Grey Gardens

After a long and lovely christmas day with the family I settled down in the evening to watch Grey Gardens (2009) the adaptation of the 1976 Maysles brother documentary of the infamous two Edie Bouvier Beales. I had wanted to see this for ages and hadn't seen the original film, but had seen some galleries and read a few articles on the internets about them. When I watched it I was blown away.

Brief Synopsis: It is the story of a mother and daughter both raised as wealthy debutantes and are aunt and cousin to Jackie Onassis. Big Edie is a talented singer and married to Phelan Beale, she spends her days at their Hamptons estate Grey Gardens, Little Edie dreams of being a famous dancer and in her twenties is living in Manhattan, although she had many suitors and some very high profile proposals she falls in love with a married man. Big Edie and Phelan divorce and becoming increasingly paranoid about being left alone, Big Edie convinces Little Edie to return to Grey Gardens making her miss a big audition which she will forever be convinced would have seen her break into the big time. Living on a small allowance compared to what they are used to, Grey Gardens slowly falls into disrepair and with no staff the two gradually begin living in squalor with their many cats. In the early 70's the authorities are called in and with the threat of eviction Jackie Onassis and Lee Radziwill pay to have the house put back into a liveable state. Unfortunately the estate soon falls back into a sorry state and the two Edie's are once again alone, with Little Edie particularly feeling the strain of confinement looking after her demanding mother for the foreseeable future.

Whilst looking through the TV listings a couple of days later I noticed the original film was on a few days later, so I managed to catch that too. I'm actually quite glad that I saw the HBO film first as I found the documentary pretty hard to watch and follow. But comparing the two it showed that Drew & Jessica gave such amazing performances as Little and Big Edie respectively, particularly Drew she was fantastic at capturing Little Edie's quirky glamour and exuberant playful nature.

If you haven't seen either film, really try and catch them soon. You will fall in love with Little Edie, I felt so inspired by her style watching these, from the stunning 30's and 40's satin gowns to the chic 50's numbers, and of course the look she was more famous for later in the 70's taking items from the loft and creating the most fabulous and creative outfits, the numerous head scarves fashioned from jumpers, skirts and many more all finished with the famous brooch.

Below are some famous and fabulous quotes from Little Edie taken from Grey Gardens Online & IMDB

"This is the best thing to wear for today, you understand. Because I don't like women in skirts and the best thing is to wear pantyhose or some pants under a short skirt, I think. Then you have the pants under the skirt and then you can pull the stockings up over the pants underneath the skirt. And you can always take off the skirt and use it as a cape. So I think this is the best costume for today."

"My costumes? That's a protest against having worked as a model for the Establishment, believe it or not. A lot of models feel that way. Sometimes their lives are protests against having worked as models. Besides, I didn't have time taking care of mother to get out and buy any clothes. So I used what was left of mine and mother's in the attic."

"Course, I'm mad about animals, but raccoons and cats become a little bit boring. I mean, for too long a time."

"The family never cared for me and they hated my mother. She was a dancer and a singer with a terrific voice she'd inherited from her mother, and the relatives hated her because she was magnificent."

What is your favorite department store? "May's, although I haven't been there yet."

For more info check out the official site for the 1976 documentary here and the 2009 film here.

Do take a few minutes to look through this Life gallery too.

All Pics from Grey Gardens Online & HBO Official Site

There's always time for a bit of Bowie...

Do I really need an excuse to post some of my favourite pictures of Mr Jones, and a video one of my favourite songs? Anyhoo, below is a performance of Oh! You Pretty Things from The Old Grey Whistle Test 1972. I think this has to be my favourite look of his, pre red hair and with eyebrows, divine. I love how Mick Ronson looks here too, although he always looked a little uncomfortable in heels.......

Also, did you know Peter Noone of Hermans Hermits released a version of this song in 1971, it's pretty good and it does have Bowie playing piano on it of course.

Merry Christmas

Wishing you all a very

Merry Christmas

and a

Happy New Year.

Thank you for reading my blog and for all your lovely comments.

Lot's of Love,

Smashingbird xxx

Christmas Wishlist

Dear Santa,

Here is my christmas list.

I reeaalllllyyy want the 70's Style & Design one the most though!

