The Green & the Greasepaint -Ireland & Hollywood *Mod warning 1st page*

CDfm

On a Sunday in February 1967 a Blonde Bombshell from Hollywood arrived to give a performance at the Mount Brandon Hotel , Tralee and a letter from the Bishops urging people not to attend the show caused its cancellation.




Here is a video of her arrival

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyPrT5NLDUs

She was Jayne Mansfield, mother of the actress Mariska Hargitay (Olivia Benson in Law & Order SVU) .

She collected her appearence money and left only to die in a car accident in June.

Our exports to Hollywood included characters such as Barry Fitzgerald, comedian & character actor who died in 1961. He played rogue priests, matchmakers and leprechauns,



Now Ireland was not a cultural backwater but when we read of Irish culture but what was but what was Pop Culture really like -our Irish contributions.

But where to start.

CDfm

Maureen O'Sullivan who made the original Tarzan movies with Johnny Weismuller grew up in Boyle, Co Rosscommon and was Irelands first real movie star.

She is also mother of Mia Farrow who was Frank Sinatras lover and Woody Allens partner.

Here she is in a swimming scene from Tarzan finds a Mate( I think) from 1934

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBBl2yjPjfE

Wolfe Tone

Whats the date parameters on this?

Another fascinating thread idea, well done OP! This time I will try to contribute and not just lurk!

CDfm

Aha Mussolini -parameters well -I suppose 30 years ago would be a good cut off point of 1980.

Movies, stage & screen Irish abroad & those who came here from abroad for "Irish Productions" . Its "Pop" rather than artistic merit so something with cultural merit might be a commercial flop.

So if Music Hall and variety was the Pop taste rather than Othello -then it is in, there is no real starting point.

(If this is a goer we can do music as a seperate one)

As usual, if something or someone is quirky with an Irish Connection put it in and, if an Irish Actor made a respectable living acting in Italian Horror movies between the wars between stints as the second spear in Julius Caesar -he is our boy.( of course, if he appeared in a French skinflick of note for money well we can accept he suffered for his art)

There is no early date but I suppose it will be commercial theatre -anything goes really.Just keep it bright.

If a well known actor came here to act in plays between stints in movies or to learn stagecraft -yup or a risque music hall troupe had a sucessful tour.

An Irish person going to better things abroad is good.

CDfm

Introducing Lola Montez

Whatever Lola wants... Lola Gets...
Lola Montez (née Eliza Gilbert) was born in Limerick, 1821. Over the course of her short, event-filled life she became the most notorious, celebrated and reviled woman of the nineteenth century.
In politics …
she caused 2 revolts and 1 revolution
was banned from 5 European capitals
enjoyed a brief turbulent reign as Queen of Bavaria
In entertainment…
She invented Burlesque
became Broadway’s biggest star
was a fixture of the Wild West Saloons
embarked on the first tour of Australia
gave lectures that attracted larger audiences than Dickens
she also found time to…
enjoy a string of lovers that included of Liszt, Dumas and Peel
contrive to be at the centre of a string of international sex scandals
murder at least one lover and get away with it
give rise to the saying ‘Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets’.
Despite her unprecedented glamour, celebrity and stardom, she spent her final years destitute on streets of New York and died aged just 41

A caberet act currently are doing a show based on her http://www.lolamontez.ie/story.html

I dont think she ever was queen but was a countess.

CDfm

His early career was that of an Irish Times cub reporter and he trained as an actor in the Abbey & the Gate.

I share a birthday with him and he is Willfred Brambell who played Paul McCartneys Grandfather in A Hard Days Night



He was also Albert Steptoe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVlF-vqePxg

Wilfrid was born in Dublin, Ireland on 22nd March 1912 to a father who was a cashier at a Guinness brewery, and a mother, Edith Marks, who was an opera singer. Wilfrid Brambell's first foray into acting was at the age of just two, entertaining wounded soldiers in World War One. As a teen, he had a soprano voice, and it won him medals at festivals, until his voice broke during an argument with an aunt! After leaving school, he became a reporter for The Irish Times, and started amateur dramatics at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. Turning professional, he then moved to Dublin's Gate Theatre, then on tour with ENSA during the Second world War, and then into repertory theatre at Bristol, Chesterfield and Swansea. His London appearances included roles in Canterbury Tales and The Ghost Train (written by Dad's Army actor Arnold Ridley - Private Godfrey). His Broadway career was less successful, however, as the first night of the play Kelly was also the last. The advent of regular television programming in Britain brought Wilfrid regular roles on TV, not least in Arthur Askey's shows, plus many diverse roles such as in The Quatermass Experiment and as a tramp in No Fixed Abode. It was this last role which was seen by two British writers, and he was instantly signed-up for Galton and Simpson's new production The Offer, part of their Comedy Playhouse series of one-off TV plays. The comedy, about a retired rag-and-bone dealer and his son, was commissioned as a series and in 1962 what became the classic sitcom Steptoe and Son was born. By now, Wilfrid was in demand as an actor and appeared in many more roles, including films such as The Thirty-Nine Steps, Carry On Again Doctor, Dry Rot and as Paul McCartney's grandfather in The Beatles' movie A Hard Day's Night. On a personal level, Wilfrid's wife Molly was found to have been made pregnant by a lodger and he subsequently threw her out, divorcing her on grounds of adultery. She died the following year. Many years later Wilfrid Brambell shared his Pimlico home with a male Chinese-born companion Yussof Ben mai Saman, to whom he left his fortune after his death in London from cancer on 18th January 1985.
Remembering The Banana Box: "[Wilfrid Brambell] was wonderful. Such a dapper, wee man. He used to wear a diamond ring, beautiful suits, starched collar and tie and and would have his hair slicked back...He was very funny off stage as well as on, and would tell the filthiest jokes - he just made a perfect Rooksby."

http://www.leonardrossiter.com/risingdamp/BiogsSupp.html

A very dapper man he had a difficult relationship with his Steptoe Co Star Harry Corbett who really did not like being famous for that show.

mikemac

John McCormack (14 June 1884 – 16 September 1945), was a world-famous Irish tenor and recording artist, celebrated for his performances of the operatic and popular song repertoires, and renowned for his diction and breath control. He was also a Papal Count.

From Athlone where Athlone IT have named a hall after him, I've been in AIT.
There is also a statue in Iveagh Gardens, Dublin
At one time he certainly was the most famous singer in the world.

Had a number of minor film roles including Citizen Kane, the Orson Welles film.
I saw that film a number of years ago, can't remember his cameo part so I'll be watching again for sure.
Also in Wings of the Morning, the first British colour film. I did have a youtube clip of him acting but can't for the life of me find it. Maybe it was taken down, booo!

We all know it's a Long Way to Tipperary, adopted by the British Army in WW1, John McCormack was the first singer to record it.

And collaborated with Enrico Caruso for a number of songs.
He sold over 200 million records, is there any modern day artist to do that!

If ye don't subscribe to the Newstalk Talking history podcasts already, then do it now! There on itunes. There was an episode on him

Here is a short documentary and another for a well known song.
Now I know a lot/most people nowadays would have no interest in his style of music but all the same, 200 million record sales and worldwide fame, without doubt the most famous singer Ireland ever had and ever will have

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcz9WkIspe4

MarchDub

Now we really are going tabloid - can't see what this has to do with genuine "history" IMO.

