Eugene O'Neill: A Documentary Film

Great art demands absolute commitment, and Ric Burns' documentary on Eugene O'Neill's tortured life does it justice. The film, 10 years in the making, showcases the words of the Irish-American playwright who invented American theatre, with readings by selected artists who have acted in O'Neill's works: Jason Robards, Liam Neeson, Natasha Richardson, Zoe Caldwell, Robert Sean Leonard, Al Pacino, and narration by Christopher Plummer. Interesting features include commentary by Tony Kushner, and O'Neill biographers Arthur and Barbara Gelb.


Redgrave and Dennehy, left, in "Long Day's Journey into Night." Photo by Joan Marcus

Of interest also is the PBS American Experience website, which adds to the drama. Check out the Actors' Video series: of particular note is Christopher Plummer's 3 1/2 minutes on James O'Neill titled "Fear of the Poorhouse" and Jason Robards' 10 minutes on performing and viewing O'Neill. The former goes a long way in explaining the tortured Irish diasporic experience through the eyes of James O'Neill, the playwright's immigrant father, in the autobiographical tour de force "Long Day's Journey Into Night." We reviewed a 2003 Broadway Tony-winning production, available at http://www.thewildgeese.com/pages/ldjour.html.

And for those of you who missed Monday's broadcast, in metro New York the show is to be broadcast on Channel 13 at least twice more: March 28 and April 2. Don't miss this biography; It's for theatre lovers as well as for those who are interested in the Irish experience in 20th century theatre. -- Patricia Jameson-Sammartano, WGT Culture Editor

Mary MacSwiney: A Revolutionary, From A Family of Revolutionaries

On March 27, 1872, Mary MacSwiney (Maire Nic Shuibhne), republican activist, was born in Surrey, England, of an Irish father and an English mother.

Mary MacSwiney, left. National Library of Ireland

Mary grew up in Cork and was educated as a teacher, like her mother and father. Influenced by her revolutionary brother, Terence, she became involved with the Irish nationalist movement. She was arrested in her classroom during the 1916 Easter Rising. After her brother's death on hunger strike, she toured the United States in support of the republican cause. She opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty, calling it, "the grossest act of betrayal that Ireland ever endured." When de Valera compromised in 1926 in order to enter the Dáil, MacSwiney, much like her brother before her, held fast to her strict republican ideals, refusing to take the required oath to the Crown. Mary MacSwiney died at her home in Cork on March 8, 1942. Read the rest HERE.


Read about other Irish Revolutionary women in “When History Was Made: The Women of 1916” by Ruth Taillon
Searc's Web Guide to 20th Century Ireland - Mary MacSwiney (1872-1942)
Ireland's OWN: Women Freedom Fighters

Terance MacSwiney: Irish martyr: Probably no man outside of Michael Collins was as responsible for getting England to agree to peace talks in 1921 as Mary MacSwiney's brother, Terence, and he accomplished this without an act of violence.

Terence MacSwiney, left, Lord Mayor of Cork, University College, Dublin.

MacSwiney, like Ghandi some twenty years later, helped bring English rule in his country to an end by passive resistance; he refused to submit to English law, and by that simple act he brought the harsh glare of a worldwide spotlight to the injustice of England’s colonial regime.

MacSwiney was born in Cork city 1879, he died on Oct. 25, 1920. Read the rest of his story, HERE.

Principles Of Freedom by Terence MacSwiney.
“Enduring the most: The life and death of Terence MacSwiney” by Francis Costello

When Being Irish Meant You Were Guilty

There was a time in this country when being Irish and Catholic was dangerous to a person’s health. In 1806 in Northampton, MA, two Irishman discovered just how dangerous it could be. Irish immigrants James Halligan and Dominic Daley were in the wrong place at the wrong time. A young boy picked them out as the two men he had seen “acting suspiciously” shortly before the murder of a farm boy whose body was found in the Chicopee River.

On the flimsiest of circumstantial evidence the two Irishmen were convicted and hung. Several years later another man confessed to the murder. In 1994 Gov. Michael Dukakis issued a proclamation exonerating Daley and Halligan. Now author Michael C. White has brought their story to life in a novel based on their story, “The Garden of Martyrs.”

The town of Northampton, Ma, commemorated the two innocent men this St. Patrick's Day.

