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Bob Colacello: "From Warhol to
Reagan" By Sandra Frazier May 6, 2005 Bob Colacello, former editor of 'Interview' magazine, appeared in Manhattan at Phillips de
Pury & Company on Thursday
evening, to auction off some of his private Warhol collection. He gave a fascinating speech on the
subject of his two biographies, 'Ronnie and
Nancy: Their Path to the White House--1911 to 1980' and 'Holy Terror: Andy
Warhol Close Up'. What may seem like a strange comparison,
in Bob's world became sympathetic and amazingly similar parallel paths of two
great American lives. It's funny, "Andy wore a white wig
versus Reagan whose hair never turned grey," said Bob as he went on to
recount touching and very personal stories in the lives of these two men who
came from poor families - Warhol from a Pennsylvania ghetto and Reagan from a
little town in Illinois - rising up from what began as young men whose family
had very low expectations of them.
Bob says neither Reagan nor Warhol were taken seriously at first,
citing that Warhol's obituary only emphasized his party-going and ignored his
creativity, that he hadn't even been given an exhibit at MoMA or the
Metropolitan in his lifetime. And
Reagan was called an "amiable dunce" and a "B movie
actor" more times than he would have cared to remember.
Bob related how both men were very much
influenced by their religious mothers.
"Andy used a lot of gold leaf," he said, which was his
psychological way of responding to his religious mother and all the Catholic
imagery by which he was surrounded as a youth. He told us that out of humble beginnings came two simple men
with two simple plans - a couple of very good ideas that they stuck
with. And yet both were somewhat
"anti-intellectuals;" they kind of "liked to be underestimated
and often played ignorant" to the bewilderment of their colleagues. Of course, both men went on to achieve
tremendous success in their lives - Warhol ranked with Picasso; and Reagan,
one of the most popular presidents - great seminal figures of the 20th
century. At this event, Bob was relinquishing some of
his coveted collection, including his prized Warhols - such as his Mick
Jagger collection (I noted that the Warhols of Jagger were so far ahead of
their time, when you consider photography and graphic manipulations of
today). He told the standing room
only crowd that combining photography and art was revolutionary at the time
and Warhol worshipped popular culture, while Reagan WAS popular culture. They both were "prophets of fame and
celebrity." "Think about it," Bob said,
"we live in a Warholian age even today," he said, referring to the
American obsession with the infamous and notorious. "Andy would have loved what's going on today, although I'm
not too crazy about it." Bob
admitted he'd become disenchanted with Warhol's promiscuity (not sexual) and
had bowed out of his circle of friends at one point in their friendship. "I'm a real Republican - partially
because it's so not done in the art world," he
laughed, adding that he just grew weary of the way our culture was headed
toward the gutter. "I'm sure Andy would have Paris Hilton
on the cover of 'Interview' (magazine) today, but I'd advise him against it. There's something wrong with our culture
when little girls admire someone like Paris whose claim to fame is having
released a porn tape. There are too
many famous people now who really haven't done anything yet. It's out of control." Amazingly, Bob did try to get Warhol and
Reagan together at one point, and was almost successful. And he said both Reagan kids wouldn't
grant an interview for the magazine until they discovered they'd get to meet
Warhol! He told poignant stories about his good
friend, Nancy Reagan - then and now - and how she would ask him, "Why
does the press hate me so much?"
He understood that in an age of feminism, the young female journalists
just couldn't deal with a woman who was a Republican, not to mention one who
lived by old-fashioned values. One
got the impression that his admiration for this woman grows with each passing
day. At the end of Bob's speech, I said,
"But, Bob, we want to hear about you!" and he laughed, saying,
"I'm saving those stories for the big one." And we're all looking forward to his
memoirs, a future book of countless colourful anecdotes that is sure to awe
and inspire generations to come, just as Bob's sensitive telling of the lives
of these two great Americans is doing so today. Bob Colacello is a special correspondent for Vanity Fair,
where he has written cover stories and profiles on Prince Charles, Doris
Duke, and Liza Minnelli, among numerous others. He is the former Executive
Editor of Interview magazine and is the author of 'Holy Terror:
Andy Warhol Close Up', which the New York Times praised as
"by far the best book written on Warhol." He is also the author of 'Ronnie and
Nancy: Their Path to the White House--1911 to 1980'. d
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