"Walter Newkirk is the reigning Grey Gardens Guy!"
Frank DeCaro
The Frank DeCaro Show- Sirius Radio
"Thank you for writing memoraBEALEia which is such a wonderful tribute to Edie.
From cover to cover we found it so interesting and well put together. We especially appreciate your friendship with Edie and the fact that you cared about her. Wishing you "oceans of success" (something Big Edie would say!) with this book."
Bouvier and Eva Beale Authors, Edith Bouvier Beale: A Life In Pictures
"memoraBEALEia is nostalgic and sentimental for me due to the author's fond references about our alma mater, Rutgers University. Walter Newkirk and I were classmates together, and we both wrote for the university's daily newspaper, The Rutgers Daily Targum. I was thrilled to learn that the Targum was the genesis of his project, and proud to be included in the book. Edie Beale came to see me on Broadway in Dreamgirls, and at Les Mouches when I performed my cabaret act. Great times and memories!"
Sheryl Lee Ralph, actress/activist
Rutgers University Alumni Hall of Fame
1981 Tony nominee, Best Actress, Dreamgirls
To: Newkirkpr@aol.com
Subject: No Subject
Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2008
4:28:34 AM Eastern Daylight Time
Dear Walter -
Have been up all night reading your BEAUTIFUL book!!! Can't thank you enough for autographing it and giving it to me!!!
So FASCINATING!!!!! And so beautifully written and put together.
So lovely to finally meet you after all of our emails! Do hope we stay in touch and that there is an occasion when you can visit here..... after all those years!!
BRAVO for your beautiful book!! Thank you again. Will stay in touch re what i will be planning here so that HOPEFULLY you will be able to make it back.
Kindest regards,
Frances Hayward
To: newkirkpr@aol.com
Subject: Absolutely Wonderful!
Date: Fri, 16 May 2008 10:16:15 -0500
Dear Mr. Newkirk,
After receiving your book in the mail from Amazon yesterday, I read it cover to cover last evening and I was compelled to write to you immediately. First, I must thank you for sharing your personal scrapbook of the "MemorBEALEia" you collected from your friendship with Little Edie over the years. As you already know, you are quite fortunate to have had this amazing, artistic and insightful woman in your life. The second reason for my note is to tell you that we have a few things in common. As a young man, I befriended an older woman by the name of Freda Hammer. In many ways, "Mrs. Hammer" was very much like Miss Beale. It was the late 1970's, I was in my teens and Mrs. Hammer in her sixties. She drank champagne too often and was totally unconventional with her opinions and attire. In her younger years, she was a beautiful model as well, but shelfed her career for marriage. As the years passed, she devorced, grew old and had developed a reputation of being known as "that crazy old lady with the red lipstick" in town, but I adored her. I spent a lot of time with "Mrs. Hammer" and her wild wardrobe inside of her old house with too many cats (and too many fleas) during my high school years. We discussed art, fashion and politics just like you and Edie. We took the train to visit museums and events and I often accompanied her to the theater. At this point, you may have started to ask yourself why this insane person is telling me all of this, so I'll keep you in suspense no longer. My escapades took place in Madison! I grew up on Kings Road across the street from Mrs. Hammer. While you were building your friendship with Edie, I was doing the same with Mrs. Hammer in Madison! When I read that you lived on Park Avenue for a time, I thought that it would have been awesome if the stars had aligned differently and Mrs. Hammer and Edie would have had an opportunity to meet. They would have definitely gotten along quite well. Mrs. Hammer passed away years before I graduated from collage and moved to California, but she will never be forgotten. It was a friendship that enriched my life on many levels and i'm grateful for that to this day. Sadly, I was only introduced to the film, Grey Gardens a few years ago, but immediately fell in love with both Big and Little Edie. I've watched it many times and when I saw your book, I had to have it in order to learn more about these two wonderful women. You've done a terrific job in putting it together! Your book will enable people to have a glimpse into Edies life, post Grey Gardens and that is something that has definitely been long overdue. I hope you are doing well and that you are still enjoying Chatham. I'm a fourth generation Madisonian and my massive Italian family still lives there and in surrounding towns. I'm confident that you will even know some of them! I still visit my family in Madison every year at Thanksgiving for a week or two. Perhaps we can grab a cup of coffee the next time I'm in town. I would thouroughlly enjoy meeting you. Thank you again for your work.
With best regards,
John
To: Wballoo@aol.com
Subject: Re: memoraBEALEia item in NY DAILY NEWS - page 25 - Thursday April 10
Date: Thu, 10 Apr 2008 16:58:11 GMT
Thanks, Walter. I gave the book to a friend for his birthday last week and he absolutely LOVES it! I do too!
-- Wballoo@aol.com wrote:
There's a few paragraphs about my new book memoraBEALEia in Ben Widdicombe's NY Daily News column "Gatecrasher"...today" Please note: there was a bit of embellishment/poetic license/misinterpretation/ on Ben's behalf from my telephone interview into print re his description of Edie's NYC apartment I did not tell Ben that the apartment was "squalid" nor did I say that there were "a lot of cats..." I said there were a few cats...but as long as the name of the book is there, right? The story about the writing on the door was 100% accurate. Many thanks to Ben! I'm happy about the coverage, and sure Edie would forgive him
- xxs WN
To: Walter Newkirk <wballoo@aol.com>
Subject: Ya Hooooo
Date: Sat, 12 Apr 2008 09:45:45 -0400GOT IT! AND IT'S FABULOUS!!!!
Truly.... it is wonderful.... I'm keeping it on my coffee table forever... (actually it looks a bit like an elegant fashion magazine at first glance).... you've got to be thrilled!!!
