Chelsea Girls

The cast of the film is largely made up of persons playing themselves, and are credited as follows:

{{Div col}}

• Brigid Berlin as Herself / The Duchess
• Nico as Herself
• Ondine as Himself / Pope
• Ingrid Superstar as Herself
• Randy Bourscheidt as Himself
• Angelina 'Pepper' Davis as Herself
• Christian Aaron Boulogne as Himself
• Mary Woronov as Hanoi Hannah
• Ed Hood as Himself
• Ronna as Herself
• International Velvet as Herself
• Rona Page as Herself
• Rene Ricard as Himself
• Dorothy Dean as Herself
• Patrick Fleming as Himself
• Eric Emerson as Himself
• Donald Lyons as Himself
• Gerard Malanga as Son
• Marie Menken as Mother
• Arthur Loeb as Himself
• Mario Montez as Transvestite

{{Div col end}}

According to scriptwriter Ronald Tavel, Warhol first brought up the idea for the film in the back room of Max's Kansas City, Warhol's favorite nightspot, during the summer of 1966. In Ric Burns' documentary film Andy Warhol, Tavel recollected that Warhol took a napkin and drew a line down the middle and wrote 'B' and 'W' on opposite sides of the line; he then showed it to Tavel, explaining "I want to make a movie that is a long movie, that is all black on one side and all white on the other." Warhol was referring to both the visual concept of the film, as well as the content of the scenes presented.

The film was shot in the summer and early autumn of 1966, in various rooms and locations inside the Hotel Chelsea (though contrary to the film's title, only poet -- René Ricard -- actually lived there at the time.Leve, Ariel 'New York Storeys' The Sunday Times Magazine, 25 March 2007, pp. 40–51. p. 49 Filming also took place at Warhol's studio, The Factory. Appearing in the film were many of Warhol's regulars, including Nico, Brigid Berlin, Gerard Malanga, Mary Woronov (as Hanoi Hannah), Ingrid Superstar, "International Velvet" and Eric Emerson. According to Burns' documentary, Warhol and his companions completed an average of one 33-minute segment per week.

Image:Nicoondinechelseagirls.png (left) and Ondine (right) in the final scene of Chelsea Girls. This "still" comes from the 2003 Italian DVD print of the film.]]

Once principal photography "wrapped (film production)", Warhol and co-director Paul Morrissey selected the 12 most striking vignettes they had filmed, and then projected them, side-by-side, to create a visual juxtaposition, of both contrasting images and divergent content (the so-called "white" or light, and innocent aspects of life, against the "black" or darker, more disturbing aspects). As a result, the 6.5-hour running time was effectivelly cut in half, to 3 hours and 15 minutes. However, part of Warhol's concept for the film was that it would be unlike watching a regular movie, the two projectors could never achieve exact synchronization from viewing to viewing; therefore -- despite specific instructions of where individual sequences would be played, during the running time, each viewing of the film would, in essence, be an entirely different experience.{{incoherent| I *think* I get his intent, but a qualified film guru's interpretation of his psyche is necessary, or at best only fair.|date=April 2025}}

Several of the sequences have gone on to attain a cult status, most notably the "Pope" sequence, featuring avant-garde actor and poet Robert Olivo, or Ondine as he called himself, as well as a segment featuring Mary Woronov titled "Hanoi Hannah," one of two portions of the film scripted specifically by Tavel.

Notably missing is a sequence Warhol shot with his most popular superstar Edie Sedgwick which, according to Morrissey, Warhol excised from the final film at the insistence of Sedgwick, who claimed she was under contract to Bob Dylan's manager Albert Grossman at the time the film was made. Sedgwick's footage was used in the Warhol film Afternoon.

The film was the inspiration for star Nico's 1967 debut album, Chelsea Girl, which featured a ballad-like track titled "Chelsea Girls", which was written about the hotel and its inhabitants.

Warhol and his entourage attended the 1967 Cannes Film Festival to present the film, but it wasn't shown.{{Cite news |last=Sheffy |first=Pearl |date=1967-05-28 |title=Andy Warhol At Cannes |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-examiner-andy-warhol-a/147786864/ |access-date=2024-08-17 |work=The San Francisco Sunday Examiner & Chronicle |pages=6}} "The festival authorities explained that the film was too long, there were technical problems, there was no time."

