Grey Gardens – An Actual Reality Show

I'll start off by saying "Two for tea and tea for two"... That being said, set aside Duck Dynasty and The Kardashians and turn down the volume on your favorite Kentucky critter hunter and take a step back to 1975 with the mother/daughter relationship at Grey Gardens.

I recently watched this movie with my father who found it at a gas station or somewhere similar.  It's about a Mother and Daughter that live amongst each other in their mansion of built up filth made of former high class garb from a time when their names were exclusive.

The daughter of John Vernou Bouvier, Jr.  Big Edith was born in 1895 and had an easy early life.  Her father was a paper manufacturer (loaded).  As Big Edith grew up she figured she would start singing and have some kids. Edith began her singing career in 1917 and had her first daughter... Edith Jr. (Little Edie) as well as two sons.

When Little Edie was six years old,  Phelan Beale, which was Big Edith's husband at the time, purchased the 28 room mansion known as Grey Gardens at Number 3 West End Rd in the Georgica neighborhood of East Hampton, a block from the Atlantic Ocean.  They lived on for a few years and then Phelan gave it up and they signed the divorce papers but Edith got Grey Gardens and lived there until she died in 1977.

In between the divorce and Edith's death a lot of stuff went down... like raccoons, cats, bugs and a camera crew.  The documentary of Grey Gardens is insane yet calm, disturbing yet settling, disgusting yet beautiful.  Such a split decision when describing.  But in 1975 the documentary- "Grey Gardens" hit the screen and the life of Big Edie and Little Edie was released.  It showed the decay of a once beautiful home as well as the infestation, corrosion and the two women who refuse to let go.  They sing, dance and sleep in just three rooms, leaving 25 of the 28 rooms unused.  Trash and filth line the floors and most of the property and as the world changes around them they just sit and remember what they used to have in the past.  That's basically it.

Just to explain some of the filth that was in this once elegant mansion, the film crew, upon arrival, noticed a three foot high pile of empty cans as well as human waste and fleas so bad the crew was forced to wear flea collars on their ankles when filming.  $32,000 was donated by Jackie Onassis, (close relation to the Big and Little Edie) as well as Aristotle Onassis, to clean the house, make repairs and haul away over 1,000 bags of trash.  The Sons of Big Edie decided to pay the back taxes off of the house which were neglected for decades.  And as for payment from the documentary, Big and Little Edie were paid $5000 a piece.

As little Edie watched the film at Grey Gardens, she quickly declared it a Classic!  And a Classic it was indeed.  Such a classic in fact the the movie producers of HBO made it into an actual movie rather than a documentary.  The movie was appropriately named Gray Gardens and starred Drew Barrymore as Little Edie and Jessica Lange as Big Edie.

The house still stands where it has forever and if you would like to stay at this house for a summer season it'll set you back a good $30,000 (thirty thousand dollars... say it again, thirty thousand dollars to stay at this place for 3 months)