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A Report on
The Edward Gorey House's Edward Gorey at 100 celebration at 'The Nunnery' The Mansion at Ocean Edge Resort & Golf Club Cape Cod 
A Centennial celebration of Edward Gorey's birthday on Feb 22, 1925 The Edward Gorey House will host several new programs in 2025 visit Upcoming Events and The Edward Gorey Charitable Trust in NYC. Reported Feb 22, 2025 by Glen Emil 
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22.ii.25 Special to Goreyography
 
Arriving late, there were things I'm sure I'd already missed. Getting even mildly turned around on the Cape has a price, especially after dark. I thought I knew the Cape roads well enough, but not so the neighborhood around The Mansion at Ocean Edge Resort & Golf Club. After Coco Raymond checked me in, I noticed guests cooing over small rectangular white card-size cookies, and that signalled I had indeed missed out! As I entered the grand ballroom, there was a noticeable electric buzz, the collective antipation of over two hundred guests who were obviously pleased to be in the company of other unfamiliar but excited faces, all united by Gorey. Thus was the setting for the 100th Anniversary celebrating Edward Gorey's birth. 
Had Gorey lived to be a hundred, which is not entirely uncommon (Jimmy Carter, Eva Marie Saint, Bob Hope, Norman Lear) he might've considered eating his own words "To take my work seriously would be the height of folly." For it was exactly that state of mind which took this event the highest levels of felicity. Right away I saw that 'serious' also meant passionate and vivacious, and aptly applied to this celebration. 
Most remarkable were those who came in costume dress, and most mysteriously, a disarmingly complete Doubtful Guest (artist Dianna Braginton-Smith it turns out) wandered aimlessly among the throng, hoping find a watch to drop into the bay or dishes to chew. She was only one of several who brought Gorey's work to life, entering our real world. Shimmering ballroom gowns, swirling bats-in-the-belfry head dress, a charming hand-stitched Doubtful Guest doll, made a generation past, in green striped scarf cozily and elegantly displayed, made the rounds, a mysterious mistress from atop the tower (The Object Lesson), the odd couple (plus one) from Herts (The Listing Attic) are a handful. 
Besides the cookies, there were also other interesting souvenirs being quietly distributed among some of the two hundred seventy-odd guests: a smallish charming sculpture, one-and-a-half inches at most, of the Doubtful Guest; cleverly customized tarot-cards similar to Gorey's The Fantod Pack cards, mini-bouquets reminiscent of The Evil Garden-style wirey flora. Those are the ones I noticed. There were probably others. A not-so-silent auction added to the evenings drama, as did the news by Gregory Hischak that the Gorey House itself will soon come into it's own, as deed holder to its own property, arranged by the Highland Street Foundation. Its significance might have been lost to some, but as particular as it sounds, this opens new opportunites for the Gorey House, as a living museum. Gregory emceed and Coco co-announced, seeming to relish regaling the audience with tidbits and news.
Sitting down alongside Skee Morton ( 'Mary Rosemarsh' from The Deranged Cousins and Gorey's actual cousin) and her son Ken, I was pleased to learn that after regaining her health, Skee continues to docent at the Gorey House. Had I more time, I would've availed myself to a much-needed caricature sketch by Avery Peterson and a Fantod Pack tarot reading by Freya Weil, both minions of the Gorey House. An old-fashioned Polaroid snapshot might have been good too, by Jules Leigh Seaver (an occassional draftee at the Gorey House). Honestly, there was so much going on, so many people I wanted to talk to, I probably missed important yet secret notes and winks and smiles, mischief and scullduggary and passing of encoded state secrets and little white calling cards. 
The Edward Gorey House cast who lovingly crafted this affair-to-remember: Gregory Hischak (Director and Curator), Coco Raymond (Associate Director and Archivist), Freya Weil and Avery Peterson, and Jules Leigh Seaver (pro-bono talent). Those who gave c'est l'affaire a sense of occassion: Marcy the birthday cake patissiere from The Casual Gourmet (Coco created the design--super-lovingly!), Jamie Stiely of The Cookie Caper (yes, those little card-size b&w cookies), Kristina Kliment, purveyor of Botanique fragrances, and Kami Lyle on trumpet and Frank Poranski on guitar (some may remember Kami from the early 2000s GoreyFests). 
Obvious as it is yet often lost to the sands of time, this is the land Gorey felt most at home, his antidote to New York City, and source of much inspiration. Gregory had earlier pointed out that the road leading to this event's mansion was under construction, and the detour lead drivers past a locally-known vista point called 'Scargo Tower', overlooking Scargo Lake and beyond. This odd solitary stone tower, reconstructed in 1901 was captured in Gorey's The Object Lesson, where Madame O_____ flings herself over the parapet, only to vanish completely. The lake figures prominently as well, though The Throbblefooted Spectre may have been elsewehere. In fact, so much of Cape Cod, especially as seen along Highway 6A, seems to swell with an eeriness felt in many of his books. This was where Gorey's family called home, and he eventually joined them full-time, after 1986. The Cape and it's centuries-old European legacy, even predating Gorey's Edwardian and Pre-Victorian British settings, were certainly part of his muse. So much history, mystery and shadowy cast of characters long gone. I understand what kept Gorey here, how it might've fed his imagination, and where he now rests, in various locations. He is literally now a part of this strange arm-shaped spit of land, emotionally and physically. 
Eventually I did manage to get a commemorative cookie (thank you Barbara Breidenbach), but as I departed the mansion, I felt Gorey was somewhere there too, looking over the Mansion that evening, from a distant tall tower on a tall hill, overlooking Cape Cod Bay. 'The heights of folly', he might have sighed, 'oh of it all'. He grins, smiles even, and shakes his bearded head and returns to the spit of land out against the sea, the realm he called home.
Photograph of Ted Gorey between Jack Braginton-Smith and Rick Jones. Courtesy of Skee and Ken Morton
-- Glen Emil, Goreyography 
Many thanks to those who made this celebration a memorable one: The well-mannered professionalism and good flavors and timely service coordinated by Grace Gugliotti (Director of Catering at Ocean Edge Resort & Golf Club - aka The Mansion) and Ivelina Georgieva (Catering Sales Manager) and their ever-ready and unflappable staff. Thanks also to Tricia Meyer, Concierge of Ocean Edge Resort and Golf Club. Tricia invites all to come by to visit the resort mansion at any time, and to enjoy their bar and restaurant, which is open to the public, and to gaze upon the well-situated vistas. For inquiries call her at 774-323-6070. Finally, uncountable thanks to Gregory Hischak and Coco Raymond of the Edward Gorey House for their generous assistance in producing this article, and to Dianna Braginton-Smith. Images by Glen Emil @ Goreyography, except the official cookie from The Cookie Caper's Instagram page. Copyright Goreyogrphy.com 2025. |