Steve Aronson

Steve Aronson emerges in Andy Warhol’s diary through a handful of sharply observed encounters: as a writer whose work Warhol admired, an author navigating publicity for Hype, and a figure whom Warhol thought had misjudged the costs of being mean. Together, the entries trace both Aronson’s rising visibility and Warhol’s wary view of how attention was manufactured and received.

Writing for Interview magazine

On April 25, 1983, Warhol praised a new issue of Interview magazine featuring Chris Atkins on the cover. He singled out Aronson’s column as very good, adding that the magazine paid him a lot but that his writing was the best it had had yet. The brief assessment presents Aronson as an important contributor to the magazine, valued not merely for his presence but for the quality of his work.

Hype and the party circuit

By May 4, Aronson’s book Hype was circulating among Warhol’s social circle. Warhol bought a copy for $15.95 and went to a crowded party Aronson was giving at Kathy Johnson’s house, where he asked the author to autograph it. He was annoyed that no complimentary copy had been sent to him; hearing that Baird Jones had already read his father’s copy made the omission sting more. Warhol noticed that Aronson looked somewhat scared as he voiced his complaint. The scene places the book amid the parties and social connections that helped make it visible, while showing Warhol’s own sensitivity to the small economies of access and recognition.

Publicity and the Ritz photo shoot

On May 10, Aronson came to Warhol’s office with Evgenia Guinness, a would-be model and Robert Lowell’s stepdaughter. The three were photographed for the British magazine Ritz. Warhol initially could not work out why he had been brought to the shoot or what anyone expected from him. He later concluded that Evgenia wanted photographs for her portfolio and Ritz wanted pictures of him; Aronson had got him there by saying they needed him to represent hype for an interview about the book.

Aronson told Warhol in the cab that the photograph of all three of them would be used on the cover. Warhol doubted that this would happen: he expected the editors to crop Aronson out and use an image of himself under the label Mr. Hype. In his account, the trip had been a waste of time for everyone except Evgenia. The episode shows Warhol reading a promotional photo opportunity as a contest over whose image would ultimately sell the story.

Television reception and Warhol’s judgment

On June 2, Warhol noted that Aronson had appeared on the Today Show to promote Hype. The interviewer challenged him, and Warhol thought the challenge was deserved because Aronson had gone too far and been too mean in the book. He found it striking that someone he considered both smart and funny had not understood that meanness could backfire. During the broadcast, the interviewer also quoted Warhol’s line about everyone becoming famous for fifteen minutes. Aronson’s television appearance thus placed him in the public eye, while Warhol’s response distinguished effective wit from cruelty: publicity could amplify a book, but it could also expose the author to judgment.