THE BEALES OF GREY GARDENS - THE FIRE

[thisismthatism]

"I'll do whatever you say... David, David!" Ooh la la, hehehe. The contrast of panic between Big Edie and Little Edie is hilarious.

[labz77]

Little Edie on the firemen: "They're much more polite than they used to be. They used to go in every room"

[kakadoodoo3000]

i've been watching so much 'grey gardens' footage, i forget these ladies are long gone. little edie is someone i'd have loved to have as a friend...she's quirky, sweet, talented--not unlike my closest friends. thank goodness for technology. i'm glad to get to know her, even if only posthumously.

[kakadoodoo3000]

little edie was always so lovable, especially in this clip. thanks so much for this gift! :)

[kbalynch]

ahhh..long island in the 70's such memories!

[Mike6E]

I wish I could marry Little Edie.

[creolelady182]

Did these women ever think about getting a job-Hell no-they have been used to men picking up the tab!

[thebjm1967]

that fire engine is so neat!!!

[badpenny1118]

Did you see how slow the fire department was moving? One would think they were hoping the house would go up in flames..."nasty Republican town".

[grai]

I hate to think of horrible things happening to them - they were so fine and pure

[lovesGenet]

creative ,imaginative would have been to clean and decorate with the little you have.these women were ZeldaFitzgerald..Living n their minds unable to deal with reality!It's like the early Warhol film characters! Serious mental issues here.Pluck would have gone back to the city and done something and found a way to take care of Mama. this is crazy white folks.

[sleepypoodle]

The poor women, they were so vulnerable, but little Edie was sensible to smother it - even if she did use a $300 blanket from Jackie Onassis!

Thank goodness the Maysles were there when it happened.

I adore these women...it's so rare to find such creative, imaginative characters with interesting conversation nowadays.

[jaysmic24]

dID U have to do it with jackie's 300$ blanket?...LOL!

[murphgal]

I agree with Rob! :o) I think the 73 stands for 7.3 inches... I'm quite sure!

[bellapauldegi]

yeah 7.3 inches in tiolet water!

[RobJ73]

It's very clear what LSD and/or mental health issues do for your daily routine. Nut jobs.

[bellapauldegi]

Rob the knob who shits a good j73 out of his mouth!

[RobJ73]

@bellapauldegi

Did you really just say that and mean it? I mean, seriously?

[bellapauldegi]

yes im very serious!

[RobJ73]

You, sir, need help. Professional help. I think I'll withdraw from any further comment as attempting to assist you with speaking sense would be akin to asking one of these neurotic ladies to run for president. Pointless, ridiculous and ultimately futile.

[bellapauldegi]

look why dont you fuck off down some hole and stay there ,I couldnt care less for your opinions,go and assist yourself to bothering someone who cares!

[omniscientmoon77]

@bellapauldegi Hahaha! What a comment. I love your wording: Fuck off down a hole and stay there! It's profanic poetry! Beautiful! =)

[bellapauldegi]

Thank you.

[omniscientmoon77]

You're welcome. Thanks for making me laugh today. =) I love clever profanity. Too many people use the same basic ones. Anything clever and imaginative is fine by me!

[grandad1]

I Adore these two Ladies, I never wanted to mix it with the gentry but watching these two beautiful woman taking eccentricity to the limit I was enthralled

[sophizzy]

The racoon came in to inspect the damage!

[Messylin]

Little Edie had a majestic, poetic voice. Listen to how she bellows "CALL MOTHER, CALL!" - she could have been one of the great dramatic actresses of Broadway. I am in deadly earnest.

[sleepypoodle]

Goodness, it didn't take long for the house to become such a mess again, with racoons living indoors! This was only 3 or 4 years after the clean-up.

It's so sad that these women weren't given regular help by Jackie, they obviously couldn't cope with anything remotely practical. That fire incident was terrible, it really highlighted just how incredibly vulnerable they were.

But what a delightful couple of characters, Little Edie was superb.

[atlast23]

Did you thrill the fireman with that skirt? Ha ha ha..

[atlast23]

I am facinated with these two ladies. I understand them somehow.

[Valapaca]

I can't find the fire, I can't find it.....Hello it's right in front in you. She freaked out for nothing!! Relax Little hysterical Edie...

