The American Ireland Fund Goes Hollywood

The event was a gala dinner honoring vaudeville, screen, and television star Donald Award.
O’Connor as the recipient of the 1992 Heritage Co-chairmen for the dinner were motion picture legend Gene Kelly and Michael J. Roarty, Executive Vice President of Anheuser-Busch. The chairman for the dinner was television and motion picture executive Frank Price and the master of ceremonies was actor John Forsythe, best remembered for his outstanding portrayal of Blake Carrington in the long-running television series Dynasty. The entertainment for the evening was highlighted by Irish-born singer Angeline Ball who recently appeared in the successful film The Commitments. The McGing Irish dancers, an all-female traditional dance group from Ohio, presented a special dance in honor of Donald O’Connor. Also appearing were the brother and sister dance team Sinéad and Brendan Galway, from County Donegal. A filmed tribute showing highlights from Mr. O’Connor’s career was written and produced by Sheila Mitchel and edited by Tony Cacippo. Rounding out this very successful and highly enjoyable evening of Irish pride and good works was a crisply swinging dance band that got everyone up for a few spins.

A short list of some of the luminaries who attended is: John Candy, Dana Delany, Gene Autry, Charles Bronson, Buzz Aldrin, Janet Leigh, Mau-Icen O’Hara, Norm Crosby, Sidney Poitier and Michael and Roger King.

The obvious question here is, how does all this glitter-and-be-gay socializing make a connection to Belfast, Ballymun or any other part of Ireland? The mechanism by which this fundraiser will be so effectively converted into a loving and helping hand for Ireland is the American Ireland Fund, a non-profit organization headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

It has been said that giving service is the rent you pay for living. Nowhere was that more evident than in the spirit of the people in that ballroom and in the underlying fact of the commitment and continuing work of the people of the American Ireland Fund. In 1963 Irish President Eamon de Valera and President John F. Kennedy created the American Irish Foundation for the purpose of raising funds to promote peace, culture and charity in Ireland. In 1987, at a ceremony in the White House, presided over by President Reagan, the Foundation merged with the Ireland Fund, another organization with identical goals.

An advisory committee in Ireland reviews over 500 formal grant applications each year and prepares comprehensive reports on each program, along with a recommendation to the full board.

The American Ireland Fund is a non-political, non-sectarian organization that supports projects that encourage Catholics and Protestants to join in common activities of work, education and play.

The Fund also supports programs that increase cross-cultural awareness and understanding in order to encourage tolerance and respect for divergent ideas and beliefs. Other projects seek to preserve, enhance and share the Irish cultural heritage in the areas of literature, poetry, libraries, scholarly collections, music and the performing arts. Cultural landmarks, wildlife preservation, visual arts and design workshops, Irish sports and language programs are other activities supported by the Fund — along with charity grants which help children, the elderly, the rural poor, health care and counseling. At the same time, there is a particularly keen focus on integrated education.

This hugely ambitious agenda succeeds only because enough people have recognized the importance of this work and have contributed their time and talent and resources.
Recently, Fund chairman Dr. Tony O’Reilly shared this observation: “From Belfast to Bantry Bay, I have seen the miracles wrought by people of great heart who are fighting unemployment, home-lessness, bigotry, despair and neglect. Now when there is a renewed desire for peace and reconciliation in Ireland, the Ireland Funds have an historic role to play. ” In no small way the attendees of that Beverly Hills awards dinner and the Los Angeles Fund committee are actualizing those roles.

The Ireland Funds to which Dr. O’Reilly referred to are international chapters in Australia, Canada, Britain, France and Germany, as well as in twelve cities in the U.S. Just as Ireland’s diaspora has scattered its sons and daughters across the globe, so too has the Fund sought to knit them back together into an Irish nation of spirit, with a focused activism that will afford them the opportunity to reinvigorate the Ireland of their heritage.