“The Garden of Martyrs” by Michael White – The entire, tragic story.

2 hanged Irish remembered

The Daley & Halligan Bicentennial Commemoration

Rallying Round the Flags

Left, the regimental flag of 88th New York.

If any of you were lucky enough to visit the armory of the 69th New York on Lexington Avenue in New York any time before last summer, then you’ll recall that one of the first thing you saw upon entering was two large wooden display cases. In those cases were over 30 furled flags, most of them being flags carried during the Civil War by either that 69th or one of the other regiments of the Irish Brigade.

While it was almost breath-taking to see those relics of that famous brigade on display there, once the awe went away, one was struck with another thought. The cases were very old, and nowhere close to being the state of the art cases with climate control, etc. that such relics deserved. It was obvious that the condition of the flags was deteriorating and they would one day be destroyed if something was not done. Respect for the men who carried them demanded some action be taken, and last summer it was.

Thank to Denyse Montegut, chairwoman of the masters degree program at the “Fashion Institute of Technology” in New York, and her staff these flags are now preserved. The project took six months starting last June. Each flag that was in good enough condition to do so was unfurled and photographed before being rewrapped in acid free paper and mylar.

We send our thanks to Montegut and her team for undertaking this project and completing it. You can read more about it HERE.

Irish Brigade items from the WGT store.

The Irish Brigade in the Civil War: The 69th New York and Other Irish Regiments of the Army of the Potomac Irish Brigades.

This Day in the History of the Irish: On March 20, 1780, Miles Byrne, United Irishman and officer in Napoleon's Irish Legion, was born in Co. Wexford.

Left, the charge of the 5th Dragoon Guards at Vinegar Hill.
National Library of Ireland.

He was active in the 1798 Rising in Wexford and fought all its major battles, right through the rebels' climactic defeat at Vinegar Hill. He escaped to the hills and served with Michael Dwyer until the failure of the rising led by Robert Emmet, a close friend of Byrne's, in 1803. Byrne traveled to France hoping to arrange for more French aid to Ireland but after failing in that he joined the Irish Legion being formed in the French army. He had a long career in the service of France. Byrne rose to command a regiment and was made a chevalier of the Legion of Honor. After his retirement he wrote his Memoirs, which were published 1863, a year after his death in Paris.

Read more about This Week in History of the Irish.
Read about the 1798 Rising.

'We Women of America Tell You That America Is Not a Democracy'

The Winter '06 Edition of The Gander, the newsletter of The Wild Geese organization, offers a pair of extraordinary articles about two women who suffered much in pursuit of woman's suffrage in the United States. (Editor's Note: The Connecticut-based, nonprofit Wild Geese, whose website is found at TheWildGeese.org, and GAR Media's webzine, TheWildGeese.com, have no connection, other than one of mutual support. We at TheWildGeese.com are often asked about that.)

The Gander article narrates the inspiring stories of Connecticut native Catherine M. Flanagan and New Yorker Lucy Burns, both children of Irish immigrants. The two were instrumental in gaining ratification of the 19th amendment to the Constitution in 1920, which granted full voting rights to women. Their stories are harrowing at times, and their treatment shocking, even for those of us who who thought we understood how flawed American democracy has been.

The suffragettes picketed in the summer and fall of 1917, increasingly frustrated with the failure of their more than 50-year-old struggle, and they suffered immensely for their resolve. With America engaged in war in Europe since that April, the suffragettes picketing the White House were verbally abused and physically assaulted, accused of aiding America's enemies.

In June 1917, according to The Gander's stirring account, Burns and fellow suffragette Dora Lewis "greeted the Russian ambassador at the White House gates with a 10-foot-long banner declaring "We women of America tell you that America is not a democracy." The Gander account continues:

Two days later, Burns was charged with obstructing the sidewalk, the first of several arrests that summer. Released from jail on Nov. 4, she rejected a plea from her sister to return home to Brooklyn. "I do not feel that I can take the rest you advise," she said. "Conditions here are so terrible that I cannot resist going back to jail to help out those still confined."

"Burns was arrested again on Nov. 12, and sent back to the Occoquan workhouse where she was brutally force-fed after beginning a hunger strike. On what became known as the "Night of Terror," Nov. 15, she was singled out for especially rough treatment as a leader of the hunger strike. She was beaten and, when returned to her cell, had her wrists handcuffed above her head to the cell door."

