You too can wear the mantra of Edith, "I Sliced My Life, and Licked the Knife," with the buttons being given out at Grey Gardens
Photo by Joan Marcus with photo illustration by Playbill.com
The slogan-filled lapel buttons being handed out at the Walter Kerr Theatre do not endorse candidates in the coming elections — unless there is community-wide plan for write-in votes for the Kennedy-linked ladies of Grey Gardens.
During previews leading to the Broadway musical's Nov. 2 opening, buttons of varying sizes and colors, with different fonts and sayings, have been handed out by ushers at the Kerr.
The inexpensive, low-tech, grass-roots attempt to create buzz and stimulate curiosity in the tragi-comic musical was cooked up by Kelly Gonda, president of East of Doheny, the lead producer of Grey Gardens.
Many of the buttons reflects lyrics and lines of dialogue, drawn from the actual epithets, epigrams and credos expressed by Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter Edie, the eccentrics who were Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis' respective aunt and cousin.
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Their expressions were widely heard first in the 1975 film documentary, "Grey Gardens," and later recapitulated (to music) in the award-winning musical that has a book by Doug Wright, music by Scott Frankel and lyrics by Michael Korie. The ladies who launched a thousand quips represented the underbelly of the American dream; the once-grand society dames, by 1973, lived in squalor in a cat-infested 28-room ruin in East Hampton, Long Island.
The Grey Gardens production office provided Playbill.com with a list of button slogans. Maybe you've seen the following around town:
Oh God!
Mother Darling
Jerry Likes My Corn
It's my…sobriquet
Daddy's Girl
Staunch!
Happy as a Clam
Take off that Lipstick!
Meow!
Not today Geraldine
Start the Revolution!
Here's to love, in all of its infinite varieties
Lovely to meet you, Mr. Kennedy
Choose to be happy
We've done more than just hold hands
How dare you wear high heels!
Taste is for cowards
I got me a bonafide man
I sliced my life and licked the knife
It's a goddamn beautiful day, SHUT UP!
Two peas in a pod
Wash off the perfume!
Da-da da-da Dum…
Here's your pate, mother darling!
War should be against the law
I'll eat the cake I have
Feed the cats…starve your mother
You're entering Grey Gardens
I only hope my costume stays up
Dammit woman I'll have to start drinking
The hallmark of aristocracy is responsibility
Visit www.greygardensthemusical.com.
A sampling of the many buttons featuring phrases from Grey Gardens.