[limenlimpidgreen]

At :21 you can kind of see into the master bedroom. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who is as fascinated with the house as with the ladies.

[emzbail]

'did you have to put it out with jacquelines $300 blanket?!'

lol i love that bit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[brainstate09]

My uncle and cousin were a lot like them. My cousin is still living in that old 1925 farmhouse on Shamrock.

[poosaypirate]

@brainstate09 old is not bad - historic preservation is good

feeding raccoons in your living room is another topic tho

[assasincasm44]

Little Edith battling the fire "What are you? Crazy?"

Fascinating.

[blackwingy]

@assasincasm44 I believe she's saying that to Al(or David) who is continuing filming during her efforts to put the fire out....frankly, if I were in that situation in an old tinderbox of a house with visible flames lapping at the wall and one of the two visiting guys still filming everything I'd probably react like Edie too. But she didn't hold it against them once out of danger, of course--typical Edie: "David and Al have nerves of steeeeel!"

[georgie23]

Oh I love big and lil edie. This fire situation reminds me of my aunt and my grandma who lived together like them. My aunt was the same a lil edie all panic stricken and my grandma all calm. lol.

Always entertaining.

[MyEarsROpen]

I agree, although eccentric, these ladies are smart as tacks.

[erikzod]

Feeding the racoon, wow. Just saw the Drew Barrymore film. Amazing.

[epigonic888]

Edith: "I go crazy"

Edith: "You never told me"

[babeuf09]

Brilliant. Sometimes I think the HBO flick, as worthy an endeavor as it was, was really unnecessary. The original is so feature-like that you almost can see "the writing team" getting an Oscar nod. Of course there was no writing team. These broads were complete improv. You almost can understand how the Society crowd ditched them, beyond the money issues. Neither Edith had an edit button and they are so pungent and clever and eviscerating. Could not have gone down well at the yacht club.

[poosaypirate]

@babeuf09 i dont know about that - they ( high society) seem to have their own way of being tactless in this respect what you are naming- seems for some they have the feeling of less consequence- it actually would depend greatly on the cirucmctances

[Dantyankle]

I love Edie!!! After all of the turmoil she feeds the raccoon bread. Extraordinary! Brilliant!

That is the sweetest thing ever!

[kakadoodoo3000]

@Dantyankle little edie's innate sweetness and innocence shows through, in so many instances. my heart breaks to think of how sad she was, that her mom supposedly scared the guys she liked, away, and that she didn't achieve her goal of being a famous singer/dancer. however, she did get something for which she longed--loyal fans who will always love her. i'm so grateful the documentary immortalized her.

[vspec17]

yeah,good call on the aptitude subject,I was just having fun and letting off some steam.certain types of mental illness are often found peripheral to high intelligence.btw,babeuf,thanks for the interesting notes.p.s.,I personally am a big howard hughes fan,nothing like opiates and jarred urine.

[babeuf09]

Little E was almost engaged to Howard Hughes in the 1930's. THAT would have been an interesting duo. And I am right there with you on the opiates and jarred urine thing.

[poosaypirate]

@babeuf09 at least the house would be clean - right ? heheeh

[vspec17]

if I could have been there I would have told the two space cadets that I were a doctor and thusly an expert on germs,I would then tell them that fire can survive like a germ,after you think youve put it out,it crawls deep into the very building materials of the house,THEN I would charge them 50,000$ for this information quickly so I could get paid before their wonderful elitist heads explode.

[babeuf09]

...and unless you showed up with some cameras, a box of pastries and maybe a marriage proposal for Little E they wouldn't have given you the time of day. These dames were NOT stupid. They may have had weird priorities but they were sharp as tacks beneath it all. You don't buck the ruling class for fifty years without having some sort of smarts. Bouvier women were notoriously cagey. Even Jackie was smarter than JFK . Little E moved to Montreal when she was 78 just to "perfect" her French !!

[SHRINA17]

Beautifully and Perfectly said!

[jun7per]

You know little Edie set that fire just like when she set her hair on fire with a lighter. Shame this film isnt available on region 2.

[MikeMiller]

"Did you have to do it with Jacqueline's $300 blanket? " Priceless.

