Welcome to Hooked on Fridays, a blog party I host at the end of each week to celebrate the things that make us happy. This week I’m hooked on Grey Gardens, the East Hampton estate featured in an HBO movie starring Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange. The house was one of the main characters in the film, and it was fascinating to watch it evolve through the years. Here are a few photos from the film set depicting Grey Gardens’ heyday in the 1930s:
I discovered a beautiful blog called Bloomacious this week during my searches for all things Grey Gardens. They have a wonderful interview with Grey Gardens Production Designer Kalina Ivanov and many more photos of the sets from the film that you can see there.
If you have missed Valorie’s series of posts about Grey Gardens on her blog Visual Vamp, I highly recommend them. She actually knew the Beales and has fascinating personal stories to tell about them.
Watching this beautiful home age and decay during the course of the film was painful. I’m sure you’ve seen the images of it with trees growing through the walls and English ivy covering the windows. Happily, Grey Gardens was purchased and completely restored by Sally Quinn and Ben Bradlee. Architectural Digest published photographs of it that you can see here. Over at Content in a Cottage you can watch a video that shows the lush grounds and some of the home’s interiors today.
Did you see the movie? Were you as captivated by it as I was? (I’m joining Fifi’s Fashionable Friday blog party today, too. Be sure to check it out!)
Now it’s your turn to tell us what you’re hooked on. If you have something to share with us on your blog, then add your link below. Just please be sure to:
- Add the permalink to the specific blog post, not your general blog address.
- You can put what you’re hooked on in parentheses after your blog name. You’ll probably get more visitors that way! Ex: Hookedonhouses (Not So Big Houses)
- Link back to the party from your post so that your readers can come and see what everyone else is talking about today!
- Visit as many of the other participants as possible and leave comments! That’s what a blog party is all about!
- Double-check to make sure your link works and goes to the right page so it doesn’t get deleted! If you come back and see your link is gone, re-read these rules and try again.
Hooked on Fridays Participants
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Oh, I want to see this movie. What an amazing story – thanks for sharing it with your readers.
Denise’s last blog post..The Geek Squad hits Seattle
Hi Julia!! What a fun blog party! Thanks for being the fabulous hostess.
ps. I linked twice because I messed up the link the first time. Really sorry.
Deana with ALCHEMY’s last blog post..Hooked on fabric!
For some reason I never saw the documentary but I DVR’d the HBO movie last weekend and hope to get to it soon. Thanks for posting this. Now I’m extra looking forward to seeing the film and comparing against the links you’ve posted.
Why S?’s last blog post..Desk Done
I had no idea a new movie had been made about Grey Gardens! I saw the documentary from the 70’s and you could not help but be captivated by the family and the house. Hopefully, this will be released on DVD since we don’t subscribe to HBO.
Robyns Online World’s last blog post..Walmart Remodel – UGH!
I saw Grey Gardens and it was very interesting to learn about the Beale ladies. The home was absolutely beautiful! It was a shame to see it (and the ladies) deteriorate like they did.
Peacock Blue’s last blog post..What’s Hot….
I saw Grey Gardens on Broadway in New York. I would like to see the movie. I got all interested and looked up many things about these ladies and there are some video on Youtube you can view.
Thanks for the post.
Be a sweetie,
Shelia
Shelia’s last blog post..Blue Monday and Met Monday
I haven’t seen the movie but like the actresses and would probably like the movie.
The house is GORGEOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When little Edie spoke I thought it was Jackie – she sounded just like her! That accent is not New England upper crust but New York (downstate)…just a little bit similar to the famous “nu yawk” accent… but it’s the gentler blueblood version
I saw the movie, it is so easy to get hooked to it, it was very interesting!!!
Great post! I’ve been a little obsessed with Grey Gardens & the 2 Edies ever since I first saw the documentary years ago, and the HBO film was such a nice surprise. They clearly put a lot of effort into doing everything right, including their faithful recreation of the real Grey Gardens up in Canada. And I was so pleased to see Kalina Ivanov receive a very well-deserved Emmy for the amazing work she did.
To me, Little Edie’s accent is kind of hard to peg. She did speak like her cousin Jackie, but her accent was noticeably different from Big Edie’s…and Big Edie was part of a wealthy family which divided its time between a posh NYC home and their beautiful Long Island estate. Somebody somewhere suggested that Little Edie’s speech was influenced a lot by her time at Miss Porter’s School and also by hearing her very southern father’s accent. I loved hearing Little Edie talk, but I tend to think she had her own totally unique way of speaking. I grew up in the the so-called “Great Estates” region of the Hudson Valley, and the old-money types there always reminded me of the way FDR used to speak, or the way George Plimpton speaks…he’s still alive, right?
Anyway, fascinating characters, splendid house and 2 great movies! Everyone should try to catch the HBO version if possible. As usual Jessica Lange was wonderful, but Drew Barrymore was surprisingly good too.
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