Describe your new book. Oddfellow's Orphanage is a series of stories/vignettes that tell the tale of the newest arrival to a curious orphanage, a...
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Lois Wright was a lifelong friend of both ?Big Edie? Bouvier Beale and ?Little Edie?, and she went along for the ride when the Beales were immortalized in the 1976 cin?ma v?rit? documentary Grey Gardens. Most fans of the film, if they know her at all, think of Lois as the silent party guest who gives Big Edie a little index card box. Although Lois?s role in the documentary was minimized because it complicated the Maysles? vision of the documentary, she played an important role in the Beales? lives.
Lois?s integral role in the Edies? lives is apparent from reading this fascinating book, including the little-known fact that she actually lived in the house. Using her journals, Lois has crafted an insider?s look at life at Grey Gardens: a day-to-day struggle against hunger, exploitation, and decay that chronicles life in the house from 1975 to 1977. It was a critical time that included re-shoots on the film, which ?premiered? on a stair landing in September 1975, and Big Edie?s final illness and death in February 1977.
Her vivid recollection of Little Edie?s speech is worth the price of the book all by itself, as the reader can hear Edie speak every word. Lois?s unblinking portrayal of the Beales? struggles to keep their world together adds a new layer of pathos to an already compelling story. Lois strongly communicates that the world of Grey Gardens is a world without judgment and filled with an underlying love that ultimately made the documentary so compelling for many.
If you are a fan of the documentary, then this book is a required reading.
D. Kent Bartram
Co-author of Staunch Character, an upcoming biography of ?Little Edie? Beale
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My Life at Grey Gardens: Thirteen Months and Beyond by L Wright
kent1222, October 1, 2006
Lois Wright was a lifelong friend of both ?Big Edie? Bouvier Beale and ?Little Edie?, and she went along for the ride when the Beales were immortalized in the 1976 cin?ma v?rit? documentary Grey Gardens. Most fans of the film, if they know her at all, think of Lois as the silent party guest who gives Big Edie a little index card box. Although Lois?s role in the documentary was minimized because it complicated the Maysles? vision of the documentary, she played an important role in the Beales? lives.Lois?s integral role in the Edies? lives is apparent from reading this fascinating book, including the little-known fact that she actually lived in the house. Using her journals, Lois has crafted an insider?s look at life at Grey Gardens: a day-to-day struggle against hunger, exploitation, and decay that chronicles life in the house from 1975 to 1977. It was a critical time that included re-shoots on the film, which ?premiered? on a stair landing in September 1975, and Big Edie?s final illness and death in February 1977.
Her vivid recollection of Little Edie?s speech is worth the price of the book all by itself, as the reader can hear Edie speak every word. Lois?s unblinking portrayal of the Beales? struggles to keep their world together adds a new layer of pathos to an already compelling story. Lois strongly communicates that the world of Grey Gardens is a world without judgment and filled with an underlying love that ultimately made the documentary so compelling for many.
If you are a fan of the documentary, then this book is a required reading.
D. Kent Bartram
Co-author of Staunch Character, an upcoming biography of ?Little Edie? Beale
(91 of 102 readers found this comment helpful)