| The People of Cherry Grove | |
Meet Maggie McCorkle
By Lois Fisher
Editor's Note: This interview was conducted in June 2005. We unfortunately lost our dear friend Maggie in October 2005.
The Arts Project and the Cherry Grove Community will be forever grateful for having her as a part of our family and for having
the privilege to capture her thoughts and memories in this interview.
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When did you first come to Cherry Grove?
Betty Lee brought me to
Cherry Grove in 1950. She had a company that created shows for television. What was the Grove like then? It was like a gay country club. There were a lot of show business people, writers and people in the fashion world. Miles White and Oliver Smith, well-known on Broadway for staging and lighting, had rented a house named “Shadows” |
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near the Bridge
of Sighs.Kay Guiness had been in Cherry Grove since the 1930s and looked askance at the
young crew coming from Manhattan who started naming their houses “Cats on a Hot Tin Roof” and “Four of a Kind.”
There were well known people like Natalia Denisi Murray, Alan Prescott, Janet
Flanner (Genet), and occasionally people like Anna Magnani, Tennessee Williams,
Diana Barrymore and a drunken Veronica Lake. |
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What kept you coming back? The beautiful beach and because it was gay. There were some straight people from the mainland and they were so nice. The theater was also a big attraction as well as the theater people in the Grove. George Freedley, a Cherry Grover,was the treasurer of ANTA then and was also a Broadway critic. Did you get involved with the Arts Project right away? My first show was “Bertha of a Nation” after Bertha Belmore who had two houses at the Grove – “By Jupiter” named after the Broadway show she was in and her guest house that became known as “The Magic Flute.” What prompted you to get involved with the Arts Project? It was great fun and it was literate. Rehearsals were almost more fun than performing. We touched upon your experiences in the Grove, however; we all have our own personal history outside of “paradise island”. What brought you to New York? I was living in Kentucky and was chosen by a theater company in Cambridge Massachusetts for summer stock at Plymouth Beach.I joined their year-round company as their character ingénue and year-round stock at Harvard Square. I had several affairs there and my Phys. Ed. Teacher from the U. of Kentucky came to visit. I realized I was becoming very actively gay and didn’t know what to do about it so I decided to move to New York City. I came by bus and landed in the middle of the West 40s with $20. and a dime. I lived with four Broadway gypsies and they took care of me. I took an evening job at CARE downtown so I could audition during the day. I immediately had an affair with a woman at CARE and learned about New York’s gay bars. I left CARE after a few months and got a night job teaching dancing at Arthur Murray’s home studio and doing some of their commercials. In the mid-50s I went into the concert management business working for NCAC. Everything had to be fun and the concert business was fun. Birgit Nilsson was one of our artists and she hit it big at that time. Given the long history you have with the Arts Project, what have been the biggest changes over the years? Our shows were mainly revues that had some drag numbers. Straight men like Lloyd Pugh would dress in tutus. They did drag numbers from ballet and opera. Lip synching was rare and the humor was very sophisticated What advice would you give the board to spark new interest and attract new members to the Arts Project? Take the personal approach. When you meet new people, tell them about the Arts Project and encourage them to get involved. Introduce them to people on the walk, at plays, social events, etc. What is your favorite Arts Project Event today? Certain kinds of theatrical shows like the show about the two men who grew old together or Blue Fish Cove. I love the Art Show and I think it’s vital in terms of maintaining the quality of the activities. Casino is fun, too. But the original draw was the Art Show. In closing, pick the three most vivid memories of you Grove experience? The arrival of Anna Magnani when she visited Natalia Murray and getting to know Janet Flanner who was Genet of “The New Yorker.” I also remember the Bestigi Ball given by Miles and Oliver at Shadows…their house on the Bay. It was decorated to a tee. A beautiful lesbian named Bea Greer came as Cleopatra. She came out of the bay on a barge pulled in by Nubians in black paint. Betty Lee and I went as pirates and arrived in a gondola. Those were great days! |
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