small apartment in Manhattan on West 91st. Street. At the time, Newton had a female roommate named Francesca Passalacqua.
Passalacqua wrote a short introduction for the latest release of Candy Darling’s diaries in 1992. Candy’s diary was entitled, “My Face For The World To See: The Diaries, Letters, and Drawings of Candy Darling. Andy Warhol Superstar.”
Passalacqua states in her introduction that, “It was nearly impossible to get Candy to clean up after herself. She would finally relent only after being asked a number of times to do the chores, but she would turn it into a suffering heroine role. Quoting lines from her favorite melodramas, she’d turn the task into a performance.”
Stop….Thief!!
Passalacqua went on to say that Candy borrowed dresses without asking, and that Candy stole Passalacqua’s whole supply of new pantyhose — over a hundred pairs. Passalacqua stated that when she confronted Candy about these issues, Candy reluctantly admitted it, but then would state that she needed the pantyhose more than Passalacqua did, and that Passalacqua should be happy to contribute to Candy’s cause.
Newton and his roommates couldn’t afford to keep living in Manhattan, so they found a place in Brooklyn. It was a nice house in a very bad neighborhood. According to Newton, Candy was unhappy there because it was farther away from Manhattan. It was hard to find cabs to take her back to Brooklyn after her late night escapades in Manhattan. Candy didn’t feel safe being in that Brooklyn neighborhood in the middle of the night. According to Newton, Candy moved out and started hanging around in Manhattan again.
According to Newton’s admittedly foggy memory, Candy somehow ended up staying with a lawyer and a garment center heir name Richard Turley. When I asked Newton about Turley and Candy’s relationship, Newton said that Candy never had a key to Turley’s place, and that Turley was an unpleasant person to be around.
Bob Colacello stated in his book that Candy was, “tossed out of her East Side setup by the garment center heir (Turley).” The date that this happened is not mentioned. When I asked Newton why Candy was thrown out of Turley’s apartment he responded that people have their own lives to live, and have their own agendas. He went on to say that it was very expensive to live in New York City and that most people had very small apartments. Newton also said that Candy really didn’t like Turley, but that she needed a place to stay.
The Big Time????
It was while Candy was living with Turley that she was given a very important role in a theatrical production. According to Colacello, Candy had attended Tennessee William’s birthday party on March 26th, 1972, and Candy had impressed Williams so much that he decided to cast her in a role in his new play, “Small Craft Warnings.” The play opened at the off Broadway Truck and Warehouse Theatre on April 2nd. Candy’s character Violet was, “A bewitching, trampy girl, whom most of the males desired.”
According to Colacello, the play was a “Critical and box office success.” Other publications have suggested that this play wasn’t that great and have included it in a grouping of plays written while William’s career was on a noticeable downswing.
1972 is when Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey made the film, “Heat,” starring several Warhol superstars, however, Candy Darling was not among them. Newton stated that Candy was extremely upset about not being in the film and added that Candy was not even invited to the preview.
According to actress Ruby Lynn Reyner, “Candy really believed that Andy was going to take care of her like (famous MGM studio head) Louis B Mayer.” Candy saw Andy and herself as throwbacks to the old studio system when a studio would take care of the female movie stars forever. But according to Reyner, “Andy would get tired of people, and sort of toss them away like Kleenex.”
According to Lebowitz, “Candy wanted to be a movie star. Candy was a man who wanted to be a female movie star…and fell into the clutches of Andy, who told her she was.”
According to Newton, Warhol was getting away from using what Warhol considered “drag queens” because Warhol believed that Hollywood was looking for mainstream types of productions with real women. Newton said that Andy wanted to make a lot of money with films that were commercially marketable and successful, and that Andy didn’t believe he could do that with “drag queens.”
Newton believes that it is the end of the summer in 1972 when Candy is thrown out of Turley’s place. So Candy is wandering around again in Manhattan staying a night or two with various people. By this time Newton had rented another small apartment on 2nd Ave. and Tenth Street in Manhattan, and Candy eventually makes her way back to Newton’s new place, only to find out that she is not as welcome as she thought she might be.
According to Newton, the apartment overseer was a quarrelsome old man with no teeth who didn’t like Candy. Newton said the querulous old rascal lived in a downstairs apartment and would wedge a broom-stick handle under the doorknob to prevent Candy from coming into the building after she got back from her late night shenanigans.
According to Newton, Newton would have to get up in the middle of the night and go downstairs to let Candy in and invariably he would get into a heated argument with the old geezer. The apartment was very small and finally Candy got tired of the hassle and she moved out again. According to Newton this was sometime in the early Autumn of 1972.
She came to stay for a week…………
Sometime around October 1972, Candy ended up at the apartment of an art curator known as Sam Green, who had a very nice apartment at 14 West 68th Street. In the movie, “Beautiful Darling,” there is an image of a diary entry dated Nov. 5th, 1972 where Candy writes that Sam Green has taken her in. According to Colacello, Candy was only supposed to have moved into Sam Green’s place for a week, but she ended up staying for a year.
