With HBO‘s Grey Gardens, starring Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange, debuting this weekend, it’s pretty fair to assume it will jumpstart a whole revival of interest in the original Maysles Brothers documentary from which it was adapted. The HBO adaptation — hotly anticipated by all those in the cult of Big Edie and Little Edie Beale, cousins to Jackie O, who famously lived in cinematic squalor in the old, decrepit Grey Gardens mansion in the East Hamptons — is said to fill in the blanks on much of what the original documentary leaves unanswered: What the Bouviers respective pasts were like, and how they came to be the batty (and slightly sad) characters depicted so well by the Maysles. You can add to the new light being shone on the Beales Grey Gardens, the book, released next month by Philly’s own Free News Projects. Designed by Tony Smyrski, the 305-page hardcover volume contains pretty much everything of note about the original film’s production a fan of the Edies would ever want to know. It includes collaged illustrations, photographs, film stills, production notes, transcripts of the Beale’s own stories and conversations edited from unreleased Grey Gardens sound recordings, an introduction by Albert Maysles, illustrations by Albert’s daughter, Rebekah Maysles, and an appendix with the full transcript of the documentary. And if that’s not enough, there’s also an accompanying 60-minute CD featuring conversations with the Beales and their friends, songs and poetry recited by the two Edie Beales, and so on. That’s a whole lotta Edie! And frankly, we want it all.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 16th, 2009 at 2:39 pm.