Rex Ingram: The clergyman’s son who became one of the biggest directors in Hollywood and discovered Rudolph Valentino. There would have been no shortage of Irishmen who came ashore in New York that June day from the RMS Baltic – the Belfast-built liner that carried up to 3,000 passengers on the regular route from Liverpool to Cobh to New York. Just one page of the passenger … [Read more...] about The Silent Master: Rex Ingram
Issues
The World Peace Jubilee & International Music Festival
For 18 days in the summer of 1872, Patrick S. Gilmore, an Irish-born impresario, led the largest concert in history. Some 20,000 singers and 2,000 musicians from around the world descended on Boston to participate in the World Peace Jubilee and International Music Festival, which ran from Bunker Hill Day to the Fourth of July, 1872. They performed in various ensembles and also … [Read more...] about The World Peace Jubilee & International Music Festival
The Luthier: George Lowden
Irish guitar makers are rare, and George Lowden, the man behind Lowden Guitars, is the best of them. Here, he tells Tara Dougherty about the beginnings of his craft and the future for Lowden Guitars. Luthier is certainly not the word one might hear an Irish child say is their dream profession. In fact, luthiere, or the crafting of stringed instruments, mainly guitar and lute, … [Read more...] about The Luthier: George Lowden
What Are You Like? Fionnula Flanagan
A star of both the screen and the stage, Fionnula Flanagan was born in Dublin in 1941. She was raised speaking both English and Irish, and studied acting at the renowned Abbey Theatre. In 1968 she made her Broadway debut playing Maggie in Brian Friel’s Lovers. During the U.S. tour of Lovers she met her husband, Dublin-born psychiatrist Dr. Garrett O’Connor, and the couple made … [Read more...] about What Are You Like? Fionnula Flanagan
Roots: The Fantastic Flanagans
The surname Flanagan and its variants, which include O’Flanagan, Flanigan, Flannigan, and the less common Flenigen, number among the most popular in Ireland. All derive from the surname’s original Irish form, O’Flannagain, likely stemming from the Irish word flann, meaning “reddish” or “ruddy.” The O’Flannagain clan originated in Connacht, from the same line as the royal … [Read more...] about Roots: The Fantastic Flanagans