Known as "Little Edie," Beale was a member of the Maidstone Country Club of East Hampton. A debutante, she was presented to society during a ball at the Pierre Hotel on New Year's Day 1936. The New York Times reported on the event, where she wore a gown of white net appliqued in silver, with a wreath of gardenias in her hair.[1]
While Beale was young, her mother pursued a singing career, hiring an accompanist and playing at small venues and private parties. In the summer of 1931, Phelan Beale separated from his wife, then 35 years old. In 1946 he finally obtained a divorce, notifying his family by telegram from Mexico.[4]
In her youth, Little Edie was a clothes model at Macy's in New York[3] and Palm Beach, Florida. She later claimed to have dated J. Paul Getty and to have once been engaged to Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. (although in reality she met him only once).[5] During the 1961 inauguration of John F. Kennedy, she told Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. that if young Joe had lived, she would have been First Lady instead of Jackie. Once, Beale ran away to Palm Beach, where she was found by her father and brought home.[3]
From 1947 to 1952, she lived in an apartment and later the Barbizon Hotel for Women. She worked as a model, dancer, and actress.[1] When she was in her late 30s, Beale developed alopecia totalis[5] which caused her body hair to fall out and prompted her to wear her signature headscarves. Beale's cousin, John Davis, claims Beale once climbed a tree at home and set her hair on fire, suggesting Beale might have contributed to her own baldness.[3]
Grey Gardens
Grey Gardens, Joseph Greenleaf Thorp, architect, 1897. Landscape by Anna Gilman (Mrs. Robert C.) Hill.
In October 1971, police raided Grey Gardens and found the house "full of litter, rife with the odor of cats, and in violation of various local ordinances." The Suffolk County, New York Board of Health prepared to evict Beale and "Big Edie” due to the unsafe condition of the property. Following the publicity, Beale's family paid a reported $30,000 to refurbish the property, settle back taxes, and give Beale and "Big Edie" a stipend (the two women's trust fund income had run out some years before). The eviction proceedings were dropped.[7]
Beale's cousin Lee Radziwill hired documentary filmmakers Albert and David Maysles in 1972 to work on a film about the Bouvier family. At the outset, the brothers filmed Beale and "Big Edie."[8] The original film project was not completed, and Radziwill kept the footage that had been shot of the Beales. However, the Maysles brothers were fascinated by the strange life the two women led. After raising funds for film and equipment on their own, they returned and filmed 70 more hours of footage with Beale and Big Edie. The resulting 1975 film, Grey Gardens, is widely considered a masterpiece of the documentary genre. It was later adapted as a 2006 musical of the same name, where the characters Jackie and Lee Bouvier appear in retrospect as visiting children. An HBO television movie based upon the documentary and surrounding story of the Beales' lives, also called Grey Gardens, appeared in 2009.[9]
The original 1972 footage, featuring Radziwill visiting the Beales, was released in 2017 as That Summer.[10]
Death
In 1979, Beale sold the mansion to Ben Bradlee, then the executive editor of The Washington Post.[11]
Beale was found dead in her apartment on January 14, 2002, aged 84. It is believed she died about five days earlier, either from a stroke or heart attack.[1] The inscription on her grave marker reads: "I came from God. I belong to God. In the end, I shall return to God."[12][13]
Legacy
Interest in the Beales' story resulted in a variety of publishing and media projects, as well as various mentions in popular culture.
The original 1975 Maysles brothers' documentary Grey Gardens.
The Spring 2010 issue of the online literary journal BigCityLit features a pantoum by American poet Joel Allegretti called "The Belles of Grey Gardens", which is made up entirely of dialogue from the Maysles' documentary.[15]
A February 2013 episode of RuPaul's Drag Race featured drag queen Jinkx Monsoon imitating Little Edie during the Snatch Game challenge. Inspired by that episode, Jinkx Monsoon and Peaches Christ mounted a live 90-minute musical drag parody Return to Grey Gardens.[17]
The 2017 documentary film That Summer featured the original 1972 footage of Radziwill visiting the Beales.[10]
Notes
^Beale was found dead on January 14, 2002, and this is recorded as her date of death on her tombstone. However, an article published at the time of her death, citing a relative, reported that she may have died about "five days" before her body was found.[1]
^Mank, Gregory William (August 22, 2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. p. 48. ISBN978-0786479924.
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