The Factory’s openness erased boundaries between fame and obscurity within a single scene

Evidence

Not only was Warhol’s studio assistant Gerard Malanga one of the three Factory stars, murky but naked, on Fuck You’s cover but contributions to the issue included a list of Malanga’s alleged male and female paramours compiled by fellow poet and Factory scenarist “Ronnie” Tavel. The list of twenty-eight men includes distinguished poets and artists W. H. Auden, John Ashbery, Taylor Mead, Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky, Fred Herko, Rufus Collins, Willard Maas, Winn Chamberlain, Gregory Markopoulos, Alan Marlowe, Bob (Ondine) Olivo, Andy Warhol, Kenneth Koch, Tavel himself “and hundreds more which Gerard Malanga trembles in paranoia to mention.” The seventeen women are more underground: Naomi Levine, Elektrah! (Lobel), Barbara Rubin, Rose (actually Kate) Heliczer and “thousands of faces and snatches in the night.” — J. Hoberman, Everything Is Now, 1925