Penthouse

Penthouse is presented in the diaries as a magazine connected to Warhol’s professional and social world through publicity events and commissioned photography. Its appearances are brief but concrete: a joint promotion with Viva at Tavern on the Green and a photo assignment involving Warhol and Bob Colacello. The latter account also records Warhol objecting when he learned that children participating in the shoot were not being paid.

Promotion with Viva

At a T-shirt promotion for Viva and Penthouse at Tavern on the Green, a member of the Smothers Brothers approached Warhol and spoke with him while they later waited to use the telephone. Their conversation turned to creativity and the possibility that feeling secure might diminish it. The entry places Penthouse within a public-facing promotional occasion, alongside Viva, rather than describing its editorial operation or business structure.

A commissioned photo shoot

In December 1979, Warhol and Bob Colacello posed for Penthouse in a staged photographic scene. The photographer’s team took them to a school near Avenue C and Fourth Street, where ten students were released from class to participate. The setting included real graffiti; the students were told they could leave their typing classes for the assignment, and the school also offered karate classes. The account does not identify the school or explain the magazine’s intended use for the pictures.

Payment and the limits of the record

Warhol learned that the students had not been paid and told the person in charge that this was wrong. The organizer reacted defensively, but the students’ names were subsequently collected. The diary thus preserves a practical consequence of Penthouse’s photo production: a concern about compensation arose on location, and the participants’ names were taken after Warhol challenged the arrangement. Beyond this shoot and the joint promotion with Viva, the evidence does not establish Penthouse’s editorial policies, circulation, or longer-term relationship with Warhol.