Saturday, March 24, 2018

Killarney, 1929


When I came across this video it was entitled "Cork Street Scenes, 1929." While watching the film I noticed the corner of College St. and Lewis Rd. in Killarney, then I saw J O' Leary's-a building which is still there on Main St. today. I soon realised the majority of the video was shot in Killarney. "The Killarney Bar" on film is now Casey's off-licence (which still has a small sign on the side of it advertising "The Killarney Bar"). The original video is housed in the archives of the University of South Carolina. I cut out the segments that were from Cork and Connemara.

I'm sure people's relations in town appear here on film. My own great-grandparents were living on Fair Hill (the street that appears at 4.20) by the Friary Church in 1929, no sign of them unfortunately, as far as I can see! The kids outside the Courthouse with the donkey should surely be identifiable by someone. As far as I'm aware this is the oldest video taken of Killarney town, certainly the oldest with sound. The girl singing in Irish is from another location, its a pity the whole thing wasn't recorded. I'm guessing the girl is from Connemara she is singing the song Sail Óg Rua. This is the only piece of the film I left in shot outside of Killarney. I just couldn´t cut her wonderful singing! Below are the lines she sings.

.... bróin, ag oiliúint mo leanbh ar bhacán mo láimhe, 's gan fiú braon bainne agam a bhéarfainn dhó. "Grieving, rearing my child under my bended arm, without even a bit of milk to give him."

7 comments:

Unknown said...

That footage is class

Unknown said...

Thanks for this Charlie. I have been looking for it for the past two months. The original site which I had saved no longer works and I hadn't had the wit to download the video. Certainly your edited version is an improvement - Shandon's Four Faced Liar in the middle of Killarney was rather disconcerting!
Happy new year,
Mary Coghlan.




Charlie O' Brien said...

No bother Mary good to see local people having access to it! Happy new year to you too! beir bua, Charlie

Unknown said...

Wonderful. Thank you

Frun said...

Thank you, and the high point was the young girl singing. Frank M

Charlie O' Brien said...

No bother Frank. Glad you enjoyed it.

Poesía y Letras del corazón said...

Muy bonito Blog