Wikipedia

Susan Bottomly

Susan Dunn Whittier Bottomly (born October 1, 1948), also known as International Velvet, is a former American model and actress.

Susan Bottomly
Susan Bottomly in 1967
Born (1948-10-01) October 1, 1948 (age 76)
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Other namesInternational Velvet
Susan Kent
Occupation(s)Actress, model
Years active1965—1977
SpouseTony Kent (1969-1974)

Bottomly began her career as a fashion model in 1965, appearing on the cover of Mademoiselle. The following year, she moved to New York and joined Andy Warhol's Factory as a Warhol superstar. She was renamed International Velvet and went on to star in several films, including Chelsea Girls (1966), Paraphernalia (1966), Since (1966), Superboy (1966), and **** (The 24 Hour Movie) (1967).

Life and career

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The image of Susan Bottomly by David McCabe that was used for the cover of Mademoiselle in December 1965.

Early life and education

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Susan Bottomly came from an old New England family.[1] Her father John S. Bottomly was a former assistant attorney general of Massachusetts who prosecuted the Boston Strangler.[2][3][4]

Bottomly was a willful child who went to boarding schools. She was thrown out of school four times.[1] She attended Milton Academy in Milton, Massachusetts.[5]

At the age of sixteen, Bottomly began modeling with Ford Modeling Agency.[6] She appeared on the cover Mademoiselle magazine in December 1965, shot by British fashion photographer David McCabe.[7]

In 1966, Bottomly graduated from Hannah More Academy boarding school in Reisterstown, Maryland.[8] As a debutante, Bottomly represented Wellesley at the Bachelor's Ball held at the Statler Hilton in Boston in June 1966.[9]

Andy Warhol and the Factory

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In 1966, Bottomly met poet and filmmaker Gerard Malanga at a party for poet Rene Ricard in Boston.[6] Malanga was instantly smitten and made Prelude to International Velvet Debutante, a home-made short film.[6] "I was conscious of making the first film of Susan Bottomly, and in a sense I was making my own superstar discovery ... So that when I returned to New York, I could say, 'She's already appeared in one movie. And it's my movie," said Malanga.[6] Bottomly returned to New York with Malanga and they resided in a room paid for by her parents at the Chelsea Hotel.[10]

Malanga had been pop artist Andy Warhol's studio assistant and eagerly introduced him to Bottomly.[6] Warhol invited her to join his Factory as a Warhol superstar, "I had so much affection for Andy. He wasn’t a big talker, but he had a certain, extraordinary charisma that gave you a kind of permission and license to be freer than I’d even been able to be," said Bottomly.[1]

Bottomly was, in Warhol's words, "very beautiful".[10] A tall, long-necked brunette with graceful physicality, she impressed the artist deeply. She worked diligently on her personal cosmetics regimen, a process which Warhol observed with fascination: "Watching someone like Susan Bottomly, who had such perfect, full, fine features, doing all this on her face was like watching a beautiful statue painting itself."[10]

Bottomly quickly became the group's breakthrough star, and despite being the Warhol superstar Edie Sedgwick's successor, there was no animosity between them. "Edie was very gracious and sweet, very friendly to me. She was the queen bee when I arrived at the Factory," said Bottomly.[1]

She went on to star in the Factory film, Paraphernalia (1966), and followed up with the silent short film Superboy (1966).[11] Her time as a Factory star illuminated her beauty, and seemed to draw people to her with a kind of ethereal grace and allure. Warhol admitted, "There were other girls who were just as beautiful as Susan Bottomly was, but her way of moving made her extra beautiful. People constantly wanted to know, 'Who is she?'"[10]

 
Susan Bottomly (L) asks Mary Woronov (R) why she won't answer Bottomly's phone. Still from The Chelsea Girls (1966).

