FROM THE ARCHIVES:The first Irishman's Diary appeared on this day in 1927. Among the 12 items included were these three. Plus ça change –
JOE JOYCE
I HAVE been looking through an old Dublin Directory for the year 1834, and find some information that ought to be of interest to owners and passengers to-day. Instead of buses in those days they had mail coaches, and a comparison between the times occupied by long-distance journeys then and now provides a measure of the progress that has been made in matters of transport. The official schedule of times from Dublin is as follows :– Belfast, 12 hours; Cork (day, via Cashel), 20 hours; Cork (night, via Clonmel), 20 hours; Derry, 18 hours; Enniskillen, 13 hours; Galway, 16 hours; Limerick, 14 hours; Sligo, 16 hours; Waterford, 12 hours and Wexford, 13 hours.
The ’buses can do a bit better than that; but when one realises that nearly a hundred years have passed since the mail coach bustled off from the Dublin GPO, one sees that they did not do so badly in those spacious days. On a margin of the same directory I find the note scribbled opposite the date, Wednesday, December 17th: “Engines on railroad began to run on this day.” It was the beginning of the end of the coaches; but to-day the boot seems to be on the other foot!
Shakespeare in Dublin
Mr Anew McMaster, who is attracting large crowds every night to the Abbey, is fortunate in the choice of his company, not only from the actors’ point of view. Many of these are versatile enough to have achieved success in other artistic spheres.
One of them is Mr McMaster’s brother-in-law, Micheál Mac Liammoir, who has held several interesting picture exhibitions in London and Dublin. It was also rumoured some years ago that he designed a stage curtain for a well-known French producer then in London.
Of course he helps with designing for the present company. He has published stories and sketches both in English and Gaelic. I hear that his pictures are now “on show” in the new Abbey Tea Rooms. Another versatile member is Mr Hilton Edwards, who has taken prominent part as baritone in leading British operatic companies in London. He has also toured South Africa in this capacity.
“Æ” for the States
After many years “AE” (Mr George Russell) at last has been persuaded to pay a visit to the United States. “AE” is one of the shyest of mortals, who, unlike most literary men of our times, never has courted “publicity”. Now that he has decided to cross the Rubicon he will have to resign himself to the tender mercies of the American reporters who will be waiting in swarms for him when he reaches New York.
Among his most highly treasured possessions is a glowing obituary notice of himself which was published in an American newspaper some years ago on the occasion of a namesake’s death in England. A portrait of “AE” surrounded by fairies and hobgoblins adorns the panegyric, which bewails the loss of one of Ireland’s most richly gifted sons.
http://url.ie/8ets