CDfm

MarchDub wrote: »

Now we really are going tabloid - can't see what this has to do with genuine "history" IMO.

It is part of our heritage as much a Joyce or Myles na Gopaleen is. I have read both but prefer Andy McNab.

The history I was taught made reference to the first performances of the Playboy of the Western World and its short run and hostile reception. So if people werent attending that what were they watching.

I also was brought up with the idea that Siobhain McKenna's performances were acting , which they were, but her ouevre and genre were not to my taste so what was the popular entertainment and culture. Maureen O'Sullivan was more successful and I will bet lots of people didnt know of Mia Farrows Irish connection or that Albert Steptoe was Irish. I didn't. Also, it shows how irish performers stacked up abroad.

Our portrayal of Irish culture and taste in Ireland has been a bit revisionist.Ulysses and Lady Chatterly's Lover may both have been on the list of banned books in ireland but it was the DH Lawrence book that my granny obtained from abroad. She had no interest in Joyce.

MarchDub

CDfm wrote: »

It is part of our heritage as much a Joyce or Myles na Gopaleen is. I have read both but prefer Andy McNab.

The history I was taught made reference to the first performances of the Playboy of the Western World and its short run and hostile reception. So if people werent attending that what were they watching.

I also was brought up with the idea that Siobhain McKenna's performances were acting , which they were, but her ouevre and genre were not to my taste so what was the popular entertainment and culture. Maureen O'Sullivan was more successful and I will bet lots of people didnt know of Mia Farrows Irish connection or that Albert Steptoe was Irish. I didn't. Also, it shows how irish performers stacked up abroad.

Our portrayal of Irish culture and taste in Ireland has been a bit revisionist.

Well then this is "culture" but not history...TBH I think the OP is there to shock more than anything else. I can understand how you might want to shake conventions [which seems to be your argument] - but I don't think this is the forum to do so.

I still don't think that this thread belongs on a History forum.

Actually - ironically - Ulysses was never banned in Ireland. It was banned just about worldwide though.

CDfm

MarchDub wrote: »

Well then this is "culture" but not history...TBH I think the OP is there to shock more than anything else. I can understand how you might want to shake conventions [which seems to be your argument] - but I don't think this is the forum to do so.

I don't think there is anything shocking about anything here, probably new to people but hardly earth shattering.Its a bit different to DeValera's Ireland of comely maidens at the crossroads or the History of Ireland as retold by the Dept of Education thru the nuns & christian brothers.

I am not alone in thinking this way take this academic review

ONE OF THE most under-rated plays of the last decade was Declan Hughes’s Shiver. Premiering in 2003, it focused on two middle-aged couples who were struggling to come to terms with life in Celtic Tiger Dublin. They had wealth but lacked values; they’d rejected traditional Irish culture, but had nothing to replace it with. Their predicament was brilliantly encapsulated by one of Hughes’s characters. “Well you see,” she drawled, drunkenly, “we’ve had enough of dead mammies and peeling potatoes and farms and bogs and ****ing . . . all that old tweedy ****ing . . .” And she trailed off, searching for the right words. “Seamus Heaney is made of tweed,” she concluded.

Extract from a review by Patrick Lonergan of NUIG.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2010/0417/1224268510617.html

We also have the late Philip Ryans book "The Lost Theatres of Dublin"as edited by his son Phil Chevron of the Pogues that is from an insider and a fan.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lost-Theatres-Dublin-Philip-Ryan/dp/0952607611

Philip B. (Brendan) Ryan was my father, author of a small number of fairly-definitive tomes on Irish vaudeville and variety, notably biographies of Noel Purcell and Jimmy O'Dea. When he was dying in 1997, his final book, The Lost Theatres Of Dublin was, theoretically, with his publisher, but his final illness had prevented him, unsurprisingly, from giving it his fullest attention. About a year later, I made good on my promise to him to "finish" the book. Primarily, this just involved editing and repairing some of the text, adding substantially to what had, for some unexplained reason, been an uncharacteristically small supply of illustrations. Finally, I added a Foreword explaining the circumstances of the publication and paying tribute to my dad's devotion to both theatre and Dublin and the part his enthusiasms played in my own life. By neat symmetry, this piece worked well with an Afterword in a more minor key by Noel Sheridan, the son of Cecil Sheridan, the great Dublin comic for whom my father had written some early comic sketches in the 1940s and which Pop had admitted into the book's text several years earlier.

I think that our heritage was a bit more dynamic and less serious than its being made out to be.

MarchDub

Look, when you start dragging out that old chestnut - "comely maidens at the crossroads" [taken out of context I must say] and try to replace it with a phony air brushed photo - for what other purpose than to make a statement that you reject the phony past with a phony present - then I know you are only trying to shock and shake up what you see as false conventions.

This is not history - it is based on gossip, hearsay [maybe a personal agenda] and tabloid newspaper tactics. That is all I am saying.

CDfm

But Marchdub there is plenty of scope here for everyone on the origans of Irish Theatre and its origans and crossover between popular culture and highbrow culture. How it travelled backward and forward.

I am just saying that the definitions used are very narrow and dont reflect the popular tradition. I could of course be wrong.

You do have George Bernard Shaws Pygmallion that was adapted as My Fair Lady.

But equally so you have the Beatles where 3 of the 4 were of Irish descent and Catholic - Harrisons from Wexford and the famous pic of the Beatles and the Farrows with the Maharishi in India owed a lot to the Irish Diaspora



The Beatles song Dear Prudence was written about Prudence Farrow -daughter of Irishwoman "You Tarzan -Me Jane" Maureen O'Sullivan encircled above.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dear_Prudence

So the Irish did get around and some were quite successful and culture travels and adapts -so why not celebrate that part of it too.

CDfm

Ever wonder where the first post reformation theatre was in Europe - it was Dublin -with the gorgeous hippychick sounding name of the "Smock Alley Theatre" .

Recent archaeological excavations at the former SS church of St Michael and John have finally unraveled the last mysteries of the Smock alley theatre, the first post Restoration purpose-built theatre in Europe. The foundation stone was laid in 1662, by John Ogilby, Master of the Revels, and, despite a collapse in 1671 and 1701, and a ‘rebuilding in 1735’, it remained the most important theatre in Dublin until it closed its doors in 1788, claiming the title of ‘Theatre Royal’ for much of this period. The first play performed was Fletcher’s ‘wit without money’ and the succeeding historical records, which document the great characters involved, the students riots and general intrigue, provide a social history of Dublin society when theatre was an integral part of the life of all city dwellers.

More details on the excavations here

http://www.mglarc.com/index.php/dublin-based/223-smock-alley-theatre.html



So what and who performed?


EDIT - I found this gem

Smock-alley Theatre catered a great deal for the taste of the day in the matter of ballad operas, or musical comedies. Henry Brooke's Jack the Giant Queller (1748) was an enormous success, but, as some of the songs were considered of a Jacobite and satirical tendency "it was prohibited after one night's performance."[1] This opera teems with old Irish airs. At the close of the year 1749, J. F. Lampe and Pasquali were engaged at Smock-alley; and the Charitable Musical Society, whose funds amounted to £300, engaged for that sum Lampe and Pasquali for a series of concerts. In 1750 this society had released 1,200 prisoners, whose debts and fees exceeded £9,000.

http://www.libraryireland.com/IrishMusic/XXVI.php

So who have you got here.

