Sunday, April 23, 2006




Edie Sedgwick in Ciao! Manhattan

A smart, talented and charismatic beauty, Edie Sedwick is one of those people who decided early on to set her controls for the heart of the sun. Why she chose this suicidal course is unknowable, but it is true that her family milieu was a contributing factor. Still, if everyone who came from a twisted background killed themselves, half the younger people we know would be dead already.

Edie (4/20/43-11/15/71) came East from California for college, but quickly became a "Youthquake" model for Vogue and other high-circulation magazines, making her an instant celebrity. She gravitated to Andy Warhol and was soon elevated by him to the status of Superstar. 1965 was her year, and she intermingled with numerous artists ranging from Warhol to Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground, Bob Dylan, and any number of denizens of the Hotel Chelsea. Already troubled when she came to this scene, she plunged into amphetamine use with wild abandon. Speed was everywhere -- the silvery Factory walls and clothes designed by Betsey Johnson, images of flying saucers, all seemed to reflect this prevalence. Edie and Warhol dressed alike in androgynous and eccentric poses, and Warhol captured her on film: in classic Screen Tests and in Poor Little Rich Girl (1965). The latter, a short movie focusing on Edie's daily lifestyle, has yet to be released on DVD or as part of a larger Warhol package. The second photo above is a representative still. If Factory Girl is successful, we will undoubtedly be seeing much more of Edie Sedgwick in and about the Factory.

Next, Edie played in Chelsea Girls (1966) and became involved with a wide array of drugs that tipped her into semi-incoherence. In 1967, she began working on the first incarnation of Ciao! Manhattan, but due to its disintegrating cast, this film was not completed until 1971 -- soon after Edie's death by overdose. Paul America, another cast member, was jailed in northern Michigan for possession of illegal substances. At one point in the final version, Edie notes Paul and his speed freak friends stole my passport and my leopard skin coat while we were living at the Chelsea.

The creation of Ciao! Manhattan is a fascinating story in its own right. The revised crew had to relocate to California to work with Edie in her decline. Filmmakers John Palmer and David Weisman managed to salvage a work that gives a clear glimpse into the times and lifestyles of the Warhol revolution. The viewer can actually create some narrative sense out of flashbacks and voice-overs, even from the bumbling mutterings of the secondary male characters.

Edie Sedgwick steals every scene (and one wishes there were far more of her and fewer of everyone else); even with her brain fried, she comes off more coherently than Jackie Kennedy (they speak in the same distinctive way). And though soon to be dead, Edie retains her essential beauty.

At the beginning of the film, we see her as Susan Superstar, living in a drained swimming pool at the back of her mother's California mansion, under a large canopy tent, surrounded by images of her mid-60s days. She launches the show in earnest with her statement of purpose to Butch, a callow wanderer from Houston: I'm preparing a portfolio of friends and aquaintances I knew in New York during my modeling career. At which point the music kicks into a sort of Liquid Sky tempo, with a psychedelic map of Manhattan flashed to the screen. Love it!

Edie has any number of great lines, delivered with a voice that reveals a strong jaded intelligence, petulance ("Not the lipstick -- lip gloss!"), gallows humor, and tragic beauty.

Her early declarations include simple things like I'm gonna get drunk! and, while drinking Smirnoff vodka and breaking glass that cuts her foot, Oh God, another scar. That line pretty much says it all. But she also gives a moving soliloquy to the powerful hold of amphetemine on her system: When I was a child, I was very hyper. . . I got hooked on speed at the Factory. . . Speed is the ultimate all-time high. That first rush, wow, like a 24-hour climax that can go on for days. . . There's nothing to explain it unless you've been through it. . . I'd like to turn the whole world on just for a moment, just for a moment. . .

The scenes with Edie are endlessly fascinating, and overall Ciao! Manhattan is worth checking out for the black and white shots of New York City in the late 1960s, and the Wizard of Oz color contrast with early 70s California. There is a lot of nudity and drug use, as one might expect with anything that emerged from Warholia. The surrealistic scenes of clients getting their "vitamin shots" from Dr. Roberts tell more about "normalized" drug use than the whole of Valley of the Dolls (1967).

A salute to Edie Sedgwick, R.I.P.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I really love Edie -- great post!