Clip from the 1975 documentary film Grey Gardens by Albert and David Maysles Starring Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale (1895-1977) and her daughter Edith Bouvier Beale (1917-2002)
ualflygal What a silly thing to say! I’m the only one (daughter) who does things for my mother out of my siblings and I’m very appreciated. And it’s not uncommon either, you’re projecting your life experience.
@@ualflygal Thankfully I was able to care for my mom and my dad and they both appreciated it greatly and let me know that they did. I miss them so much and I would do it all over again. I truly did and do feel honored to have been able to give them back some of the love and care that they gave to me all my life. But I get it about the sons... my brothers really did nothing.
Reminds me of how my mother always doted over my handsome and tall younger brother. Now that she fell upon hardtimes, where is my brother? Nowhere. No calls and no visits. And now I support my mother because I love her.
4 года назад
Mothers and their boys. Same. A boy comes home she's still nicer to him than to me.
Its not only sons my mom does the same thing with my sister and she and i spoke about plans for my mother later in life and she has said already shes not taking my mother smh so it goes to show u sometimes the child that gets dotted on the most will be the child that disappoints u at times when u need them the most smh
To the ppl who left comments...we all learn lessons in life,the universe is unforgiving...what u put out u get back...never feel bad even when we get frustrated...u are blessed yur heart is kind....one day they will need someone❤🔥
Yep, in it right now. God bless them, they don't get much out of the relationship in the end. Its exhausting, but I know I am a better person now than before and I owe it all to a paralyzed mother and a father with Alzheimer's. And God bless you for your dedication💖
Big Eddie clearly abandoned Mr. Beale and didn't care about his feelings. If a woman isn't holding up her end of the marriage, there is no need for him to hold up his end.
I truly hate it when people see us eccentrics as crazy. These two women were not crazy: they were eccentric women who were dealt a terrible blow by their husband/father. He left them to fend for themselves. Big Edie's sons were ungrateful. And Jackie, she only became involved when Life Magazine did a story on them and didn't want to be embarrased. I still love their antics and the guys that did the documentary are awesome. I saved all their stories from the 70's newspaper, mags, etc.
Yes, these 2 women were props. Little Edie was aware of her duties. Also she was used to hearing stuff like “you had music all the time and the beach that’s what you like that’s what makes you happy” this is a mental prison. Built by the men in their lives, maintained by a narcissist big Edie. Little Edie would’ve been better off in a working class family.
@@ronreigle9415built by the men in their lives? I absolutely adore the Edie’s and have studied the family. The father paid for that house for years! Once he’s divorced (from her wild partying) he no longer has to pay for her lifestyle. He advised her to sell that house and make quite the profit early on. She refused to leave until she ran all the staff and friends off who cared. Little Edie was supported by her father at home and in NYC for years. If he was so controlling she wouldn’t have been living in a house for actresses and going on auditions and not working. “The cage men built for them” so would financially supporting an ex wife and adult child for life be considered “the cage women built for him”??? Or is that not how it works?
This is a sad situation, but there is something so delightful about both of them. What interesting characters, I would love to have met them. I'm sorry they lived in such poverty and squalor.
They was not poor at all .. just mentally ill .. they owned a mansion in east Hampton.. they live in squalor by choice or by mental illness . She's Jackie Kennedys cousin .. lol .. not poor not poor not poor .
My mother passed on in 2004 and I miss her so. This just makes me think of our fun times together like this mom and daughter. Watch it and think good thoughts about your mom.
@@perfectpens1262 I loved it, prefer it to anything on the charts today. Have listened to it twice already, the music from back then just had this heavenly quality, maybe because it was really music. Now it's all literally just gone to hell, senseless and stupidity. But this right here, this was pure magic. The world had magic once, even with all its horrors, it also used to have some glimpses of magic, and music was it. Now we don't even have that, it's just trash trying to pass for music.
It is sad that after their deaths so many people made money from them, Edies Diary, the film's, letters, memorabilia, etc., but they were ignored in life. For me, this is the tragic part. I do love both of them for their unconventional ways and I do believe they thought they lived beyond the pale that we see.
It is when you are cold, starving and without heat. Living in a shattered house without windows. Women who bought it said the back of the home was flapping in the wind. It was about their lives in a time capsule and inability to cope without help. Money was extremely important in this case.
