Throwback Thursday: How the parents of a rock star met in Cork and more cinema tales

Anne Watt writes to say: “I have been particularly enjoying the recent anecdotes re going to ‘de pictures’ in Cork years ago. Some of the tales made me laugh out loud!

“Recently, you mentioned the Sissi films. [These were Sissi, Sissi The Young Empress, and Sissi, The Fateful Years, oddly enough in Ireland retitled Sissi, Mother and Empress]. I recall going to see these with my mother.

“I must have been very young, but old enough to read the subtitles, since the movies were in German. The best thing was that Dad had a friend who worked as a projectionist and I acquired a poster-size still of Romy Schneider; who was to me a real-life fairy princess. Wish I’d kept this piece of cinema memorabilia!

“My main cinema-going era was the late ’60s. A group of four or five of us girls used to go on Saturday afternoons. (The most ‘adult’-looking was tasked with buying the tickets, if the film had age restrictions!) We had a penchant for sad films. I particularly recall Romeo and Juliet and Dr. Zhivago. We started off giggling and nudging each other, then ended up sobbing. A stampede to the Ladies was required afterwards, as strolling along Pana with a teary face was definitely not a cool look!

“Keep these excellent Cork tales going!”

Love the detail of repairing the face before venturing out into the all-important stroll along Pana, Anne! And thank you for confirming that, although there is a popular song which claimed ‘big girls don’t cry’, it was just fine to do that at the movies!

Now, you will remember that we also recently published some fascinating details of the early working life of Gladys Leach, that noted Cork artist, generously provided by her son, Rom Hyde. Now we can continue, and reveal just how those famous words of songs were projected on to the screen at the Savoy while we all sang our hearts out!

“My mother, Gladys, started her career at the Savoy as a 15-year-old usherette. While working her way up to be head cashier, she continued with her art studies, drawing and calligraphy. In fact, she won first place in Ireland in a calligraphy examination.

“On the days that she didn’t begin work till 6pm, she would often cycle to Crosshaven for a swim or go sailing before cycling back and starting work. One day while sailing she was hit by a sudden squall and had to shelter on Spike Island. Knowing that time was against her, she was taken by motor launch to Cobh and from there travelled by train to Kent station to be on time for her 6pm duties in the Savoy!

“One of the cashiers, Evelyn Weller, whom Gladys described as very beautiful and engaged to be married, was swept off her feet by a handsome young gentleman who attended the cinema one evening. 

"Not only was he charming but also, it seems, had a good singing voice. She broke her engagement, took off, and married the new man in her life whose name was Robert Geldof. Evelyn and Robert were to become the parents of Ireland’s most famous rock star, Bob Geldof!

“The Savoy Cinema in Cork was regarded as the most luxurious and best-equipped in Ireland, my mother always told us, and in keeping with the Savoy policy an organ built by John Compton, the master of world organ builders, was installed. The Savoy organ, played by the wonderful Frederick J. Bridgman, A.C.R.O. (known affectionately by the Cork audiences as Fred, or even Fredge), provided a feast of entertainment for the patrons before and during the intervals of each show.

“The console of the Compton organ would rise up from the orchestra pit with the seated Mr Bridgman playing his chosen introductory music [almost always The Banks of My Own Lovely Lee, if we recall rightly], before turning around, under a spotlight and waving to the audience both upstairs and down. The stage curtains would then roll back, exposing the screen onto which the words of the current popular songs were projected. Fred would play the music while 2,100 patrons sang along, reading the lyrics which were etched onto 3 x 3 inch glass slides and projected onto the screen. In hindsight, I suppose, it could really be regarded as the world’s first karaoke?”

Those slides, reveals Rom proudly, were the work of Gladys Leach. And, let it not be forgotten, her children! She had married by this time, and was competently rearing a family of seven as well as continuing with her artistic work.

“Every Thursday, Fred Bridgman would call to our home in Douglas and pass in the lyrics written on sheets of paper for the new programme which began every Sunday night. He would collect the boxes of finished slides on Saturday, and that little routine continued for as long as I can remember.

“As a family, we were all part of this little industry. We would paint one glass slide with a grey chalky water paint called ‘Dope’ which was in a little saucepan heating on the Aga. Once the glass was painted, we would lay them on the edge of the Aga to speed up the drying process, and then pass them on to Mum to etch the words with a little sharp steel implement that I think was a dentist’s tool.

“A second plain glass of the same size was put over the etched one to protect the lettering, and they were bound together and boxed ready for collection.”