In the UK, Chelsea Girls was refused a theatrical certificate in 1967 by the British Board of Film Classification.{{cite book |last=Heins |first=Marjorie |date=September 11, 2007 |title=Not in Front of the Children: 'Indecency,' Censorship, and the Innocence of Youth |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Phb_wsA1J8C&q=British+Board+of+Film+Classification+chelsea+girls&pg=PA208 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |page=208|isbn=9780813543888 }}

The girl in the poster is Clare Shenstone, at the age of 16, an aspiring artist later influenced by Francis Bacon.{{cite news | title=Man in the Mask | work=The Guardian | url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2005/oct/16/art | access-date=November 18, 2012 | location=London | date=16 October 2005}} With its creativity and eroticism, the poster captures the sensual essence of the film, and was designed for its London release by graphic artist Alan Aldridge. Warhol was extremely happy with the design, and commented that he "wished the movie was as good as the poster".[http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/warhol-chelsea-girls-ar00325/text-online-caption "Online caption".] Tate Gallery website. The poster was used as the cover art for Felt's 1984 album The Splendour of Fear.

Image:Chelseagirlsscreen.png in color photography on the left side, and black & white photography on the right.]]Although the film garnered the most commercial success of Warhol's films, reaction to it was mixed. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 50%, based on reviews from 10 critics.{{cite web|url= http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/chelsea_girls/ |work= Rotten Tomatoes |title=Chelsea Girls|access-date=9 July 2009}}

Roger Ebert reviewed the film in June 1967, and had a negative response to it, granting it one star out of four. In his review of the film, he stated, "what we have here is 3½ hours of split-screen improvisation poorly photographed, hardly edited at all, employing perversion and sensation like chili sauce to disguise the aroma of the meal. Warhol has nothing to say and no technique to say it with. He simply wants to make movies, and he does: hours and hours of them."{{cite news|url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19670626/REVIEWS/706260301/1023|title=Roger Ebert reviews "Chelsea Girls"|date=27 June 1967|author=Ebert, Roger|access-date=8 July 2009|work=Chicago Sun-Times|archive-date=11 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130111024441/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19670626/REVIEWS/706260301/1023|url-status=dead}} Variety wrote that the film was "a pointless, excruciatingly dull three-and-a-half hours spent in the company of Andy Warhol's friends."{{cite news|url=https://variety.com/1966/film/reviews/the-chelsea-girls-1200421281/|title=The Chelsea Girls|date=December 31, 1966|access-date=September 8, 2017|work=Variety}}

Kenneth Baker of the San Francisco Chronicle reviewed the film in honor of its screening in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2002, and gave the film a positive review, stating "The tyranny of the camera is the oppression The Chelsea Girls records and imposes. No wonder it still seems radical, despite all we have seen onscreen and off since 1966."{{cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/04/11/DD176261.DTL|title=Film flashes back to Warhol '60s / Rarely seen movie a near overdose of artist's voyeurism|author=Baker, Kenneth|work=San Francisco Chronicle|date=11 April 2002|access-date=8 July 2009}} Jonathan Rosenbaum also gave the film a positive review, stating that "the results are often spellbinding; the juxtaposition of two film images at once gives the spectator an unusual amount of freedom in what to concentrate on and what to make of these variously whacked-out performers."{{cite web|url=http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/the-chelsea-girls/Film?oid=1059358|title=The Chelsea Girls|website=Reader|first=Jonathan|last=Rosenbaum|date=26 October 1985 }} TV Guide reviewed the film in December 2006, granting it four stars, calling it "fascinating, provocative, and hilarious" and "a film whose importance as a 1960s cultural statement outweighs any intrinsic value it may have as a film."{{cite web|url=http://movies.tvguide.com/chelsea-girls/review/110740|work=TV Guide|title=Review: The Chelsea Girls|date=17 December 2006|access-date=9 July 2009|archive-date=6 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120306000752/http://movies.tvguide.com/chelsea-girls/review/110740|url-status=dead}}

In 2024, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".{{cite web|title=25 Films Added to National Film Registry for Preservation|url= https://newsroom.loc.gov/news/25-films-named-to-national-film-registry-for-preservation/s/55d5285d-916f-4105-b7d4-7fc3ba8664e3|date=December 17, 2024|access-date=December 17, 2024}}