Henry Brooke was an Irish Novelist and Dramatist who was anti censorship and would have used satire as a tool to get around it.

John Frederick Sharpe was an English musician and friend of Handel whose Messiah Premiered in Dublin and Pasquali an Italian Muso. They wrote popular opera's.

So really the Theatre was quiet subversive but also Irish theatre attracted world class talent of its day.It was entertainment.

This readable essay by Oliver Goldsmith the 18th Century Dramatist discusses it

http://www.theatredatabase.com/18th_century/essay_on_the_theatre_001.html

His Biography

http://www.theatredatabase.com/18th_century/oliver_goldsmith_001.html

You also had George Farquhar

http://www.theatredatabase.com/18th_century/george_farquhar_001.html

And Richard Brinsley Sheridan

http://www.theatredatabase.com/18th_century/richard_brinsley_sheridan_001.html

So you had a very cosmopolitan base at the very very begining.

Elenxor

Well for what it's worth....I love this thread.

johnny_doyle

Dublin born Cedric Gibbons designed the statuette used in the Oscars.

"English" actor Richard Todd was born in Dublin.

One of the first black English actresses to appear on the stage in Dublin was my Gt Aunt, Ida Shepley. She also did stints in Broadway and the West End. She had been trained by the daughter of one of the first black actors to appear in Ireland, Ira Aldridge, who appeared in Dublin in 1831.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ira_Aldridge

brianthebard

MarchDub wrote: »

Look, when you start dragging out that old chestnut - "comely maidens at the crossroads" [taken out of context I must say] and try to replace it with a phony air brushed photo - for what other purpose than to make a statement that you reject the phony past with a phony present - then I know you are only trying to shock and shake up what you see as false conventions.

This is not history - it is based on gossip, hearsay [maybe a personal agenda] and tabloid newspaper tactics. That is all I am saying.

Let's just call it a heritage thread so and leave the off topic stuff at that.

CDfm

johnny_doyle wrote: »

Dublin born Cedric Gibbons designed the statuette used in the Oscars.

"English" actor Richard Todd was born in Dublin.

One of the first black English actresses to appear on the stage in Dublin was my Gt Aunt, Ida Shepley. She also did stints in Broadway and the West End. She had been trained by the daughter of one of the first black actors to appear in Ireland, Ira Aldridge, who appeared in Dublin in 1831.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ira_Aldridge

Wow -thats impressive i would love to know more

CDfm

johnny_doyle wrote: »

One of the first black English actresses to appear on the stage in Dublin was my Gt Aunt, Ida Shepley. She also did stints in Broadway and the West End. She had been trained by the daughter of one of the first black actors to appear in Ireland, Ira Aldridge, who appeared in Dublin in 1831.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ira_Aldridge

A bit of a shakespeare fan well you will appreciate these.

David Garrick , the McDreamy of this day co managed Smock Alley during 1745/46.

Tom King, probably the leading comic actor after Garrick of that era in London spend most of the 1750's working in Smock Alley.

So thats the kind of talent that was kncking around there.

Preceeding Smock Alley was the the Theatre Royal Werbugh Street.

Another Theatre opened up in the 1730s

Now remembered primarily for having discovered the Irish actress Margaret Woffington, Madame Violante was a celebrated rope-dancer who opened her own theater in Dublin in 1730, after which it operated sporadically until 1735 (Greene and Clark 25-28). (4) Since Violante did not have a royal patent, she was not entitled to produce "legitimate" theater. At first she restricted herself to acrobatics, dance, and pantomime, but eventually branched out into drama--at which point the government closed her down. As William Chetwood remarks in his 1749 history of the Irish theater, Violante's company of young actors and actresses "play'd several Dramatic pieces with grotesque entertainments, till stop'd by the Lord Mayor of the City of Dublin, Mrs. Violante, having no Sanction, or proper Authority to exhibit such Entertainment. The Place is put to another use" (Chetwood 61). The "other use," as Chetwood's footnote to this passage informs us, was as the original site of the Lying-In Hospital (61n).

MarchDub

brianthebard wrote: »

Let's just call it a heritage thread so and leave the off topic stuff at that.

Oh, is that what it's called? I thought the erotic OP photo was called 'the exploitation or the objectification of women' but come to think of it you're right, that's all part of our heritage.

CDfm

MarchDub wrote: »

Oh, is that what it's called? I thought the erotic OP photo was called 'the exploitation or the objectification of women' but come to think of it you're right, that's all part of our heritage.

No MarchDub -I am taking a particular historical event that happened in Tralee , and as a starting point for a thread I am using a picture to convey what the bishops objections might have been about for people who do not know and what the show they were protesting about may have been about.

You make an interesting point but I see it as how the power of the bishops could" ban" an event and you are an unlikely ally for their actions when there was a popular demand for the Show.As its Tralee I wonder if there is room to do a Rose of Tralee thread in that context.The first beauty pageants in Ireland etc and what our Irish glamour defintitions were.

It always strikes me that the history forum is always guy stuff and no attempt is made to widen what we talk about.

CDfm

Here is a lively little piece on Peggy Woffington

CHAPTER III
WOFFINGTON
1742-1745

1

FACTS about the origins of Margaret Woffington (as she signed her-
self) are extremely hard to find. Legends abound. Even the sur-
name which she made famous has been declared to be one which she
adopted for stage purposes in place of the less interesting Murphy.
Her date of birth has been given as anything between 1713 and 1720.
She never produced any visible relatives except a widowed mother,
a devout Catholic, and a very beautiful, much younger sister, Mary,
"Polly". But the name of Woffington was not uncommon in
Dublin since 1675, and it seems probable that she was the daughter
of one Arthur or John Woffington, a journeyman bricklayer, who
died when she was very young, according to one account, by falling
off a ladder. If it be true that a Robert Woffington, a Vicar Choral
at St Patrick's Cathedral, was her uncle, neither ever acknowledged
the relationship. William Rufus Chetwood, actor, prompter and
dramatist, owner of a bookshop over Tom's Coffee-House in Covent
Garden, and a contemporary, staunchly claims that she was "born
of reputable parents who gave her a genteel education". When
Garrick, aged twenty-three, first saw her perform, in 1740, she may
have been four years his senior, or three years younger; but her
youth had been far from sheltered. It had been spent in dire poverty.
Her mother was said to have failed to pay the rent for a huckster's
shop on a Dublin quayside and descended to selling watercress in the
streets. Charles Lee Lewes, who became an actor when Woffington
was in her prime, believed that she had assisted her mother as a
street-seller. "I have met with more than one in Dublin who
assured me that they remembered to have seen the lovely Peggy,
with a little dish upon her hand, and without shoes to cover her
delicate feet, crying through College Green, Dame Street and other
parts of that end of the town. 'All this fine salad for a ha'penny!
All for a ha'penny! All for a ha'penny here!'" About 1727, a
French acrobat, Madame Violante, was performing in a booth-
theatre near College Green. Tom King, who acted in Dublin as a
beginner when Margaret Woffington was a leading lady, believed that
her stage career had begun as a baby, suspended in a basket attached
to the feet of Madame Violante in a rope-walking act. As a child-

http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&docId=3597254

A nice little piece here about Signora Violante and her Dance Troupe .