Strangely, her voice reminds me a lot of RFK’s voice, especially at the end of sentences when it kind of trails off. Listen to RFK phone calls and I swear their voices are quite similar.
I think the husbands and sons were son of a b**** s to leave the women like they did without any help these women were brought up in a rich class leisure class family they had no way to support themselves they were used to servants they were used to being taken care of when you grow up like that you don't know how to do for yourself and it's kind of hard to learn when you're in your middle age -sometimes I thank my lucky stars I was just brought up middle-class hard-working know how to take care of myself type girl
Big Edie was a very strong woman, and for those that don't know, her husband left her there, then tried to pay her off the land for $10,000 she refused her two sons walked away with dad and didn't provide any financial help to them. Basically he left for a younger woman and all she wanted was her home, that she lived in for most of her life. They all walked away and let her, Lil Edie came back to assist mom and has the same mental instabilities as a mom. Very sad my heart goes out to them... Love your people.......
Mental instabilities? Too many women have to live their life thru their husband. If the wife doesn't conform to their opinions and desires... Too many sell out for the sake of the marriage and than live in denial of that.
Best documentary it was sad how they lived but big & lil Edie seemed so oblivious. I was glad when lil Edie finally got out of that house & had some semblance of an independent life! I hoped she had a boyfriend or at the least some friends. I liked lil Edie.
They were both beautiful sweet, victims because people take advantage of kindness, seems like people around would have helped them ongoing to keep the yard etc, yet with all their money didn't help sad.
Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange did a fantastic job portraying them. Quite fascinating. Whether you agree with what the ladies did with they're lives. Obviously they made their mark
I don't think it is up to anybody to agree or disagree with how somebody else chooses to live their life. As long as they are not hurting anybody else, and they aren't, it's hardly anybody else's business.
To the people calling these women things like "batty" in this comment section, assuming that they lost it, may I remind you that the norm of this planet is crazy, and I actually found them pretty sane in comparison to most of this world's population. They lived a quiet, peaceful life, by the beach, only needing the bare minimum, and didn't spend their lives chasing any wild geese, like most people are doing most of the time, never happy, never satisfied, never enough. These two spent their lives chilling and enjoying the moment, without fuss or press about anything. I have lived and worked in 9 different countries, the world is not that interesting and it's seriously not a nice place, as per what we all know. I call their choice the closest thing to sanity one can achieve on the mental asylum that this world is, and don't feel for them one bit. They both lived a very good, peaceful life, on their own terms and conditions.
Notice the big 1.75 liter of Bacardi Rum in the middle of the small table? It’s 3/4 gone! Love how they’re dancing and singing hits from yesteryear. The juxtaposition with the portraits of her youth are haunting; she was a very beautiful socialite. The Bouviers are a very interesting family. Side tidbit: ( Bud Bouvier, Big Edie’s older brother, had had an affair with Edna Hutton, Barbara Huttons young mother. She committed suicide when Barbara was very young; in fact, little Barbara had found her mother after she ingested poison). The Mayles were able to capture the essence of their grip on sanity without being offensive. This is a cult classic.
One of my favorite documentaries from back in the day....Mother was so controlling. I always wondered at what point little Edie starting losing her mind, would things have been different if she had stayed in NY...
Tracey Manzano it was not co dependency..it was a mother taking everything away from her daughter thru exteme selfishness and narcissism..stop blaming lil eddie ahe was extremely brainwashed
There are different forms of, and different stages of codependency. The daughter, every time she thought she could get away, came right back home...where else and how else was she going to support herself. Her mother had her feeling the world was too big, and without money what was she to do. Instead of saying you can work as a secretary, her mother said all you have is this house and me. Mom didn't want to be left alone and with nowhere to go the daughter was forced to stay.
@Laura Streeter they used to give tours to the paying public to walk through insane asylums. People have always had a fascination with the mentally ill up close or from a distance it doesn't matter. The phenomenon is encouraged because it's equivilant to a bull fight, a gory movie, a train wreck, public hangings, or any other crazy tragic event. Humans have a perverse sense of entertainment.
