Liberation (85 page)

 

February 23.
152¼. Worked on
Wanderings
. Dar[y]ll Marsha[k],
²⁹
Bobby Littman's assistant, came by to pick up “Sally Bowles” contracts.
³⁰
We saw
Casque d'Or
(Signoret) with Scott Velliquette
³¹
and Ted Bachardy; then had supper with Scott at Pancho's Family Café, then all went to a party given by Paul Kantor.
³²
David Hockney, Henry Geldzahler were there.

 

February 24.
Rain during night. Worked on
Wanderings
. Jogged on San Vicente. We went to a show of film star photographs arranged by John Kobal
³³
at the Barnsdall Park Gallery (“Dreams for Sale”). We had supper with Roddy McDowall and Paul Anderson—Nina Foch, her husband Michael Dewell, Sidney Guilaroff.
³⁴

 

February 25.
152. Worked on
Wanderings
. Saw Larry Holt at St. Vincent's Hospital. Saw Swami, had supper at the new monastery, read with Chetanananda in temple. Don and I went (separately) to party given by Stanley and [Elyse] Grinstein.
³⁵
David Hockney, Gregory Evans, Don Cribb, Jack Larson, Jim Bridges, Chuck Arnoldi, Ed Moses etc. were there.

 

February 26.
151¼. Worked on
Wanderings
. With Don, Bill Scobie, Tony Sarver to UCLA, where I spoke in the upstairs lounge of Kerckhoff Hall as part of Gay Awareness Week celebrations. We ate at home later. At 6:00 p.m. we went over to talk to Mr. and Mrs. George Caldwell about the building of Don's studio.

 

February 27.
152¼. Worked on
Wanderings
. We went to gym. Natalie Leavitt cleaned house. We had supper with Michael and Pat York, Rick McCallum, David Hockney and Don Cribb at Ma Maison, after having been refused service at L'Hermitage because David didn't have a jacket.

 

February 28.
152¾. Sea-fog. Worked on
Wanderings
. We went to see Ted Michel (Tat Twam Asi) who gave me a ring.
³⁶
We ate at home.

 

February 29.
154. Worked on
Wanderings
. Charlotte Rampling, her husband Br[y]an [Southcombe], her son Barnaby, David[,] Barnaby's nurse and Mary their secretary came by for drinks. We ate at home.

 

March 1.
152¼. Rain. Worked on
Wanderings
. David Hockney came and drew us. Don had lunch with him. Don and I ate at Pancho's Family Café, then saw Pabst's
Pandora's Box.

 

March 2.
151½. Rain. Worked on
Wanderings
. George and Phila Caldwell came by for drinks. Paul Chin and Chris Gaynor drove me to Fullerton State University where I talked to the gay students, met Kurt Yount, was driven home by Bud Schindler. Ate at home with Don.

 

March 3.
Worked on
Wanderings
. We went to gym. We went to the temple for vespers of the Ramakrishna puja, saw Swami. We had supper with Rick Sandford at El Adobe. We went with him to Northridge State University and saw part of
Hamlet
, with Jon Voight.

 

March 4.
Worked on
Wanderings
. Natalie cooked and we had George Cukor, Whitney Warren,
³⁷
Tom Crema, David Hockney, Mark Lancaster and Nick Wilder to dinner.

 

March 5.
Heard that Chris Wood had a stroke. Broke my upper partial and had it repaired by Jim Kearin. Don and David Hockney drew Nick Wilder at Gemini. Don and I had supper with Jess, Glade, and Ted Bachardy at Clifton's Cafeteria. Don and I got naval uniforms from Western Costume Co[mpany] for Nick's party tomorrow. We saw
Nashville
at the Academy, sat with Harry Brown and Barbara Poe.

 

March 6.
151½. Worked on
Wanderings.
We had supper at Casa Mia. We went to Nick Wilder's party at the gallery.

 

March 7.
152¼. [ Jon], Anna, and Rachel [Monday] took me to Santa Barbara. I read Vivekananda's “Bhakti or Devotion” in the temple. We drove back. Don and I ate at home.

 

March 8.
Worked on
Wanderings
. To gym. We had supper with Chris Wood and Paul Sorel at the Swiss Café.