Love, Smashingbird xxx

All books available from Amazon

1. 70's Style & Design by Dominic Lutyens

2. Chequered Past by Peter Schlesinger

3. Bill Gibb: Fashion & Fantasy by Iain R. Webb

4. Cherry Cake & Ginger Beer: A Golden Treasury of Classic Treats by Jane Brocket

5. Foale & Tuffin: The Sixties. A Decade in Fashion by Iain R. Webb

6. Sin Biba: A Graphic Romance by Delisia Howard

7. Bad Boy Drive: The Wild Lives and Fast Times of Marlon Brando, Dennis Hopper, Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson by Robert Sellers

8. Jean Muir: Beyond Fashion by Sinty Stemp

Jools

When I was little there was one LP in my mums record collection I was always mesmerised by, it had a cream gatefold cover with (to my young eyes) scary brown pictures and writing. In my teens when I first became interested in the fashion and music of the 60's, my mum told me I should listen to this album called Streetnoise. My goodness, what had I been missing, the female singer had the most soulful voice and the music had fierce hammond the whole way through. Later when I was nearly old enough to be going to the London 60s/mod clubs they would always play Indian Rope Man, which still makes me want to dance every time I hear it. Anyway enough with my reminiscing I have been planning this post for ages and finally got my butt into gear to give a brief history of the sights and sounds of Julie Driscoll.

Her musical life began in the early 60s when she released a single called “Take me by the hand”. Around the same time she was secretary of The Yardbirds Fan Club whose offices were in Carnaby Street. Their manager was a man called Giorgio Gomelsky who in 1965 introduced her to a group called Steampacket featuring the Rod “The Mod” Stewart & Long John Baldry plus a little known organ player called Brian Auger, they sung classic rhythm & blues, there were no official recordings released of this first british supergroup, and no video. Few pictures exist from this era, Julie's style at the time was classic british mod gal, mens hipster trousers and granny chic which must have been influenced by her Carnaby Street days and the shops of John Stephens, with a heavy fringed short hair do her eye make up was dark and distinctive. Below are images from pretty much the only two photo sessions that exist from this time.

The Steampacket was short lived, Rod went off and first joined a group called Shotgun Express and then The Jeff Beck Group, the rest is rock n roll history. Julie stuck with Brian Auger and in 1967 they formed Julie Driscoll Brian Auger & The Trinity. Their biggest hit was a cover of the Bob Dylan song “This wheels on fire” which was latterly used for the theme song for Ab Fab. Julie's style really came into it's own around this time, it was quite dark and bohemian with lots of crepe and victoriana. Her hair was cropped super short and was a big influence on the style of skinhead girls a few years later. The fashion press adored her and she featured in fashion shoots for UK & French Vogue. Although one feature that really stood out and that was her eye make up and the long spidery faux and drawn on lashes, Rave magazine even did a step by step guide to getting Julies make up, the September 1968 issue features an interview with her where she says “ I buy all my clothes from three places in London, Granny Takes a Trip, The Chelsea Antique Market and Forum....I like groovy gear, all loud and obvious. To hell with little demure dresses.”

Streetnoise was preceded by the album Open (1967) and followed by Jools and Brian (1969). All fantastic albums and really capture the spirit of late 60s London, with some great R&B and soul covers, and original sounds too. Do check them out if you haven't already!

American audiences may have spotted them in the 1969 Monkees special 33 1/3 Revolutions per Monkee, which is an interesting watch, this synopsis from wiki pretty much sums it up “The story focused around Charles Darwin (Auger) and his assistant (Driscoll) as they take The Monkees through various stages of evolution until they are ready to brainwash the world via commercial exploitation. Hatched in giant test tubes, the four are stripped of all personal identity and names: Mickey Dolenz becomes Monkee #1, Peter Tork becomes Monkee #2, Michael Nesmith Monkee #3, and Davy Jones Monkee #4.”

Not much is known about the split between Jools and Brian, she released a solo album in 1969, called 1969! Brian Auger formed Oblivion Express in 1970. Julie married jazz musician Keith Tippett in the early 70s and pretty much dropped out of the public scene. She still regularly tours with her husband in various guises.