This is really a sad story ! The more I learn the more sad I get . Her sons must be pieces of shit to leave her like this . Freaken people never think about after this world . My Grandmother always said you better be standing with the lambs & not with the goats on Judgement day ! I think the boys did pay the taxes on gray gardens & that's only because it would keep these to at bay . How sad is that but I know plenty of kids who followed the purse or wallet !!!
The mother was used to living very well. Her husband owed her so much more. I guess she could have found another rich man in those days as shallow as that sounds. Usually there was always one waiting in the wings for a beautiful woman. Besides, the Bouivers(sp?) should have helped her. You would think that they wouldn't have wanted their family to look bad.
Yes, Big Edie, Who's the little girl? Big Edie was such a bully. Every interesting story needs a nemisis and boy did the Maysles find a real one. Lil Edie, you were the real star. Shine on.
Two beautiful, gentile women from a different era, almost like a different dimension. God rest their sweet souls. I found them fascinating before I knew they were related to Jackie. She arrived too late to save them from themselves and from one another.
So interesting... I wonder why younger Eddie chose that particular style..their real life is like some vintage reality show that is stranger than fiction.or any scripted material
when a woman swears to love and honor back then it was meant he lost the money left her for another woman just walked away.when they were totally depending on HIM.that drove them to codependency for survival have a heart
Awesome......yet tragic story!! Thanks for this.....I'd never heard of them before. Getting old sucks......no wonder she's depressed. My spouse also found a hot young girl after my faithfulness of 30 yrs! What a waste of all my young yrs..... devastating!!
I'm so sorry, but luckily older women are actually valued today and their stories are important. Back then, they were just cast aside and couldn't even get a decent job, because men only got the good jobs.
Heartbreaking...how no one helped them at all, they lived in seclusion and squalor, with wealthy relatives nearby. Shame, the rich and blue blooded snobs...Karma has a way...
These two poor souls created a fantasy existence on memories, a dilapidated house and cats. Its beyond tragic, how they were actually forgotten, the unnatural dependence on each other is heart breaking, may both of these ladies live the lavish and exotic life, they couldn't let go of in memories, in the afterlife...
@@silviaconrad8401 It an opinion, steering the idea that little Edie stayed for her moms sake, and in the end she lost herself to a life of actually and truly LIVING. A career, a family of her own...who knows, maybe just maybe that's what she really wanted. She stayed, and realized it to late. I suspect there were bitter accusations from Edie to her mother due to this realization-maybe later or earlier in her life.
Big Edie and Little Edie were both gorgeous, beauties in their youth. RIP to them both, and, I hope Heaven's version of The Grey Gardens House finds them both happy.
loved this documentary....didn't mean to laugh at certain times....902 mark..."and I'll awake and start to bake...a shug, shug, shugga cake...cake...cake"...she carries on, though...that daughter is something else...have to see the Jessica Lange/Drew Barrymore movie..too
@@terry4137 He's referring to 'Grey Gardens' the movie starring Jessica Lange as big Edie, and Drew Barrymore as little Edie. Excellent movie, and I think you may be able to find some clips of it here on RU-vid somewhere...
I wonder sometimes why there wealthy neighbors didnt lend them there landscapers an maids...this film is about a n old lady and her loveing daughter helping the mom both haveing no "practical skills on liveing haveing been raised instead on "Emily P.I.T.A. Post ...
My mother drove me nearly crazy with all of her demands upon me even though i had seven brothers and sisters. But i would never have lived with her like those two did. God,that was messed up.
I actually found them pretty sane in comparison to most of this world's population. They lived a quiet, peaceful life, by the beach, only needing the bare minimum, and didn't spend their lives chasing any wild geese, like most people are doing most of the time, never happy, never satisfied, never enough. These two spent their lives chilling and enjoying the moment, without fuss or press about anything. I have lived and worked in 9 different countries, the world is not that interesting and it's seriously not a nice place, as per what we all know. I call their choice the closest thing to sanity one can achieve on the mental asylum that this world is, and don't feel for them one bit. They both lived a very good, peaceful life, on their own terms and conditions.
You're a sicko. These women had been rejected by the society they were born into. They were seriously eccentric and I think YOU are the one who is toxic.
