“It Don't Rain in Beverly Hills” (Scott Hardkiss remix) -- Dean Wareham & Britta Phillips
“Femme Fatale” -- The Velvet Underground (Lou Reed)
"Little Miss S." -- Edie Brickell & New Bohemians
When it comes to ranking New England bluebloods, few families can compete with the descendants of Major General Robert Sedgwick. Robert’s brother, William Sedgwick, the Puritan mystic derisively dubbed “Doomsday Sedgwick” by his detractors, would make his mark during the English Interregnum, but Robert sought a brighter future across the Atlantic. And such a future he found.
In mid-September 1635, the vessel Truelove set sail from London to Massachusetts Bay under the guidance of Master John Gibbs. Among those to disembark in Boston the following month was 24-year-old Robert Sedgwick. His having prior military experience in his native England served young Sedgwick well. He finished his career as Oliver Cromwell’s proxy in the New World.
Robert Sedgwick’s progeny would make good use of their inheritance, achieving enduring fame and fortune long after the family patriarch was relegated to unread footnotes in the history books. His great-great-grandson Theodore served in the Continental Congress, later becoming the fourth Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and an accomplished jurists. He achieved lasting fame as the first lawyer in the United States to win a slave her freedom with a civil suit. His namesake son too achieved lasting renown in the field of law. Proto-feminist novelist Catharine Sedgwick was major-general’s great-great-great-granddaughter. And the list continued and still continues growing. Lawyer and biographer Henry Dwight Sedgwick III, influential journalist Ellery Sedgwick, Thespian siblings Kyra and Robert Sedgwick, anatomist Charles Sedgwick Minot,
financier Ellery Sedgwick Jr., diplomat Cabot Sedgwick, celebrated horticulturalist Henrietta Sedgwick, artist and actress Paulita Sedgwick -- all number among Robert Sedgwick’s descendants.
The gallant Colonel Robert Gould Shaw who famously perished leading
African-American troops of the Massachusetts 54th Infantry Regiment
in the Second Battle of Fort Wagner (18 July 1863)
was the maternal great-granduncle of Edie Sedgwick. Her mother's ancestry is
no less impressive than that of her father, and includes, among others,
a signatory to The Declaration of Independence and the creator of
New York City Central Park.
Not surprisingly in light of the social isolation, familiar negligence, and domestic tragedies that characterized her home life, Edie exhibited various emotional disorders, most prominently anorexia. She would become a veteran psychiatric hospital patient.
Edie Sedgwick before being captured by fame.
In 1964, Edie fled California, seeking a modeling career in New York City where she lost herself in the counterculture trinity of sex, drugs, and rock-&-roll. She would found again the following year by pop-artist Andy Warhol. Her screen test captures some small measure of the ephemeral beauty that was Edie Sedgwick. As the 20th-century drew to a close, and both Edie and Andy were forgotten save as martyrs to a failed fantasy, the Warhol Museum commissioned husband and wife musicians Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips to provide soundtracks to 13 of the last artist’s screen test subjects. The music and song accompanying Edie's screentest is nothing less than inspired.
“It Don't Rain in Beverly Hills” (Scott Hardkiss remix) -- Dean Wareham & Britta Phillips
They said you belonged on the silver screen
So they called you their 'gonna get far'
And they flew you out to Beverly Hills
Oh my God you are so beautiful
And I see you for the very first time
You read your lines you read them beautiful
And you smile, you always smile on cue
And you shine just like a star
When you're giving the best of you
And you cry and you're wondering why
And who will take the rest of you?
But the lights are too bright when you see all the dirt
I know it hurts
I've been saving for a rainy day
Grab your umbrella 'cos we're going away
But it don't rain in Beverly Hills
No matter what they say
The pain never washes away
It don't rain in Beverly Hills
No matter what they say
The pain never washes away
It don't rain in Beverly Hills
No matter what they say
The pain never washes away
Return the flower to the spring
Return the raindrop to the stream
Return the starfish to the sea
Take my hand return with me
Return with me
Edie found a home with Warhol’s “The Factory,” and in Edie, Warhol found a star for his vanity films. Despite her lack of theatrical skills, the camera obsessively gravitated to her. Despite Warhol's films receiving virtually no circulation, America fell in love with this lovely young Edie. Warhol gave Edie her 15 minutes of fame, and she was his muse. But not all viewers were so enraptured by seeing Edie become America’s “It Girl:” The parents who had dominated the child seemed eager to reassert authority over the young superstar.
Edie Sedgwick discusses her parents.
