Murphy’s Town Hall Athenry 29 28th June 1940 – L Caslin Travelling Picture Company screened Racket Busters in the Hall, a 1938 Gangster movie starring Humphrey Bogart, George Brent and Gloria Dickson (source: Hall Journal). 14th July 1940 – L Caslin Travelling Picture Company screened This Marriage Business in the Hall, a 1938 comedy film starring Allan Lane, Jack Carson, Victor Moore, and Vicki Lester (source: Hall Journal). 11th August 1940 – L Caslin Travelling Picture Company screened Dracula in the Hall, a 1931 Horror movie, starring Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula 54 (source: Hall Journal). 1st September 1940 – Leo Caslin Travelling Picture Company screened King of the Underworld in the Hall, a 1939 Gangster movie, starring Humphrey Bogart and Kay Francis (source: Hall Journal). NB: It is a remake of the 1935 film Dr. Socrates, which in turn was based on a short story by W. R. Burnett. 10th October 1940 – Leo Caslin Travelling Picture Company screened Pygmalion in the Hall, a 1938 British film based on the 1913 George Bernard Shaw play of the same name, and adapted for the screen by GB Shaw himself, starring Leslie Howard as Professor Henry Higgins and Wendy Hiller as Eliza Doolittle (source: Hall Journal). The film won an Academy Award for Best Screenplay and was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor (Howard) and Best Actress (Hiller). The screenplay later was adapted into the 1956 theatrical musical My Fair Lady, which later led to the 1964 film of the same name, with Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn in the lead roles. 3rd November 1940 – Tuam Herald 2nd November 1940, page 2, reports on an upcoming Handball Association dance under the heading ATHENRY NOTES (also recorded in the Hall Journal): “Mr J Caulfield, Chairman of the Handball Association, will attend a dance run by the Athenry Club in the Town Hall on Sunday night, when he will present the All Ireland Championship Cup to Mr Ml Walsh, Athenry, winner of this year’s All Ireland senior championship.” 10th November 1940 – Connacht Tribune 2nd November, page 8, carries an advert for A Grand Dance held under the auspices of the Local Security Force (LSF) to be held in the Town Hall (also recorded in the Hall Journal). 26th December 1940 – Leo Caslin Travelling Picture Company screened Wide Open Faces in the Hall, a 1938 Comedy starring Joe E. Brown, Jane Wyman and Alison Skipworth (source: Hall Journal). IMDb provides the following plot summary for this movie: “Criminals from all over the country converge on the Lakeside Inn in Willow Springs where bank robber Duke Temple (Stanley Fields) has stashed $100,000. Wilbur Keeks (Joe E. Brown), soda jerk at the town drugstore, who had aided in the capture of Temple, tries to prevent the crooks from wrecking the inn.” 6th January 1941 – Athenry Lawn Tennis Club Dance held in the Hall (source: Hall Journal, see also Connacht Tribune 4th January 1941, page 14): 54 First shown in the Hall in February 1933 by Daniels Travelling Cinema Show
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