Edith Massey better know as Edie was part of John Waters group of Dreamlanders. The dreamlanders is a group of people that John Waters would constantly cast and work with on his films. Whether it is a crew member or an actor if he like to work with you then you will mostly become a dreamlander.

Most of the dreamlanders are close friends of John Waters and are native to Baltimore, Maryland. Edie happen to be part of that group.

I remember the first time I saw Edie was in the movie Pink Flamingoes where she played Edie.

Who had a fascination with eggs and she was deemed the Egglady. When I first saw her performance was when I was seven and my go to cool hang out spot was my local tower records. They would have a TV playing movies and I happen to come in while they were playing the movie Pink Flamingoes.

They were showing the scene when the egg man visits Edie the egglady and I saw such a warm personality on screen and have been a fan of her work ever since!

Here are some fun facts this amazing lady:

Edie was born on May 28, 1918 in New York City, New York. She was one of ten children and unfortunately her parents decided to drop her and some of her siblings to an orphanage.

She was in a foster home until her teens when she decided to run away to Hollywood, California with dreams of being an actress.

There is a documentary on her called “Love Letter to Edie” ( 1975) that was directed by Robert Maier.

Edith was once married in 1946 and it ended in divorce seven years later. She said the reasoning behind the divorce was that she was bored with the marriage and cheated her way out of it.

She had quite a few careers such as a barmaid, a chorus girl and tap dancer.

She had permanent damage from dental work which resulted in her speech impediment.

Over years of living in various parts of the United States she finally called Fells Point, Baltimore Maryland.

John Waters discovered Edith in 1969 while she was working at a bar called Pete’s Hotel on an insistence of a close friend of his that he had to meet her.

In the 1970’s she quit her job at Pete’s Hotel and used her money to open up her thrift store called “Edith’s Shopping Bag.”

After she did various roles in John Waters movies she decided to pursue a singing career. She was the lead vocalist for a punk band called “Edie and the eggs.”

She would sometimes wear her outfits from her Aunt Ida role from the Female Trouble on stage.

I am particular fond of her version of the song “Big Girls Don’t Cry.” (1982)

Also I am fond of another song of hers called “Punks, Get off the Grass:

She wasn’t a huge fan of her well known black outfit she had on Female Trouble however when she outgrow the one that was used on the film. She had another made for her own personal use.

She made a cameo on a music video for the song “This Time” by John Mellencamp:

She was also on one of his album covers: “Nothin Matters and What if it Did”:

My favorite role of Edith Massey was her role of Cuddles Kovinsky in the movie Polyester (1981):

Her final movie before her death was “Mutants in Paradise (1984) directed by Scott Apostolou. The movie is about a group of scientists make some kind of superhumans but another group is trying to destroyed the scientists’ plans.

Edith Massey died on October 24,1984 from diabetes and lymphoma.

Edith was an amazing actress and lady who never played things safe in her life. She took her chances and it paid off because she is a cult figure and one of my forever icons. She was never a loud person on screen but she made her presence known and memorable.

Until next time!!

Source: https://shop.divineofficial.com/ Wikipedia, and IMDB.com