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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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/

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.

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

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/

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.

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.

<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.
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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

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.

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