It took a movie, 1981’s Reds, to both lift Louise Bryant from obscurity and reduce her to the sniveling acolyte of American communist John Reed, Annie Hall in a babushka. Wrong. For all her (many) faults, Louise Bryant was always her own woman – a fearless journalist, activist, suffragette, and talented writer. She was also reckless, with a compulsive need to court danger, and … [Read more...] about Wild Irish Women: Louise Mohan Bryant
Wild Irish Women
Wild Irish Women: Dr. James Barry
The famous British Army surgeon was actually an Irish woman. ℘℘℘ Dr. James Barry was born in County Cork as Margaret Anne Bulkley, the daughter of Jeremiah and Mary-Ann (neé Barry). Accounts vary on the year of her birth but whether it was 1789 or 1795, women were denied a formal education. Her father was a feckless grocer who lost his business, landed in debtors’ prison and … [Read more...] about Wild Irish Women: Dr. James Barry
Wild Irish Women: Touched by Fire
Sinéad rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra. She will release a new album under a new name, Magda Davitt, in 2019. In between she has battled mental illness and controversy – she was one of the first to speak out about the abuses by the Catholic Church – but hers remains one of the purest voices in music. Whenever her name comes up these … [Read more...] about Wild Irish Women: Touched by Fire
Deirdre O’Connell’s Fanatic Heart
The Bronx girl who changed the face of Irish theater. An enigma and a shapeshifter, she changed her first name each time her life entered a new incarnation. Baptized Eleanor, she was Ellie as a child, a little beauty with a bounty of red-gold hair. Her gifts – singing, dancing, and especially acting – were supported by her parents who encouraged creativity in each of their … [Read more...] about Deirdre O’Connell’s Fanatic Heart
Wild Irish Woman: “Hello, Suckers!”
Singer, showgirl, and queen of the speakeasy during Prohibition, Mary Guinan was a genuine Irish American wild woman. Larger (and louder) than life, she had an even bigger heart. During the wild and jazzy New York of the 1920s, Texas Guinan was the wildest and jazziest dame in town. Born Mary Louise Cecilia Guinan in 1884, her parents were immigrants from Ireland who settled … [Read more...] about Wild Irish Woman: “Hello, Suckers!”