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Remember when “hoarder” was a word one only heard when talk turned to rodents and wildlife? When a pack rat was the crazy old guy at the end of the block who never threw away his newspaper? Today, hoarders and pack rats are entertainment–and, if some of the items on this list of hoarders on stage and screen, in books and online are any indication, they have been for a long time.
While we wait for TLC’s Hoarding: Buried Alive and A&E’s Hoarders to kick off new seasons, we can look to pack rats past and present among the following.
Stage
Grey Gardens: Doug Wright and Scott Frankel’s 2006 musicalization of the lives of the world’s most famous hoarder, “Big Edie” Beale and her fractured fashionista daughter, Edith.
Films
My Mother’s Garden: A 2007 documentary by filmmaker Cynthia Lester about her mother’s inability to throw away a thing.
The Pigman by Paul Zindel: In which our teen hero is briefly institutionalized and meets a woman who hoards bath towels and blueberry muffins. First published in 1968; proof that hoarding is nothing new.
