"Marshall grew up on Emerson Street, in South Boston.
He was 15 years old and a tap dancer at the Grove. The night of the fire, he was in his second floor dressing room, next to the dressing room of the Chorus girls,
when the fire broke out.
A waiter ran up the staircase to alert the Chorus girls and then burst through Marshall's door. He ran to the window and broke it open to push the girls out on the roof. He then helped Marshall out. The waiter found a ladder and he and Marshall held on to it as the girls made their way down to safety. That left the waiter and Marshall still on the roof with no one to help them. The waiter went to the backside of the roof and jumped.
The fire fighters finally got a ladder up to the roof and Marshall was rescued. He told us that he never tap danced again, and had not been to the site of the Cocoanut Grove until he came to the Cocoanut Grove Lane street dedication on November 30, 2013. He also attended the 75th Anniversary Memorial on November 28, 2017.
A wonderful gentleman. So pleased we could help preserve his events of the Cocoanut Grove." - Michael Hanlon
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