Dear Reader,
It’s Top 100 time again and don’t for a minute think that comedian Bill Murray is back aboard just because he complained in Premiere magazine that we dropped him last year. Bill is back ’cause we were only joking last year, for God’s sake, Bill, lighten up!
This year Mickey Rourke missed out. I just want you to know that it wasn’t me who dropped you, Mickey! I thought Wild Orchid was, well, what can I say, wild. If you’re in town around St. Patrick’s Day, I know of a great party.
Yes, and there are, dear reader, three Kennedys, with no apology, on this year’s list. Uncle Ted showed his true colors over the last months on immigration reform. Congressman Joe makes our list because he has taken such a keen interest in the Birmingham Six case and employment discrimination in the North of Ireland. On a recent visit there he got his Irish up and told a British soldier where to get off. And Courtney Kennedy is doing Trojan work as president and CEO of Citizens European Enterprises, an organization that encourages environmentally and socially responsible companies to invest in Eastern Bloc countries. Courtney has also visited members of the Birmingham Six in prison and taken their cause to her heart.
Gene Kelly is on our list as a wedding present to him and his new wife, Patricia, and for all the hours of warmth and joy he has given us over the years with such classics as Singin’ in the Rain.
Shuffle on up to Buffalo, New York and you’ll find Jim Kelly, no relation, who made our list because he was the top-rated quarterback in the entire NFL. And even though the Bills lost to the Giants in the Super Bowl, our Irish America team still thinks he’s nuimhira haon. By the same token, Giants head coach Bill O’Shea, better known as Bill Parcells, also made our list.
If you’ve seen the transplanted Bronx-Irish Australian Mel Gibson in Hamlet, the movie, you’ll know why he made our list again. Trippingly on the tongue, ‘eh, Mel!
Why did we name Mayor David Dinkins, an African American, an honorary Irishman? Because under his guidance, the City of New York has made considerable funding available for Irish immigrant groups, and because he appointed a liaison officer to the Irish community.
This year we have inducted Maureen O’Hara into our first ‘Irish America Hall of Fame,’ which means that you, Maureen, forever America’s Irish colleen, get a bigger piece of Galway crystal than all the rest of them, well, bigger than practically everybody except the indefatigable Paul O’Dwyer, who last year refused to retire (once again) and, instead, became the New York City Commissioner to the United Nations. For all that, Paul’s in the Hall, too!
Actually, the very biggest piece of crystal goes to Mike Roarty. Mike is our Irish American of the Year,’ because he’s an all-round good guy who has contributed greatly to Irish causes and to the Irish economy.
Mike, through Anheuser Busch, has turned the Irish Derby into one of the grandest, richest horse races in Europe.
In other features we are pleased to bring you the first American interview with Mary Robinson, the newly-elected President of Ireland.
As the first woman to ever hold the office of president, she made us all very proud.
Also in this issue we reveal – shock! horror! – who wrote the lyrics for Danny Boy; why Maeve Binchy’s book Circle of Friends is climbing to the top of the best-sellers list; and why The Hibernian Hall, in Charleston, South Carolina, built in 1836 is a true Hall of Fame story.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you all from all of us at Irish America.
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in the March 1991 issue of Irish America. ♦
Leave a Reply