Harvey Fierstein

Harvey Fierstein is introduced through a meeting that joins an earlier, nearly forgotten connection to a new theatrical success. In the diary entry, he emerges as the writer, director, and performer of Torch Song Trilogy—and as a talent Andy Warhol immediately offers to promote through Interview.

The performance and its audience

On January 30, 1982, Warhol and Jon Gould took a cab to Sheridan Square to see Torch Song Trilogy. The theater struck Warhol as a firetrap, and the all-male audience made the pair uncomfortable enough to circle the block and approach the box office near a couple of women. The play lasted four hours, but its comic lines kept the audience laughing; Warhol noted that everybody loved it.

A connection to Pork

After the performance, an usher told Warhol that Fierstein wanted to see him. Warhol had vaguely felt that Fierstein was someone he knew, but could not place him. Fierstein supplied the link: he had been the 500-pound boy in Warhol’s play Pork. His reminder turned a hazy acquaintance into a specific shared history, while the success of Torch Song Trilogy made the contrast between that earlier role and his present standing unmistakable.

A theatrical success and new recognition

Fierstein’s achievement was not limited to appearing onstage: he had written and directed Torch Song Trilogy as well as acting in it. Warhol admired his appeal and talent, and promised to try to get Interview to do a story on him as new talent. The encounter therefore presents Fierstein both as the creative force behind a popular, funny production and as an emerging figure whom Warhol was prepared to bring into the magazine’s orbit.