Thursday, August 20, 2009

Grey Gardens




I can't believe that I missed this film when HBO premiered it on April 18 this year. Grey Gardens is a true story based on the somewhat bizarre and eccentric lives of socialites Big Edie Bouvier Beale and Little Edie Bouvier Beale (aunt and first cousin of Jackie Kennedy Onassis) in their ramshackle mansion "Grey Gardens" in East Hampton. 

The HBO film is based on a 1970s documentary about the two women's lives together, and was later followed up with a The Beales of Grey Gardens (a longer version of the original documentary). A truly heart warming story. 

To read more check out Grey Gardens on Wikipedia 
There is also tons of footage available on YouTube with real images from the 70s documentary:

To avoid eviction of the two Edies, 1972 Jackie O funded the $32,000 clean up of Grey Gardens. At the time of clean up, only 4 out of the 28 room mansion was inhabited. One room was supposedly filled with a 5 foot pile of cans. The house was also overrun by ferrel cats, raccoons and opossums and had no working plumbing. The house was sold and totally renovated in 1979.

The film can be purchased at HBO.com or at amazon.com.
If you are interested in the documentary The Beals of Grey Garden, that can also be found on amazon.com.

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