Chelsea Girls is largely unavailable for home video format. The film belongs to the Andy Warhol Foundation, and it, along with Warhol's other films (apart from a handful of his Screen Tests, which have since been released on DVD){{cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001MG2YQO|title=The 13 Most Beautiful Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests DVD|work=Amazon.com|date=7 April 2009 |access-date=8 July 2009}} have never seen home video releases in the United States. In Europe, however, a handful of Warhol's films were released on DVD, including a short-lived DVD print of Chelsea Girls which was available in Italy for some time. This Italian DVD print, which is the film's only official home video release, was released on September 16, 2003.{{cite web|title=Chelsea Girls|work=Amazon.com|date=16 September 2003 |access-date=17 September 2009|url=https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002JC674}}

While the film is unavailable for personal purchase, it is often screened at art museums, and has been shown at The Museum of Modern Art{{cite web|url=http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/film_screenings/4012|title=MOMA: The Chelsea Girls screening: 8 June 2007|work=Museum of Modern Art|access-date=8 July 2009}} (which owns a rare print of the film reels) as well as The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The film was screened in San Francisco for the first time in nearly 20 years at Castro Theatre in April 2002.{{cite web|url=http://www.sfcinematheque.org/calendar-17937.shtml?x=36 |title=San Francisco Cinematheque Film Calendar: April–July 2002 |work=San Francisco Cinematheque |access-date=9 July 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716095212/http://www.sfcinematheque.org/calendar-17937.shtml?x=36 |archive-date=16 July 2011 }} Screenings were held in 2010 at the Seattle Art Museum{{cite web|url=http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/calendar/eventDetail.asp?eventID=18981&month=4&day=21&year=2010&sxID=&WHEN=&sxTitle=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100524123041/http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/calendar/eventDetail.asp?eventID=18981&sxTitle=&WHEN=&month=4&day=21&year=2010&sxID=|url-status=dead|archive-date=24 May 2010|title=Seattle Art Museum Film Calendar: May 21, 2010|work=Seattle Art Museum|access-date=11 May 2010}} and at the Varsity Theater in Chapel Hill, North Carolina,http://www.ackland.org/visit/calendar.php?q=2010-11-18{{dead link|date=October 2014}} in 2011 at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia,{{cite web|url=http://www.high.org/~/media/Sites/HMA/Res/PDF/Press/MoMAfilmseriesFINAL.ashx|title=High Presents "Modern Masters of Film: From Edison to Scorsese," with 11 Films from One of the World's Most Important Film Repositories|website=High Museum of Art|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006092005/http://www.high.org/~/media/Sites/HMA/Res/PDF/Press/MoMAfilmseriesFINAL.ashx|archive-date=2014-10-06}} and the

Block Museum of Art in Evanston, Illinois in 2016.{{cite web |title=The Chelsea Girls |url=https://www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu/view/cinema/past-cinema/2016/ChelseaGirls.html |website=The Block Museum of Art |access-date=19 January 2019}} The full 3 1/2 hour version of the film was screened at the Brooklyn Museum in a custom built theatre within their edition of the Andy Warhol: Revelation exhibit from November 19, 2021 to June 19, 2022.{{cite web | url=https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/andy_warhol_revelation | title=Brooklyn Museum: Andy Warhol: Revelation }}

• Andy Warhol filmography
• Reality films
• Arthouse cinema
• Eileen Myles

{{Reflist}}

• {{IMDb title|id=0061465|title=Chelsea Girls}}
• {{Rotten Tomatoes|2=Chelsea Girls}}
• [https://www.chicagofilmsociety.org/2014/08/19/andy-warhols-magic-trick/ Andy Warhol's Magic Trick: The Disappearing 16mm Projector], 2014, Chicago Film Society

{{Warhol}}

{{Paul Morrissey}}

Category:1960s American films

Category:1960s English-language films

Category:1966 films

Category:American black-and-white films

Category:Films directed by Andy Warhol

Category:Films directed by Paul Morrissey

Category:Films set in New York City

Category:Multi-screen film

Category:United States National Film Registry films

Category:Women in New York City