Edie: Girl on Fire
by David Weisman, Melissa Painter
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Model, film star, socialite, friend, lover, addict, Edie Sedgwick was the first "it" girl of the Andy Warhol Factory scene and later muse to Bob Dylan. The arc of Edie's life traced the rise and fall of the 1960sfrom idyllic experimentation to dissolute recklessness. After being toasted by the whole of New York City, Edie died alone of a drug overdose in California at the age of 28. David Weisman (with John Palmer) filmed Edie for the last five years of her life in his cult film Ciao! show more Manhattan. When he recently uncovered lost footage of Edie, David was inspired to create Edie: Girl on Fire, a book and a documentary film that explores Edie's true story. He and coauthor Melissa Painter have tracked down and interviewed many of Edie Sedgwick's surviving intimates, including Danny Fields, Baby Jane Holzer, and Ultra Violet. They also unearthed hundreds of never-before-published photosportraits, professional ad shoots, and heartbreaking snapshots of the girl who won New York's heart and nearly burned down the Chelsea hotel. The book also features a CD with Edie's last interview ever, a riveting account of a rollercoaster life. Sure to be seen as a rebuttal to Hollywood's highly fictionalized film Factory Girl (coming this fall), Edie: Girl on Fire creates an insightful and startling portrait of a woman that nobody quite knew. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
Forgot we had this till it somehow ended up in my room last night. Wonderfully stunning collection of photographs of Edie. More a coffee table book - plus a collection of quotes and thoughts about her by people that knew her. Not a biography although it attempts to be by photos and quotes being arranged in chronological order of her short sad but glittering life. The CD is quite short - some thoughts she apparently taped at some point. Her accent reminds me of Jane Fonda for some reason, although during the last track Edie sounds stoned, slurred words (to a point) and very depressing considering that she died not that long after it was made.
I was overwhelmed with melancholy reading some of the quotes. Pondering youth wasted vs youth show more lost. Why is it that so many who seem to have it all laid before them, beauty, talent, money, security and a fairly bright future somehow screw it up, not able to bear the world or the pain inside their heads. There's a very moving quote which I should have written down because I can't find it just now) about her being like a moth, a beautiful moth. (But it only implied the flame part) - corny & trite? yes but when I read it I just cried like a baby. Edie said she stepped off the edge and there was no one there. Even though she was surrounded by people, fame and excitement of New York, the Factory crowd & recently married - somehow it didn't calm her inner beasts and I can relate to that.. It makes you wonder if she'd not died what her future would have been if she'd just stepped off but outta that scene to an ordinary married life. You know that might have killed her anyway. Living that high and that bright then coming down to earth has killed many - scorched their souls and dried up the life slower. Painful to watch, painful to live.
"I tried to bake a sweet potato and the oven exploded"- Edie
Patti Smith said Edie was the real heroine of Blonde on Blonde. Now that is an interesting thought.
For fuller biography I also recommend Edie: An American Biography
by Jean Stein, George Plimpton
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1553228.Edie show less
I was overwhelmed with melancholy reading some of the quotes. Pondering youth wasted vs youth show more lost. Why is it that so many who seem to have it all laid before them, beauty, talent, money, security and a fairly bright future somehow screw it up, not able to bear the world or the pain inside their heads. There's a very moving quote which I should have written down because I can't find it just now) about her being like a moth, a beautiful moth. (But it only implied the flame part) - corny & trite? yes but when I read it I just cried like a baby. Edie said she stepped off the edge and there was no one there. Even though she was surrounded by people, fame and excitement of New York, the Factory crowd & recently married - somehow it didn't calm her inner beasts and I can relate to that.. It makes you wonder if she'd not died what her future would have been if she'd just stepped off but outta that scene to an ordinary married life. You know that might have killed her anyway. Living that high and that bright then coming down to earth has killed many - scorched their souls and dried up the life slower. Painful to watch, painful to live.
"I tried to bake a sweet potato and the oven exploded"- Edie
Patti Smith said Edie was the real heroine of Blonde on Blonde. Now that is an interesting thought.
For fuller biography I also recommend Edie: An American Biography
by Jean Stein, George Plimpton
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1553228.Edie show less
I never get tired of looking at pictures of Edie but I do get tired of reading things about her outside the Jean Stein bio. So, honestly, I didn't read most of what's in the book. I give it 5 stars for the pictures.
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Common Knowledge
- Original title
- Edie: Girl On Fire
- Original publication date
- 2007
- People/Characters
- Edie Sedgwick; Bob Dylan; Andy Warhol
- Important places
- Santa Barbara, California, USA; New York, New York, USA; Chelsea Hotel, New York, New York, USA; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; The Factory, New York, New York, USA
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, Biography & Memoir, Art & Design
- DDC/MDS
- 791.43028092 — Arts & recreation Recreation, sports, and performing arts Movies, TV, Video Motion pictures, radio, television, podcasting Motion pictures Standard subdivisions Acting and performance Standard subdivisions History, geographic treatment, biography Biography
- LCC
- TR681 .W6 .P35 — Technology Photography Photography Applied photography
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 83
- Popularity
- 383,571
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.85)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 2
- ASINs
- 1