Now after she established in 1729 you had a number of other "Booth" theatres set up

http://www.jstor.org/pss/30071051


Peggy Woffington was a leading lady with the Smock Alley Company when Tom King was in Dublin.

Here is a link about the theatres in Dublin c 1720 -45 for those who are interested
- you had Smock Alley -for people of Quality, Aungier St and another plus Signora Violante and her former lead dancer with their Booth Theatres. Add to this Am-Dram etc at Dublin Castle and the strollers and the private "pub shows" and it is fairly diverse.

http://books.google.ie/books?id=l11r99P7I9MC&pg=PA27&lpg=PA27&dq=booth+theatres+dublin&source=bl&ots=GEmrcKzm7d&sig=uSVMQS5nYmK24_cldzavdEPD6kg&hl=en&ei=IhU7TJeWMZPw0wTektDoAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CCkQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=booth%20theatres%20dublin&f=false

CDfm

She was the only female member and President of the Liberty Beefsteak Club founded by Thomas Sheridan in 1749.

She was a celebrated actress in Georgian London and lived openly with David Garrick and had numerous affairs including the Earl of Darnley.



She was generous supporting her mother and her sister Mary (Polly) another beauty. She also funded some Alms houses for the Poor.

She also worked on her acting and a shrill voice worked more for comedy than tragedy and she practiced to eliminate it.

Interestingly, when age and illness meant she could no longer work she lived well supporting herself having left Garrick years earlier. Celebreties in that era such as Tom King & Ned Shutter both died in poverty.

Peggy had a nightclub named after her - what became Club Nassau.



Next time I pass Molly Malones statue in College Green - I will be thinking

'All this fine salad for a ha'penny!
All for a ha'penny! All for a ha'penny here

Here's to Margaret Woffington.

CDfm

And Mary (Polly) Woffington a/k/a Mrs Cholmondeley- what happened to her.

Well she married well and had Dr Johnson & Horace Walpole as friends and advisors.

Read a bit here.

http://books.google.ie/books?id=5A4EHRa1dfcC&pg=PA227&lpg=PA227&dq=mary+woffington+descendants&source=bl&ots=ISgCNwac-O&sig=RMuUpxalmyA6qNIj_FAFLTTUhqo&hl=en&ei=GVw7TL7ZIaKI0wTUsanlAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CBkQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false

CDfm

Milo O'Shea



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milo_O'Shea

This guy is a legend and starred in the movie version of Ulysses

An amazingly versatile actor he popped up movies as a character actor every bit as much as Cyril Cusack. Judges, priests etc and you might have seen him in Spin City and the West Wing.

He turned up in Barberrella with Jane Fonda - now this was one controversial movie. Is it art or a french skinflick :eek:

Where doyou go after playing Leopold Bloom .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbarella_(film)

He is also a very accomplised and daring stage actor.

Morlar

This thread just gets further and further away from having anything to do with either history or heritage in my opinion.

CDfm

Morlar wrote: »

This thread just gets further and further away from having anything to do with either history or heritage in my opinion.

History deals with personalities and past events from the past that helped to shape the present.

Margaret Woffington is every bit a part of it as Wolfe Tone and popular culture gives us an insight of how people lived and their society.She was a real life Molly Malone.

Have you ever wondered if Cherie Blair daughter of the actor Tony Booth is an any way connected to the US John Wilkes Booth the actor who assasinated Abraham Lincoln. Well I do.(must check that)

EDIT - found something

Following another thread, I have now pinned down the relationship
between Cherie Blair, wife of Tony Blair, and John Wilkes Booth, the
assassin of Abraham Lincoln. Curiously enough, this cropped up only
this morning in the Daily Mail gossip column as part of an item about
Harrison Ford playing the man who killed Booth in a new film. The
relationship is also mentioned on several websites found with Google.

John Wilkes Booth's father was Junius Brutus Booth, born in London in
1796. He had a younger brother born in 1798, called Algernon Sydney
Booth. They were the sons of Richard Booth and Elizabeth Game, who
were married in London in 1795. It seems Algernon Sydney Booth was
the great-great-grandfather of the actor Tony (Anthony) Booth,
Cherie's father, who was born in Liverpool in 1931.

Junius Booth and his second wife Mary Ann Holmes left England in 1821
and John Wilkes Booth was born in 1838. The rest, as they say, is
history. Most of the events are on the IGI, albeit LDS private
submissions. However, with such well-known and high-profile people,
it seems fairly likely we can accept them for once.

http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Soc/soc.genealogy.britain/2006-02/msg01867.html

And the Blairs Irish connections

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1211450/The-young-OBlairs--Former-Prime-Ministers-children-Irish-passports-thanks-grandmother.html

And it seems the Blairs stayed in the Lincoln Bedroom at the White House.

Off topic I know but it is fun .

Morlar

CDfm wrote: »

History deals with personalities and past events from the past that helped to shape the present.

Like milo O'Shea ?

Why not Heath Ledger while your at it. Or is it just dead Irish celebrities ?

brianthebard

Morlar there's already a mod warning in thread about off topic posting on the first page. If you haven't read it I suggest you should. I don't see any difference between this sort of thread and documentaries on tv such as 'who do you think you are' or TG4's gangs in America programmes, or even RTE's reeling in the years. If anything this thread is just a specific example of the sort of topics they cover in rity. Now I won't have any more off topic questions about the validity of the thread. Mod.

CDfm

johnny_doyle wrote: »

Dublin born Cedric Gibbons designed the statuette used in the Oscars.

"English" actor Richard Todd was born in Dublin.

One of the first black English actresses to appear on the stage in Dublin was my Gt Aunt, Ida Shepley. She also did stints in Broadway and the West End. She had been trained by the daughter of one of the first black actors to appear in Ireland, Ira Aldridge, who appeared in Dublin in 1831.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ira_Aldridge

Being called a "Roscius" is an accolade afforded a Shakespearean actor by their peers and theatre managers. He was praised by Edmund Kean who was probably one of the best Shakesperean actors of all time.

Confronted with the persistent disparagement and harrassment that black actors had to endure in the antebellum United States, Aldridge emigrated to England, where he became a dresser to the British actor Henry Wallack. He gradually progressed to increasingly larger roles; by 1825, he had top billing at London's Coburg Theatre as Oronoko in A Slave's Revenge, soon to be followed by the role of Gambia in The Slave and the title role of Shakespeare's Othello. He also played major roles in plays such as The Castle Spectre and The Padlock and played several roles of specifically white characters, including Captain Dirk Hatteraick and Bertram in Rev. R. C. Maturin's Bertram, the title role in Shakespeare's Richard III (play), and Shylock in The Merchant of Venice.

By the 1830s, he had married an English woman named Margaret Gill, and earned the cognomen the "African Roscius". In 1831 he successfully played in Dublin, several locations in southern Ireland, Bath, and Edinburgh. Edmund Kean praised his Othello; some took him to task for taking liberties with the text, while others attacked his race.

http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/ira-aldridge/

http://www.lib.subr.edu/BLACK_HISTORY/Aldridge,_Ira_Frederick_3.pdf

On your great aunt

Successful black shows on the 1940s London stage included the musical 'Calypso', featuring the West Indian actor Edric Connor, and the stage play 'Deep are the Roots' starring Gordon Heath.
The Negro Repertory Arts Theatre was founded by Robert Adams and produced many plays including Eugene O'Neill's play 'All God's Chillun Got Wings', a play about an inter-racial love affair between a white woman and a black man, at Colchester in 1944.
In 1946 Ida Shepley appeared in the Unity Worker's Theatre revival of 'All God's Chillun Got Wings', and the first black British dance company, Ballet Negres was established.

