Throwback Thursday: Movies we saw... and some ‘dirty pictures’!

You lot can’t be beaten for filling in the knowledge gaps that spring up on Throwback Thursday!

Tim Cagney writes to say that he enjoyed the revisiting of radio show The School Around The Corner on these pages. “Whilst the show was synonymous with Paddy Crosbie, I wonder if anyone can remember the name of the lady who played accordion on the show? I can. She was Thelma Ramsey.”

Thank you, Tim.

Now - do you remember 13-year-old Dean Horgan, from Glanmire Community College, who last November shared with us his project for the Discover Cork history project competition?

He had decided to research his great-grandmother, Angela Keohane, a lady who led a full and energetic life. Born in Bessborough, she was soon adopted, and went on to work, marry, and raise a family. At the age of 57, she went back to school and completed her Junior Cert by the age of 60, while somehow finding time also to knit Aran jumpers for Blarney Woollen Mills. She only found her biological brother in 1994, and died in 2021.

It was a heart-warming story and we were delighted to give Dean some publicity. Now we’ve heard from him again!

“Hello Jo!!!

I would just like to say thank-you very much for your help as I have come first place in the Junior cert 1st-3rd year age group for my project. I just wanted to say thank you. Dean.”

Well that makes our day, Dean. How nice of you to take the trouble to write and tell us of your success. Well done you!

Last week, Throwback Thursday reader George Harding mentioned an abiding memory of a scene in a Laurel & Hardy flick which was the first film he had ever seen. “I would love to know in which movie it appeared,” he said. “I guess it was the mid-1950s when I saw it, but the film probably originated in the ’30s or ’40s, which was their heyday.”

Once again, you readers came up with the goods! Here is Tom Dennehy’s quick reply: “In response to your reader George Harding wondering what the title was of the Laurel and Hardy film he saw, it was The Flying Deuces, which was released in 1939 and subsequently re-issued a few times over the years as it fell into the public domain status.

“The pair join the Foreign Legion, and, in fact, it’s a remake of an earlier film they made back in 1931, entitled Beau Hunks (a take-off of the famous Beau Geste).

We hope that pleases you mightily, George.

And Mr Harding himself contributes more to the nostalgic topic of ‘movies we saw when we were young’, since he has since found some of his old diaries in which he kept a list of the films he had seen at the time.

“I became addicted to the Hammer horror movies that were popular in the late ’50s and early ’60s. The following lists just some of them, and my evaluation.

• The Gorgon - Great.
• Curse of Frankenstein – Fair.
• Dracula – Great.
• Brides Of Dracula – Great.
• Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde – Great.
• Scream Of Fear - no comment.
• Nightmare - no comment.
• Kiss Of The Vampire - Great.
• Evil Of Frankenstein – Great.
• The Mummy - V.Good.

And here is a fairly complete list of the flicks I saw during 1963, according to my diary:

Phantom Of The Opera, Frontier Gun, and Woman Obsessed (Capitol); Merill’s Marauders, Fall Of The House Of Usher, and an Edgar Wallace (Assems); Counterfeit Traitor, plus Naked Edge (Lee); The Tall Stranger, and Three On A Spree (Lee); Kid Galahad (Savoy); Guns Of Darkness (Pav); The Enforcer (Pav); Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea (Assems); Mysterious Island (Pav); Wild In The Country (Col); Drums Across The River, plus Arena Of Fear, The Amorous Prawn, Shane (Col); Bridge On The River Kwai (Savoy); Yellow Mountain, and Son Of Ali Baba (Assems); The Outsider (Assems); It Happened At The World’s Fair, Ghost Drive, and The Canadians (Assems); Jailhouse Rock (Col); Follow That Dream (Col).

But George’s tastes in movies was about to change exponentially.

“In 1965, I got a present of a ticket for the Film Festival, and went to the various shows morning, noon and night. I discovered what a director was, as that year they had a tribute to Billy Wilder, and all his major pictures were shown.

“After that education, my Hammer days were over, and I picked my pictures more carefully.”

And here are some wonderful recollections from Mick McCarthy:

“Hi Jo,

Just read your Throwback Thursday article. My first memory of seeing a film was Shane - a visiting circus troupe came to the village and set up their large tent where they showed it.

“My first son was christened Shane after this film, which shows the lasting effect it had on me!

“My strongest memory is of the young lad standing on a landing overlooking the bar – Shane walks in and the young lad (can’t remember his name) shouts a warning - ‘Shane!’ - just as the gunman is about to pull the trigger!