Former Velvet Underground founder, and Warhol Superstar Lou Reed wrote a song immortalizing Holly Woodlawn, Candy Darling, and Jackie Curtis when it was released in November of 1972.
The song was entitled, “Walk on the Wild Side,” and shot up to the top of the charts immediately. The second stanza belonged to Candy Darling and made a reference to her performing fellatio. Of course, don’t forget that, “…In the backroom, she was everybody’s darling.”
Candy’s success from “Small Craft Warnings” was short-lived. She had several questionable opportunities after her appearance in William’s play. According to Colacello, she was offered a part as a prostitute in the movie version of “The Beard.” The role required her to perform a sex act on Billy the Kid. She turned the part down.
Colacello goes on to state that Candy was hoping to get the Joan Crawford role in the Broadway revival of Clare Boothe Luce’s “The Women.” According to Colacello, the part went to Lainie Kazan, and then to Kazan’s understudy. Colacello added, “Even Candy’s hopes to be a party-scene extra in ‘The Great Gatsby’ remake came to nothing.”
In the spring of 1973, Sam Green invited filmmaker John Schlesinger over for a nice dinner, in hopes of getting Schlesinger interested in giving Candy a role in Schlesinger’s upcoming movie, “The Day of The Locust.”
Sam Green’s well intentioned plan was derailed because Schlesinger was more interested in a picture of Cyrinda Foxe hanging on the wall. Cyrinda was the new blond on the scene. Neither Candy Darling or Cyrinda Foxe ultimately appeared in the movie.
According to Colacello, Sam Green helped Candy get a job as a singer in a nightclub called Le Jardin when it opened in the middle of June, 1973. Club Le Jardin was in the building with the Hotel Diplomat at 108 West 43rd Street, which was near Times Square.
According to Newton, Le Jardin was going to pay Candy to perform and provide her with a room at The Diplomat. According to Colacello, the Diplomat was a “Crummy single room occupancy haven for junkies and winos.” Newton stated that the Diplomat was, “Old, creepy, and in disrepair.”
Newton also stated that it was isolated from the areas that Candy was familiar with, so she wasn’t near her normal group of friends. Newton said that even though Candy got to hang around people like Rod Stewart and Alice Cooper, she wasn’t really close to them.
Candy was being paid to be a singer and the song she was paid to sing was called “Give Me a Man.” But according to Colacello, “Unfortunately, Candy wasn’t much of a singer.”
Within a week Candy was out of work and without a place to live. According to a receipt in the film, “Beautiful Darling,” her room at the Diplomat was paid for until July 3rd, 1973.
Sam Green did not take Candy back in. According to Colacello, after she lost her job and her room at the Diplomat, Candy, “…Drifted. Sometimes she stayed with her mother, sometimes she stayed with her hairdresser, Eugene of Cinandre.”
A Royal affair
Around the end of summer, 1973, according to Colacello, he took Candy to dinner at the Italian Embassy. Candy was dressed to the nines with a plain brown Valentino cocktail dress and some borrowed pearls from one of Colacello’s affluent lady friends. Candy was seated next to an older Italian baron, who was really smitten with Candy. The baron “whisked” her back to his suite at a fancy hotel where they drank champagne.
According to Colacello, Candy ended the night early because she feared the hapless old baron would have an apoplexy if he discovered Candy’s little secret. The next morning the baron sent Candy six dozen long-stemmed red roses with a personal note pleading for her to go back to Rome with him. There is no further information about how Candy replied to this entreaty.
According to Colacello, Candy began to feel ill sometime in the middle of the summer of 1973. She even stopped drinking vodka stingers and started drinking milk because she thought she had an ulcer. According to the film, “Beautiful Darling,” Candy felt a lump or something hard in her abdomen area.
At the beginning of September Candy was admitted for tests to Columbus-Mother Cabrini Hospital. According to Colacello, by early October she was noticeably worse and spitting up phlegm. Colacello also stated that Candy’s doctor bills were being paid for by Medicare, and what that didn’t cover was being taken care of by the “Grand society ladies,” Adriana Jackson, Maxime de la Falaise, and Nan Kemper.
According to Colacello, Jackson, de la Falaise, and Kemper got together and enlisted the help of a doctor friend from Memorial-Sloan Kettering Hospital to look at Candy’s medical records. While they were getting approval from Candy’s mother for the release of information, Candy’s mother told them that the doctors from Mother-Cabrini had already told her that Candy had leukemia and a malignant tumor in her stomach. The mother also said that Candy did not know it yet. The doctor from Memorial-Sloan looked at Candy’s medical records, and concluded that everything that could be done was being done.
