Tracing Candy Darling's New York Haunts
The trans icon and Warhol superstar was born in Queens, lived in Manhattan and Brooklyn and made quite a name for herself onscreen, onstage and in bars across the City.
Throughout her far too brief lifespan, Candy Darling was many things—an actress, a model, a cosmetologist, a barmaid, a muse, and most of all, a pioneering transgender icon whose legacy to this day can still be felt amongst the trans and greater LGBTQ community. As Candy herself once said, "I'm a thousand different people. Every one is real."
Candy Darling’s humble beginnings start in Queens, New York, when she was born into this world on November 24, 1944 in Forest Hills. Assigned male gender at birth, Darling endured a difficult childhood, with her father often being depicted as a primarily absent parent and a violent alcoholic. Darling herself quickly presented as different from other boys, and she spent much of her early childhood watching TV and old Hollywood movies from which she learned to impersonate her favorite actresses and began to model her life around "Hollywood glamour-queen prettiness."
After her parents’ divorce, Darling and her mother moved to Massapequa Park, Long Island, which is where she spent much of her adolescence. In 1961, Darling signed up for a course at the DeVern School of Cosmetology in Baldwin, LI. During this time, Darling publicly revealed her inclination towards cross-dressing when her mother confronted her about local rumors that described Darling as "dressing as a girl" and frequenting a local gay bar called The Hayloft. In response to the accusation, Darling left the room and returned fully dressed in feminine clothing, choosing not to deny any of the claims. Darling's mother would later say that, "I knew then...that I couldn't stop [her]. Candy was just too beautiful and talented." As a result of both her visible femininity and numerous idiosyncrasies, the young Darling was naturally bullied relentlessly in school and on one occasion, was even nearly lynched by a group of teenage boys. After that particularly harrowing experience, Darling dropped out of high school, still only sixteen years of age.
After publicly revealing her proclivity for cross-dressing (coming out as transgender did not exist at the time), Darling began taking the Long Island Rail Road into Manhattan and started spending more and more time in the queer-friendly haven that was Greenwich Village. While hanging out in the city, she affectedly began referring to her family home in Massapequa Park as her "country house", all while interacting with numerous people in the Village’s creative scene. She particularly began frequenting an artists’ salon run by Seymour Levy on Bleecker Street, where she met many artistic individuals around whom she could feel more comfortable being herself.
Darling eventually moved into an apartment behind Caffe Cino at 31 Cornelia Street between Bleecker and West 4th Streets, living together with a well-known Off Broadway actress named Hope Stansbury. She lived there only briefly, but around 1963 adopted the name Hope Slattery (she had not yet begun to call herself Candy Darling), inspired in part by her roommate. In her book, A Low Life in High Heels: The Holly Woodlawn Story, fellow trans actress Holly Woodlawn detailed the journey of Candy’s various names before she finally settled on the iconic Candy Darling. After Hope Slattery came Hope Dahl, then Candy Dahl, and then Candy Cane. Finally, she chose Darling as her last name after a transvestite friend of hers named Taffy Tits Sarcastic began cavorting around town with her, exclaiming “Come on, let’s go, Candy, darling.”
Around the same time that Darling settled upon her name, she began receiving hormone injections from a physician on 5th Avenue. According to Cynthia Carr, author of Fire in the Belly, about artist and AIDS activist David Wojnarowicz, Darling never underwent reassignment surgery, but was renowned for her feminine beauty nonetheless. “She could pass,” said Carr, who also added, “[Candy] is an icon in the transgender world, but she didn’t like being called a drag queen, and there was no word ‘transgender’ when she was alive. She felt she was a woman.” In fact, Candy herself once stated, perhaps partially in jest: “Friends who get sex change operations are just boring — not marvelous anymore.” Author and actor Fran Leibowitz highlighted Candy’s real motive in life: “Having a vagina was not the answer to her problems — she just wanted to be an MGM movie star.”
Throughout the 1960s, Darling became an influential Downtown figure, eventually meeting Andy Warhol at an after-hours “juice bar” called Tenth of Always, which was located at 82 West 3rd Street in Greenwich Village and at which Darling was working as a dancing waitress. Other sources place Warhol and Darling’s first meeting at the Leather Man in Greenwich Village, where Warhol and his manager Fred Hughes were picking up a pair of trousers. Candy was at the store with fellow future Warhol superstar Jackie Curtis, who invited Warhol to see one of her plays entitled Glamour, Glory and Gold, which not only starred Darling but also a young Robert De Niro, who played every male character in the performance. Warhol ultimately attended the show at Bastiano’s Cellar Studio at 1 Waverley Place, and upon seeing the play, reportedly claimed: “For the first time—I wasn’t bored.”