[AngeDeMusique]

Wait, wasn't this an electrical fire? And they were pouring water on it? ....Isn't that BAD?

[babyjontube]

This clip isn't from the original film. It is from the film "The Beales of Grey Garden" which was released last year.

[poosaypirate]

@babyjontube well it would be footage from the film tho - i mean this is really them not actors

[piemakerproductions]

I would have loved to have met them

[babeuf09]

So would I --but I don't think I would have spent the night. I definitely would have brought them some ice cream, though. And I probably would have slipped Little E a couple of twennies fore I left.

[baerwerks1]

I just adore these ladies. What is it about them that i find so compelling?

[twilliger123]

It wasn't staged, it was old wiring in the house, I have the documetary on DVD.

[twilliger123]

the copper piping in the house overheated the wiring....

[babeuf09]

But nonetheless it is JUST upstairs on the landing that Edie passes EVERY two minutes on her way in and out of her mother's room...they only used a few rooms in this house...and Big Edie does act extremely blase and sardonic about the whole thing. I have this film and have watched this scene about 25 times...it's all very disturbing although it deepens my romance with both unhinged ladies..It makes them actually borderline dangerous instead of just harmless and colourfully unhygienic...

[twilliger123]

they are both mentally disturbed, living in squalor, what the hell do you expect them to act?

[xchampbearx]

You do not set a house like that on fire just to start a bit of a drama! Especially in a corner like that, where it could easily get out of control. I don't think it was staged at all.

[LAOPERAMAN]

that explains how that whole got bigger

[sweetpeagarcia]

No, the fire is obviously IN the wall. she probably smelled it before it was actually visible. you can see one of the brothers check the outside to see if it was out there as well.

[elizabethfaraone]

I grew up in a neighborhood with homes like these. In the 1970s, homes burned out of control. The town would send out many fire trucks because the fires were not easy to control. It was always so tragic. This was very serious and David and Edie did good in preventing its spread. Edie was right to panic and she was right to say that she should have called the fire department earlier, as soon as she smelled the fire but couldn't find it. I love this scene.

[elizabethfaraone]

This does not feel staged, as some suggest.

[Robbyjean]

This is a WONDERFUL documentary!!!!!!! I LOVE THESE LADIES!!!!!!!!!

[rootbeeronbroadway]

This cracks me up because edie is panicking as only she can and edith is just nochanlantly waddling around lol =)

[jenharz]

I cant believe they didnt show this in the original

[giannireb68]

She set this fire ! I think she set this fire and her mother knows she did !! Look how nonchalant the old lady is and how bored the firemen look...they've been through this before !!

[giannireb68]

But if I was stuck in this house I would probably do the same thing. Cats and racoons do get boring for too long a time, you understand...But she shouldn't have ruined one of Jacqueline's 300 dollar blankets...

[PamK36]

It is strange that it was in the hall and not where they had the hot plate in the bedroom.

[jcrc1966]

She is screaming that she can't find it but it's right up the stairs outside her mother's room. The house was large but only like four rooms were habitable. Listen too the old woman's comments at 2:29: "Did you thrill the firemen with that skirt ?.....Did you make it pay ? Did ya?" And then she grins at the camera. She's been thru this before. There is no question.

[PamK36]

It also seems to be conveniently timed for the arrival of the movie crew.

[jcrc1966]

There is also the story of the " Big Fire" that happened sometime in the early 60's. Apparently a number of rooms were destroyed and there was some minor structural damage. It's one of the reasons the house sank so quickly into decay (leaks, holes,etc.) as there was not enough money for correct repairs. Little E always insisted it was "arson" or that the drunk handyman/Mother's lover Tex Logan set it accidently. These dames are better then anything by Faulkner.

[jcrc1966]

I mean, the fictions!! You feel like Alice through the looking glass--who do you believe? The Red Queen ? The Rabbit? The Caterpillar? That dissappearing cat with the smile ? Never watch this film stoned or drunk. It actually starts making sense and then you are in trouble...

[rscmrcmd]

The compromise in the electrical system was the copper wiring in the dry wood walls. The fire probably just started at the most vulnerable place in the wall.

[4nola27]

Was it "Staged" by little Edie ?????