Interview

GO: Do you know how to drive?

AW: I ran into a cab, so I stopped. On Park Avenue and 47th Street.

GO: Do you sleep alone?

AW: No, I sleep with my two dogs, Archie and Amos.

GO: Do you sleep in the nude?

AW: I sleep with my underwear. And my corset.

GO: Do you wear boxer shorts or jockey shorts?

AW: Jockey shorts. Small. 30.

GO: What time do you get up in the morning?

AW: I get up early-7:30.

GO: Do you have an alarm clock?

AW: No, I wake up naturally.

GO: Do you look in the mirror when you get up?

AW: Well, there's always one there, I guess. I brush my teeth.

GO: What do you do in the morning?

AW: Now Brigid Berlin calls me every morning because she's on a diet. I've taped her for 10 years, and she's always told me what she ate. She used to lie. Now she tells me what she ate and what she lost. Today she did the best story. She called me up to tell me she was being bad and went off her diet, and she felt so bad she took a dehydration pill and within an hour she lost 10 pounds. She'd lost 50 pounds, so this made it 60. Then she took her laundry out, and she fainted in the Laundromat. She got so scared. While she was on the floor, she asked the Laundromat lady to give her some water; she drank two glasses of water, then was able to get up again, crawl out, and go to a cafeteria and drink eight more glasses of water. Then she called back the Laundromat and asked the Laundromat lady to do her laundry. Then she took a lot of salt, and she was back up to where she was before she took the dehydration pill. She's making a whole career out of losing weight. She's been dieting for two months. She decided to get down to 149 from 275.

GO: How much time do you spend on the phone every day?

AW: Not as much as I used to. I like to tape on the phone. I like to tape Brigid. But I go to work earlier now, so I only tape her in the morning and at night.

GO: Does she tape you?

AW: No, I think she stopped. Ever since she's been on her diet, she has no ambition. Her only ambition is to lose weight, so she doesn't do anything.

GO: Do you think psychiatry helps at all?

AW: Uh, yeah, if you don't know anything about anything.

GO: Did you ever go see a psychiatrist?

AW: I went to one once, and he never called me back. Everybody I knew was going, and they make you feel as if you've got to go. So I went once, and they never called me back, and I felt so funny. But then I guess someone came along and took me out to a movie, or I got a new hat or something.

GO: Do you think there are more gay people now, or do people just talk about it more?

AW: There must be more. But I think they're talking about it less now. It's probably the same percentage.

GO: Do you think gay people are more creative than straight people?

AW: No.