1931 Cork, Ireland

Rt. Rev. Msgr. James O’Donnell  (Grand Uncle)
Born 1931
Cork City
Interviewed on 1/27/2019
by Daire Lynch 

“I was about 13 when I saw my first movie with my mother in the Savoy Cinema in Cork city. I honestly don’t recall what movie it was. It was after my Inter Cert (mid-High School State Examination), and my mother bought me a watch that had a glow in the dark face worth about 6 pounds 50 pence before we went in. I think I spent more time looking at this amazing thing on my wrist than at the movie, but I do remember being struck by the huge theatre, the number of people packed into it, and also how luxurious the seats were. To be honest, I was never that interested in films because they weren’t a big part of life in the remote village of Castlelyons — where I came from. There was no cinema nearby. It was a much bigger thing to go out coursing with dogs or to go out into the country fishing for the day on the Blackwater River. The opportunity to see films wasn’t really there very often but I do remember that when we went on rare occasions that it was always as a great treat. It was always a big occasion and there was a lot of excitement around a trip to the cinema.

“These movies were on during a very tough time with World War II still waging and food and clothes were rationed. Before the start of a film, short trailers about the war were normally played. Another part of the film experience in The Savoy in Cork was that there was an organist who appeared on the left side of the stage and the words to the songs and melodies were put on the screen for the spectators to sing along. This was always a huge and happy experience and got everyone in good form and is something I remember fondly.

“We had to travel a good distance to get to the cinema. The nearest cinema to us was in Fermoy, which was about 6 miles from our house. I remember going there when it opened in the mid-1950s, and I believe we went there on shanks mare. I went to Fermoy for Secondary School in St Coleman’s College as a boarder and my friends and I would go to the cinema there every so often — though it wasn’t as popular here as I believe it would have been over in America. Chocolate was banned in the cinemas at the time, so we often sneaked it in as contraband, and the authorities usually turned a blind eye. As far as I can remember, we had ushers in the theatres.

“The first movie I can actually remember plenty about, and being fascinated by all the way through was “The Quiet Man”. It is definitely one of my favorites of all time. I remember how funny and engaging Barry Fitzgerald was in this movie. I could watch him all day and night with his incredible facial expressions. Barry wasn’t the main character, but I just remember how marvelous an actor he was. He came across as a very ordinary man, so ordinary that he was extraordinary. He had a presence and aura about him that was totally absorbing. He was a perfect example of the Latin idiom ‘Ars est celare artem’ which translates as ‘True art is to conceal art’. I remember the hilarious scene where Barry was on horseback going somewhere, and the horse all of a sudden stopped outside of a pub. Barry said the horse was dead right, so he went in for a pint. I also remember John Wayne dragging Maureen O’ Hara across the field and injuring her wrist in that film.

“Another of the films that sticks in my memory is “Gone with the Wind”, which was a love story set in the American Civil War and starred Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh. It was probably the most famous film released when I was young.

“I also remember well going to see films like “My Fair Lady” with Nuala (my grandmother) in the Savoy in Cork City, but that was later on, maybe in the ’60s. We normally got there by hitching a lift in a truck that brought a few of us up to the city when it was doing milk deliveries for my father.

“Later, when I went to Maynooth College to study to become a priest, there was no need to go to the theatre because we had a projector in the college. My favorite movie that I saw around this time was “The Ten Commandments”. It had spectacular scenery in it, and for me, it was a movie that made a big advancement for cinematography. I could watch it over and over again, along with the “Sound of Music”. I found the musicals to be so beautiful and relaxing.

“Of course, I knew all of the big names at the time such as Grace Kelly, Maureen O’ Hara, Marilyn Monroe, Julie Andrews, Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, John Wayne, Bob Hope and the likes of those actors. One of my friends here in Macroom [where he is the Parish Priest], used to make his own small movies when he was younger. He was very big into that stuff. I often talked to him about his memories of films. He once said to me that Sophia Loren was the most beautiful woman in the world and I don’t think he was far wrong. I could get in contact with him and ask him if he would talk to you at some stage if you like. He’s a very interesting man and I think he would be only too delighted to talk to you.

“I know an awful lot of people around this town and I have very few enemies. Even though I’m 88 I still feel very lucky to have a mind that is still functioning well.”