Candy Darling

Candy Darling
"Candy Darling on her Deathbed" by Peter Hujar
Born James Lawrence Slattery
(1944-11-24)November 24, 1944
Forest Hills, Queens, New York, U.S.
Died March 21, 1974(1974-03-21) (aged 29)
New York City, U.S.
Cause of death Lymphoma
Resting place Cherry Valley Cemetery, Cherry Valley, New York, U.S.
Occupation Actress

Candy Darling (November 24, 1944 – March 21, 1974) was an American actress, best known as a Warhol Superstar and transsexual icon.[1][2][3] She starred in Andy Warhol's films Flesh (1968) and Women in Revolt (1971), and was a muse of The Velvet Underground.

Early life

Candy Darling was born as James Lawrence Slattery in Forest Hills, Queens, the child of Theresa Slattery, a bookkeeper at Manhattan's Jockey Club,[4] and James ("Jim") Slattery, who was described as a violent alcoholic.[5]

Darling's early years were spent in Massapequa Park, Long Island, where she and her mother moved after the parents' divorce. She spent much of her childhood watching television and old Hollywood movies, from which she learned to impersonate her favorite actresses, such as Joan Bennett and Kim Novak. She had one half-brother, Warren Law II, from her mother's first marriage to Warren Law. Warren Law II left to serve in the United States military and left Darling as the only child. Law would later deny his connection to Darling.

In an upcoming biography about Darling, Cynthia Carr reveals that Darling was "relentlessly bullied" in high school and dropped out at the age of 16 after a group of boys tried to lynch her.[2]

In 1961, she signed up for a course at the DeVern School of Cosmetology in Baldwin, Long Island.[6] Darling later said that she "learned about the mysteries of sex from a salesman in a local children's shoe store" and finally revealed an inclination towards cross-dressing when her mother confronted her about local rumors, which described Darling as "dressing as a girl" and frequenting a local gay bar called The Hayloft. In response, Darling left the room and returned in feminine clothing. Darling's mother would later say that, "I knew then... that I couldn't stop Jimmy. Candy was just too beautiful and talented."[7]

After coming out publicly, Darling would take a short cab ride to the Long Island Rail Road station, avoiding the attention of neighbors she would receive by walking to the train. From there, she would take the train to Manhattan, often sitting across from Long Island starlet Joey Heatherton. In Manhattan, she would refer to her family home at 79 First Avenue in Massapequa Park as her "country house", and spent time in Greenwich Village, meeting people through Seymour Levy on Bleecker Street.

Darling met Jeremiah Newton in the summer of 1966, when Newton was on his first trip to Greenwich Village from his home in Flushing, Queens. The two became friends and roommates, living together in Manhattan and Brooklyn until the time of Darling's death in 1974.[6]

Darling first took the name Hope Slattery. According to Bob Colacello, Darling took this name in 1963/1964 after she started going to gay bars in Manhattan and visiting a doctor on Fifth Avenue for hormone injections. Jackie Curtis said that Darling adopted the name from a well-known Off Broadway actress named Hope Stansbury, with whom she lived for a few months in an apartment behind the Caffe Cino. Holly Woodlawn remembers that Darling's name evolved from Hope Dahl to Candy Dahl, then to Candy Cane. Jeremiah Newton said she took the name "Candy" out of a love for sweets. In her autobiography, Woodlawn recalled that Darling had adopted the name because a friend of hers called her "darling" so often that it finally stuck.

Warhol years

Before they met, in 1967, Darling saw Andy Warhol at The Tenth of Always, an after-hours club. Darling was with Jackie Curtis, who invited Warhol to a play that she had written and directed, called Glamour, Glory and Gold, starring Darling as "Nona Noonan" and a young Robert De Niro, who played six parts in the play.[8] The play was performed at Bastiano's Cellar Studio on Waverly Place. Taylor Mead brought Warhol to see the play, and afterwards went to Salvation, a club in Sheridan Square, where Warhol and Mead were joined by Darling and Curtis at their table.

Warhol cast Darling in a short comedic scene in Flesh (1968) with Jackie Curtis and Joe Dallesandro. After Flesh, Darling was cast in a central role in Women in Revolt (1971). She played a Long Island socialite, drawn into a woman's liberation group called P.I.G.S. (Politically Involved Girls) by a character played by Curtis. Interrupted by cast disputes encouraged by Warhol, Women in Revolt took longer to film than Flesh and went through several title changes before it was released. Darling wanted it called "Blonde on a Bum Trip", since she was the blonde, while Curtis and Woodlawn told her it was more like "Bum on a Blonde Trip".

Women in Revolt was first shown at the first Los Angeles Filmex as Sex. It was later shown as Andy Warhol's Women, an homage to George Cukor. Unable to find a distributor for the film, Warhol rented out the Cine Malibu on East 59th Street and launched the film with a celebrity preview on February 16, 1972. After the screening, there was a dinner in Darling's honor at Le Parc Périgord restaurant on Park Avenue. The dinner was followed by a party at Francesco Scavullo's townhouse, where they watched television reviews of the movie. Some reviewers called the film "a rip-off", that it "looked as if it were filmed underwater", and "proves once again that Andy Warhol has no talent. But we knew that since the Campbell's Soup cans."[9] Among the guests at the screening, dinner, and party were D.D. Ryan, Sylvia Miles, George Plimpton, Halston, Giorgio di Sant' Angelo, and Egon and Diane von Fürstenberg. Jackie Curtis stood outside the preview in the cold, along with others who weren't invited.