Now that really is wonderful information, Rom! Who knew, when we sang along to the latest Top Ten number, that the words had been etched carefully on a glass plate out in Douglas? Did she ever go wrong, misspell a word, anything like that, we wonder? Disaster, and exit of faulty glass slide, no doubt! And I wonder where the little glass slides came from. Waters’ glass factory, maybe? All fascinating pieces of the jigsaw that is Cork history.

“As time moved on, Gladys opened a studio upstairs at the back of the building at number 122, Patrick Street,” says Rom.

“Her primary focus at that stage was commercial art. Most of the illustrated advertisements for the Cork retail businesses that appeared on the pages of the Cork Examiner and Evening Echo were created by Gladys.

“Creating design and packaging logos and labels for well known brands played a big part in her art business. One of her stand-out designs was the iconic square CDC, Cork Dry Gin bottle and distinctive red label. Gladys never left home without a pencil and note book in her bag. She recorded all the beautiful architecture, quirky buildings, small laneways, monuments, grand public buildings, bridges, city streets, quays and arches like a photographer would do today, but simply with her pen and paper. Her talent, attention to detail and perspective were faultless and her drawings became a must-have for most Cork city homes.

“In 1974, Gladys was commissioned to illustrate The Scenery and Character of Cork to celebrate Cork 800. Included in this book is a drawing of her beloved Savoy Cinema.

“At a ceremony in the City Hall to salute Cork’s 800th anniversary of its charter, Alderman Liam Burke was presented with the first copy of a portfolio of the drawings from that book, and Senator ‘Tip’ O’Neill, speaker of the House of Representatives, USA, received the second copy from Gladys Leach.

“Incidentally, Tip O’Neill’s portfolio is catalogued in his US library.

“Never one to sit still, Gladys showed another side when she widened her range to include some stunning water colour paintings of Cork city, the rugged countryside, the coastline and yachts sailing in the harbours along the south coast. Several exhibitions followed and all were officially opened by friend and admirer, Jack Lynch. In between all that, she married John Hyde in 1945, reared a family of seven, was an accomplished yachtswoman, a dab-hand at making her own formal dresses, President of the Soroptimist Club of Cork, a champion of all things Cork, and produced a range of Christmas cards.

“At Christmas, when every second was priceless, she made a Hyde family Christmas card on a silk screen press made by husband John and set up in the garage.

“My mother began painting again at 90 years of age when she came to live with Verna and I, Rom, for the last eight years of her life. She was a wonderful artist, a great mother, a beautiful lady and a special angel. Gladys died on October 18, 2014.”

Well, all I can say is thank you, most sincerely, for sharing that marvellous life of a marvellous woman with us, Rom. What a gal, Gladys Leach! Are we creating any more like her, or was she a true one-off?

And now to matters more ethereal than practical. This writer recently did an interview on the Oliver Callan Show for RTÉ Radio 1, about my new book with Richard Mills, Irish Fairy Forts (O’Brien Press). The response was amazing – I never thought so many listened in to that show. Among the messages was one from another Cork legend, musical maestro Declan Townsend:

“I hope that I’ve got your email address correct, Jo, ‘cos I have a little story to share with you regarding the fairy forts. D’you remember the Radio Éireann interview about ‘em...with a Kerryman who was being interviewed about the stories in West Kerry?

“Asked whether he believed all these stories about the fairies he replied, ‘Yerra, not at all boy - but they’re there!’ Beannacht Dé. Declan.”

Yep, that’s what we found when doing our research, Declan. You would meet someone who declared firmly, ‘Don’t believe in all that rubbish’. Then, inevitably, and without exception, they would think for a moment and then say, ‘But I do know one thing – I would never interfere with one, or damage it. That would really be inviting bad luck.’

The old beliefs are still very much with us in Ireland, unlike neighbouring England where sweeping industrialisation threw all the old traditions out the back door. We should value them all the more for their determined survival.

And another message arrived, from a lady who had heard me mention on the radio that two childhood friends of my own father, the Conran twins, had a poltergeist which used to energetically turn the mangle in their scullery (modern readers, please refer to your elders for translation of ‘mangle’ and ‘scullery’) late at night. She was thrilled because she was a Conran and knows her grandfather was one of twins – could they be the same? She is digging now for more family information, and I hope she gets back to me. How’s that for linkages across our Cork past? Do poltergeists read Throwback Thursday, I wonder, or do they just throw the paper on the ground and dance on it?

Send us your own experiences, your thoughts, your memories! Email jokerrigan1@gmail.com or leave a message on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/echolivecork.