Archives Collection Conveys ‘Greetings from the Grove’
BY BRUCE-MICHAEL GELBERT
photos by Bruce-Michael Gelbert
photos by Bruce-Michael Gelbert - 1. cutting the ribbon (left to right) Clara Bogetti, Homecoming Queen Davida Jones, & Lee Sharmat, 2. Lee Sharmat with Rose Levine & her "Six Red Dresses" dress, 3. Lee Sharmat & "Direct TV" & "Sweet Talkin' Guys" photos, 4. Lorraine Michels, Susan Kravitz & Queen Scarlet Oh! display, 5. Lee Sharmat & Johny Pool & Bella display, 6. Invasion 2015 photos
On July 24 and 25, at the historic Cherry Grove Community House and Theater, the Cherry Grove Archives Collection (CGAC) offered a show of some of its treasures billed as “Greetings from the Grove,” curated by Archivist Lee Sharmat.
On display were photos, programs, and posters from theatrical shows from decades ago and from the recent past; remembrances of bartender Johny Pool and entertainer Bella, who are less frequent visitors to the Grove now; and Rose Levine’s dress from the 1982 show Arts Project of Cherry Grove (APCG) production “Six Red Dresses.”
Photographer Lorraine Michels was there with her two books of photos, covering the annual Independence Day Grove Invasion of the Pines and APCG staged shows, with a blow-up of her coverage of the 1994 Invasion, historic as the only one led by a woman. Homecoming Queen Scarlet Oh!, Lorraine’s spouse Joan Van Ness. Being screened on the stage were clips from Cherry Grove’s past.
Photographer Koitz has been chronicling the gay people and events of Cherry Grove and Fire Island Pines for more than a decade and a half in work that has appeared in newspapers and been displayed in art shows. Koitz’s clear and sensitive photos find a dramatic setting in a new art book entitled “Gay Fire Island: It’s Good to Be Us,” with foreword by Patrick ...