The day after the celebrity preview, a group of women carrying protest signs demonstrated outside the cinema against the film, which they thought was anti-women's liberation. When Darling heard about this, she said, "Who do these dykes think they are anyway? Well, I just hope they all read Vincent Canby's review in today's Times. He said I look like a cross between Kim Novak and Pat Nixon. It's true – I do have Pat Nixon's nose."

Darling worked for a short time as a barmaid at Slugger Ann's, the bar owned by Jackie Curtis's grandmother.[10]

After Warhol

Darling went on to appear in other independent films, including Silent Night, Bloody Night, Wynn Chamberlain's Brand X, and a co-starring role in Some of My Best Friends Are...[11] She appeared in Klute with Jane Fonda and Lady Liberty with Sophia Loren. In 1971, she went to Vienna to make two films with director Werner Schroeter:The Death of Maria Malibran, and another film that was never released. Darling's attempt at breaking into mainstream movies, by campaigning for the leading role in Myra Breckinridge (1970), led to rejection and bitterness.

Her theatre credits include two Jackie Curtis plays, Glamour, Glory and Gold (1967) and Vain Victory: The Vicissitudes of the Damned (1971). Vain Victory was directed by Curtis at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in May/June 1971, and featured many other performers from Warhol's Factory, including Curtis, Ondine, Tally Brown, Mario Montez, Samuel Adams Green, Mary Woronov, Francesco Scavullo, Jay Johnson (twin brother of Jed Johnson), Holly Woodlawn, Steina and Woody Vasulka, Eric Emerson, and Warhol himself.[12]

Darling was in the original 1972 production of Tennessee Williams' play Small Craft Warnings, cast at Williams' request. She starred in the 1973 revival of The White Whore and the Bit Player, a 1964 play by Tom Eyen, at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club. The production was bilingual, called The White Whore and the Bit Player/La Estrelle y La Monja, and directed by Manuel Martin, Jr. Darling's character, a Hollywood actress known only as "the Whore", was based on Marilyn Monroe. She performed in the English version opposite Hortensia Colorado, and the Spanish version was performed by Magaly Alabau and Graciela Mas.[13] As a review of the play stated, "With her teased platinum hair and practiced pouts, Miss Darling looks like her character and resolutely keeps her acting little-girl-lost. The role-playing aspect works to her advantage. She could, after all, be a male lunatic pretending to be the White Whore."[14]

Illness and death

Darling died of lymphoma on March 21, 1974, aged 29, at the Columbia University Medical Center division of the Cabrini Health Center.[15] In a letter written on her deathbed and intended for Warhol and his followers, Darling wrote, "Unfortunately before my death I had no desire left for life ... I am just so bored by everything. You might say bored to death. Did you know I couldn't last. I always knew it. I wish I could meet you all again."[16]

Her funeral, held at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel, was attended by huge crowds. Julie Newmar read the eulogy.[17] Darling's half-brother, previously unaware of her gender transition, was said to have been visibly shaken by her appearance. Darling's birth name was never spoken by the minister or any of the eulogizers. Faith Dane played a piano piece, and Gloria Swanson saluted Darling's coffin.[18]

Darling was cremated, and her ashes were interred by Jeremiah Newton in the Cherry Valley Cemetery in Cherry Valley, New York, a village at the foot of the Catskill Mountains.

Legacy

2010 documentary

A feature-length documentary on Darling, titled Beautiful Darling, premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival (or Berlinale) in February 2010. The documentary features archival film and video footage, photographs, personal papers, archival audio interviews with Tennessee Williams, Valerie Solanas, Jackie Curtis and Darling's mother, as well as contemporary interviews with Holly Woodlawn, Fran Lebowitz, John Waters, Julie Newmar, Peter Beard, and Taylor Mead. Chloë Sevigny narrates the film, voicing Darling's private diary entries and personal letters. The film was directed by James Rasin and produced by Jeremiah Newton and Elisabeth Bentley.

Portrayals

Film

Stage

Music

Visual arts

Namesakes

  • In 2009, C☆NDY, which calls itself "the first transversal style magazine", debuted. It is named after Darling.[26]
  • Byredo created a candle scent named after Darling.[27]

Works

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1968 Flesh Candy
1970 Brand X Marlene D-Train
1971 La Mortadella Transvestite Alternative title: Lady Liberty
1971 Klute Discothèque Patron Uncredited
1971 Some of My Best Friends Are... Karen / Harry
1971 Women in Revolt Candy
1971 Lady Liberty Transvestite Uncredited
1972 Der Tod der Maria Malibran Directed by Werner Schroeter
1972 Silent Night, Bloody Night Guest (final film role)
1973 An American Family Herself
2002 The Cockettes Herself Archive footage
2004 Superstar in a Housedress Herself Archive footage
2006 Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film Herself Archive footage
2010 Beautiful Darling Herself Archive footage