Ida Shepley is standing

Born in Crewe, England (UK) in 1908, Ida Shepley trained as a singer with voice coach Amanda Ira Aldridge, daughter of the great black actor, Ira Aldridge, before joining the radical company at Unity Worker's Theatre. Shepley was one of only two black actors in the company in this Unity production, so (as seen above) white actors playing black characters had to 'black up'.
http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/theatre_performance/features/black_performance/history/1940-1969/index.html

She also had a TV career

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1553896/filmogenre

CDfm

Malone, Edmond, 1741–1812, English literary critic and Shakespearean scholar, b. Ireland. His studies (1778) in the chronology of Shakespeare's plays are still considered highly valuable. He was among the first to see through the supposed antiquity of the poems of Thomas Chatterton, and in 1796 he exposed the Shakespearean forgeries of William Ireland. His monumental edition of Shakespeare was left unfinished at his death and was completed (21 vol., 1821) by Boswell's son James. The Malone Society, founded in 1907 for the purpose of furthering the study of early English drama by printing dramatic texts and documents, was named after him.

http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0831409.html

This guy was the foremost Shakespearean Scholar of his day and even today. If you studied Shakespeare at school you probably did so from a version that he compiled and became the standard in use.

He was a bit of a detective too exposing the forger William Ireland.

Where you get plays you get writers ,adapters and support staff.

This guy was rather special.

So why put him in. Lots of actors worked their way up from the lower classes and this guy was an intellectual. So the acting profession was fairly egalitarian.

CDfm

If you have ever heard the song "Biddy Mulligan the Pride of the Coombe" you have heard of this guy Jimmy O'Dea. Probably the finest irish Music Hall artist.

He did some work overseas on tour and some movie parts.

I have posted the bio below almost in its entirety but thats to show that there are other Theatres such as the Empire and the Queens that were different to the Abbey.

There was also a difference between the type of work they produced and O'Deas genre.

You can also listen to him doing Joyces Anna Livia enjoy.

JIMMY JIMMY


Jun 9th, 2008 by Conor McCabe


More albums from St. Vincent’s on Sean McDermott Street. This one is a collection of the best sketches of comic duo, Jimmy O’Dea and Harry O’Donovan. The following comes from the album sleeve notes, written by Matthew Murtagh:-
“Born in Lower Bridge Street in the heart of old Dublin - not far from “Biddy Mulligan´s” Coombe - on April 28th, 1899, Jimmy O’Dea was one of eleven children, four of whom went on the stage. His mother ran a small toy shop to supplement the earnings of his father, who worked as an ironmonger. Given the benefit of a first-class education and having been blooded with an amateur dramatic company, the Kilronan Players, Jimmy plucked up enough courage to suggest to his parents that his future might lie in a careers as an actor. His father gave him a stern look: “son, I´d rather see you in your coffin.” Instead he was apprenticed to an optician. Undeterred he continued with his stage work and ambitions, graduating to the Irish theatre in Hardwicke Street and a propitious association with actor-producer John McDonagh, in whose company he recalled, amongst other roles, that of the old man-servant, Firs, in Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard” in 1920. When, shortly after, MacDonagh produced his comedy play, “The Irish Jew” at the Empire (now Olympia) Theatre, he gave the young actor a choice cameo role to portray, one which proved to be the laughter hit of the evening.


“Around this period he qualified as an optician, and still only 21 set up his own business (later hen he became a full-time actor this enterprise was disposed of to his sister, Rita). After a season with Madame Kirdwood-Hackett´s Repertory Company at the Abbey Theatre in George Bernard Shaw plays, Jimmy rejoined MacDonagh to appear in his Irish revues, the first of which, “Dublin To-Night”, was produced at the Queen’s Theatre on February 4th, 1924. In a new edition of the same revue at the Olympia Theatre the following August he donned female attire for the first time when he took the part of the landlady in a sketch, “Our Visitors”, which was such a success before packed houses that by popular demand it had to be repeated in a subsequent revue, “Next Stop, Darling”. In unbounded versatility of character acting, ranging from Napoleon to the country lad “up on the last load”, Jimmy O’Dea rapidly rose to the rank of “Ireland’s Representative Comedian”. During the 1927 he went on his first English tour in MacDonagh’s revue, “The Goods”, only to learn on his return that John MacDonagh, who had made him a star, was about to emigrate to America. But the gloomy news was forgotten after a fortunate encounter with fellow-Dubliner Harry O’Donovan. A chance meeting in a Dublin street of those two actors, whose paths had crossed in several stage plays some years earlier, brought a partnership sealed with a handshake and a bottle of stout in the nearest pub. Practically broke - Harry had to sell his piano - they scraped up enough money (?20) to launch their first show, a revue “we’re Here” at the Queens Theatre in April 1928.”

“The passing of Jimmy O’Dea on January 7th 1965, left a void which may never be filled, for he was undoubtedly the greatest native comedian who ever graced the footlights. Although no more than 5 feet 4 inches in height, he was a giant of the Irish theatrical scene. Harry O’Donovan outlived his partner by several years, his death taking place on November 3rd, 1973.”
Jimmy O’Dea´s family moved to Capel street, some time after the start of the century. They are listed in the 1911 census as living at 162 Capel Street, Dublin. It was while living there that O’Dea became friends with future Taoiseach, Sean Lemass - O’Dea would later serve as best man at Lemass’ wedding.

http://dublinopinion.com/2008/06/09/jimmy-jimmy/

sensibleken

Dusty sprigfield was born to an Irish family and spent a lot of time here. the video for Roll Away features cregg castle in Galway and the Poulabrone Dolmen

CDfm

And there were cowboys that were very popular.

Monday, 5 October 1998 The Independent





1 SEPTEMBER 1939 is imprinted forever as "the day war broke out", thanks to the immortal broadcasts by the then Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, and the radio comedian Robb Wilton. Three days later Louis Ellman, manager of the Theatre Royal Dublin, cabled a somewhat different news bulletin to the President of Republic Pictures:
Gene Autry's personal appearance broke all existing box-office records since we opened. Autry played to 80,000 paid admissions. Police records estimate Autry's parade drew on the streets 75,000 people, the largest crowd ever assembled in all Dublin history.
Clearly the Irish knew what was important in the world of that dark September.
Gene Autry, billed by his studio as "Public Cowboy Number One", had arrived in London in August 1939, his first ever trip outside his native America. With him, of course, came his horse Champion, a golden Palomino who would in time receive his own television series and signature tune, "Champion the Wonder Horse", sung by the pop star Frankie Laine. But back in 1939 Champion hit his first British headlines when Autry rode him up the steps and into the Savoy Hotel. "Shooting irons must be parked with hats" ran the footnote on the press invitations.

