July 19, 2013
Time Capsules By Elaina Vitale
An artist as prolific as Andy Warhol was bound to have their share of bizarre media coverage. In December of 1978, he and his good friend and collaborator Truman Capote appeared on the cover of an issue of High Times. Warhol is wearing a Santa suit, and is holding a dog, possibly one of his dachshunds Amos or Archie. Capote is dressed as an elf. Their photo shoot took place on September 26, 1978, and is detailed in Warhol’s entry that day in his book “The Andy Warhol Diaries.” As he recounted later that day: “[Toni, from High Times] had a Santa costume for me and a little girl outfit for Truman. But Truman wasn’t in the mood to go into drag, he said that he was already dressed like a little boy. Truman was really drunk, hugging around.” The contents of Warhol’s Time Capsules are constantly illuminated by his “Diaries,” although frequently the entries merely serve as gossipy background.