 

March 9.
Worked on
Wanderings
. Carl Day
³⁸
and Norm Haley
³⁹
came to talk to us about the Coastal Commission hearing on the studio. We ate at home. Don drew David Dambacher.

 

March 10.
152¾. Finished chapter 15 of
Wanderings.
We saw Swami at Vedanta Place; I stayed for supper at the monastery and read with Chetanananda.

 

March 11.
151¼. Began chapter 16 of
Wanderings
. Jogged on San Vicente. We talk[ed] to Frank Hotchkiss
⁴⁰
about the permit to enlarge the studio. Ate at home.

 

March 12.
Jogged on San Vicente. Worked on
Wanderings
. We had supper with Michael Laughlin at Mr. Chow's, with Jim Katz. Natalie Leavitt cleaned house.

 

March 13.
152. Worked on
Wanderings
. We had supper with Ivan Moffat and Hope Lange Pa[k]ula at Le Petit Moulin.

 

March 14.
Carl Day and Norm Haley to see us about the hearing tomorrow. Worked on
Wanderings
. Natalie Leavitt cooked and we had Lauren Bacall, David Hockney, Billy Al Bengston, Penny Little and John O'Shea (very drunk) to supper.

 

March 15.
We drove with Carl Day to the City Hall at Torrance for the first hearing of our application to the Coastal Commission for a permit to enlarge Don's studio. Norm Haley and George Caldwell spoke. To gym. We had supper at Pancho's Family Café. We saw
Sandakan [8]
⁴¹
at the Academy.

 

March 16.
152¾. Worked on
Wanderings
. Don drew Paula Sweet. Ate at home.

 

March 17.
We flew to Catalina (by Catalina Airlines) at 9:30 a.m. with David Hockney, Nick Wilder, Joe McDonald,
⁴²
David Dambacher, Gilbert Haacke,
⁴³
and Lee Brevard. The flight takes twenty minutes. We had lunch at Michael John's.
⁴⁴
Don and I flew back at 3:30 (by Air Catalina). The others returned later. We ate at home.

 

March 18.
Worked on
Wanderings
. Jogged on San Vicente. We ate at home.

 

March 19.
154. Worked on
Wanderings
. Jogged on San Vicente. We had supper with Charles Hill and Paula Sweet at her studio—with Dorothy and Elizabeth.

 

March 20.
153¼. Worked on
Wanderings
. Don went to Gemini, drew with David Hockney. We went to a party given by Peter Alexander at his studio, then we had supper with Greg Harrold and his friend Gordon Myers.

 

March 21.
153¾. Worked on
Wanderings
. Stu Brandt drove me to Santa Barbara and back. I read Vivekananda's lecture on “Discipleship” at the temple. We had supper with Gore Vidal at the Luau.

 

March 22.
Worked on
Wanderings
. We went to the gym. We had supper with Bill Scobie and Tony Sarver at Musso and Frank, then saw
Boy Meets Boy
(David Gallegly).
⁴⁵

 

March 23.
154. Worked on
Wanderings
. Jogged on San Vicente. Natalie Leavitt cooked and we had Leslie and Michael Laughlin, David Hockney, and Don Cribb to supper.

 

March 24.
155. Worked on
Wanderings
. Digby Diehl took me to the
L. A. Times
offices, where I received a Woman of the Year Award for Anaïs Nin, who is in hospital. Don and I saw Swami. Had supper at the monastery. Read at the temple, with Chetanananda. Don drew David Dambacher and [Gilbert] Haacke.
⁴⁶

 

March 25.
154¼. Worked on
Wanderings
. Don drew with David Hockney at Gemini. Jogged on San Vicente. We had supper with John Schlesinger and Michael Childers.

 

March 26.
153½. Worked on
Wanderings
. We saw
Taxi Driver
(Robert de Niro). We ate at home. Jogged at gym.

 

March 27.
Worked on
Wanderings
. Don drew with David Hockney. Michael and Pat York came by to see us, with Rick McCallum. We ate at home.

 

March 28.
153½. Worked on
Wanderings
. We saw
Night Moves
(directed by Arthur Penn).