Louis Elmann and the Theatre Royal had Judy Garland of the Wizard of Oz perform - not to sure about Toto

The fourth Theatre Royal opened on September 23, 1935 in Hawkins Street. It was a large art deco building designed for an audience of 3,700 people seated and 300 standing, and was intended for use as both theatre and cinema. It also housed the Regal Rooms Restaurant. The theatre had a resident 25-piece orchestra under the direction of Jimmy Campbell and a troupe of singer-dancers, the Royalettes. From the beginning, the sheer size of the building made it difficult for the Royal to remain economically viable. The policy adopted at first to confront this problem was to book big-name stars from overseas to fill the building. These included Gracie Fields, George Formby, Max Wall, Max Miller and Jimmy Durante. However these shows rarely made a profit.
In 1936, the Royal was acquired by Patrick Wall and Louis Elliman, who also owned the Gaiety. With the outbreak of the Second World War, Wall and Elliman were forced to keep the two theatres going with native talent only. This led to the emergence of a raft of Irish acts who were to provide the mainstay of the Royal's output for the remainder of its existence. These included such Irish household names as Jimmy O'Dea, Harry O'Donovan, Maureen Potter, Danny Cummins, ((Mike Nolan)), Alice Dalgarno, Noel Purcell, Micheál MacLiammoir, Cecil Sheridan, Jack Cruise and Patricia Cahill. In July 1951 Judy Garland appeared for a series of sold out performances and was received with tremendous ovations. The legendary singer sang from her dressing room window to hundreds of people who were unable to get tickets and critics dubbed her "America's Colleen" She drew the largest crowds up until that time and was only surpassed by the visits to Ireland of United States President John F. Kennedy and the Pope in the 1960s. Popular Irish American entertainer Carmel Quinn also made her singing debut here during the early 1950s. Under pressure from rising overheads and the increasing popularity of the cinema and the introduction of television, the fourth Theatre Royal, Dublin closed its doors on June 30, 1962.

CDfm

[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Noel Purcell was a bit of an Irish Icon often co-starring with Jimmy O'Dea .He also supplemented his theatre income with film and tv work abroad. [/FONT][/FONT]


[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]

[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]GROWING UP WITH NOEL PURCELL (PART 1)[/FONT]
[FONT=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif]By Patrick Purcell[/FONT]

[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]‘The Man me mother married was a smashin’ lookin’ chap,
With a lovely suit of Navy Blue and a gorgeous stripey cap,
That’s accordin’ to a photo that was took so long ago,
Me mother swears it was me Da, I’m sure I wouldn’t know!’
(Poem by Leo Maguire)[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]My father, Noel Purcell, Actor, Comedian and Freeman of the City of Dublin, was born in December 1900. He grew up in the same way many children did in those days, going to the Christian Brothers schools and doing odd jobs for pocket money.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]He became a call boy at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin and, from that, developed a love of the theatrical life. His mother persuaded him to take up a trade before trying anything so chancy, so he apprenticed as a shopfitter and cabinet maker to Bex and Co.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]His theatrical and movie work are legendary, and have been ably described in ‘Noel Purcell’ by Michael B. Ryan. I want to share his humanity, the real man behind the stage and screen star, his pride in his work, his incredible humility for all his success and his vulnerability to a sob story or anyone in trouble. But, most of all, I want to show him as MY DAD.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Dad married Eileen Marmion, in 1941 and had four boys, Michael, born in 1942, Glynn, 1943, myself in 1946 and finally Victor in 1953.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]My first memory of Dad was as a result of a major incident. I was born at home in Sandymount. I must have been about two or three years old. Mum was in the kitchen doing the laundry in an electric washing machine with one of those clothes rollers on top for squeezing the water out.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Well, sure enough, muggins put his little paw into the moving rollers and mum heard me calling and was able to hit a quick release bar on top to stop me being sucked all the way through! I was up to my armpit by then and so, when the spring loaded top flew up, it got me smack in the mouth.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]I can remember the blood all over the clean washing and crying fit to bust when this enormous, yet gentle, arm picked me up and carried me to the car and off to the hospital. My face was a right mess and I swallowed a few teeth, but it was the memory of feeling secure in Dad’s big hug and that everything was going to be all right that I remember, rather than the pain.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]I remember Dad coming home from somewhere (Fiji, I think,) having gone through the USA and I got a green satin one-piece insulated jump suit. Of course, I had to test this in the first snow and so nearly froze to death, because it was warm at first, but not waterproof.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]I loved water with a passion. Dad was a great swimmer and had a beautiful crawl action, which he taught me. We used to go down to the Pigeon House and out along the South Wall to the Half Moon Swimming Club, Costello’s and the Shelley Banks. [/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]We lived for quite a few years at 2, Newbrige Drive, Sandymount. I was sent (screaming my head off!) to St. Mary’s Star of the Sea School. It was there I discovered, painfully, that I wasn’t like other kids. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I must have seemed to the others from less well-off families like a really spoilt brat.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]I wasn’t aware, naturally, at the time, that jealousy existed, so I thought I was a freak of some sort, because I got beaten up so regularly. The funny thing is we weren’t that well-off at all. [/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Dad, for all his fame, wasn’t that well paid, like actors are today. I couldn’t go to the secondary school of my choice, Blackrock College, because the fees were more than we could afford. Anyway, at ‘De Star’ I did have a few chums, mostly from Newbridge Avenue and Strand Road.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]I remember Dad used to get a good deal on cars from Tommy McCairns, of McCairn’s motor fame. He had the General Motors franchise and so Dad used to get Dodges, Chevrolets and Vauxhalls at a good rate. I didn’t realize is at the time, but Tommy knew his onions from a marketing point of view, in that Dad made an excellent salesman just driving around.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]I remember Dad with a trailer he got on loan from the Abbey Delivery Service on Mount Street, driving us kids up and down Newbridge Avenue in the trailer, hanging on like grim death and yelling with the fun. Of course, he would be had up for that kind of thing these days, but it was so innocent and I’m sure what we thought was 100 mph was a far more sedate pace. [/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]The father of Rodney Devitt had a motor bike and we used to be on the pillion (no crash helmets or anything) and whizzing along at an insane 15mph. At that time, the trams used to still run to Sandymount Tower, and all the kids, including my brothers, made various trips to the Emergency at Sir Patrick Dunn’s Hospital with broken limbs after getting our bicycle wheels caught in the tram tracks.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Dad’s Mother lived in the house he was born in, at Lower Mercer Street, close to St Stephen’s Green and 100 yards from the Gaiety Theatre. We used to visit her there regularly and she lived over her (by then closed) antique shop.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]I remember her as a lovely, white-haired lady, who always had little presents or sweets for me and my two brothers. I was six when she died in 1952, aged in her eighties, and I remember Dad being so very sad. I still remember the funeral to Glasnevin.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]It took Dad a long time to get over it, but being the trouper he was, he never let it interfere with making the punters laugh at the Theatre Royal or the Gaiety.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Patrick has kindly allowed us to print extracts from his book, as yet unpublished. Watch out for more recollections in future editions. (Ed) [/FONT]

Movie and TV appearences here

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0700740/

CDfm

The second performer in the OP is Barry Fitzgerald/William Shields an Irish Character Actor who was a bona fide Hollywood star.

A character actor and comedian he was in a different league to O'Dea and Purcell.

He is best remembered now for his role in the now cult movie "the Quiet Man" with John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara.