One of the hopes of dinner chairman Frank Price is that these dinner events will “raise the consciousness of Irish Americans so that they can be better informed about today’s Ireland — and want to become more involved.” Price, with roots in County Mayo, has television credits that include The Fugitive and The Rockford Files, and feature films Gandhi, Kramer Vs. Kramer, Out of Africa and the recent Boyz in the Hood. He would like nothing more than to find the right script to film in Ireland. So far, that script has not reached his desk, so he will continue to manage his motion picture and television company, Price Entertainment, and continue to support the work of the Fund An individual who doesn’t always get top billing but works hard to make sure others do is Kilkenny-born Jimmy Murphy.

After arriving in Los Angeles in 1963 from London to follow his sweetheart, Anne, who was to later become his bride and the mother of their three children, he took a job in a Beverly Hills restaurant. In 1978 he opened his own restaurant called “Jimmy’s,” which has gone on to become one of the premier restaurant/watering holes on the upscale Beverly Hills/Bel Air circuit. Despite his enormous success, Jimmy is quick to remind that “You can take the boy out of the bog, but you can’t take the bog out of the boy.” He is very proud of having been born in Ireland, and despite his modest beginnings and “not a great education” he always responds to any opportunity to give something back to the land of his birth. One unexpected and delightful by-product of his years working with the Fund is the large amount of people who after attending an AIF dinner are eager to visit Ireland and ask him for advice on where to stay and what to see.
He has become the Baedeker of Beverly Hills.

Sheila Mitchell, Cincinnati-born and raised, with grandparents from Galway and Cork, has been involved with the Fund for the last few years. Sheila produced two film pieces for the event. The first was a brief informational on the Fund with some footage of Donald O’Connor recently visiting with schoolchildren in an integrated school in Northern Ireland. The second piece was the Donald O’Connor career retrospective featuring what is arguably the funniest and most creative musical comedy routine that has ever been filmed, the “Make ’em Laugh” routine from the classic, Singing in the Rain. Sheila is producing a documentary film on Project Children, an American group that provides summer holidays in the U.S. for Catholic and Protestant children from Northern Ireland. She is hopeful that more young people in America can be brought into the various Irish organizations. She feels that they will bring a much needed new energy and continuity for the future.

The Heritage Award is a Waterford Crystal Irish harp given to an American of Irish descent in the creative arts who, through his or her artistry, has made extraordinary and lasting contributions toward gaining fuller appreciation of the American Irish heritage and the culture of Ireland. Former Heritage Award recipients include Carroll O’Connor, Merv Griffin, Gene Kelly and Maureen O’Hara.

Donald O’Connor, on receiving the Heritage Award, gave a very touching homage to Gene Kelly. At a time when most people would be talking only about themselves, he shared his moment with his great pal. Moments later, in a subdued voice, the result of recent illness, Kelly fired back with, “I love you too, Donald.” Clearly the key ingredient in both these magnificent talents is their capacity and willingness to give. That remarkable spontaneous exchange seemed to fork lightning in the room, and for a microsecond, the underlying reason why everyone had gathered that evening, and the primary mission of the Fund was brilliantly revealed.

As the evening wound down, the last bit of business was to announce the winners of the round trip tickets to Ireland. The names were picked from a bowl. The first winner was Frank Price’s son – which stirred a great laugh from the crowd. But when the next winner announced was Donald O’Connor himself, it was just such a moment when those people who explain the origin of the universe as the random movement of particles would have very seriously questioned their beliefs. As for Donald, what went around, only minutes before with Gene Kelly, came around.
And to use a mixed ethnic metaphor, it was a Mazcitov moment if there ever was one.

The evening ended with a very palpable feeling of good cheer in the air. The Los Angeles Fund committee had not only filled the room but had also filled the people with a clear understanding that this work is very important and must continue — and that they will now be thinking of Ireland in a different way and looking to become more involved in helping. We can only hope so.

 

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on page 38 of the January February 1993 issue of Irish America. ♦