I agree with you. These two had a toxic relationship. The mother used the daughter as a crutch after her marriage failed. She guilted her into staying and putting her own life in the backburner. Not to mention the emotional abuse big Edie subjected little Edie to was more than obvious. She made little Edie feel inferior, incompetent, "never good enough" etc. It was a reflection of her own failures. They became codependent. That's what happens in a toxic relationship. One feeds the other. Very sad. I feel most sad for little Edie. She was exceptional and subconsciously Mother probably felt like she had to compete with her. That is why she always held her back from her singing and performing. Big Edie was just a selfish, frustraded, bitter woman who couldn't live out her dreams of becoming something other than a wife and mother, so she took little Edie down with her. Had she been a stronger person (little Edie), things might have been different. Unfortunately, they also suffered from mental illness, as direct result of the toxic relationship they had. I hate when parents guilt their children so badly that the child gives up their own life to basically become their parent's spouse and fill that empty void. Truly selfish.
4 года назад
@@Im_so_Retro85 Ahh, brought tears as I am in a similar situation. These family dynamics, these parents.. cycles. Probably represents many, many dynamics on earth atm but people are oblivious so only when they watch something on screen they get a tiny clue but even that they need to judge. (Got bitter here for a second. But everyone has a reason to be bitter)
They had a love hate relationship and being poor and secluded made them seem odd.They could not cope being poor.The sons wanted nothing to do with with them .
I saw this year's ago I loved it, they are brave souls lost in the world outside of that home A beautiful home gone probably forever. THEY ARE holding up better than I would have done being all alone in a house gone by how sad but their spirits are high that's good Bless these 2 people.
You are correct - they both have strong family blood lines that tie back to the Bouvier family of Upper Manhattan New York. Jackie's father and Big Edie were brother and sister.
Notice the two beds in the same room each shared the same room together. This daughter "gave" up her life to stay and care for her mother. So sad to see two women living alone together, growing old together, and dying in the same house with old, old memories. Life should be for excitement and full of changes - a zest for life is to live it!
Today hardly anyone, family included, gives up their life to care for anyone else including family. I hope the few that do so are not labeled in a derogatory manner as I'm reading so much in these comments.
Little Edie actually left Grey Gardens after her mother's death and lived in two or three other places until her death many years later. I think the younger Edie was living in Florida when she died.
Little Edie died in 2002 I believe. I could be wrong though. I find them so fascinating. I have seen the documentary, it was on Public Television a couple of years ago. This is part of that which the video states. I want to do some research on the house, as it's being restored again, and learn more about little Edie after her mother's death.
Gloria Hanes do some research before you place blame on someone you don’t know! In the 2nd documentary The Beales of Grey Gardens they both say little Edie had an apartment in NY and her mother furnished it but little Edie claimed she was too scared because of all the valuables so she put them in storage and went to the barbizon then back home! They were both codependent, eccentric and mental illness is extremely hereditary! 🙄 I can’t stand when people speak ill of the dead when they know them, I hate it even more when they don’t know them at all!
I would never blame a spouse or child or parent or anyone else who chooses not to live with a person who loses his/her mind. Mental illness can be contagious and usually is in some way. You don't owe it to anyone to go around the bend with them. If this is the way these women chose to live rather than have staff hired to circumscribe a more normal appearing life, let them. They are thoroughly self centered with lives full only of themselves living in the echoes of their past. Probably never was room for anyone else. Being in love with ones' self is like that.
This is a sad case of the upper classes where money is concerned, the girls are groomed marry older rich men, when marriage goes wrong wife ends up in nowhere land if she hasn't another rich suitor lined up, if not she set adrift with no education and living on merge handouts from the better off relative's.
Anyone's relationship would seem bizarre put under the microscope, but theirs takes bizarre to a new level because it was put under the microscope and shown for all the world to see. Reminds me of relationships within my family and outside. Fascinating! (People harp on the unsanitary conditions more than anything; at least there are no drug or alcohol addictions between Edie one and Edie Two.)
Drinking alcohol runs in the Bouvier blood...Big Edie's brothers: Bud Bouvier died from alcoholism at 36y/o & Black Jack was drunk on Jackie's wedding day in w/c the stepdad instead walked down the altar w/Jackie. In the docu film, Big Edie seemed in her bed mixing a cocktail drink w/ice then she poured it in a jar & drink while Little Edie brought something & drank it when she went to the beach. In the yellow room scene w/Big Edie in her bed & Little Edie a bit tipsy when she bumped to the table while dancing holding a paper cup.