“Also, when I was about 12 years old, I, and a friend (Johnny Dwyer, R.I.P.) were in a room over the stables of a local riding centre. Johnny and I were playing guitars. Unlike me, Johnny was a good singer and, along with the groom in the riding centre, John O’Connor, who played saxophone, we were trying to form a band.

“John O’Connor had a number of large cardboard boxes in this room full of small 45 records (and some LPs). They all had handwritten labels - the brother of the riding centre owner was working in a large recording studios in London and used to send on songs/music recorded by session singers/bands there.

“The two I remember most vividly were by The Quarrymen (original name of The Beatles) and Gerry Dorsey (later had his name changed to Engelbert Humperdinck). We should have kept them but just didn’t realise their importance!”

Mick continues: “Also, I used to go, when I could afford it, to a cinema which operated directly across the road from the entrance to Sarsfields Court Hospital. The owner (I think his name was Seamus?) would collect us in a mini-bus and return us home after the film.

“I think he also had a cinema opposite Collins Barracks in the city. Was it The Cameo?”

Mick tells us that he was born in Knockraha village, but moved to Riverstown when he was in 6th class.

“Our headmaster in Knockraha N.S., Dan Casey, lived in Brooklodge, so, for my last year in national school, I walked every day to his house, which was about one mile away, and he gave me a lift to Knockraha to complete 6th class there.

“Everything I did, or have, I owe to ‘Master’ Casey,” says Mick simply. “Before moving to Brooklodge, he and his family lived next door to us in Knockraha, in the Parish house.

“I lived in a house called The Barracks which was a former British Police barracks. I came from a family of eight (11 originally, the first three died, more or less, at birth which has another story attached to it).

“Master Casey’s wife practically reared me - I remember ‘waddling’ into her house when I was barely able to walk, to be given an apple which, if I remember correctly, she kept in a basket inside on the hall floor.

“Mrs Casey had me reading, and writing from a very young age. When Master Casey came home after school he would ‘examine’ me and always praised everything I did!

“As a consequence, I have always been ‘nosy’ and inquisitive about everything - I wanted to learn about everything.

“It just proves that, just like dogs, children need to ‘learn how to learn’ from a very young age, and be encouraged at every step as they grow, and develop.”

Wise words, Mick, and I hope that Dan Casey is looking down and smiling at your heartfelt tribute. Good teachers and good influences can make such a difference in our lives, can’t they?

Meanwhile, Tim Cagney also found other people’s memories of their picture-going days fascinating, and the mention of George Harding’s father going to see The Old Man And The Sea with Spencer Tracy struck a chord.

“I never saw the cinematic version of The Old Man And The Sea, but I did see it on TV,” says Tim. “One of the most depressing pieces of celluloid drivel I can ever remember.”

“There used to be a cinema near Collins Barracks (can’t remember the name) which developed a reputation for showing ‘dirty pictures’,” adds Tim.

“On many occasions, myself and a few curious buddies ventured inside, hoping to see things we shouldn’t be looking at. Alas, most of the time we left disappointed!

“I remember one particular movie called Helga, which was supposed to feature young Swedish couples doing ‘naughty things’. Of course, it became a magnet for healthy and frustrated youths (like myself). Unfortunately, it contained a scene of a live birth, which I couldn’t cope with at all.

“I had always been aware of the pain such things involved (for a woman) and had nearly had to hide under the seat until the infant was delivered.

“In contrast, the lad I had gone to the movie with became convulsed with uncontrollable laughter (mostly at my expense).”

Tim asks “Do you remember the ‘stills’ which used to be put-up in the foyers, to give prospective cinema-goers a few hints of what the movie might have to offer?

“I well remember instances of certain images being blacked-over with marker-pens, particularly those featuring women in underwear. Such were the days when the Catholic Church ruled Ireland.

“There used to be a publication called The Fold, in which there was a segment acting as a guide as to what might be suitable viewing material. Needless to say, anything which contained even the faintest whisper of sex was ruled as not to be seen by said publication.”

Oh, many readers will remember The Fold, Tim, as a magazine which practically ruled our film-going lives back then! In fact, before the advent of online information on practically any subject whatsoever, we usually had no way of knowing what big pictures might be coming to town – except in those pages of The Fold.

And so, while it was seized by virtuous parents when it came out (was it Sunday mornings?), and read from cover to cover, we younger members of society couldn’t wait to get our hands on it to see what movies might be seen in the weeks ahead.

We seem to remember that some films had ‘O’ or ‘OP’ next to their title – indicating ‘Objectionable’, or ‘Objectionable in Part’. Once that had been spotted by a parent, then you were in trouble indeed if you were discovered to have gone to see it nevertheless.

Tell us your memories. Email jokerrigan1@gmail.com or leave a comment on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/echolivecork.