According to Colacello, Candy went into remission and was released from the hospital in the middle of November, and was staying with her mother back in Massapequa Park, Long Island. But she went back into hospital around February, 1974. She had been having severe headaches and suffered a bout of Bells Palsy that had paralyzed her right arm and right side of her face. Astonishingly, Candy invited photographer Peter Hujar to take photographs of her on her deathbed.
Candy Darling died on March 21st, 1974. Her funeral was held at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel and was attended by huge crowds. In the church, Candy’s family was seated on one side of the church, and on the other side were the colorful assortment of Candy’s friends and associates.
Candy’s birth name was never mentioned during the service. Gloria Swanson was said to have pulled up in a limousine when they were carrying the casket out and she reportedly saluted Candy Darling’s coffin.
According to Newton, her cancer was caused by the hormones she was taking to feminize her body. When I asked Newton if she was taking illegal hormones, Newton replied that she absolutely was not.
However, at the end of the 1996 movie, “I shot Andy Warhol,” it stated that Candy had died from taking illegal hormones. According to Ultra Violet, Candy’s “Friends recall that almost to the end she was taking hormone shots and buying additional hormones of dubious purity on the street.”
According to Craig Highberger, “Candy Darling is diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia, believed to be induced by the many illegal hormones she had injected over the years.”
I asked Newton if Candy Darling ever had sex with men for money. Newton stated that she did not. Newton went on to say that Candy didn’t have to do that because people loved to give her money.
In the movie, “Beautiful Darling,” actress Helen Hanft stated that Candy was involved in things that she just didn’t talk about—implying that Candy may have been having sex for money.
The late photographer Leee Black Childers stated that Candy performed oral sex on a sailor who thought that she was a woman, on a rooftop somewhere. Childers also stated that Candy and Jackie used to “Hustle” money from passersby to go to movies.
Childers also stated that as a teenager Candy had sex with high school football players who were left frustrated by their girlfriends’ refusal to give up the…kitty cat.
Was Candy Darling a prostitute at times? Hmmmmm… probably. But who cares. A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.
Works Cited.
“Beautiful Darling.” Dir. James Rasin. Perf. Jeremiah Newton, George Abagnalo, Fran Lebowitz, John Waters, Candy Darling, Ruby Lynn Reyner, Helen Hanft, Jane Fonda, Sam Green, Andy Warhol. Corinth Films. 2010. DVD.
Carter, David. “Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution.” St. Martin’s Press. 2010. Print.
Childers, Leee Black. Written excerpt in “Superstar in a House Dress.” See Highberger.
Childers, Leee Black. You Tube video.
Colacello, Bob. “Holly Terror: Andy Warhol Close Up.” Harper Collins. 1990. Print.
County, Jayne. Rupert Smith. “Man Enough to be a Woman.” Serpent’s Tail. 1995. Print.
Dufresne, Isabelle. (aka Ultra Violet). “Famous For Fifteen Minutes: My Years With Andy Warhol.” Harcourt. 1988. Print.
Darling, Candy. “My Face For The World To See: The Diaries, Letters, and Drawings of Candy Darling.” Edited by Jeremiah Newton. Hardy Marks Publications. 1992. Print.
Foxe, Cyrinda. Danny Fields. “Dream On: Livin’ On The Edge With Steven Tyler and Aerosmith.” Berkley. 2000. Print.
Highberger, Craig. “Superstar in a Housedress.” Penguin/Chamberlain Bros. Print.
“I Shot Andy Warhol.” Dir. Mary Harron. Perf. Lili Taylor, Stephen Dorff, Jared Harris. MGM. 2001. DVD.
LaRose, Melba Jr. Written excerpt in “Superstar in a House Dress.” See Highberger.
Newton, Jeremiah. Interviewed by Jo Betz. Via telephone and via messaging on Facebook.
Newton, Jeremiah. Written excerpt in “Superstar in a Housedress.” See Highberger.
Newton, Jeremiah. Written excerpt in “High on Rebellion……” See Sewall-Ruskin.
Newton, Jeremiah. You Tube video.
Sewall-Ruskin, Yvonne. “High on Rebellion: Inside the Underground at Max’s Kansas City.” Thunder’s Mouth Press. 1998. Print.
“Stephen Holt Show.” 1991. You Tube video. Guest Holly Woodlawn.
“Time.” July 25th, 1969. Small article on Raquel Welch towards end.
Warhol, Andy. Pat Hackett. “Popism: The Warhol Sixties.” Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. 1980. Print.
Watson, Steve. “Factory Made: Warhol and the Sixties.” Pantheon. 2003. Print.
Woodlawn, Holly. Jeff Copeland. “A Low Life in High Heels.” St. Martin’s Press. 1991. Print.
Woronov, Mary. “Swimming Underground: My Years in the Warhol Factory.” Journey Editions. 1995. Print.
