During the so called ‘Emergency’
of World War 2 in Ireland, one of the most popular programmes on the radio saw
some of the biggest names in Irish entertainment grace the airwaves but strangely
the programme did not emanate from Radio Eireann but from the BBC in London. The
BBC and the British information Ministry wanted to produce a programme that
would appeal to the many thousands of Irish and Anglo-Irish troops serving on
the battlefronts and they also wanted to improve to tense relationship between
Britain and Ireland as a result of Ireland’s neutral stance.
Dublin born Jimmy O’Dea
had given up his optometry profession to tread the boards of theatres including
the Gaiety. In 1928, he had teamed up with writer Harry O’Donovan and they played
to packed houses with their successful pantomimes and Summer variety shows. In
1940, O’Dea had starred in a BBC Radio variety show created by Vernon Harris
and Eric Spear, titled ‘Melody & Co’ initially recorded at the Bristol
studios. When the BBC in London decided on an Irish Show, they contacted Jimmy
O’Dea who agreed to initially front the ‘Irish Half Hour’ every second week.
George Marshall who was
the regional director of the BBC in Northern Ireland objected to the show’s
broadcast on a number of grounds not least the name as it implied that it was
including Northern Ireland who was ‘partitioned from Eire’. He also objected to
the theme music ‘The Minstrel Boy’ and the fact that some of the introduction
was conducted in the Irish language with a simple ‘Cead Mile Failte’. His objections
were overruled although when asked later about the show he and the Northern Ireland
Regional service referred to it as ‘Eire’s Half Hour’. One of the leading
supporters of the show was John Betjeman, the poet and writer later to be
knighted, who at the time was an attaché in the British embassy in Dublin.
Betjeman wrote,
‘The
Germans at the moment broadcast two progammes a day to Eire, one on a medium
wave and a Gaelic programme on Sunday evenings. The BBC would be most effective
if broadcast simultaneously with one of the German broadcasts, or Haw Haw, preferably
the latter and could thus diminish the Germans’ audience. There is a widespread
impression in the country here that of the two BBC programmes, Home Service and
Forces, the ‘Forces’ is the one to listen to as it is not the BBC and therefore
not propaganda.’
The first show aired at
9.20pm on Tuesday November 11th 1941 and the first featured artist was the
great Irish singer Count John McCormack who had been living in London at the
time. The first show featured mostly music from McCormack and the BBC Men's
Chorus and the BBC Orchestra, conducted by Leslie Woodgate. BBC. The show was
compered by future celebrity author Leonard Strong, whose parents were Irish.
The Half Hour was produced by Lesley Baily and Ronald Waldman.
The following week
November 22nd, it was a different type of show now featuring Jimmy O’Dea as his
famous incarnation as Biddy Mulligan, the Pride of the Coombe and sketches and
skits featuring the fictional rural Irish town of Ballygobackward. In total up
to the final episode on December 3rd 1943 which unusually was pre-recorded to accommodate
O’Dea’s panto rehearsal at the Gaiety, eighty episodes were aired. The Radio Times
advertised
‘The
Irish Half Hour with Jimmy O’Dea and Barbara Mullen specially recorded
for Irish men and women in the Forces. Compere, Joe Linnane. Singer,
Robert Irwin. Writer, Harry O'Donovan. BBC Revue Orchestra and Chorus conducted
by Charles Shadwell. Presented by Pat Hillyard and Francis Worsley
The show was aired on the
BBC Forces service although some Irish regional newspapers were referring to it
was the BBC Alternative Service avoiding the militaristic term of ‘forces’. The
show made no mention of anything contentious in Ireland such as its neutrality
or the border between the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland. Not everyone
was happy. One letter writer to the Belfast Telegraph who signed himself ‘Ulster
Solider’ said that there no mention of Northern Ireland and that,
‘one
would think that Dublin was the home to all the Irish servicemen and women, but
actual facts show that there are four from Ulster for every one from Eire’.