Now for those who might scoff at the movie his screen presence and economy of movement on camera would make a better actor than Olivier who could not make such an easy transition between stage and screen.

Oliviers genre was Shakespeare and the Irish Dramatic revival scene.

John Feeny a/k/a John Ford directed and the movie was a huge sucess and was in the top 10 box office draws in its year of release 1952.Ford one 4 Academy Awards as Best Director.

I wonder how much Ryans Daughter as a movie owes to the Quiet Man.

Barry Fitzgeralds death in 1966 just about preceeded Mansfields Irish visit.

<H1>Barry Fitzgerald Biography

Famous Irish Character Actor of Stage and Screen






Feb 23, 2008 Michael Rowland
Barry Fitzgerald - goldenyears.com


Biography of Barry Fitzgerald, Oscar-winning Irish character actor and star of "Going My Way" and "The Quiet Man".




If you walk down Hollywood Boulevard and stop at 6252, you will find, among the many stars in the Hollywood Walk of Fame™, the name of an Irish actor whose career path began at Dublin’s famed Abbey Theater. This is his story.
Early Life

William Shields was born in Dublin on March 10, 1888. He was educated at Merchant Taylor’s Protestant School, and trained to enter the world of banking. He ended up joining the Irish civil service and worked as junior executive at the Unemployment Insurance Division while moonlighting as an extra at the Abbey Theater.
The Stage Beckons

His interest in amateur drama surfaced at an early age and continually grew until it dominated his career choices. William flubbed his first speaking line in a 1915 production and sent the audience into a hearty round of laughter. For the rest of his life, he maintained he became a comedian right then and there.
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William subsequently starred in the Abbey’s production of Juno and the Paycock by the great playwright, Sean O’Casey. He would recreate that role in his film debut in 1930 for director Alfred Hitchcock. Director John Ford brought the actor to America in 1935 to appear in another O’Casey classic, The Plough and the Stars. Thus began a career that would see him make more than 40 feature films, among them How Green Was My Valley and The Quiet Man.
A Family Business

William Shields’ is, perhaps, best loved for his role as Michaleen Oge Flynn, the often-tipsy, wisecracking matchmaker in The Quiet Man. Fans of the movie may also remember the Protestant minister, Cyril “Snuffy” Playfair, who counseled John Wayne’s character about Irish women and customs. Arthur Shields, who was William’s brother in real life, played the Reverend Playfair. Arthur had a long career as a director and character actor, but never achieved the notoriety that William did. (Actually, it is difficult to name another supporting actor who achieved the level of success and fame that William did.)
A Full and Honored Career

A lifelong Protestant, he won two Academy Awards® for his portrayal of Catholic priest Father Fitzgibbon in Going My Way in 1944, claiming the Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor Oscars® for the same role. He was the only actor ever to be so honored, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences immediately changed the rules to prevent another such occurrence. (Ironically, William would later accidentally knock the head right off his Best Supporting Actor Oscar while practicing his golf swing.)
Going Home

William returned to Ireland in 1959 and made his last picture, “Broth of a Boy”, in which he played a 110-year-old poacher. He passed away in his beloved Dublin on January 4, 1966.
.relatedStyle {width: 300px; float: right; padding-left: 15px; margin-bottom:10px; margin-left:10px; padding-top:10px; border-top:1px solid #CCCCCC; border-bottom:1px solid #CCCCCC;}.relatedContent {padding-bottom: 15px; color:#336666}.relatedHeading{padding-bottom: 15px}.relatedTitle{}Also on Suite101

Maureen O'Hara Biography
Biography of Maureen O'Hara, famous Irish film actress and star of "How Green Was My Valley" and "The Quiet Man"

So, when you stroll down Hollywood Boulevard and look at the stars in the Walk of Fame, don’t bother looking for William Shields; you won’t find his name on any stars. However, you will find the stage name of a short, Irish actor who walked tall in American and international theater: Barry Fitzgerald.


Read more at Suite101: Barry Fitzgerald Biography: Famous Irish Character Actor of Stage and Screen http://film-stars.suite101.com/article.cfm/barry_fitzgerald_biography#ixzz0trtAqOMg

</H1>
Arthur Shields had a supporting role as Rev Playfair who was Barry's real life brother fought in the 1916 Rising and was imprisoned in Frongoch.

johnny_doyle

I read a biography of James Stewart a while back and was surprised to find that his family were from Co Antrim.

The film Saving Private Ryan was based very loosely on the Niland brothers, Frederick Niland in particular. Their family was originally from Co Mayo.

http://www.sproe.com/n/fritz-niland.html

http://www.canisius.edu/archives/niland.asp

The film The Shiralee with Peter Finch was based on the book written by Australian writer D'Arcy Niland. His family were originally Dublin based coopers at Guinness.

http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A150557b.htm

Judgement Day

CDfm wrote: »

If you have ever heard the song "Biddy Mulligan the Pride of the Coombe" you have heard of this guy Jimmy O'Dea. Probably the finest irish Music Hall artist.

He did some work overseas on tour and some movie parts.

I have posted the bio below almost in its entirety but thats to show that there are other Theatres such as the Empire and the Queens that were different to the Abbey.

There was also a difference between the type of work they produced and O'Deas genre.

You can also listen to him doing Joyces Anna Livia enjoy.

CDfm - I don't know where you get the time and energy for all your research. Another great thread!

Jimmy O'Dea was one of the greats. I have several Mrs.Mulligan 78s - Mrs.Mulligan at the Talkies and Mrs.Mulligan on the Tram. Classics! The Tony Hancock of his day but perhaps not so morose. I have the latter one on tape which I will try and burn to CD upload to You Tube and link to here but don't hold your breath.

CDfm

Judgement Day wrote: »

CDfm - I don't know where you get the time and energy for all your research. Another great thread!

I don't research exhaustively but if I see stuff that genuinely interests me I am off.

Biddy Mulligan vs Mrs Brown - no contest - but its a comedy genre and it makes you appreciate it more.



I would love to see a thread on the history of irish panto dames & panto but grew up in Cork but know very little. Dublin had the music halls.

mikemac

Karl Malden died in 2009, Oscar winning actor.

Played an Irish-American priest in On The Waterfront, great film, best B&W film I've seen anyway

Here is with Marlon Brando




Check out this performance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDH3wvlC9pY

CDfm

Dave Allen (David O'Mahoney 1936-2005)

Witty, pithy, and urbane and master of modern stand-up.

Never got the welcome from RTE that he deserved and recieved in the UK, Oz and Canada.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCOZQSRzKmU

Judgement Day

Loved Dave Allen and I was lucky enough to see him once in the Gaiety back in the late 1970s - a bit boozy and anti-church for good old RTE - ahead of his time in the latter respect.

CDfm

I read that boozy was part of the act and that it was yusually ginger ale on the glass and a nice champagne after the show. His brother a former journalist was a down and out in London. A few modern day Irish comedians have borrowed this part of his act and it has brought them success:rolleyes:

CDfm

Edward Mulhare from Cork co-starred with the Hoff in Knight Rider

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0611811/

Often compared to Rex Harrison, Mulhare had his two greatest US successes inheriting roles that Harrison created. On Broadway, Mulhare succeeded Harrison as Henry Higgins in "My Fair Lady" when the latter joined the London company, playing the part for most of the play's remaining Broadway run. On television, Mulhare played the role of the ghost of Captain Daniel Gregg in the TV version of "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir", a role Harrison had created two decades earlier in the film version.

