Edith Beale

Speranza

Letters of Little Edie Beale
Grey Gardens and Beyond

The new book, Letters of Little Edie Beale: Grey Gardens and Beyond, collected and edited by Walter Newkirk, is a sequel to memoraBEALEia: A Private Scrapbook About Little Edie Beale of Grey Gardens.

It is now available on amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com and in bookstores nationwide.

Letters of Little Edie Beale contains approximately 80-100 transcripts of the most engaging and entertaining cards and letters written to Walter Newkirk by Edie Beale from 1977-1987 and from 2000 up until a few months before Edie's death in 2002.

 In her letters Edie discusses

politics
9/11
Cher
Elian Gonzalez
the Grey Gardens documentary and musical, her first cousins Jackie Kennedy Onassis and Lee Radziwill, and more

Miss Beale is best known for her participation in the legendary documentary Grey Gardens (1976).

In the early 1970s, Edie Beale and her mother Edith Bouvier Beale -- the aunt of Mrs. Onassis -  society ladies - were living in a cat-infested, filthy, crumbling estate called Grey Gardens in East Hampton on Long Island which was raided by health authorities for unsanity living conditions. Finally, an eviction was pending until Mrs. Onassis helped clean up the house.

The documentary about the Beale's reclusive lives together in that house inspired a Tony Award winning Broadway musical during the 2006-2007 season by Doug Wright, Michael Korie and Scott Frankel, also called Grey Gardens, which fictionalized the back story of the women.

 It was nominated for 10 Tony Awards, and won 3 awards.

A new movie about Edie Beale and her mother directed by Michael Sucsy, also called Grey Gardens, featured Drew Barrymore as Little Edie and Jessica Lange as her mother Big Edie. The film was broadcast on HBO during April and May 2009 and is now available on DVD.

Jeanne Tripplehorn, best known for her current role on the HBO television series Big Love ,plays Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in the film. Ken Howard, Arye Gross, Malcolm Gets and Daniel Baldwin co-star in supporting roles. The film was nominated for 17 Emmy Awards and won the Television Critic's Award for Best Television Movie.

On April 22, 1976 college journalist Walter Newkirk traveled to Grey Gardens, the Beale estate on Long Island, to interview Edie Beale about the movie documentary Grey Gardens, for his college newspaper, The Rutgers Daily Targum.

The interview for the Rutgers newspaper was conducted shortly after the release of the film.

Newkirk and Beale kept in touch for several years, by phone and by mail.

After the estate was sold and her mother died, Beale moved to New York for three years (1980-1983) and the author escorted her to luncheons, parties and special events.

 "Little Edie" later moved to Florida in 1983, and died there in January 2002.

Newkirk's tape recorded interview with Edie Beale from 1976 along with copies of her letters were given to Michael Sucsy as part of the intensive research for the new HBO film. Mr. Newkirk is mentioned during the director's audio commentary on the DVD and in the credits under Research Assistance.

Walter Newkirk was inspired to compile the collection of letters from Little Edie in his new book by Barry Qualls, Vice President and Professor of English at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He first became acquainted with Professor Qualls as a freshman at Rutgers in 1972 as a student in his class.

The Rutgers professor is a fan of the Broadway musical Grey Gardens, and read memoraBEALEia. He wrote to the author and said he liked the book, but like many other readers and Grey Gardens fans, he wanted more.

The author dedicates this book to Edie Beale, whose spirit and life on stage and film touches many people nationally and internationally. Letters From Little Edie Beale is also dedicated to Rutgers University and the Rutgers Daily Targum for their marvelous and steadfast support of Newkirk's books. The Targum was, in fact, the genesis of his first book, and the catalyst for his friendship with Edie Beale.

The book will feature several pages of art related to Edie and Grey Gardens including works from artists nationwide: Anthony "Tonyboy" Alansky, Don Duga, Giovanni Gelardi, Deborah Heikkila, Stefano Imbert, Beau & Julia Kelley, Jeanne A, Kosfeld, Xris Kessler, Richard LaRovere, Bruce Lennon, Lucas F. Natali, Peter Petraitis, Andrew Wargo, and Lois Wright.

Walter Newkirk, project director for Letters of Little Edie Beale, is the founder of Walter Newkirk Public Relations LLC. A graduate of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ, he worked on publicity for the film Roseland (1977), with director James Ivory and producer Ismael Merchant, and now primarily books interviews with authors for satellite TV tours, including titles by Martha Stewart,Valerie Bertinelli, Jenna Bush, and Tom Clancy. Previously, Newkirk was a publicist for The Whole Theatre in Montclair, NJ, where Academy Award winning actress Olympia Dukakis was Artistic Director. He also worked in public relations for The Newark Museum in Newark, NJ; and the John Harms Center For The Arts in Englewood, NJ - which has since been renamed Bergen PAC; Bergen Performing Arts Center on projects with His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama, Sarah Jessica Parker, Charles Osgood, and Eartha Kitt.

Title:
Letters of Edie Beale: Grey Gardens and Beyond

Project Director:
Walter Newkirk

Publisher:
Authorhouse

Pub Date:
TBA (Fall, Sept - November 2009)

Price:
TBD

Pages:
88 pages with w/ color illustrations