Mother Edith in GREY GARDENS -- Truly Evil or Dramatized?

[Smartful Dodger]

Posted: 1/17/07 at 10:44am

A friend and I went to see GREY GARDENS last night (her second, my third time). She's seen the documentary about a dozen times, while I've only seen it a few, so we're both fairly fluent with the source material. Still...

One of the debates we had at the end of the evening was on how much dramatic license the writers took in creating the book for Act I. How much of Edith's personality was truly manipulative and, dare I suggest, evil and competitive? Are there additional source materials the creative team used to create the events at Grey Gardens in 1941? If someone can point us to a discussion or other material on this, we'd both appreciate it.

Thanks!

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 1/17/07 at 10:50am

The Playbill states that the show, as a whole, is based on fact and fiction. Act 2 is the fact. Act 1 is the fiction.

Phelan Beale didn't dump Edith on the day of the engagement party - An engagement party never happened - it's debatable that Edie was even engaged to Joe Kennedy.

[Nick Plasia]

Posted: 1/17/07 at 11:40am

Not entirely correct.

Phelan did dump Edith & get a Mexican divorce.

Edie did date Howard Hughes, J. Paul Getty & Joe
Kennedy and claims to have been engaged to the latter.

It just didn't happen in one afternoon....

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/17/07 at 11:44am

It was character assassination and it was fabulously done.

[lildogs]

Posted: 1/17/07 at 12:25pm

Was she any more evil or manipulative than the average mother?

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 1/17/07 at 12:29pm

Sometimes when you love someone intensely you act a little crazy. Unless you're a mother, it is hard to grasp a mother's love and the intesity of it. I always took Big Edie as more overprotective and dependant than evil.

[DryMartini]

Posted: 1/17/07 at 12:31pm

Big Edie is certainly pretty brutal towards her daughter in the documentary. I thought it was amazing that they kept her that way in the second act of the musical. It did seem that there is a lot of artistic licence with Act One, but that a lot of it was inspired by facts found in the documentary.

On a totally different topic: Nick's Joan Crawford/Michael Jackson pic is brilliant.

[lildogs]

Posted: 1/17/07 at 12:59pm

As is your Everett Quinton as Marlene Dietrich...

[Smartful Dodger]

Posted: 1/17/07 at 1:00pm

Thanks for the various points, peeps. Part of my argument is that the documenary does suggest a very abusive and manipulative relationship that Edith manages, so I'd say the creative team is right in creating a tough Edith in Act I.

The real question, regarding dramatic license and a specific plot point, is whether Edith had a track record of such vicious betrayel as when she tells Joe about Edie's "past." The way Ebersole plays it, Edith turns on a heel, quite smug and happy with herself, leaving Joe to confront an unprepared and shocked Edie. I know it's a fictional moment, but this particular action seems especially evil and calculated.

Would love to know if there are other sources out there. Or, interviews beyond what's clearly published in the PLAYBILL or in the liner notes for the CD.

[lildogs]

Posted: 1/17/07 at 1:03pm

I think Big Edie realizes that she will be all alone if Little Edie marries Joe and causes the rift to ensure her own future. It is indeed selfish, but it is an act of desperation and loneliness, themes pervasive in GG.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 1/17/07 at 1:17pm

When I saw GG, I saw that moment as Big Edie protecting Little Edie from a marriage that like her own would keep her from performing and being truly happy. I think Big Edie sees that Joe would be using her.

Regardless, I don't think the musical or the doc present Big Edie as evil.

I think these women are extremely complex and the musical showcases that expertly.

[Magdalene]

Posted: 1/17/07 at 1:20pm

There are books---check Amazon!

[RevolutionaryCostume]

Posted: 1/17/07 at 3:48pm

Exactly JRB!

If you notice. . Big Edie had just recieved the telegram about her divorce, and she starts to talk to Joe. She's thinking about how she never got to perform on Broadway because her husband hated it. . but he "allowed" her to perform in their living room. Now her husband has left her for another woman, and she wasted her good years on him. I don't think she wants her daughter to go through that.

I'm not saying that Big Edie was right, but they definitely wrote enough justification for her actions in the play.

Also, if you notice, she tells Joe something that isn't horrible. . just bad for "image." So, it almost seemed as a test for Joe. . if he can handle Little Edie getting out of a pool naked, then he loves her just for her. . and not for her "trophy" status.

He fails.

I loved that show.

~Jacob.