Bottomly starred in Chelsea Girls (1966), which was filmed during the summer of 1966. She appeared in three segments of the three-hour split screen film. One of the segments, titled Hanoi Hannah after Mary Woronov's character, showed Bottomly, Woronov, and Ingrid Superstar conversing in Bottomly's room at the Chelsea Hotel. The scene shows Bottomly playing a passive character in juxtaposition to Woronov's curt and aggressive character, Hanoi Hannah. Prior to filming, Bottomly informed Warhol and Woronov that she was expecting a phone call from a major modeling agency and would have to answer it during filming if it rang.[12] When the phone call arrived, Woronov pulled it out of Bottomly's hands and prevented her from taking it back. She scaldingly, told Bottomly, "You don't have a call. You have a fat ass." Bottomly ran from the set in tears, although did later return to finish the scene.

This scene led to much speculation on the relationship between Bottomly and Woronov. In her book, Woronov recalled that "Velvet was a slob; a girl slob, messy but sexy like underwear and perfume ... was a society girl from Boston hoping to follow in Edie Sedgwick's footsteps, footsteps that seemed to lead straight to the rubber room so far as I could see, but that was her problem; I was more than willing to be the first step in putting her there. She was mine, my victim, according to the script which was a very S&M setup, with me in the S part."[12]

During this time, Warhol was the manager of the Velvet Underground, an avante garde rock band. Bottomly appeared in the film The Velvet Underground: Tarot Cards, a 60-minute sound film depicting member of the Velvet Underground having their tarot cards read. Bottomly became involved with Velvet Underground members Lou Reed and John Cale, causing more conflict in the group, which was already disintegrating.[13]

By the fall of 1966, Bottomly was dating David Croland.[10][14] Croland designed her large statement earrings, which she became known for.[15] Bottomly and Croland accompanied Warhol to parties and gallery openings, bringing attention to their bold style.[16] Bottomly was chosen as one of New York's three fashion trendsetters by Women's Wear Daily.[8]

Bottomly was represented by the Paul Wagner modeling agency.[3] She appeared in Vogue, Newsweek, and Town & Country.[8] She was featured on the February 1967 cover of Esquire magazine, seated in a trash can.[3] In 1967, Bottomly did a screen test at Paramount for the lead role in the American remake of the British film Darling.[3]

 
Viva and Susan Bottomly by Billy Name at the Factory, 1968.

Bottomly was intended to star in Ciao! Manhattan, which started shooting in 1967. Ultimately, she didn't sign on to the production and Edie Sedgewick played the lead character, Susan.[17]

Bottomly attended the 1967 Cannes Film Festival with Warhol to screen Chelsea Girls, but the film was not shown.[18] "The festival authorities explained that the film was too long, there were technical problems, there was no time."[18] Bottomly and Croland had initially planned to stay France for two weeks but they ended up living in Paris for a year.[19]

After Bottomly met French matinee star Christian Marquand, she and Croland split up in 1968.[10] She was cast in a minor role in the film Candy (1968).[10] In the film, she runs down a street shouting "Candy! Your forgot the shoe!" After filming, she was flown to Italy by Marquand to work with the Living Theatre, where she stayed for three months.[10]

When she returned to New York, Bottomly appeared alongside other Factory members in John Schlesinger's Midnight Cowboy (1969), which as filmed after the attempted assassination of Warhol in 1968.[6][20] Late that year, Bottomly left the Factory as Warhol superstar Viva was gaining popularity. "I remember having a few twangs about the fact that Viva was becoming more important than I was. On the other hand I knew it was time for me to move on, so it wasn’t a big deal to me," she recalled.[1]

Later career

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In 1969, Bottomly married Frederick Terry Krementz at her parents home in Wellesley, Massachusetts.[5] As a fashion photographer Krementz went by the name Tony Kent.[5] The couple moved to Paris and Bottomly changed her name to Susan Kent.[4][21] She continued modeling in the 1970s, appearing most often in European magazines such as Vogue Paris, Vogue Italia, and Elle France. She appeared on the cover of Cosmopolitan magazine in August 1975 and October 1976.[22][23]