References

  1. ↑ Darling, Candy (2015). Candy Darling: Memoirs of an Andy Warhol Superstar. Open Road Media. p. 201. ISBN 9781480407756.
  2. 1 2 Johnson, Richard. "New details about Candy Darling's difficult, short life". Page Six. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  3. ↑ Plaza, Cristina. "Candy Darling, el reverso de la primera figura transexual de la cultura pop". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  4. ↑ "Theresa Catherine P. McLean". Glens Falls Post-Star. Retrieved 2018-04-04.
  5. ↑ Bell, Arthur (May 18, 1972). "Darling Candy, where were you the night Jean harlow died?". The Village Voice. Retrieved June 18, 2009.
  6. 1 2 Moynihan, Colin (February 24, 2009). "From the Archives, a Portrait of a Pop-Art Muse". The New York Times. Retrieved November 8, 2010.
  7. ↑ Comenas, Gary. "Candy Darling". Warholstars.org. Archived from the original on February 3, 2011. Retrieved November 8, 2010.
  8. ↑ "What is the Robert DeNiro Connection?". For Members Only: The Story of the Mob's Secret Judge. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  9. ↑ Colacello, Bob (2014). Holy Terror: Andy Warhol Close Up. Vintage Books. p. 115. ISBN 9780804169868.
  10. ↑ Palladini, Giulia (May 26, 2011). "Queer Kinship in the New York Underground: On the 'Life and Legend' of Jackie Curtis". Contemporary Theatre Review. Routledge. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
  11. 1 2 3 Candy Darling on IMDb
  12. ↑ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: Vain Victory, The Vicissitudes of the Damned (1971)". Accessed April 4, 2018.
  13. ↑ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: The White Whore and the Bit Player/La Estrella y La Monja (1973a)". Accessed April 4, 2018.
  14. ↑ Gussow, Mel (February 6, 1973). "Eyen's 'The White Whore and Bit Player' Arrives". The New York Times.
  15. ↑ "Candy Darling Dies; Warhol 'Superstar'". The New York Times. March 22, 1974.
  16. ↑ Wiegand, David (July 28, 1997). "Candy's Fairy-Tale 'Face' Diaries Reveal Longing For Identity". SFGate.com. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  17. ↑ Lopez, Alfred J., ed. (2012). Postcolonial Whiteness: A Critical Reader on Race and Empire. SUNY Press. p. 64. ISBN 0-791-48372-X.
  18. ↑ Donovan, Janet (May 23, 2011). ""Beautiful Darling" Candy, Born as James". NBCWashington.com. Retrieved June 9, 2014.
  19. ↑ Bacalzo, Dan (October 15, 2009). "Doug Kreeger, Randy Harrison, Leslie Kritzer, Brian Charles Rooney, et al. Set for Yale Rep's Pop!". TheaterMania.com. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  20. ↑ Simonson, Robert (April 27, 2006). "The Drowsy Chaperone Leads 2006 Drama Desk Nominations". Playbill.com. Archived from the original on April 28, 2014. Retrieved July 30, 2014.
  21. ↑ Paytress, Mark (2009). Rolling Stones: Off the Record. London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-113-4.
  22. ↑ DeCurtis, Anthony (2017). Lou Reed: A Life. New York: Little Brown.
  23. ↑ DeCurtis, Anthony (2017). Lou Reed: A Life. Little, Brown, 2017. p. 123. ISBN 9780316376549. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
  24. ↑ Morton, Julia (January 26, 2007). "Greer Lankton, A Memoir". artnet. Artnet Worldwide Corporation. Retrieved March 13, 2012.
  25. ↑ I Am a Bird Now - Credits, Allmusic.com; retrieved July 3, 2011.
  26. ↑ Tim Blanks. "Exclusive: The World's Biggest Transgender Stars Cover C☆NDY". style.com.
  27. ↑ "Zac Posen – 15 favourite things". Vogue UK. Retrieved April 8, 2015.

Further reading

  • Bockris, Victor (1998). The Life and Death of Andy Warhol. 4th Estate. ISBN 1-85702-805-8.
  • Colacello, Bob (2000). Holy Terror: Andy Warhol close up. Cooper Square. ISBN 0-8154-1008-5.
  • County, Jayne (1996). Man Enough to be a Woman. ISBN 1852423382.
  • Darling, Candy (1992). Newton, Jeremiah, ed. My Face for the World to See: the Diaries, letters and drawings. Hardy Marks Publications. ISBN 0-945367-21-X.
  • Harron, Mary; Minahan, Daniel (1996). I Shot Andy Warhol. Bloomsbury. ISBN 0-7475-2995-7.
  • Rasin, James. Beautiful Darling: The Life and Times of Candy Darling Andy Warhol Superstar (film).
  • Warhol, Andy (1981). Popism: the Warhol '60s. Hutchinson. ISBN 9780091445805.
  • Woodlawn, Holly; Copeland, Jeff (1991). A Low Life in High Heels. St Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-06429-2.
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