Partner Lena Madesin Phillips
Queer Places:
Woodlawn Cemetery, E 233rd St & Webster Avenue, Bronx, NY 10470, Stati Uniti
Marjory Lacey-Baker (1888 - March 11, 1971) was an American playwright and actress with the Provincetown Players ("the most important innovative moment in American theatre"[1]) and long time companion and biographer of Lena Madesin Phillips.
Marjory Lacey-Baker was born in Philadelphia, PA, the daughter of Arthur Lacey Baker (born 1863) and Emma Clementi Smith (born 1851). Her siblings are: Cecilia Theodora Baker (1887–1970), Florence Lacey Baker (1890–1966), Arthur Clementi Lacey Baker Jr (1894–1941), Isabel Baker (born 1897). She lived in Westport for 20 years.[2]
Between 1912 and 1916, Marjory Lacey-Baker wrote a play, "In the light".[3]
Lacey-Baker was part of the Provincetown Players group. She was Manikin in 1918 "Manikin Minikin" by Alfred Kreymborg. According to Ms Murphy, she had the "flawless diction Kreymborg desired for the play."[4] She also performed in "Two Slatterns and a King" as Chance together with Edna St. Vincent Millay.[4]
Lacey-Baker and Phillips met in 1919, when Phillips attended a pageant where Lacey-Baker was performing, and by the time of Phillips's death, in 1955, they were together for 36 years.[5] Phillips at times described Lacey-Baker as "the woman with whom I share my home." (Lena Madesin Phillips to Maria Leonard, August 15, 1947). According to Ms Castledine, Phillips and Lacey-Baker "operated in a world of socially and politically committed women reformers, some also living in a same-sex relationship."[6]
Lacey-Baker wanted to complete Phillips's biography, but was overwhelmed by the volume of notes and the magnitude of Phillips's accomplishments. When she herself passed away, the biography was still a work in progress and was completed by Lisa Sergio and published as "A Measure Filled.": "This book is dedicated to the memory of Marjory Lacey-Baker not merely in recognition of the devoted friendship which bound her to Lena Madesin Phillips for some 35 years of her life, but also because of her eagerness to see a book emerge from the voluminous collection of papers of which she had become custodian upon the death of her friend in 1955."[7]
Marjory Lacey-Baker is buried and Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York).
My published books:
