revised March 2, 2002

Jim Van Tyne truly adored Edith Massey
who was, of course, our beloved
Edie The Egg Lady of Baltimore
and John Waters'fame.

portrait by Terry Dorn

	In her later years she retired to Venice, California and made a new home for herself. Jim was instrumental in launching her underground nightclub career and produced (I believe with Craig Lee's help) a clandestine hit single "Hey Punks: Get Off The Grass." She was a frequent performer at Theoreticals and drew an always worshipping crowd. She died quietly of cancer on October 24, 1984. We (of the Theoretical Family) mostly knew this charming one-of-a-kind lady through Jim Van Tyne, so I have little more I can say about Dear Edith except that both on stage and off she was a radiant being. Send us anything more you might know.-jm
Don Beelik of Toronto, Canada shares this obituary (sent to us on February 28, 2002) from Variety (1984)     THANK YOU! Don Beelik has also shared Divine's obituary as published in Variety in 1988...	" BxanaduH@aol.com " writes, with questions we cannot answer (please contact him if you can help), on March 29, 1999: Hi! My name is Ben and I just wanted to express my sincere love for Edie (Schmeedie Edie...!). Unfortunately, I never had the honor of meeting her but she has really played a big part in my life. Ever since I discovered her in 1984 by way of "Pink Flamingos." I can't seem to get enough of her. I think I have mostly all films that Edie was in, the most recent treasure being "Love Letter To Edie" which I found quite humorous! I am always on the lookout for ANYTHING with her name attached to it. Do you have any idea where I can get my hands on "Punks, Get Off The Grass" b/w "Big Girls Don't Cry" either on vinyl or transferred to compact disc (besides "E Bay")? Is there any rare footage including Edie I could locate? I have on vhs: "Pink Flamingos", "Polyester", "Female Trouble", "Desperate Living", "Love Letter To Edie", "Mutants In Paradise", "Mondo Trasho", "Multiple Maniacs" and behind the scenes footage of "Pink Flamingos" (25th Anniversary edition) as well as footage from the recently shown John Waters special on Independant Film Channel. I am also in search of one more lost treasure; John (Cougar) Mellencamp's music video, "This Time (I Think I'm Really In Love)"starring the ravishing Miss Edie Herself. Thank you for listening and God bless Edie (Oh, and you too!)... Ben C. Hawkins Jr. : ) THANK YOU! Someone identified only as " cabron@soca.com " writes on June 6, 1999: I met Edie at "Okie Dog" on Santa Monica Blvd. in '86 or '87 (more likely to have been '83 or '84 —editor). She was eating an Okie Dog at an outside table. I said hello. She asked me if I was eating and told me to grab my food and come on over. We talked about... not show biz and not about John Waters and not about Divine.... we talked about Okie Dogs. I told her I was trying to make them at home. She helped me "dissect" that which was an Okie Dog - hot dog, pastrami, onions and cheese. She cautioned me that I had to use bulk cheese "product". "You don't use expensive cheese in food that tastes this good." she said. Edie took my address and later that year sent me a Xmas card signed - "From Edie and her birds and animals". Sweet, sweet woman. THANK YOU!
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