Now of all the riveting events that happened on this day throughout history, and believe me there were some really, really good ones (death of a euthanasia crazed doctor anyone?) I decided that this one, the one I am about to explain was interesting on two points. But first, what is it that I'm talking about? What did happen today that I find more interesting than a Latvian gay pride march and the return of 400 children to a polygamist sect in Texas?
On this day in 1968, American Pop Art artist Andy Warhol, was shot and wounded in his New York film studio by actress Valerie Solanas.
Okay, now yes, in a small way this is interesting. I mean, possibly the most famous Pop artist in all the world was shot at; an attempt of murder on his life was committed by this Valerie Solanas woman, whomever she may be. Well, I'll tell you who she is because she is mighty interesting (point one).
Valeria Solanas was a whirlwind of hate, anger, and general dislike towards men. And her life, in all its tragedy, justifies this hatred.
When she was little, she claims to have been sexually abused by her father on a regular bases. After her mother and father divorced, her mother remarried. Solanas disliked her step-father and started acting out at school, writing insults for other children to use at the cost of a dime, punching a boy for teasing a small girl and, possibly my favourite rebellious act, hitting a nun. In retaliation, Solanas' mother sent her to live with her grandmother and grandfather, the latter Solanas claimed to be a violent alcoholic who beat her. After leaving the grandparents home, becoming homeless, Solanas had a son, fathered by either a married man or a sailor. Either way the child, named David, was taken away from Solanas and adopted.
So her teen years were pretty messed up. In comparison, university was pretty blasé, although it was during these years that she openly claimed to be a lesbian. Surprise, surprise. It was after university that she moved to New York, became a prostitute to support herself, wrote two plays, met Andy Warhol in an attempt to get one of the plays performed, became somewhat friends with him, acted in two of his films, wrote her most famous piece of work, the
S.C.U.M Manifesto (Society for Cutting Up Men, although it was proposed that this was never what the acronym stood for), met publisher Maurice Girodias who published S.C.U.M and who then told Solanas he would publish all her other work from this moment on. Now is where it gets really interesting.
Solanas took this to mean that Girodias now owned her. She would be limited in what she could write and whether or not Girodias wanted to publish it. She didn't like this. Again, surprise, surprise. She went to fellow writer (because she always called herself a writer first, not an actress) Paul Krassner, told him she was going to shoot Girodias and that she needed money to do so. Krassner gave her $50 and Solanas bought a .32 automatic pistol.
Girodias was lucky. He had gone away for the weekend, as Solanas found out when she enquired about him at the Chelsea Hotel. But she had the gun so what was she to do?
At around midday, Solanas arrived at The Factory, Warhol's film studio. Paul Morrisey, a fellow film director of Warhol's arrived and asked Solanas what she was doing. She replied that she was waiting for Andy to get money off him for her first play, which she believed Andy had stolen from her. In reality it had just been misplaced. At 2 o'clock Solanas went into the studio, travelling up and down the escalator seven times before Warhol arrived.
Now at the time, the people in the studio numbered five people. There was Warhol's manager Fred Hughes, Morriesy, Warhol, Solanas herself and critic Mario Amaya. The telephone rang and Warhol answered it, whilst Morrisey went to the bathroom. This was her moment. Solanas shot at Warhol three times. The first two missed, the third went through his left lung, spleen, stomach, liver, oesophagus and finally his right lung. Solanas then shot at Mario Amaya, the bullet going through his right hip. Finally, Solanas attempted to shoot Hughes in the head point blank. However, her gun jammed and she left. Warhol was taken to Columbus hospital where five doctors operated on him for five hours to save his life.
Solanas turned herself in later that day. She was brought before Manhattan Criminal Court where she did not try to deny her actions. The judge sent her to Bellevue Hospital for psychiatric observation. A year later, in June of 1969, Solanas was deemed fit to stand trial. Representing herself, pleading guilty to reckless assault with intent to harm, she was sentenced to three years in prison. The year she had spent in Bellevue counted towards her sentence as time served.
Now I'm sorry but you try reading that and not be interested (point two). The woman was so just messed up. And yet at the same time, so interesting because of being messed up. Normally, when things get to that stage, where, if you met that person down the street you would fear for your life, you stop being interested. If I could have met Solanas (she died of pneumonia in 1988 at the age of 52) that would have been so incredible. The stories that she could have told. I would have loved to live during this time. The past just seems so much more interesting than the present. Modern society constitutes those advocating for gay marriage, or peace, all great things of course but still nothing in comparison to a woman going out and shooting another person because she was that angry.
You just don't hear a lot these days about bitter woman.
Probably, no, DEFINITELY, a good thing.
I recommend reading more about both the
S.C.U.M Maifesto and
Valerie Solanas. It will open your eyes to a whole new point of view of the world.
Image available: http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2010/05/andy_warhol_sho.php