Warhol later met up with both Curtis and Darling at Club Salvation at 1 Sheridan Square and became entranced with both of them, describing Candy as “a tall, sensational blonde drag queen in very high heels and a sundress that she had made sure had one strap falling onto her upper arm.” Both Curtis and Darling would quickly become frequent collaborators with Warhol as well as both his leading models and muses. Darling was first given a small comedic role in Warhol’s film, Flesh (1968), in which Warhol called Candy a “big hit”. Candy then received the central role in his film, Women in Revolt! (1971), in which she portrayed a Long Island Socialite drawn into a women’s liberation group called P.I.G.s (Politically Involved Girls). The film was met with great controversy, as large groups of women formed outside the cinema to protest the film’s debut, feeling that it was anti-women’s liberation. When Darling heard about the demonstration, she caustically replied: "Who do these d*kes think they are anyway? Well, I just hope they all read Vincent Canby's review in today's Times. He said I look like a cross between Kim Novak and Pat Nixon. It's true – I do have Pat Nixon's nose."
In addition to starring in a series of Warhol films, Candy also went on to appear in numerous other independent films, including Theodore Gershuny’s Silent Night, Bloody Night (1972), Wynn Chamberlain's Brand X (1970), and Mervyn Nelson’s Some of My Best Friends Are...(1971). She also appeared in Klute (1970) alongside Jane Fonda and Lady Liberty (1971) with Sophia Loren. In 1971, Darling traveled to Vienna to make two films with director Werner Schroeter: The Death of Maria Malibran (1972), and a second film that was never released. Darling then attempted to break into mainstream movies, when she began campaigning to play the lead role in the film Myra Breckinridge (1970), a part that ultimately went to cisgender sex symbol Raquel Welch, which left Darling feeling both dejected and bitter.
In addition to appearing on screen, Darling also pursued a career on the stage. She appeared in another of Curtis’ plays, called Vain Victory: The Vicissitudes of the Damned (1971), and was in the original 1972 production of Tennessee Williams' play, Small Craft Warnings, cast specifically at Williams' request. In 1973, she starred in the revival of The White Whore and the Bit Player, a 1964 play by Tom Eyen, at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club. Darling's character in the play was a Hollywood actress known only as "the Whore" and was based on Marilyn Monroe. For a brief period, Darling also worked as a barmaid at Slugger Ann’s, a popular bar located at 192 2nd Ave in the East Village that was owned by Jackie Curtis’ grandmother, Ann Uglialoro.
While I previously mentioned that 31 Cornelia Street was one of Candy Darling’s earliest residences in the city, Darling ultimately moved around quite frequently, living the life of any actress struggling in NYC, often spending the night on other people’s couches. In the summer of 1966, Darling met her life partner Jeremiah Newton when he was visiting Greenwich Village for the first time. The two quickly became friends and roommates, and began moving around and living together in various parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn until the time of Darling's death in 1974.
Indeed, Darling passed away in 1974 at the tender young age of 29. She died of lymphoma at the Columbus Hospital division of the Cabrini Health Care Center, but left a sardonically dramatic letter on her deathbed intended for Warhol and his followers in which she wrote: "Unfortunately before my death I had no desire left for life...I am just so bored by everything. You might say bored to death. Did you know I couldn't last? I always knew it. I wish I could meet you all again.” Her funeral was held at the legendary Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel and was attended by a massive crowd, with Julie Newmar reading the eulogy. Darling’s birth name was thankfully never mentioned at the event.
On my original IG post about Candy, several followers commented their love for and their personal memories of Miss Darling:
Teddy Pecora (@teddypecora) remembered his influential first meeting with Candy: “She was the first transgender person I met when I came to NYC in 1972. I was dancing at The Tenth Floor and she admired my fan dancing. I had no idea what a drag queen or transgendered person was. Sadly her life was cut short. To me she will always be the first of first in this city!”
Esteemed NYC photog Stanley Stellar (@stanley.stellar) also remembered his time with Candy: '“We were friends in the early days.”
Theater designer Kevin Adams (@ambermylar) added this notable detail for those who wish to pay their respects: “Her grave can be visited in Cherry Valley, NY. ❤️💐💐💐”
I’ll leave you now with this delightful clip of Candy breathily giving a rather pageant queen answer in response to a question on the matter of happiness:
RIP, Miss Darling.