DUBLIN OVER 3 DECADES
Jul 30th, 2010 by Sean Baite
I’ve had the intention to link to 2 separate short films uploaded on YouTube for some time now. In essence, they are propaganda films for Bord Fawlty or whatever the name was of the body trying to promote Dublin tourism at the time. In both cases, the Dubliners sprang automatically to the minds of the filmmakers as the ideal soundtrack for a bit of propaganda on Dublin.
First up is a film I vaguely remembered from late night on RTE2 a few decades ago. I had thought it was actually narrated by Brendan Behan himself but it turns out, on seeing it on YouTube, that the talking is done by Ray McAnally. In order to make it sound like the real Behan, he appears to have recorded the script down a telephone line from McDaid’s. Here, in any case, is the first part of three :
followed by the second part here and the third part over here
Despite the fairly maudlin content in passages and the very dodgy audio quality on the original, the photography is of an excellent standard. Footage of Behan’s own family and of 60s Dublin is fairly priceless - also including that fine pub Gills on the North Circular (is it still going?). Ray McAnally’s voiceover reminded me also of the lost Bleasdale classic ‘No Surrender’, of which unfortunately, there are only about 10 minutes up on YouTube - the opening here and a couple of clips stuck together here .
A couple of decades later, in order to cash in on the Millenium, someone made what amounts to an extended advert featuring Ronnie Drew walking around a number of Dublin tourist traps - including a few already featured in the 1960s film. Tellingly, the physical setting has barely changed from the Lemass era film. The first part below :
Part 2 here , 3 here , 4 here , 5 here . Highlights include an ‘indecent proposal’ for Ronnie on Moore St. and yer man Dave Finnegan in a cameo on his usual spot on Grafton St. Lowlights would be it being the eighties, some plonker in the production team reckoning the Dubliners needed to mime (several times) to their own records in O’Donoghues (???) and it being sponsored by Ryanair.
If any of you are still with me - hope youse enjoyed the sights of Dublin past - and paid no luggage surcharge in doing so.
As you know Seán I’ve been recording people as part of an oral history archive, and to date three of them have told me roughly the same story. Each was on O’Connell Bridge on whatever day in the 1950s when they heard a shout: “AHHH [INSERT NAME] YEA AUL BALLICKS” and when they looked around it was Brendan Behan. Each worked with Behan at different times in the building trade. I am now convinced that Behan just stood on O’Connell Bridge for the entire 1950s shouting “AH YEA AUL BALLICKS” at people as they walked by and went about their business!
That’s probably due to some joker having tied one of his legs to the rail on the bar in the Scotch House using a 100 yard long clothesline sometime in 1951.
He didn’t notice until 1956.
My Dad never had a good opinion of Brendan Behan. I remember as I was growing up that he scowl whenever he as mentioned, but he only told me why he didn’t like him when I was a teenager. He said it was because he used to have to step over him nearly every morning in the doorway of McDaid when he was opening up his small factory (clothing manufacturers) above McDaids.
But it might have been also that every time he stepped over him Behan woke up and said “AH YEA AUL BALLICKS”.