Joy B. Davis: Joy B. Davis is a Ph.D. student in the Counseling Psychology program at the University of Southern California. Her areas of interest include the intersection of ethnicity and sexuality.
Well-written and painstakingly researched, Cherry Grove, Fire Island: Sixty Years in America's First Gay and Lesbian Town, is an excellent history of the resort community located about 45 miles east of bustling New York City, between the Atlantic Ocean and the southern edge of Long Island. Author Esther Newton's love for “the Grove” and its residents (fondly dubbed “Grovers”) as well as her reverence for its historical significance permeate the entire book. She first visited 30 years ago and is now a part-time resident. “After a month … I was beginning to be hooked. And what a relief…to live in a community where being gay was the norm! We could be affectionate in public without risking a beating, speak in normal tones over dinner and out on a walk…in short, behave as most Americans do all the time without a thought” (p. 2). Indeed, this is one of her main points: that Cherry Grove was not just the first, but, the world's “only geography controlled by gay men and women” (p. 3). Beginning in the 1930s, Cherry Grove attracted gays (almost exclusively Anglo and often male) mostly by word of mouth because of its seclusion from homophobic mainstream society and acceptance of folks from the “glamour fields” of advertising, design, publicity and show business. Considering the poor quality of urban life today, it's startling to read that even sixty years ago vacationers were “fleeing the automobile, the dirt, the heat [and] the immigrant poor” (p. 13) for the Grove's natural beauty and rustic aura. In a chapter entitled “The Fun Gay Ladies'”, one narrator puts it this way: people came “because they heard of this wonderful place called Cherry Grove where all the theater people were hanging out…They were looking for a little hideaway, a place where they could be, quote, themselves” (p. 207). Jan Felshin, another interviewee, says “It was like we were putting something over on the world, that we did have a place, and a whole life here…It was a way to escape the prohibitions of the rest of the society” (p. 37).
Property development, improvement of island services and better transportation to the small community made Cherry Grove even more appealing over the years. In two years (1947-49), the Grove's summer population nearly tripled and most of the influx was gay (p. 55). Tensions between some of the ‘family people' and gays had been simmering for years, in particular over issues such as privilege, partying and public sex between men. A scandalous 1949 murder only brought these tensions to a head. Newton does an excellent job of chronicling how neighbors warred within their tiny enclave. The ‘family people', mainland police and less tolerant straights used slanderous press (including the publication of the names of gay men arrested for ‘indecent acts' and ‘perversion'), discriminatory fines, gay bashing and no-renter policies to try to discourage an overt gay presence. Even some lesbian and gay property owners disapproved of cruising areas such as “the Meat Rack” and “the Bridge of Sighs” (also known as “the Bridge of Thighs” or “the Bridge of Size”, depending upon who one is talking to). Although they were not formally organized, lesbians, gay males and their supporters fought back with tactics that included underground information networks and physical resistance. But by 1950 or so, the general consensus was that lesbians and gays were the Cherry Grove majority: ”...Divisions among the family people, democratic legal protections…, capitalism” and the Grove's seclusion all helped to prevent conservatives from ridding the community of lesbians and gay men (p. 66). The specialness of this place truly comes alive when Newton, a professor of anthropology, explores the special role of camp (“a philosophy of transformations and incongruity”), drag and the elaborate theme parties that were held regularly during the community's early years. Interviewees fondly recall the rituals and creativity that made Cherry Grove the only place to be . It is here that “the world's first theater for a gay audience” (p. 85) emerged and Grovers' contributions to the history of “gay theatricality and distinctively gay theater” are explored in depth. Newton contends that the migration of lesbians and gays to Cherry Grove provides early proof that one's “sexual preference was becoming the basis for a complete social identity” (p. 21). Readers who are particularly interested in the recent debates concerning the existence of modern gay theater may be especially interested in Newton's treatment of this aspect of Cherry Grove.
One of the most fascinating and delightful aspects of the book is Newton's uncovering customs that appear to have originated in the Grove and her list of famous folks who either resided, entertained, or visited there. For instance, some Grovers suggest disco was invented there and club entrepeneur Jimmy Merry is credited with creating gay “high tea” and the gay tea dance. Early gay Grovers especially disliked the restrictions on same sex dancing that were enforced at many venues. The Madison, a popular line dance from the 1950s, could have been invented as an ingenious way of skirting the rules. Among the well-known who appear, briefly, throughout the book are Oscar Wilde, W.H. Auden, Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, Carmen McRea (sic), Nancy Walker, Carson McCullers and Christopher Isherwood (the late author whose works, diaries and life are currently receiving renewed interest).
As in any community, all has not been idyllic. A mostly gay and lesbian community is in America and, ultimately, of it. Newton does not shrink from the task of exploring the conflicts, in all their complexity, which existed and continue to exist in Cherry Grove. Gay and straight propery owners have exploited renters, while renters have looked down upon ‘daytrippers'.Environmental concerns have arisen. Differences between lesbians and gay men struggling to become neighbors and comrades, have emerged during the Grove's history and continue to be confronted. Overt and cruel discrimination against African Americans, Jews, and gays and lesbians of lower socio-economic status existed from the beginning. Although the discrimination may be less obvious today, it is no less painful for those who endure it. One Grover describes gay fear of a “straight takeover” while blatantly exposing his racism : “When I first came out [here]...we'd sit…in the living room and if you'd see a straight couple walk by everybody would boo and hiss” - he laughed - “and say, Oh my God, they're taking over. It's just like blacks moving into the community” (p. 100).
The Grove's sixty year history is intricately connected to the history of this country. The Depression, WWII, the postwar economic boom, McCarthyism and the AIDS crisis have profoundly affected gay life all over, as well as the residents of Cherry Grove. Newton's work adds to the growing list of superb documentations of lesbian and gay male life and it is a pleasure to read. But it is as a lesbian resident, and lover of the people of Cherry Grove, that Newton breathes life into this look at one very special place over time. It is at once a focus on the complicated issues that lesbians and gays face in their efforts to create community and a celebration of the love and spirit that exists within these communities in the face of adversity.
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