‘In Banbridge Town in the County Down One morning last July, From a boreen green came a sweet colleen, And she smiled as she passed me by.' What is absolutely, positively true about Greer Garson is that she was born Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson to George and Nina Garson. From the beginning of her acting career until her death in 1996, she maintained her birthplace was … [Read more...] about The Star of County Down
Wild Irish Women
The Lady From Chicago & The Pound Note
Her likeness appears on a banknote and in portraits by famous artists. Who was Lady Lavery Women rarely have their faces on currency. Except, of course, for the recently departed Queen Elizabeth II who was on the currency of Great Britain and her colonies for over 70 years and, until recently, showed no sign of retiring or expiring. In 1928, Ireland, too, cast a woman on … [Read more...] about The Lady From Chicago & The Pound Note
Constance Smith: A Hollywood Tragedy
“Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.” Maybe she had too many gifts: she was a great beauty with a quick intellect; she could act, sing and, with little effort, was “discovered” and groomed for Hollywood stardom. In the early 1950s, she was a newcomer at 20th Century Fox, deemed so promising, she landed a plum showcase – a presenter at the 1952 … [Read more...] about Constance Smith: A Hollywood Tragedy
Wild Irish Women: Leonora O’Reilly
“I am not going to give you any taffy!” The charismatic and powerful public speaker who pushed for equal pay for equal work, better labor standards, and overall empowerment for women is profiled by Rosemary Rogers. Leonora O’Reilly was born in 1870 to parents driven out of Ireland by the potato famine only to live in poverty in New York’s Lower East Side. Her father and … [Read more...] about Wild Irish Women: Leonora O’Reilly
Lady Augusta Gregory
"The Greatest Living Irishwoman" – George Bernard Shaw Writer, playwright, folklorist, and co-founder of The Abbey Theatre, Isabella Augusta, Lady Gregory, née Isabella Augusta Persse, (born March 15, 1852, Roxborough, County Galway, Ireland – died May 22, 1932, Coole, did much to preserve Ireland’s forgotten history. Toward the end of the 19th Century, Queen … [Read more...] about Lady Augusta Gregory