After her divorce, she operated Uno modeling agency in Salt Lake City, Utah in the 1980s.[24]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Shore, Stephen (1995). The Velvet Years: Warhol's Factory, 1965-67. New York, NY : Thunder's Mouth Press ; [Emeryville, CA] : Distributed by Publishers Group West. pp. 107–108. ISBN 978-1-56025-098-2.
  2. ^ TIME (1967-01-27). "Trials: Bailey & the Boston Strangler". TIME. Retrieved 2024-11-12.
  3. ^ a b c d Banner, Earl (March 18, 1967). "Hollywood Beckons Susan Bottomly: Hub Deb's Saga — Cover Girl to Movie Queen?". The Boston Globe. p. 7.
  4. ^ a b "Obituaries: John S. Bottomly, at 63; former Mass. assistant attorney general". The Boston Globe. August 21, 1984. p. 31.
  5. ^ a b c Sherman, Marjorie (July 5, 1969). "Julie Danforth Weds". The Boston Globe. p. 8.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Watson, Steven (October 1, 2003). Factory Made: Warhol and the Sixties (1 ed.). Pantheon. pp. 282–283. ISBN 0-679-42372-9.
  7. ^ "Our Cover". Mademoiselle. 62 (2): 4. December 1965.
  8. ^ a b c White, Diane (February 22, 1967). "Hobbledehoy". The Boston Globe. p. 37.
  9. ^ Sherman, Marjorie (June 15, 1966). "Bachelor's Choice for Debs Friday". The Boston Globe. p. 41.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h Warhol, Andy (1980). POPism: The Warhol '60s. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. pp. 175–176, 270. ISBN 978-0-15-173095-7.
  11. ^ "Andy Warhol Films". warholstars.org. Retrieved 2023-09-30.
  12. ^ a b Woronov, Mary (1995). Swimming Underground: My Years in the Warhol Factory. Internet Archive. Boston: Journey Editions. pp. 51–53. ISBN 978-1-885203-21-2.
  13. ^ Cale, John; Bockris, Victor (2000). The Autobiography of John Cale : What's Welsh for Zen. New York : Bloomsbury. p. 99. ISBN 978-1-58234-068-5.
  14. ^ Morrison, Sarah (September 8, 2013). "David Croland opens up for first time on former boyfriend Robert Mapplethorpe: 'Tell them everything,' he said…". The Independent.
  15. ^ "Andy Warhol and Super-Stars Personify the "Pop Art" Style". 885: 4. November 4, 1966 – via Boston College Libraries.
  16. ^ Kelly, Kevin (October 4, 1966). "Wide, Wild Warhol". The Boston Globe. p. 35.
  17. ^ Julavits, Heidi (2021-12-08). "Not All Disaster Movies Contain Explosions". Vulture. Retrieved 2024-12-15.
  18. ^ a b Sheffy, Pearl (May 28, 1967). "Andy Warhol At Cannes". San Francisco Sunday Examiner & Chronicle. p. 6.
  19. ^ Arnold, Rebecca (2016-05-27). "'You Are Dressed and Easily Undressed': Fragments and Memories of Style by David Croland". Documenting Fashion. Retrieved 2024-11-12.
  20. ^ "How the attempted assassination of Andy Warhol sparked an iconic 'Midnight Cowboy' scene - Far Out Magazine". faroutmagazine.co.uk. 2021-06-03. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
  21. ^ MacLaurin, Barbara (September 4, 1976). "Paris Boutiques: At Home With Fashion". The New York Times.
  22. ^ "Cosmopolitan August 1975 Susan Kent Natalie Wood Bob Wagner 052518DBF". mr-magazine-hobby. Retrieved 2024-11-12.
  23. ^ "Cosmopolitan Magazine October 1976 Susan Kent – Shop". Retrieved 2024-11-12.
  24. ^ "MODELING IN SALT LAKE CITY: UTAH'S A PRETTY, TOUGH STATE FOR PRETTY, STRUGGLING FOLKS". Deseret News. 1990-01-14. Retrieved 2024-11-12.
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