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 Women
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!”
Wild Irish Women:
Saint Brigid – Mary of the Gaels
A nun, abbess, and founder of several monasteries, Brigid of Kildare was a woman who defied authority, possessed great strength of will and determination, and whose cheerful giving of food and shelter to any passing traveler laid the foundation for Ireland’s legendary hospitality.
Saints are everywhere, like enzymes, gravity, or the CIA – invisible, yes, but hard at work … [Read more...] about Wild Irish Women:
Saint Brigid – Mary of the Gaels
Wild Irish Women: Rita Hayworth, the Ravishing and Ravished Redhead
The tragic star who burned too bright but always gave the loveliest light. Her mother, the improbably named Volga, was an ex-Ziegfeld Girl, born to a printer, Allynn Hayworth, and his wife, Maggie O’Hare, the daughter of Patrick and Bridget O’Hare, immigrants from Ireland. Her father, Eduardo Cansino, as black-hearted a villain as ever lived (saving a few of her husbands), … [Read more...] about Wild Irish Women: Rita Hayworth, the Ravishing and Ravished Redhead
Wild Irish Women:
Carmel Snow, the Fashionista
One of the most extraordinary fashion editors of all time was an immigrant from Ireland.
The Irish don’t spring to mind when discussing fashionistas, women such as Anna Wintour or her flamboyant forerunner, Diana Vreeland. And it was Vreeland who elevated fashion editors to iconic status but who hired her? Carmel Snow, an immigrant from Ireland and editor of Harper’s … [Read more...] about Wild Irish Women:
Carmel Snow, the Fashionista