This is a missive I hammered out to my old college friend Timothy Brodt who went to high school with Michael Sucsy, the director of the HBO Grey Gardens film.
Dear Tim,
You can tell Michael (Sucsy) he ought to be canonized as far as I'm concerned. See, like Edie, it can be said that I "only care about three things, the Catholic church, swimming and dancing.". Michael Sucsy has done an absolutely superb job, heaven on earth, no less of bringing the sacred Edies to the narrative screen.
I have been waiting for this film to come alive since I first heard of Edie sometime in 2001 after I moved back to San Francisco. With my life up in arms again, I depended on everything Edie to right my world. I had never related to someone as much as I felt innately drawn to her as she described the revolutionary costume. Dressed for battle, she wore her "full length glove to hide the fist" raised in protest against the establishment that espoused entrenched social norms.
When I stumbled upon a niche market crowd of Edie followers, we traded observations on a Yahoo chat group. There were people from the East coast that included someone who had met the Edies personally. His name is Walter Newkirk and he has since published a number of Edie related treasures from his own dealings with the mavens. He was the first person to tell me about the narrative film that was rumored to be brewing in pre-production. Starring Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange, I was thankful that it wasn't going to feature Julie Christie, because like Edie, although I'm not disputing that she is a splendid actress, if anyone's going to play Edith Beale, it ought to be Edith Beale, (or the closest living portrayal available)
For Christmas that year, I received a copy of Little Edie, Live, -- Newkirk's original college interview that he completed at Grey Gardens while matriculating at Rutgers University.
I place merit into minutia that may not have much to do with the matter at hand. That being said, the $24 check that Big Edie writes to Brooks Hyer... "$24 bucks for three cuttings," says Little Edie. "You don't have to scream that out loud," said Big Edie....
The check was dated September 13, 1973. I was born September 15, 1973 which means the documentary was in full production in the nascence of my life.
Because you are such an old and very special friend in my life and someone who has known me since I was barely 20, the fact that Michael Sucsy was someone close to your life seemed entirely apropos. I am only a degree away from direct affiliation with the film. And how exciting is it that you had lunch with Michael and Christine Ebersole after the Broadway debut. I am relegated to watching clips of the musical on Youtube because I live on the opposite coast from the Great White Way. When I saw Christine sing Around the World as
Little Edie, I cried real tears.
A bird cage I plan to hang
I'll get to that someday.
A bird cage for a bird who flew away.
Around the world.
Like her, I have put many plans on the shelf that I mean to complete someday. When Edie feuded with her mother and acted out by singing "incorrectly" I knew it was a last ditch effort to stage rebellion.
I lamented her lost suitors one by one all the way down to Getty because I understood that she was a staunch character who simply didn't want to "marry a stockbroker she had played tennis with at the Maidstone Club since she was `12 years old. "
When Big Edie sang melodies for the Junior League with George Gould Strong, not in 20 years did he and Little Edie ever get along. And although it may be a hard pill to swallow, no more than the pate was really giblets for the cat, I understand how easy it is to become accustomed to one's environment even when it turns into squalor. I have adjusted to the bottom when my environment has turned to squalor more times than I care to remember and I can truly see how the mess just gradually overtook them.
In the words of Big Edie, "Everything is good that you didn't do. But at the time, you didn't want it. You can't go around saying, 'sure I feel gorgeous right now.', because everyone thinks and feels differently, don't they."
And because of that, I shall have no regrets. I finally feel like the missing piece of my relationship with the Edies is bringing closure. The documentary is the historical corrective account and the first record but Michael Suscy's adaptation will dance the Edies into mainstream culture and live into eternity. They'll go together like birds of a feather, two peas in a pod, tea for two, two for tea. And I loathe Marlene Dietrich, says Edie.
