Murphy’s Town Hall Athenry 38 “I HAD heard on many occasions that the Athenry dramatic company was one of the most talented in the province, if not in the country, and when I saw them play the Spanish Cradle Song on Sunday night last, I was convinced that all I had heard was true. .. Cradle Song like all plays calls for teamwork, and these amateurs certainly pulled together. Every one of them fitted well into the play... As a curtain-raiser, the company played Chekhov's Proposal in lively fashion, with Miss Lardner, Mr. Fahy and Mr. T. Armstrong well cast.” 23rd December 1945 – Air Raid Wardens, a 1943 Comedy starring Laurel & Hardy was screened in the Hall by Daniel Ryan (source: the Hall Journal). 30th December 1945 – Athenry Lawn Tennis Club Annual Dance held in the Hall with music by Jack Beehan and His Band (source: the Hall Journal, see also Connacht Tribune 29th December 1945, page 1). 1st January 1946 – Grand New Year’s Night Dance held in the Hall with music by Miss Mollie MacDonnell and her Famous Dance Band (source: the Hall Journal, see also Connacht Tribune 29th December 1945, page 1). 20th January 1946 – Clann na Talmhan Annual Dance with Music by the Glebe Dance Band, Admission 3s & 9d (source: the Hall Journal, see also Connacht Tribune 13th January 1946, page 5). 26th & 27thFebruary 1946 – Buffalo Bill, a 1944 Western starring Joel McCrea, Maureen O'Hara, Linda Darnell, Thomas Mitchell, Edgar Buchanan and Anthony Quinn was screened in the Hall by Daniel Ryan’s Picture Show (source: the Hall Journal and a Town Hall Cinema poster from the time). 16th & 17th March 1946 – The Mark of Zorro, a 1940 swashbuckling Western starring Tyrone Power, 70 Linda Darnell, Montagu Love and Basil Rathbone was screened in the Hall by Daniel Ryan (source: the Hall Journal). 8th & 9th April 1946 – Jane Eyre, a 1943 film adaptation of the Charlotte Brontë 1847 novel of the same name, was screened in the Hall by Daniel Ryan’s Travelling Picture Show, Gort (source: the Hall Journal). It stars Orson Welles, Joan Fontaine, Elizabeth Taylor and Agnes Moorehead. 71 21st April 1946 – Grand All Night Easter Sunday Dance with Music by Danny Delaney and His Famous Dublin Dance Orchestra (source: Hall Journal, see also Connacht Tribune 20th April 1946, page 7). 30th May 1946 – Patrick the Great, a 1945 movie starring Donald O'Connor, Peggy Ryan, and Frances Dee was screened in the Hall by Daniel Ryan’s Travelling Picture Show, Gort (source: the Hall Journal). 11th June 1946 – The Adventures of Marco Polo, a 1938 adventure film starring Gary Cooper, Sigrid Gurie, Basil Rathbone and Lana Turner was screened in the Hall by Daniel Ryan’s Travelling Picture Show, Gort (source: the Hall Journal). Cooper played the lead role of Marco Polo. 14th July 1946 – South American George, a 1941 Comedy starring George Formby , Linden Travers, Enid StampTaylor, Felix Aylmer, Ronald Shiner, Mavis Villiers and Herbert Lomas was screened in the Hall by Daniel Ryan’s Travelling Picture Show, Gort (source: the Hall Journal). George Formby plays 2 roles, George Butters and Gilli Vanetti. 13th August 1946 – Blithe Spirit, a 1945 British film directed by David Lean starring Rex Harrison, Margaret Rutherford, Kay Hammond and Constance Cummings was screened in the Hall by Daniel Ryan’s Travelling Picture Show, Gort (source: the Hall Journal). The film is based on Noël Coward's 1941 play of the same name, the title of which is derived from the line Hail to thee, blithe Spirit! Bird thou never wert, from Percy Bysshe Shelley’s 1820 poem, To a Skylark. Shelley was married to novelist Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley who wrote the 1818 Gothic novel Frankenstein. 70 Tyrone Edmund Power III (1914 – 1958) was steeped in Drama, descending as he did from an Irish theatrical dynasty, stretching back to his greatgrandfather, the Irish actor and comedian Tyrone Power (1797–1841). Through his paternal great-grandmother, Anne Gilbert, Power was related to Sir Laurence Olivier; through his paternal grandmother, stage actress Ethel Lavenu, he was related to Evelyn Waugh; and through his father's first cousin, Norah Emily Gorman Power, he was related to the theatrical director Sir Tyrone Guthrie 71 Agnes Moorehead is probably best known for her role as Endora on the television series Bewitched, but she also had many notable roles in films, including Citizen Kane.
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