Grey Gardens at the thrift store

I am a fan of many things. One of these things is the story of mother & daughter Big Edie and Little Edie. They were the subjects of a 1970's documentary titled "Grey Gardens" (which is also the name of the estate they lived in). To put it shortly, theirs is a riches-to-rags Depression-era story. Socialite Edith Ewing Bouvier (yes, those Bouviers, sister of John Vernou Bouvier III and an aunt of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis) marries up-and-coming Southern attorney Phelan Beale (grandson of John D. Phelan, an Alabama Speaker of the House and Alabama Supreme Court Justice). They have 3 children, oldest being Edith Bouvier Beale (Little Edie). When the stock market crash of 1929 happened, Phelan's law firm went under Phelan's philandering caused his marriage to go under as well, and that left Edith (Big Edie) living year-round in the former couple's summer home in East Hampton. Little Edie was coaxed into living with her mother, and they spent the next several decades destitute, with mother refusing to sell the dilapidating mansion. They were perhaps the original 'crazy cat ladies', living with dozens of cats in absolute squalor. Also featured as roommates were raccoons. One scene of the documentary has Little Edie reading aloud about astrology. Big Edie, a former singer, sings 'Tea For Two' haphazardly in bed.

The documentary has since become a cult hit, spawning a second documentary using unused footage from the original documentary, a 2009 HBO film production, a broadway musical, and, most recently, the release of another documentary, titled 'That Summer', which features footage recorded prior to the idea of the documentary.

This backstory is necessary to 'get' this entry's picture, a grouping of things I saw on one shelf at a thrift store. It includes some of the more celebrated moments of the film, outlined above, with the Scorpio astrological plate, the teapot (which incidentally is a typewriter with the header 'Garden Club'), the hand painted raccoon dish, and the 2 cats.

I bought the strange white cat holding mice from their tails, but left the other things to find happy homes.