Movie columnist Tom Deignan examines David Nasaw’s book The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy with an eye to Kennedy’s time in Hollywood.The year was 1926, a year before Charles Lindbergh would make his heralded flight across the Atlantic. And so, when a 38-year-old Joseph P. Kennedy made his first trip to Hollywood, a train would have to … [Read more...] about Joe Kennedy – The Hollywood Years
History Archives
Arthur Conan Doyle’s Irish Mystery
May 22nd has been celebrated as International Sherlock Holmes Day since 2013 when fans celebrated the 125th anniversary of the novel in which Arthur Conan Doyle introduced his famous sleuth. The date was chosen as it is the birthday of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who was born on May 22, 1859, to an Irish family in Edinburgh, Scotland. Sherlock Holmes — who celebrates his 125th … [Read more...] about Arthur Conan Doyle’s Irish Mystery
The Silver Kings
The Comstock Lode in Nevada, uncovered in 1859 by two Irish laborers, ultimately produced more than $500 million worth of silver, a large share of which went to the Irish-American “Big Four” – James Fair, James C. Flood, John Mackay, and William O’Brien – who had left New York for the bigger opportunities of the Far West. Dr. Roger D. McGrath tells their story.Grinding poverty, … [Read more...] about The Silver Kings
The Irish Coppers
The evolution of the Irish-American policeman – in real life and on screen.In the classic 1954 Looney Tunes cartoon entitled “Bugs and Thugs,” everybody’s favorite animated rabbit gets himself caught up with Rocky and Mugsy, a couple of bank robbers who flee the scene of the crime and head off to a rural safe house. Soon enough, Bugs Bunny fakes the sound of a police siren and … [Read more...] about The Irish Coppers
An Irishman’s Civil War Diary
Michael Dougherty, a young Irish soldier in the American Civil War, kept a diary of his experiences, including the horrendous conditions endured in Confederate prison camps.Michael Dougherty, born in Falcarragh, County Donegal, on May 10, 1844, immigrated to America with his family at the age of 15 and went to work as a “Boots” in a Philadelphia hotel. On April 12, 1861, the … [Read more...] about An Irishman’s Civil War Diary