Martha Raye, the celebrated radio, film, and television star, flew into Elkton on April 21, 1954, planning to secure a quick marriage to Edward Begley, a dancer on her TV show. The couple left New York early that Wednesday morning by chartered plane, landing at Lovett Airport. When Elkton taxi driver Ernie Grove picked up the party, which included the star’s publicist, he whisked them to the marriage bureau at the courthouse.
There, they discovered that times had changed: Cecil County now enforced a Maryland law requiring a 48-hour waiting period. Not ready to give up on the “run around,” Raye tried to charm her way through the bureaucracy. The entourage tracked down Circuit Court Judge Floyd J. Kintner and Sheriff Nathan Kaplan at the Howard Hotel around noon. Raye also met Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate George P. Mahoney there.
Over refreshments, Raye pleaded her case to the judge, the sheriff, and the gubernatorial candidate. But the officials explained that there was nothing they could do to “buck this one-time quickie marriage mart’s new 48-hour waiting period,” The Sun wrote. While mingling at the bar, she joked with surprised patrons about her marital history, saying, “I tried it four times before, but this time it is for good,” according to The Journal Every Evening.
Unable to bypass the waiting period, the party scrambled to get back to Lovett Airport. Since their charter had already returned to New York, airport owner Waldo Lovett stepped in and flew the couple to Alexandria, Virginia, in his plane.
They finally tied the knot later that afternoon at the Arlington County Courthouse. It was Begley’s first marriage and Raye’s fifth. After the confused dash across several states, Raye told the Evening Star of Washington, D.C.: “This is the most trouble I’ve ever had to go through to get married…. The other four times were easy compared to this.”
The visit of the Hollywood star, Martha Raye, had created quite a stir in downtown Elkton. As the York Dispatch observed on April 22, 1954, had the chaotic scene taken place on television, the ceremony might have been the comedy hit of the year.
