Revolutionary drag-queen, Warhol superstar, and actor Holly Woodlawn was at a high point in her career when she moved into Hotel Chelsea. She had just starred in Warhol’s crossover hit Trash for which she received outstanding notices. Famous ‘women’s director’, George Cukor [the Philadelphia Story, the Women, My Fair Lady‘], was so taken by Woodlawn’s performance that he campaigned to have her included in the Best Actress category for that year’s Oscars.
Fresh from this success, Woodlawn was moved into a room at Hotel Chelsea by the producers of a film to be called Scarecrow in a Garden of Cucumbers which would also feature a very young Bette Midler.
Recalling her time at the Chelsea, Woodlawn writes; “the Chelsea was a grand little hotel… I had my own balcony located just beneath the grand Chelsea sign. Needless to say, my humble home was an uproar with Ondine, Jackie Curtis and the rest of the gang whooping it up on my golden terrace. We were smoking pot, shooting speed, and dipping into all kinds of jollity. Wine, weed, booze, men… it was ancient Greece all over again.”
[illustration: Carrie Bedsore’s own Holly Woodlawn autograph. Woodlawn is pictured with ‘Litle Joe’ Dallesandro in Trash. Holly came from Miami FLA and Little Joe never once gave it away]
Source: Woodlawn, H. A Low Life in High Heels. St Martins Press. 1991.
This is the second in a series of Curious Chelsea Factoids contributed by our guy in Australia. Look for more factoids throughout the year.
Recent Comments