ASPEN ART MUSEUM
ANDY WARHOL: LIFETIMES
10
COREY GRANT TIPPIN ON HELEN MORALES
It’s been 46 years since I got the call from the Factory asking me to recruit ‘drag queens’. I was told it was for a series of Polaroids Andy was shooting and I would be paid US$75 for each one I delivered. The subject would get US$50. There were no specific requirements other than fulfilling the description. Ronnie Cutrone, an assistant at the Factory who lived in the West Village, had already been asked to find participants for the series. He provided that neigh- borhood’s ubiquitous Marsha P. Johnson. Bob Colacello would slum it for a laugh at the Gilded Grape bar in Times Square, after a night of luxurious dinner parties with affluent notables. Once there, doing double duty, he managed to procure some willing models, whose identities remain unknown to me. I was no stranger to the Gilded Grape. Located on the west side of 45th Street and 8th Avenue, it was a generous space with a lively bar and a Sunday night drag show. The sidewalk outside was always busy with commotion and it was there that I first spotted Helen Morales. She was digging in her purse for either
cigarettes or chewing gum while simul- taneously speaking loudly in Spanish. Several friends surrounded her. She really had the gift of comedy without even trying to be funny. I approached and introduced myself. She asked me for a cigarette, which I didn’t have. I gave her the pitch and she did not seem suspicious. As she looked at me blankly through a thicket of false lashes, I ex- plained that nothing would be expected of her other than having her portrait taken by Andy Warhol. I asked for her address—she did not have a telephone number. I explained that I would come the next day, at midday, and pick her up. The US$50 fee would be paid that day. I wasn’t sure if she completely under- stood as her English was a bit limited. I assured her it was all on the level and again requested that she please be ready when I came to collect her. The following day, I arrived at the rooming house, an SRO building in the Times Square area. The door to the building was open and I could hear her voice coming from the end of the first- floor hallway. There she stood, and to
my amazement she was completely dressed, wearing a striped turtleneck with full face makeup and a large pair of pink-framed glasses perched on top of a short pixie wig. She and her friends were concocting a false tooth, fashioned from damp toilet paper and clear nail polish. She was drinking Coke from a bottle through a straw. She introduced me to one of her friends, whose name I couldn’t catch over the sound of the hairdryer drying the tooth. Once it was in place, we all made our way out onto the street. I grabbed a cab and we head- ed downtown to 33 Union Square West. There was a lot of chatter during the ride and, at one point, as we approached the building, Helen hurled her empty Coke bottle out of the cab window and I heard it smash on the street. Once inside, introductions were made and Andy began photographing Helen with his Polaroid Big Shot. Fred Hughes was present and we were both encouraging Helen’s moves, shouting directions, parodying a high-fashion shoot. Some of the photos were slightly blurred because Andy was laughing
so hard. During a lull in proceedings, while Helen was offered a drink, Andy shot some photos of her friend. I could hear the polite conversation between Helen and Fred. Fred was asking her who her favorite models were. ‘Veruschka and Marisa Berenson,’ was her reply. ‘Oh, they are friends of ours!’, Fred told her. Helen was an immediate success and was invited to return the next day—which she did, wearing a bouffant wig. I continued my search for more models and discovered Iris, Wilhelmina Ross and my close friend Michele Long. Andy lowered my fee to US$50. Did I ever say to the models I found for ‘Ladies and Gentlemen’, ‘Don’t worry, he’s a man in a wig, just like you’? Well no, but it wouldn’t have mattered, because Helen, Iris, Michele and Wilhelmina all shared one belief: that they deserved to be seen, adored and revered in the manner in which they presented themselves.
Above Andy Warhol, Ladies and Gentlemen (Helen/ Harry Morales) , 1974 Polaroid, 3 3/4 × 2 7/8 in.
© The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.
Opposite Andy Warhol, Ladies and Gentlemen (Helen/ Harry Morales) , 1975 acrylic and silkscreen ink on linen, 14 × 11 in. Image and Artwork © 2021 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc./ Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Corey Grant Tippin lives and works from his home in Black Rock, Bridgeport, CT.
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