Louis Waldon
1994, 82 minutes
Louis Waldon starred in several Warhol films, Lonesome
Cowboys, Bike Boy, Nude Restaurant and most notably Blue Movie (1968)
featuring he and Viva.
Blue Movie's scene of casual intercourse made it
a succés de scandal. The film was seized by New York Police after
a three month run; Warhol was faced with obscenity charges; and its
underground stars became underground superstars.
The following year, 1969, Auder made Waldon's acquaintance
through Viva whom he had just met in Paris and would soon marry in Las
Vegas. But not before recruiting the two underground superstars to be
in his movie, Keeping Busy which is how Auder and Waldon became fast
friends.
From the opening moments of Louis Waldon, it is clear
the two friends have fallen out of touch with no indication when they
last saw each other. After a quick survey of Waldon's small cluttered
apartment, Waldon quickly recounts the humorous circumstances under
which they met, revealing his disbelief (sustained over a period of
twenty-five years) that Auder actually married Viva whom he (Waldon)
knew to be somewhat nuts.
At one point, as an aid to memory, he plays a video
tape of Warhol's Nude Restaurant and Tub Girls which features one of
Viva's notorious selfabsorbed monologues. But despite Waldon's charms,
which are brusque and many, it is a portrait in-full whose details are
rather sad.
They feature a scene of substance abuse; passing
mention of he and his son's estrangement; and a scene revealing how
he supplements his meager actor's income by making beautiful knock-offs
of Warhol silk-screen paintings. But the portrait is ultimately defined
by warmth of character drawn from the embers of friendship.