On April 18th, HBO Films will premiere Grey Gardens. The real life story of Edith "Big Edie" Ewing Bouvier Beale and her daughter, Edith "Little Edie" Bouvier Beale - the aunt and first cousin of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis.

Though the touching yet disturbing mother-daughter chronicle of two eccentric women living in isolation in their ramshackle East Hampton mansion has been told before, HBO Films had the luxury of recreating the grandeur from which these women came. Having their leading ladies, the incomparable Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore, portray the pair over a span of 40 years, the viewer gets to witness the inexplicable transformation that took them from high society to wretched squalor. While doing so, HBO still managed to tell the Edie's poignant tale with the same sensitivity the Maysles Brothers did when they first brought the world their classic documentary back in 1975.

Shortly before the stage version of Grey Gardens debuted on Broadway in 2006, Gail Sheehy wrote brilliant piece in New York Magazine that deserves to be revisited. Sheehy recalls her first encounter with Little Edie, at the dilapidated, shingled estate that Edie herself described as having that "overgrown Louisiana Bayou look." It's a great read and an insightful back-story for anyone who can't wait for HBO's April 18th premiere.