The Winter issue of The Gander can be downloaded from TheWildGeese.org web site. We commend these articles to you, as they provide a visceral understanding that our liberties are built on the courage and sacrifices of brave and selfless men and women.

Related Resources:

* Mary Harris Jones: One Tough 'Mother', 3-Part Series from WGT

* National Women's History Project

* The Wild Geese, Inc.

*Profile of Lucy Burns from American Memory: The Library of Congress

*Woman's Suffrage, from Wikipedia.com

Don’t Burn Your Bridgets!

When we think of witches being burned (which hopefully most of us don’t spend TOO much of our time doing), we usually think of it being at least 300 or 400 years ago in some place like Salem, Massachusetts. But not all of them were that long ago. Barely over a hundred years ago in Ireland a “witch” or perhaps a “changeling” was burned by her own husband. Such things can happen when people are ruled by their superstitions.

Left, a scene from “Burning Bridget Cleary.”

Bridget Cleary’s story is a sad one of death and betrayal caused by superstitions that still had a strong hold over the Irish in the countryside in 1894. Bridget’s husband applied one of those “witch tests” that always involves the accused needing to die to be proven “innocent.” This tragic story has been brought of life on the stage by Allison Gregory in her play “Burning Bridget Cleary.” The play is running in Seattle’s Capitol Hill Arts Center, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday. For more information call: 800-838-3006 or go to http://www.capitolhillarts.com/

Related Resources:

* The Burning of Bridget Cleary — A True Story

* Bridget Cleary

* Read “The Burning of Bridget Cleary” by Angela Bourke

Poet Siegfried Sassoon in Ireland: A Calm Before the Gathering Storm

Outspoken antiwar poet and undoubted British army war hero Siegried Sassoon sailed the Irish Sea to Dublin and arrived in Limerick on Jan. 7, 1918, to join a regiment heading back the Western Front. Almost immediately, Sassoon began to fall under the hypnotic spell of the Irish countryside and forget the horrors he had witnessed in France. Yet despite the apparent tranquility, the dark cloud of another approaching war cast its shadow over rural Ireland and threatened to wake Sassoon from his reverie. WGT's Kieron C. Punch relates the seldom-told story.

New Yorkers Discuss Irish-American Marketing, U.S. Role in Irish Peace Process

NEW YORK -- Dozens gathered over several days last week in Manhattan, to discuss different, contemporary aspects of the Irish American experience.

At NYU's Glucksman Ireland House, Grian held its eighth annual scholars’ conference Friday through Sunday, kicking off with a talk by Professor Marion Casey about the marketing of Ireland in America, the creation of a luxury niche market with products such as Irish linen and Belleek china, and the use of symbols in Irish-American advertising. Saturday’s panels included literature, medieval studies, marketing, and music. Sunday’s panels included literature and marketing topics.

Above left, Sarah Wagner-McCoy of Harvard University, left, with New York City author Mary Gordon at Sunday's session of the GRIAN conference, at Ireland House, New York University. One of the topics was Gordon's latest novel, "Pearl."

Hasia Diner was the keynote speaker, on food and migration. She is the Paul S. and Sylvia Steinberg Professor of American Jewish History at New York University; her books include "Erin's Daughters in America: Irish Immigrant Women in the Nineteenth Century (The Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Sciences), "Lower East Side Memories : A Jewish Place in America," and "Hungering for America: Italian, Irish, and Jewish Foodways in the Age of Migration."

Above right, keynote speaker Hasia Diner discusses food and migration at last weekend's GRIAN conference.

Grian, based at Glucksman Ireland House, is comprised of scholars who focus on facets of the Irish experience affiliated with numerous New York area universities. Each year it hosts an interdisciplinary conference on a theme pertinent to Irish Studies and produces a journal titled Foilsu.

Right below, Christopher Cahill, executive director of Pace University's Institute for American Irish Studies, concludes the March 1 panel discussion on the peace process in Northern Ireland. Cahill is also the editor of the American Irish Historical Society's journal The Recorder.

