Our next film comes in the form of 1975's cult classic documentary "Grey Gardens". The film delves into the world of the aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy and Lee Radziwill, and the dilapidated mansion in which they live in East Hampton, New York. The stars of the show are Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter, Edie.
We are introduced right away to Mrs. Beale, sitting in her upstairs hallway, her voice ringing through the house as she calls for her daughter, Edie. She motions towards a hole in the wall. "The raccoon did that to my new
hall. Isn’t that terrible?"
Meanwhile, Edie goes on a rant about the village of East Hampton. "You know they can get you in
East Hampton for wearing red shoes on a Thursday, and all that sort of thing. I don’t know whether you know that. I mean, do you know that? They can get you for almost anything."
We're given some backstory to the two ladies. They were found to be living in squalor and told by the village of East Hampton to clean up or get evicted. Mrs. Beale's niece, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, came in and paid for the house to be brought up to standards. Jacqueline's sister, Lee Radziwill, also provided a great amount of help during this time. I like how Edie romanticizes the decaying mansion: "It's oozing with romance, ghosts, and other things."
Edie is quite fashion conscious. "I think this is the best
costume for the day. Mother wanted me to
come out in a kimono, so we had quite a fight," she says.
As she surveys the mass of vines and weeds that was once a beautiful garden, she tells the gardener, "Brooks, everything looks wonderful, absolutely wonderful."
Edie also talks a little bit about the history of the house. "It’s very difficult to keep the
line between the past and the present.
You know what I mean? It’s awfully
difficult."
The two women spend a great deal of their time sunning themselves and bickering back and forth. "Of course, I won't get out of here 'til she dies or I die," says Edie matter of factly. "Who's she, the cat?" asks Mrs. Beale.
Edie is very interested in astrology. She's on a mission to find this elusive "Libra man". "That's all I need," she says.
Upstairs in the bedroom, Mrs. Beale and Edie show off some old photographs, which include beautiful shots of Mrs. Beale on her wedding day, as well as her husband, Phelan. "I never threw anything at Mr. Beale," she says.
It's all a bit much for Edie, however, when Mrs. Beale starts romanticizing the way she raised her sons and how much trouble they weren't. She takes a different tone when talking about raising Edie, and how a priest told her that Edie would need a "very firm hand".
Mrs. Beale wanted to be a famous singer when she was younger. She made several recordings with her accompanist, Gould. "I was going to be a singer, a
professional singer, you know. When I
met Mr. Beale the jig was up." Years later, Mrs. Beale sings along to "Tea For Two".
Edie shows up periodically trying on costume after outlandish costume. Apparently, Mrs. Beale loved for Edie to change her clothes several times a day.
We're also privy to Mrs. Beale's exercise routine, and we watch as she keeps her body as limber as she can.
Everything seems to take place in Mrs. Beale's bedroom, even the cooking. She cooks corn on the cob on a hot plate right beside her bed. "He always compliments me on the way I do my corn," she says as she passes some to Jerry, a particular friend of Mrs. Beale.
Mrs. Beale celebrates a birthday and comes downstairs to receive some guests. She's very embarrassed that Edie didn't clean the chairs. She seems to blame the whole state of the house on Edie. But she is very grateful to her guests for their thoughtful attentions and wishes them well as they leave after some refreshments.
Edie does a dance she did when she was younger, the "VMI Marching Song". She dances and waves a little flag in the foyer of the mansion.
A recurring theme is Edie's poor eyesight and her obsession with losing weight. As she looks down at the scale with a pair of binoculars, she exclaims, "Oh, Lord, I can't believe it."
After a particular nasty exchange with Mrs. Beale, Edie goes outside to vent to the filmmakers. "I’ll tell you the whole
thing. You might as well face it. It’s my mother’s house, and she owns it. And she wanted the people she wanted in it,
and she didn’t want the people that I wanted in it." After a little while she says, "I better check on Mother and
the cats. She’s a lot of fun. I hope she doesn’t die. I hate to spend the winter here, though. Oh, God, another winter."
The film ends with Edie waltzing to some soft music in the foyer of Grey Gardens.
The cats of Grey Gardens figure largely in the lives of the Beales. They are always worried that one cat is out or another is in or that it's feeding time. Mrs. Beale says, "I'm crazy about these little kitties." Noticing a kitten behind her portrait, Mrs. Beale says, "That cat's going to the bathroom right in back of my portrait." "God, isn't that awful?" exclaims Edie. Mrs. Beale just chuckles and says, "No, I’m glad he is. I’m glad somebody’s doing something they want
to do."
Another character of Grey Gardens is Jerry, a young man that helps out when he can. Edie can't stand him, but Mrs. Beale just loves him.
And of course, the house (particularly the attic) is infested with raccoons, including a favorite named Buster. Edie feeds them a variety of things which include loaves of bread covered in cat food. Commenting about the wildlife of the place, Edie says, "Everything’s in the attic. Everything from sloths, otters, badgers, uh,
possums, raccoons." Cast rundown:
Edith Bouvier Beale...........................Herself And that's all for Grey Gardens. Edie didn't really think it was a great name for the movie. She thought it would mean people would think that it had to do with the way the plants in the garden were colored. It's a fascinating look into a world where two ladies sing, recite poems, fight, and love each other inside a mansion that is literally falling apart around them.
If you're interested in more of the Beales, a follow-up film was released on home media entitled "The Beales of Grey Gardens", which utilized footage from the original documentary that wasn't used. Another look at their lives was released by Peter Beard, entitled "That Summer", which pre-dates the Grey Gardens documentary. The video above is Mrs. Beale reciting "Lorraine, Lorraine, Lorree", and it can be seen in "The Beales of Grey Gardens". As always, if you wish to leave a comment, please remember our posting rules.
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