By its second run that
began in May 1942, John McCormack had departed and its was now solely O’Dea’s
show. Its growing popularity was demonstrated as it was moved to primetime on a
Friday evening and earned itself a midweek repeat for those who may have missed
its live transmission. It starred the cream of Irish entertainment and variety
who travelled by ship across the dangerous Irish Sea, dodging German U Boats.
Others to appear on the bill along with Harry O’Donovan were Joe Linnane who
was ‘loaned’ by Radio Eireann to the BBC as Linnane had been hosting the very
popular ‘Question Time’ but left early to be replaced by Joe O’Neill. The Irish
Times reported the departure but significantly did not mention the name of the
BBC show despite it having first aired a year earlier. It wrote,
‘Listeners
to Radio Eireann will regret, with me, that our old friend,
Joseph Linnane, the popular Irish Question Time Compere is to
leave Ireland shortly to fulfil a contract with the B.B.C.
"Joe."
as he is known to thousands of, Irish people, is certainly the best compere we
have here, I am inclined to think, indeed, in these islands and the pep which
he manages to infuse into his control of a studio full of people each Sunday
night is remarkable.
Joe's
B.B.C broadcasts will include a series of Irish programmes in which he will be
associated with Jimmy O'Dea, Harry O'Donovan. and in which he
will have vocal assistance from Robert Irwin and Barbara Mullen, the young
Irish stage and film star, who will sing old Irish songs and maybe some new
ones as well. The programme will alternate every Saturday with another Irish
orgy of melody and mirth, in which Count John McCormack will star. This latter
programme will be fathered by L. A. G Strong, who appears to be devoting most
of his time these days to broadcasting instead of writing.’
Sean Ryan was a Clare
born tenor who appeared from 1942 onwards and it provided a springboard for a
tour around Ireland, with his shows being advertised for many years after as ‘coming
directly from The Irish Half Hour’. Cyril Cusack, Noel Purcell, Peggy Dell and Cavan
O’Connor were also regulars. A variety magazine at the time said that,
‘Cavan
O'Connor, well known to listeners for his singing in 'Irish Half-Hour', is
every bit as Irish as his name, although he has lived for many years
in England. He started to sing at the age of nine, studied under Sir Hugh Allen
at the Royal College of Music, since when he has appeared in opera and sung
with choral societies and concert parties. He was a popular entertainer on the
Western Front during the last war. O'Connor sings not only in English, but in
French, German, and Spanish, and many will remember his contributions to the
popular 'Cafe Colette' broadcasts.’
Barbara Mullen was another
stalwart. Mullen, born in Boston, spent much of her teenage years back with her
father on his native Aran Islands where he had starred in the popular film ‘The
Man of Aran’. Mullen moved to London to study acting and found herself on the
airwaves. She went onto a stellar career on the big screen and on the small
screen as the popular Janet McPherson, the housekeeper on BBC Dr. Finlay’s
Casebook TV show. Mullen was the star of Eamon Andrews This is Your Life in 1964.
Maye Tipple, who passed
away in November 1993, played Biddy’s (O’Dea’s) on air daughter Bridget. She had
been O’Dea’s leading lady at the Gaiety and when she departed for London, her
role was taken by Maureen Potter who would have a long and successful career on
stage and television. Tipple would marry Jack Fennell who worked at Pinewood
Studios.
The popularity of the
show on both sides of the Irish Sea cannot be underestimated and was a source
of concern for Radio Eireann. When it finished in December 1943 a BBC Gallup
poll put ‘Irish Half Hour’ as the second most listened to programme on BBC
Radio. The show was available on medium wave and more importantly for overseas
troops on short wave.
To capitalise on the goodwill
created by the BBC’s Irish Half Hour during the war, just after the end of the
war a rejuvenated Radio Luxembourg began a request show titled the Irish Half
Hour from 1948.