Pace University, meanwhile, hosted a panel discussion March 1 on U.S. Involvement in the Northern Ireland peace process, sponsored by the university's Institute for American Irish Studies. Panelists Niall O’Dowd, attorney and activist Frank Durkan, and professor Joseph Skelly discussed the process' history and assessed its progress. During the discussion at Pace, Timothy O’Connor, Ireland's New York consul general, who has been involved with the peace process for 20 years, asked, “Is Northern Ireland a better place today than it was 25 years ago?” He credited the United States government, including Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, for much of the success of the negotiations. O’Dowd, editor and founder of Irish America Magazine and The Irish Voice newspaper, spoke of former senator George Mitchell, special advisor to the President and the Secretary of State for Economic Initiatives in Ireland (1995-2000), calling him a hero who brought “a fundamental American sense and a sense of humor” to the talks. The economy of the 1990s also played a decisive role in the process, but all agreed there is still much more work to be done. Institute Executive Director Christopher Cahill welcomed all, and spoke of dates to remember: the 90th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising is being commemorated at Pace on April 10 in the Student Union, and in May a presentation on beleaguered St. Brigid’s Church, where parishioners and others are attempting to persuade the Archdiocese of New York to keep the one-time Irish immigrant church open.

-- Patricia Jameson-Sammartano, WGT Culture Editor

Offensive Cartoons? Not Just About Muslims

As the world watches the passions stirring in the Muslim world over the Dutch cartoons about Mohammad, it’s interesting to recall that there was a time when the Irish were lampooned by numerous cartoonists in this country and in Great Britain. Perhaps the most best-known of these was German-born Thomas Nast.

Left: Nast's view of the Irish in America.

Nast is fondly remembered by many people as the creator of the jolly Santa Claus image that we have all come to know and love. He is also credited with creation of the characters of the Democratic Party (the donkey) and the Republican Party (the elephant) that are still used by cartoonists all over the country. Nast's portfolio contains a number of cartoons that convey anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant sentiments. His often depicted Irish-Americans as stupid, violent, ape-like creatures.

Racism and anti-Catholic bigotry were quite prevalent in the mid-19th century. It was the period that produced an entire political party, the so-called “Know-Nothing” party, dedicated to keeping political power in the hands of native Americans. Indeed, from 1854 to 1856, the American Party, as it was officially known, grew to enroll 1 million Americans .

RELATED RESOURCES:

• When Cartoons Angered Irish America
• Anti-Irish cartoons
• Thomas Nast from Wikipedia
• The Know Nothing Party
• The Know Nothing and American Crusader, 1854

Winning an Irish Oscar. If someone told you that every single Oscar winner last night, in fact, every winner in history, has an Irish connection, you’d probably think they were crazy. Not crazy at all -- that connection will be in their hand as they walk off-stage. The Irish connection: The statue was designed by Dubliner Cedric Gibbons on a table cloth in 1928.

RELATED RESOURCES:

• The Dubliner who created the Oscar
• A short history of the Oscars (including all the winners)

'Little' Phil Sheridan: 'Big Enough for the Purpose'

On March 6, 1831, Philip Sheridan, one of the greatest Union generals of the American Civil War, was born.

Left: Sheridan at Cedar Creek

We know he was the son of Irish immigrants, but his place of birth is uncertain, with Albany, New York; somewhere in Ohio; at sea; and County Cavan, Ireland, all rumored. Less uncertain is his place among Union generals; he was one of the finest of the war. Sheridan had an undistinguished pre-war Army career, which came on the heels of a stormy career at West Point, where he was nearly expelled for fighting with a fellow cadet. After eight years in the Army, the diminutive Sheridan -- 5'5" -- was a 2nd lieutenant when the Civil War began. He languished as a supply officer for the first year of the war. It seemed Phil Sheridan was destined for obscurity, but suddenly that destiny took a turn, and his career skyrocketed.

In March '64, when Ulysses Grant appointed Sheridan commander of the cavalry of the Army of the Potomac, a staff officer complained that Sheridan might be too small for such a big job. Grant replied, "You will find him big enough for the purpose before we get through with him."

Read the rest of his story in WGT's Archives.

More on “This Week in Irish History”:

• The Battle of Cedar Creek (Sheridan greatest victory)
• The Battle of Five Forks (Sheridan breaks Lee’s Petersburg line)

And The Oscar Goes To . . .

