Straight Life - Art Pepper [137]
The cops took her to the Orange County Hospital. All she had left at that time was what she had with her, a blouse, a skirt, a little blue sweater, a pair of flats, and a purse. Everything else was gone, the furs, the dog. She nearly died. It's too bad she didn't die. It's too bad she didn't die the first time she tried to commit suicide instead of the way she finally did die. She would have been better off.
Diane never contributed anything ever. She was totally inept at everything. She couldn't even keep house. The first time I went to Diane's pad when she was still married to her husband, it was just like a pigpen. It was a beautiful house with a pool and everything, but it was unbelievably dirty-junk and clothes. There was one thing Diane could do; she used to work crossword puzzles. Every day she'd go buy the New York Times. Later on I learned that that was the epitome of crossword puzzles. She'd go to magazine stands and buy ten or twelve of the most difficult puzzle books and sit and work them all. She was very good at that, but she did nothing at all to help me in any way, shape, or form. All the time I was supporting my own habit I was able to do it. When I had to support hers, too, it just got too much for me. It got to be too much.
Later on, when I was no longer with her, Diane stayed in Manhattan Beach with some friends of mine, Ann Christos and her old man, John James. She lived with them and was stealing money out of John's pockets, going through the house stealing their dope. Finally they told her, "No good. Either you're going to have to do something or get out. You're just too heavy. It's all we can do to carry our own weight. Do something or hook it up." See, when she was with me she was never forced into anything. They told her, "The only thing you got is your ass; go peddle it. Want some dope? Go sell your ass." So she finally got up off her lazy ass and went out to turn a trick. She went into Manhattan Beach. There's millions of clubs down there. It's the easiest place in the world to turn a trick if you want to. She wanders around, looks around, has a few drinks at a few different bars, and finally she hits on a guy and he's a ... He's a vice officer! Hahahaha! And she got busted for offering! The story of Diane-The Great Zeeeero.
(Hersh Hamel) I know Diane very well, or did. Diane was a waitress at jazz City, 1956, '57. It was a big club during the fifties. They struck up a relationship. Diane had a couple of children, so I understand. She claimed she gave her children up for Art. It seemed more like she wanted to give her children up. Art was the excuse.
Diane started out very pretty. She's Filipino and had those island features although she wasn't real small. But she smoked incessantly, cigarettes, which later on deformed her lip. She had to have a lot of teeth taken out, and she had a little groove in her lip from the cigarettes. She had a very pretty body when I first saw her. Of course, later on ... She didn't use anything when Art met her, and she was determined to straighten him out. Of course she became a huge junkie, worse than Art. She lost her looks.
Diane wasn't terribly bright, terribly intelligent. She was a waitress. She was very lazy. She used to just like to lay in bed. They used to, like, get stoned on horse and lay in bed a lot. I remember she got this thing from the Akron-one of those pillows with arms on them so you can eat breakfast in bed, sit up and read. And she was just thrilled over that. Just thrilled.