Murphy’s Town Hall Athenry 27 Journal). It was produced by Walt Disney and was the first feature length animated movie ever made, with Adriana Caselotti providing the voice of Snow White. 14th July 1939 – Leo Caslin Travelling Picture Company (Strokestown) screened Springtime in the Rockies in the Hall, a 1937 Western starring Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, and Polly Rowles. Not Wanted on Voyage (aka Treachery on the High Seas), a 1936 comedy starring Bebe Daniels, Ben Lyon and Charles Farrell, based on the play Murder in the Stalls by Maurice Messenger, was also screened on this date (source: Hall Journal). The Sligo Champion (11th March 1939, page 3), described Not Wanted on Voyage as follows: “A clever mixture of jewel thefts, romance and song.” 18th August 1939 – L Caslin Travelling Picture Company (Strokestown) screened The Man Who Made Diamonds, a 1937 British crime film starring Noel Madison, James Stephenson and Lesley Brook (source: Hall Journal). 18th September 1939 – L Caslin Travelling Picture Company (Strokestown) screened Mr. Dodd Takes the Air, a 1937 musical comedy film. It was nominated for an Oscar at the 10th Academy Awards in the Best Song category for Remember Me (source: Hall Journal). 13th October 1939 – L Caslin Travelling Picture Company (Strokestown) screened Fight for Your Lady, a 1937 comedy film starring John Boles, Jack Oakie and Ida Lupino (source: Hall Journal). 5th November 1939 – Athenry Dramatic Club performed Look at the Heffernans, a 1926 Brinsley MacNamara comedy play in Three Acts (source: Hall Journal), see also Connacht Tribune, 4th November 1939, page 2, under the heading ATHENRY NOTES: “A newly formed Dramatic Club in Athenry will make their first appearance on the stage on next Sunday night when they will present Look at The Heffernans, by Brinsley McNamara, a play which is light and packed with thrills without a dull moment from start to finish. The actors are training hard, and the Club are leaving nothing undone to make the night a success. Those taking part in the three acts which constitutes the set are—Kitty Lardner, Mary Duddy, Kathleen Curley, Deta Fahy, Grania Manning, Charley Redmond, Ml. Kilkelly, James Cunniffe, Ml. McLaughnin, Martin Fahy, Francis Curran.” 18th to 20th December 1939 – Percy Holmshaw’s Travelling Company performed their Radio Parade in the Hall on 3 consecutive nights, Pantomimes, Vaudeville, Variety, Gags etc, (source: Hall Journal plus headed letter from Percy Holmshaw dated 7th Dec 1937). 29th December 1939 – L Caslin Travelling Picture Company (Strokestown) screened Rainbow on the River (aka It Happened in New Orleans), a 1936 musical starring Bobby Breen, May Robson and Charles Butterworth (source: Hall Journal). 28th January 1940 – Connacht Tribune 27th January, page 20, carries an advertisement for a Fancy Dress Ball in the Hall (the Hall Journal confirms this as the Farmers Union Dance). 8th to 11th February 1940 – Anew McMaster’s Travelling Dramatic Company played the Hall for 4 nights, performing a different play each night: Night Must Fall, a play in Three Acts by Emlyn Williams Little Lord Fauntleroy, by Frances Hodgson Burnett 50 Hamlet (Prince of Denmark), by William Shakespeare 51 Romeo & Juliet, by William Shakespeare 31st March 1940 – Athenry Dramatic Club performed Autumn Fire in the Hall, a 1924 Tragedy in Three Acts by (Thomas Cornelius) T.C. Murray (source: Hall Journal, see also Connacht Tribune 30th March 1940, page 2 and 6th April 1940, page 3, both under the heading ATHENRY NOTES): 52 50 McMaster’s son, Christopher, played Little Lord Fauntleroy 51 Anew McMaster played the lead role of Hamlet
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