Candy Darling

Candy Darling (24 November 1944 - 21 March 1974) was a transsexual Warhol superstar who starred in Andy Warhol's films Flesh (1968) and Women in Revolt (1971).

The Warhol years

Before they actually met in 1967, Candy saw Andy Warhol at the after-hours club called The Tenth of Always. Candy was with Jackie Curtis who invited Warhol to the play she had written and directed called Glamour, Glory and Gold. It was being performed at Bastiano's Cellar Studio on Waverly Place. Taylor Mead brought Andy to see it and afterwards went to the club Salvation in Sheridan Square where he was joined by Candy and Jackie at his table.

Related Topics:
Andy Warhol - Jackie Curtis - Taylor Mead

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It wasn't long before Warhol invited Candy to appear in one of his movies. She was given a short comedic scene in Flesh (1968) with Jackie Curtis and Joe Dallesandro. After Flesh, Candy 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 PIGS (Politically Involved Girls) by a character played by Jackie Curtis. Interrupted by cast disputes encouraged by Warhol, Women in Revolt took longer to film that its predecessor and went through several title changes before a consensus was reached. Candy wanted it called Blonde on a Bum Trip since she was the blonde, while Jackie and Holly told her it was more like Bum on a Blonde Trip - titles which were both used in the film during Candy's interview scene.

Related Topics:
Flesh - Joe Dallesandro - Women In Revolt

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Women in Revolt was first shown at the first Los Angeles Filmex as Sex. Later it was shown as Andy Warhol's Women, an homage to George Cukor. Unable to get a distributor for the film, Warhol rented out the Cine Malibu on East 59th Street, New York and launched the film with a celebrity preview on February 16, 1972. After the screening there was a dinner in Candy's honor at the restaurant, Le Parc Perigord on Park Avenue at 63rd Street, followed by a party at Scavullo's townhouse round the corner, where they watched TV reviews of the movie. They watched it being called "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."

Related Topics:
Los Angeles - George Cukor

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Among the guests at Candy's party were D.D. Ryan, Sylvia Miles, George Plimpton, Halston, Giorgio di Sant 'Angelo and Diane and Egon von Furstenberg. Jackie Curtis stood out in the cold, along with other gate crashers. When a security guard asked "My God, what are they giving away in there?" one of the guests responded, "Would you believe, a transvestite?"

Related Topics:
Sylvia Miles - George Plimpton - Halston - Egon von Furstenberg

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The day after the celebrity preview a group of women wearing army jackets, pea coats, jeans and boots and carrying protest signs demonstrated outside the cinema against the film which they thought was anti-woman's liberation. When Candy 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."

Related Topics:
Kim Novak - Pat Nixon

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