Murphy’s Town Hall Athenry 20 42 nd St., by Louis D’alton Peg O’ My Heart by J Hartley Manners 18th to 24th September 1933 – Miss Dorothy Grafton Musical Comedy & Dramatic Travelling Players performed 7 nights in the Hall, including the following plays (source: Hall Journal): 36 The Man From Toronto, a comedy in Three Acts by Douglas Murray Flotsam, by GH Saunders Miss Elizabeth’s Prisoner, by Frazer White Daddy-Long-Legs, a Jean Webster play, adapted from her 1912 novel of the same name The Cross Against The Sword, by GP White 37 It’s Downright ‘ell, by GH Saunders 23rd November 1933 – An old ticket stub records that the Athenry Coursing Club held a Dance in the Hall on 23rd November 1933 and this is confirmed in the Hall Journal. 10th December 1933 – Meeting held in the Hall in relation to the National Ploughing Competition being held in Athenry. Connacht Tribune 16th December 1933 reported the following on page 7: “A special meeting was held in the Town Hall, Athenry, on Sunday evening for the purpose of considering a method of obtaining the necessary number of horses for the national ploughing competition to be held at Athenry...” 38 28th January 1934 – Fine Gael Dance (source: Hall Journal). 12th February 1934 – National Ploughing Championships Grand Ceilidhe & Dance held in the Hall (Connacht Tribune 10th February 1934, page 10). 3rd March 1934 – The Connacht Tribune of this date reports as follows on page 4: 39 “A district executive, Fine Gael, meeting was held in the Town Hall, Athenry on Monday evening for the purpose of making arrangements for General O’Duffy’s meeting on Sunday next... Delegates were present for a radius of eight miles around Athenry. Immediately after... a ladies’ branch of the League of Youth was formed.” 22nd April 1934 – Connacht Sentinel of 24th April 1934, page 4, reports on a League of Youth Dance in the Town Hall (confirmed by Hall Journal entry): “ATHENRY DANCE A dance under the auspices of the Athenry branch of the League of Youth was held in the Town Hall, Athenry, on Sunday night. One hundred and fifty couples attended, and the music was supplied by the local band. The hall was tastefully decorated with blue, and blue was the chief colour worn by the dancers.” 40 29th April 1934 – Connacht Sentinel of 1st May 1934, page 3, reports on a Labour Dance in the Town Hall (see also Connacht Tribune May 1934, page 8): “A Labour dance, which was largely attended, was held in the Town Hall, Athenry, on Sunday night.” 1st June 1934 – I Am a Fugitive (from a Chain Gang), a 1932 Drama starring Paul Muni, Glenda Farrell, Helen Vinson and Preston Foster was screened in the Hall by Messrs Carron Brothers Fugitive (source: Hall Journal). Muni plays James Allen, a man wrongly convicted, imprisoned and sentenced to hard labour on a Chain Gang. 8th June 1934 – The Maid of the Mountain, (1932) starring Nancy Brown, Harry Welchman and Wallace Lupino was screened in the Hall by the Carron Brothers (source: Hall Journal). 15th June 1934 – The Sign of the Cross, (1932) starring Fredric March and Claudette Colbert (directed by Cecil B DeMille) was screened in the Hall by Carron Brothers (source: Hall Journal). 20th to 23rd September 1934 – The Good Companions, Maxwell Holles & His Company of Travelling Dramatic Players performed the following plays across 4 nights in the Hall (source: Hall Journal): 36 Maxwell Holles was Manager of this Travelling Company of Players, at this time 37 George P White was a member of Miss Grafton’s Travelling Players 38 See 12th Feb 1934 entry 39 Technically this is an entry for February 1934 but we couldn’t find anything for March 40 Refer to Irish History for information on the Blueshirts. Unfortunately we don’t have any record of the name of the local band that provided the music.
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