Blue Movie
New York: Grove Press, 1970. First Edition, First Printing (stated). Softcover. Sextodecimo. 7 x 4.25 inches. 123 pp. Evergreen Black Cat B-250. Mass market paperback in original stiff pictorial wrappers showing price of $1.75. Contains complete text of the improvised dialogue from the film and over 100 b&w photographs, some quite explicit. Light edgewear to wrappers, else Fine. Text block square and tight. Previous owner’s signature inked on title page, else free of markings. Scarce in this condition.
The erotic film Blue Movie (originally titled Fuck), written and directed by Andy Warhol, and starring starred Warhol regulars Viva and Louis Walden, depicted explicit sex and helped usher in the “Golden Age of Porn.” It was unscripted and improvised. Warhol’s intended title for the film was Fuck, consistent with his use of single word titles. However, when, at the first screening, it was found that the second reel had a blue cast due to the use of incorrect film stock, Warhol decided to call the film Blue Movie, a cinematic pun, in that it was a “blue movie” that was actually blue. After an initial showing at The Factory, it opened to a wider audience at the New Andy Warhol Garrick Theater in New York City on July 21, 1969. Ten days later, the staff of the theater were arrested, and the film, having been deemed obscene, was confiscated. Warhol subsequently published Blue Movie as a photoplay in book form using the dialog and explicit stills from the film. Postscript: In 2016, Blue Movie (the film)was shown at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. Fine / No dust jacket as issued. Item #0000089
Price: $150.00