By the mid-60s, Warhol spell over Edie began to fade. With experience and disappointment came cynicism and disillusionment. Even so, her grasp on Warhol’s imagination remained firm. Warhol asked Lou Reed, frontman of The Factory’s house band The Velvet Underground, to write a song about his star attraction. Released as a single in December 1966, “Femme Fatale” speaks to Edie’s failing collaboration with Warhol.
“Femme Fatale” -- The Velvet Underground (Lou Reed)
Here she comes, you better watch your step
She's going to break your heart in two,
It's true It's not hard to realize
Just look into her false colored eyes
She builds you up to just put you down, what a clown
'Cause everybody knows (She's a femme fatale)
The things she does to please (She's a femme fatale)
She's just a little tease (She's a femme fatale)
See the way she walks
Hear the way she talks
You're put down in her book
You're number thirty seven, have a look
She's going to smile to make you frown, what a clown
Little boy, she's from the street
Before you start, you're already beat
She's gonna play you for a fool, yes it's true
'Cause everybody knows (She's a femme fatale)
The things she does to please (She's a femme fatale)
She's just a little tease (She's a femme fatale)
See the way she walks
Hear the way she talks
A jaded Edie would eventually flee The Factory for the asylum of the celebrated Hotel Chelsea where she became enamored of fellow tenant Bob Dylan while seeking to break into legitimate film. Alas, the famous singer/songwriter had eyes only for girlfriend Sara Lownds. Another blow would land heavily as well: Edie’s acting skills were not the equal of her beauty and charisma, and no future on film or stage was to be in her future.
Edie Sedgwick
Cover of Life
(November 1965)
A beautiful exterior often houses a fragile vitality. Disappointment and drugs and mental illness laid waste to Edie’s soul, leading to repeated hospitalizations. The downward spiral of her life forced Edie to make an unthinkable compromise. In 1969, she returned to her parents’ California ranch, only to find the tempest traveled in her wake. Mental illness, alcoholism, and drug addiction clinched her in an iron grasp. There would be no escape.
But there had been an illusionary glimmer of hope. When confined to the psychiatric ward of Santa Barbara’s Cottage Hospital in August of 1969, Edie came to know fellow patient Michael Post. Edie and Michael would become a couple, and on 24 July 1971, they wed. Michael seemed to impart to Edie the strength to cling to her sanity and sobriety for a while. But eventually his influence waned, and the old demons returned.
Edie Sedgwick and Michael Post
Wedding Photograph
That October, Edie suffered an ear infection. She proved allergic to the antibiotics used to treat the illness, and excruciating agony followed. Her physicians prescribed pain medications. The treatment reopened a door that Edie had closed using all her strength. She could not muster the might to bar it once more.
On 15 November 1971, Edie attended a fashion show at the Santa Barbara Museum and afterwards a party. She called Michael at the end of the evening, and he drove her home. She swallowed her prescribed medications, and fell quickly to sleep. When Michael woke about 7:30 the following morning, Edie was not breathing. Edie Sedgwick was 28 years old at the time of her death.
An autopsy revealed her alcohol blood content to have been 0.17% and her barbiturate level as 0.48 mg%. Her immediate cause of death was barbiturate intoxication. The coroner determined her death to be "undetermined/accident/suicide."
Even now, Edie’s beauty and grace retain the power to charm. Her brief life continues to inspire those who scribe prose, poetry, music, and drama. I will offer but one representative example. In 1988, Edie Brickell & New Bohemians released their debut album, Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars. Although I confess myself not a fan of the band, I think the second track from the album captures the essence of Edie Sedgwick.
"Little Miss S." -- Edie Brickell & New Bohemians
Shooting up junk in the bathroom
Makin' it with punks on the floor
Livin' the scene out of her limosine
Little Miss S. in a mini dress
Living it up to die
In a blink of the public eye
Day-glo paint on an electric chair
Electric dye in her lover's hair
A pretty sight in the middle of the night
Made up for everyone to see
Swingin' on the branch of a broken family tree
You got a lot of livin' to do without
You got a lot of livin' to do without
You got a lot of livin' to do without life
The village idiots in her bed
Never cared that her eyes were red
Never cared that her brain was dead
In the hours that her face was alive
It was a thing just to be by her side
You got a lot of livin' to do without
You got a lot of livin' to do without
You got a lot of livin' to do without life
Heyy yeah. All right
You got a lot of livin' to do without
You got a lot of livin' to do without
You got a lot of livin' to do without life
You got a lot of livin' to do without
You got a lot of livin' to do without
You got a lot of livin' to do without life
Heyy yeah. All right...
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