 

March 29.
Worked on
Wanderings
. To party at Billy Al Bengston's, to watch the Oscar awards on T.V. We talked to Carl Day about the studio.

 

March 30.
Worked on
Wanderings
. Natalie Leavitt cooked. We had David Hockney, Gregory Evans, Nick Wilder, David Dambacher, [Gilbert] Haacke, Michael Kaplan
⁴⁷
and Don Cribb to supper. Showed them the film of our trip to Europe in 1955.

 

March 31.
Worked on
Wanderings
. We saw Swami. I had supper at the monastery and read in the temple, with Chetanananda.

 

April 1.
We applied for unemployment insurance. Worked on
Wanderings
. We went to gym. Said goodbye to David Hockney and Gregory Evans who leave for Australia tonight. Went to Jo Lathwood's show of flower paintings at the Staircase. We had supper with Rick Sandford and then all went to see Hal Holbrook in
Mark Twain Tonight.

 

April 2.
152¾. Worked on
Wanderings
. We had supper with Jo Lathwood. Betty Arizu, Janet Gaynor and Paul Gregory were there.

 

April 3.
Worked on
Wanderings
(now to be called
Christopher and His Kind
) and finished the final chapter, 16. Don drew Greg Harrold. We ran a reel of hom[e] movie films which Don had spliced together. We ate at home. Rain in the night.

 

April 4.
153. Started revising
Christopher and His Kind
. We went with Harry Brown to see
All the President's Men
at the Academy then we all had supper at the Aware Inn.

 

April 5.
153¼. Revised
Christopher and His Kind
. I saw Mary O'Hilderbrandt. We had supper at Ma Maison with Harry Rigby and Terry [K]ramer.

 

April 6.
153½. Revised
Christopher and His Kind
. We went to gym. We saw
Lipstick
(Margaux Hemingway) and
Conduct Unbecoming
(Michael York). We ate sandwiches from the delicatessen.

 

April 7.
151¾. Revised
Christopher and His Kind
. We saw Swami. I had supper at Vedanta Place and read in the temple with Chetanananda.

 

April 8.
Met George Caldwell at his house and talked to him about the studio hearing on Monday next. Revised
Christopher and His Kind
. We went to gym. We had supper at Mr. Chow's with Leslie and Michael Laughlin, Jim Katz, and Michael Webster.
⁴⁸

 

April 9.
Worked on revising
Christopher and His Kind
. Jogged on San Vicente. Natalie Leavitt cleaned house. Talked to Candida Donadio and Michael di Capua and dictated copy for catalogue listing of my new book, by telephone. We ate at home.

 

April 10.
153. Worked on revising
Christopher and His Kind
. Don collected signatures for the studio hearing. Natalie Leavitt cooked and we had Harry Rigby and Bobby Sanchez to dinner.

 

April 11.
152¼. Worked on revising
Christopher and His Kind
. Don collected signatures. I saw Elsa Laughton in town to get signatures. Don and I to Howard Warshaw opening, then to see Hitchcock's
Family Plot
. We ate at home.

 

April 12.
152¾. We drove down to Torrance with Carl Day for the public hearing about Don's studio before the Coastal Commission. We had lunch with Carl Day and Norm Haley at Peppy's, having waited all morning for our hearing, which finally took place around 3:00. We won 8–0. Then we talked to Mrs. Jeanne Dobrin
⁴⁹
about managing the Hilldale duplexes. Showed her Tom Warner's apartment. We saw
Robin and Marian
. We ate at home.

 

April 13.
151. Worked on
Christopher and His Kind
. We went to the gym. We had supper with Vincent Price and Coral Browne. Hugh Wheeler was there.

 

April 14.
153. Worked on
Christopher and His Kind
. Saw Swami. Had supper at the monastery. Swami Swahananda from Berkeley was there. I read with him in the temple.

 

April 15.
151½. High wind. Worked on
Christopher and His Kind
. We took Greg Harrold and Gordon Myers to supper at the Bellevue.

 

April 16.
Worked on
Christopher and His Kind
. Jogged on San Vicente. Don cooked. We had Gloria Stuart
⁵⁰
and Catherine [Turney]
⁵¹
to dinner. Don was sick to his stomach in the night— probably a bad mussel.