Born in 1923 career as a leading man of stage, screen and TV spanned from the 50's until his death in 1997 with appearences on Baywatch.He started of in the Gate in Dublin and worked with Gielgud in London.

He took over his first major role from Rex Harrison on broadway in 1956 as Professor Higgins in My Fair Lady which in itself was a major accomplishment and appeared on the Ed Sullivan show -the major chat show in the USA from which both Elvis and the Beatles launched their careers -3 times in 1957.

He also appeared in movies such as Von Ryans express and was a regular guest in many TV shows.

I never knew he was a Corkman unlike his fellow corkman Daniel Carroll



Better known as Danny La Rue the British Drag Artiste

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BTbvFgh6Ig

CDfm

Putting lions in the picture

By Richard Collins
Monday, September 06, 2010
IT’S believed the lion that roars at the start of Metro Goldwyn Meyer films was born in Dublin Zoo.


But is this true, and, if so, how did a Dublin lion make it to Hollywood? Historian Catherine de Courcy examines the strange claim in a piece entitled Dublin Zoo and the MGM Lion, which appears in the current edition of Zoo Matters.

There must have been more than one MGM lion. The role, like that of Tarzan and James Bond, would have been played by various ‘actors’ over the years. The first feline star was filmed in the early 1920s, in black and white. With developments in film technology, new ‘takes’ would have been needed.

Colour film, 35mm and wide-screen formats, stereo sound and digital techniques would all have rendered previous sequences redundant. The maximum average lifespan of a lion is 24 years, so half a dozen actors may have performed the role.

Until the 1920s and 30s, Dublin’s lions were housed indoors and it seems unlikely an animal could have been satisfactorily filmed, given the lighting demands of cameras then. In 1941, the zoo opened an outdoor lion facility. With a landscaped, rocky backdrop and the animals separated from the public by a moat, the cats would have been more photogenic. In 1947, a camera team filmed one named Stephen, and de Courcy says this may have inspired the MGM story. There is still a possibility, she says, that the original star did hail from Dublin. According to an entry in online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, a lion named Slats featured from 1924 to 1928. He was said to have been born in Dublin in 1919. No birth certificate for Slats could be found among the zoo’s records, but two cubs were born that year. One remained in Dublin; the other appears to have been sold. Could the exile have been Slats? Dublin was an obvious venue for lion-filming; the Irish lion industry was world famous. The zoo began breeding the cats in the 1850s, with animals brought from Africa. Between 1857 and 1876, according to Dublin Zoo, an Illustrated History, 92 cubs were born here. The animals were celebrated for their health and beauty. Former US president, Ulysses Grant, was among the celebrities who came to see them. In 1949, the zoo was asked to loan 15 lions to gobble up Christians in Mervyn Le Roy’s Quo Vadis. The request was refused.

The King of Beasts is not the largest of the cats. That distinction goes to the tiger. The lion succeeded to the throne because, to westerners, he was a relatively local species; North Africa is closer than India, the nearest home of tigers. Lions roamed Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. The species became extinct in Europe and America at the end of the last ice age. The Biblical Lion of Judah is also gone. African populations have been decimated over the last few centuries, and lions are largely confined to reserves and national parks. Of the seven varieties that survive, the Asiatic lion is the most distinctive and most threatened. Only one population remains; 411 lions were counted at Gujarat’s Gir Forest national park, last April. A breeding programme, carried out by zoos, has produced 126 Asiatic cubs. These are distributed around wildlife parks in India and elsewhere. Ours is one of the international zoos involved in the conservation programme.

Sheila, the last representative of the Irish lion industry, is now 23. Will our great lion-breeding tradition end with her? By no means; it may soon enter its most important phase. Asiatic lion cubs are waiting in the wings. They can’t be sent to Dublin while Sheila is still there; she may be carrying residual infections. Keepers will be sad when she dies, but her demise may herald the start of a new lion-breeding era.

Dublin Zoo, an Illustrated History, by Catherine de Courcy, is published by the Collins Press. €18.99

This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Monday, September 06, 2010


Read more: http://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/richard-collins/putting-lions-in-the-picture-129914.html#ixzz1709VrZvS

JustinDee

Thread has tailed off somewhat with some flimsy links to Ireland in some sort of attempt to 'claim' certain personalities. A bit like claiming John F Kennedy.
Its more like faux genealogy rather the history of Irish people in the arts abroad. The Beatles, for example, were English. Not Irish. Their ancestors have little relevance.
I've even heard on radio, a media 'expert' claiming Diane Keaton as Irish. This is ridiculous as an Australian station claiming the Bee Gees, who are from Manchester, regardless of spending time in Aussie.

CDfm

JustinDee wrote: »

Thread has tailed off somewhat with some flimsy links to Ireland in some sort of attempt to 'claim' certain personalities. A bit like claiming John F Kennedy.
Its more like faux genealogy rather the history of Irish people in the arts abroad. The Beatles, for example, were English. Not Irish. Their ancestors have little relevance.

I take your point but the real relevance of the thread is that popular culture saw the Irish go abroad and foreigners come to Ireland.It is more to do with the cultural exchanges that occured to and from Ireland rather than claim people as Irish - the Farrows and the Beatles were to an extent part of the diaspora.

3 out of the 4 Beatles (the talented ones) had an Irish grandparent and they had matching suits like a showband. .

http://www.thebeatlesandireland.com/test_10.html

Now popular Irish culture was more than diddle eye di eye and Yeats poetry.

So the thread is about there was more to it than the Green Scene.

JustinDee

CDfm wrote: »

3 out of the 4 Beatles (the talented ones) had an Irish grandparent and they had matching suits like a showband. .
Now popular Irish culture was more than diddle eye di eye and Yeats poetry.

So the thread is about there was more to it than the Green Scene.

The only cultural exchange pertaining to The Beatles was with a range of Skiffle, American blues and 50s rock n roll. Brian Epstein came up with the suiting up. He was a Jewish north Londoner.
Surely there's more to a so-called cultural exchange than a grandparent?
In my opinion, there's no exchange in the case of The Beatles. Its one way and at best, incidental. Not influential.
I just find claiming them as something Ireland somehow gave the world as feeble.
These misnomers aside thread subject is interesting and contrary to some posts, it is relevant to the subject of history.

CDfm

LOL JustinDee - its a bit of fun and anything the crossed the water and came here or crossed the water from here and went elsewhere and found fame or notreity is fair game.

Its entertainment and if its a bit low brow -well thats better.

I am missing magicians and exotic dancers :cool:

JustinDee

No worries. Only yapping. I could chat about music and movies all day long.

CDfm

JustinDee wrote: »

No worries. Only yapping. I could chat about music and movies all day long.

There are a lot of guys here who like the serious history and culture angle - whereas me I like my tabloids and if a former nun named Assumpta became a stripper in Las Vegas I think she should be honoured here.

There must have been a lot of Irish music hall performers and musicians who made it elsewhere.

So any bits of trivia are more than welcome.

My favorite so far is Milo O'Shea going from filming James Joyce to the semi-porn Barberella. Class that.