Philip Seymour Hoffman (left, as "Capote," courtesy Sony Pictures Classics) wins Best Actor! We told you so here at Hell's Kitchen! His portrayal of Truman Capote in the film "Capote" was eerie in its depth.

Three years ago he was nominated for a Tony for Best Supporting Actor in Eugene O’Neill’s magnum opus "Long Day’s Journey Into Night." Our comment then was that he should have received the Tony Award:

"Hoffman in particular is breathtaking in the third act when he enters after a night of drunken whoring: 'Be always drunk, nothing else matters,' he tells Edmund, then, 'I love your guts, Kid. Everything else is gone. You're all I've got left.'"

Hoffman was shaking while accepting the award, and credited his mother, Marilyn O’Connor, with much of his success. Interviewed on CNN last month, he described the role of Capote as very challenging, but said the role of the oldest O’Neill son rivaled it in complexity.

Hell's Kitchen congratulates you, Mr. Hoffman. The award is overdue in our opinion.

Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana won for Best Adapted Screenplay for "Brokeback Mountain." They adapted Annie Proulx's short story.

"Crash" was the upset winner for Best Picture, which many expected would go to "Brokeback."

George Clooney won Best Supporting Actor for the Middle East thriller "Syriana." His acceptance speech was truly classy, as he paid tribute to all the other nominees; he then went on to say how proud he was to be a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences, who had shown bravery in giving Hattie McDaniel an Oscar “when most blacks were still sitting in the back of the theatre.” He’s proud to be out of touch with the mainstream if that’s what it means, and we’re proud of Irish-American George Clooney. First of the night! Clooney beat out among others Matt Dillon ("Crash") and Paul Giamatti ("Cinderella Man," where he portrayed Joe Gould, manager of Irish-Am world boxing champ Jim Braddock).

Above, left, Clooney in "Syriana." (Warner Bros. photo) Right, Vivian Leigh ("Scarlett O'Hara") and Hattie McDonald ("Mammy") in "Gone With the Wind," which garnered McDaniel an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1940. (MGM photo)

George also showed up in a bit part with host Jon Stewart during the opening, where Stewart woke up from a dream to find George in his bed telling him it was not a dream, get the show started.

Martin McDonagh won for his short film "Six Shooter," which imdb.com calls "a black and bloody Irish comedy," and at 27 minutes, not likely to outwear its welcome. McDonagh was born in Britain but has Galway roots. He is the 1998 Tony Award winner for "The Beauty Queen of Leenane." His literary influences include John Millington Synge, and he writes about the West of Ireland, especially the Aran Islands. He made sure to thank his parents back home in Ireland.

Below left, Paul Giamatti ("Joe Gould") tells Russell Crowe ("James J. Braddock") the score in "Cinderella Man." Universal Pictures photo

The score of "Cinderella Man" didn't pick up any Oscar nominations, but it does win honorable mention from WGT for its Irish-flavored score. If you've got the movie or soundtrack cued up, listen for Paul Giamatti (Braddock manager Joe Gould) whistling "Londonderry Air" before Braddock's big championship showdown with Max Baer. This is followed by "The Hope of the Irish," composed and conducted by Thomas Newman, who scored the film. Buy the soundtrack or DVD at Amazon.com. (Music snippets for Windows Media Player, hosted by Amazon.com)

– Patricia Jameson-Sammartano, WGT Culture Editor and Gerry Regan, Producer

Hamill, Quinn Discuss 'When New York Was Irish'

NEW YORK -- March has roared in like a lion with St. Patrick’s celebrations all around the town, and in several other towns as well. While we have attended a panel discussion at Pace University on the peace process in Northern Ireland, a reception at the Irish consulate, and the first night of New York University’s GRIAN conference, of note tonight is “When New York Was Irish” with Peter Quinn and Pete Hamill at the Cole Auditorium at the Greenwich Library, 101 West Putnam Avenue, Greenwich, CT. The Wild Geese sponsors; for information call (203) 322-2225 in Stamford. There is a slight charge for the lecture, but we’re sure it’s worth your while if you’re in the neighborhood; Quinn and Hamill are two of New York’s greatest seanachies. Off to today’s session of the GRIAN conference; pictures tonight!
– Patricia Jameson-Sammartano, WGT Culture Editor