Letters of Little Edie Beale: Grey Gardens and Beyond [Paperback]

Walter Newkirk (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 30, 2009

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. For more information, visit the website www.greygardensbook.com The book has approximately 100 transcripts of the most engaging and entertaining cards and letters written to Walter Newkirk by Edie Beale from 1977-1987 and from 2000 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, Jackie Kennedy Onassis and Lee Radziwill, politics, and more. Miss Beale is best known for her participation in Grey Gardens (1976). In the early 1970s, Edie and her mother Edith Bouvier Beale -- cousin and aunt of Mrs. Onassis s - were living in a filthy, crumbling estate called Grey Gardens in East Hampton, NY which was raided by health authorities. The documentary inspired a Broadway musical in 2006 by Doug Wright, Michael Korie and Scott Frankel, which nominated for 10 Tony Awards, and won 3 awards. A "new" Grey Gardens, starring Drew Barrymore as Little Edie and Jessica Lange as Big Edie, was broadcast on HBO during April and May 2009 and is now available on DVD. The film was nominated for 17 Emmy Awards and won the Television Critic's Award for Best Television Movie. On April 22, 1976 Walter Newkirk traveled to Grey Gardens, to interview Edie Beale about t Grey Gardens, for his college newspaper, The Rutgers Daily Targum. Newkirk and Beale kept in touch for several years, by phone and by mail. After and her mother died, Beale moved to New York (1980-1983) and the author escorted her to luncheons, and special events. Little Edie moved to Florida in 1983, and died there in January 2002.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Walter Newkirk is the founder of Walter Newkirk Public Relations LLC, and now primarily books interviews with authors and celebrities for satellite television tours. He is contracted by public relations agencies to book television interviews for authors of many best-selling books; including titles by Martha Stewart, Suze Orman, Perez Hilton, Valerie Bertinelli, Tony Curtis, Jenna Bush, and Maureen McCormick,. Mr. Newkirk also served as a Senior Account Director for Ruder Finn/ Planned Television Arts, a public relations firm in New York City, which specializes in book publicity. A graduate of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ, he worked on publicity for the film Roseland with the Oscar winning director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant. He has also been involved with projects for the photojournalist Ron Galella, the award winning film MILK, and was Director of Public Relations for the John Harms Center For The Arts (now Bergen Performing Arts Center) in Englewood, NJ. The author was Supervisor of Public Relations for The Newark Museum in Newark, New Jersey, which has one of the finest collections of Tibetan art in the world. While he was there, he organized a press conference for His Holiness, the XIV Dalai Lama. Prior to that, he was a publicist for The Whole Theatre in Montclair, New Jersey, where Academy Award winning actress Olympia Dukakis was the Artistic Director. As a college journalist, Walter Newkirk interviewed Edith Bouvier Beale, the actors Divine and Jon Voight; in addition to Pat Loud, who appeared in the first national reality series in television history An American Family (PBS, 1973). Letters of Little Edie Beale is Mr. Newkirk’s second book.

Product Details

• Paperback: 88 pages
• Publisher: AuthorHouse (September 30, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1438939264
• ISBN-13: 978-1438939261
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #669,330 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars is it possible for little edie to be uninteresting?, August 8, 2010

By 

Philter (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Letters of Little Edie Beale: Grey Gardens and Beyond (Paperback)

No, it's not possible for Little Edie to be uninteresting, but it is possible for someone to publish a bunch of pretty boring letters from her to make a buck. The book is short (thankfully?), and you will read letters from Edie talking about the weather, Florida, and her problems w/ the phone. For good measure every fourth or fifth letter has some statement about politics or celebrities, but they really aren't groundbreaking or fun, just observations. Bottom line: had I been able to peruse through this at a book store, I would not have purchased it.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Newkirk Does It Again, October 22, 2009

By 

herman - See all my reviews

This review is from: Letters of Little Edie Beale: Grey Gardens and Beyond (Paperback)

Was surprised last week to find another book by Walter Newkirk.I ordered the book and received it yesterday.
What a great read thanks Walter for sharing your intimate moments with Edie. I enjoyed the book so much I ordered 5 more as Christmas Gifts for friends of the rememberance of Edie the letters are so heart felt it brought tears to my eyes. Thanks Walter you are my superstar and of course Edie. May God bless your every word Walter.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Walter has no peer in his fascinating interviews with the Beale's, March 23, 2010

By 

G. P. Majercik "BookerT" (Grifton, NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Letters of Little Edie Beale: Grey Gardens and Beyond (Paperback)

Walter's consumate attention to his subject is unique and sensitive. He reveals her in a way where other's see themselves and adeptly allows one the intimacy artistically shared.