Now... here's the kicker.... yesterday I was shooting a "Talk" with four equity actors here in Vero.... (Warren Kelly, Graham Kornegay, Douglas Coler and Anita Flanagan... in rehearsal for Moonlight and Magnolias at our local Riverside Theatre).... somehow we were talking about NY theatre and I mentioned how I'd wanted to see Grey Gardens a friend of mine, Walter Newkirk had a personal connection to Edie Beal...etc. etc.... Well, Doug Coler then said, "of course, he's the guy who's coming out with a book about those gals"....... HE KNEW OF YOU and YOUR BOOK! ..... hadn't seen it yet, (obviously), but knew it was coming out and anxious to see it. Isn't that cool.... was for me...
Now just figure out when you want to do the 'phoner' for my radio show... and we'll set up the call from my TV set as well.. (gotta work on that one, but I'll make it happen)... will need a photo of you to put on screen.... Thanks again for the book... it's really stunning....
Marcia Littlejohn
Radio and TV "Talk"Vero Beach, Florida
In a message dated 4/8/2008 11:43:27 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Garen writes:
Hi Walter.
I am working on a show called TOP DESIGN. The host is Todd Oldham.
I had forgotten about his interest in GG till I was reading your book
on set a few minutes ago and saw that you mentioned his name. I
showed it to him. We had a wonderful GG talk. Then I gave him your
book. He is thrilled to have it! I was so happy to show it to him.
I ordered myself another.
Thought you'd like to know.
Garen
To: Wballoo@aol.com
Subject: MemoraBEALEia
Date: Fri, 04 Apr 2008 20:27:03 -0400
The book came yesterday. Thank you very much. I finished reading it today, and am looking forward to a sequel. When do you think that may come out. I would be very interested in hearing what you and she were talking about at your tete-a-tetes in automobile trips, on the telephone, and at dinners together. I could learn a lot more about both of you.
Do you have any idea yet about how the book will sell? It's a very impressive publication. It's first rate in every respect in my opinion. I found it quite interesting, primarily because the writer is the son of my Best Man, but will the typical browser be as inclined to want to read on as I was? Perhaps he would want to learn more about what made "Little Edie" tick. How did she really feel about her mother, her father, her brothers, her first cousin and her first cousin's husband, Cardinal Cushing, the Pope, and others. Maybe when I can summon the strength to try to decipher the letters, I can learn about some of those things, but that will take a lot longer than a day or two. Maybe she should have gone to public school instead of Miss Porter's, and learned the Palmer Method of Penmanship as I did. My handwriting isn't as pretty, but at least it's legible. I get a sinking feeling inside when I get letters from people who write like that. It's like watching a British or Irish movie. I know I'm not going to understand half of what they say, so why bother?
I wish you the best with this and your other endeavors, and thanks again for the book.
Surrogate Uncle
Craig
From: Peter Petraitis
To: Walter Newkirk
Subject: Your book arrived!
Date: Fri, 4 Apr 2008 16:07:05 -0700 (PDT)
A bright spot in an otherwise horrid little week--your book arrived today! I've been reading it and looking at the wonderful pictures! Walter Dear, it is truly a labor of love and a gift to people who loved Edie. If I were a critic, I'd say something like "Walter Newkirk has singlehandedly shown us the Edie beyond her years at Grey Gardens; the Edie who coped and lived on her own and led a fairly well adjusted independent life. She got to leave, finally, and although it was difficult she prevailed! There are fans who'd prefer to keep her at GG trapped and wandering the rooms nonstop, but Walter has set her free and we have the final chapter and it is not necessarily sad. She'd have preferred to be remembered this way, I think, travelling, moving about in the world, finding a little spot of her own and maintaining her few close friends she held dear, Walter being among them." The paintings are so delicate and beautiful! They are works of art on their own and new pictures!!!!!!!!
Gratefully,P.
From: maria manhattan
To: Wballoo@aol.com
Subject: memoraBEALEia
Date: Fri, 04 Apr 2008 09:58:11 -0400
Walter, Thanks so much for my beautiful copy of your book. I am impressed. You did a great job. It is a trip down memory lane. I'm planning on looking at it in depth this weekend.Edie would love it!
Maria
From: Lucas Natali
To: Wballoo@aol.com
Subject: RE: memoraBEALEia book for YOU!
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2008 11:20:06 -0400
Walter,
Well, I just got the book and immediately ripped open the package and devoured it in one sitting. It is fabulous - heartfelt and insightful. Thank-you for including me in such a wonderful project.Out of curiosity - Did Edie ever comment on the book "Savage Grace" or talk about the Baekelite clan? There is a definite simpatico reference in there, even though Edie's story is far more lighthearted. Just curious.I will send you your drawing soon. I hope you are receiving lots of good feedback and press!
Best,
Lucas
4.1.8
Hi Walter,
Your interest in and devotion to both Edie and Ron Galella are impressive.
Joan
Subject: It came!
Date: Wed, 02 Apr 2008 13:06:37 -0400Hi Walter,
Your book arrived today and it is fantastic!
Dee and I have been looking through it, laughing at your hair and marvelling over all the pictures and notes.
Its is really quite spectacular.
Lorinda
Subject: Absolutely terrific!!!
Date: Wed, 26 Mar 2008 22:36:25 -0400
Walter!
AH! It arrived! and I just finished it ... I literally stopped everything in my life, sat down, and read it cover to cover ... I'm too excited to go into detail except that I just HAD to write and say: "THANK YOU!" it is simply marvelous! too wonderful for words! I loved every word, paragraph, image, anecdote, memory ... everything! It is FABULOUS!!!
I will write more to you in detail about all ... but right now, I'm being selfish and "going a second time around"!!!
Your true admirer,
Aaron
PS I actually drove to the office to send this off to you at 10:30pm at night!!!
PPS How can I get a copy to you (2) for you to sign for Lois and myself?
