'Another entertainment popular with our contemporaries was the new craze of Ballad Singing '

'Another entertainment popular with our contemporaries was the new craze of Ballad Singing '

Harry Browne remembers the most common form of entertainment when he was a young man. He recalls ballad singing and in particular 'The Dubliners'.

Harry Browne

Trinity College Dublin

1965

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Harry Browne

Adolescence and Early Adulthood

Life Story

Dublin

1960's

We got engaged on 24th August 1965 and celebrated with dinner in the Metropole restaurant. The Metropole was an entertainment complex with Ballroom, Restaurant and Cinema all under one roof. The engagement ring cost ԣ120.00, as small fortune in those days.Entertainment at the dinner was provided by the well - known (at that time) jazz singer and pianist Peggy Dell. My mother used to regale us with a story of the first performance of Peggy, then known as Margaret Tisdall. She might have been eight years old and living in Sitric Road close to my mother's home. She put on a show in her back yard for the neighbours and sang and danced on an improvised stage. She was, in her day, an international star. Another entertainment popular with our contemporaries was the new craze of Ballad Singing. We went out to the Royal Hotel in Howth every Saturday night to hear Ronnie Drew and the Dubliners, he had had a disagreement with the Abbey Tavern and moved across the road to the opposition venue. After the gig was finished we rushed back into Grafton Street to the Grafton Theatre for a midnight session of the same Dubliners. We were avid fans. My friend Tony O'Shea accompanied us on these expeditions and as he sometimes had the use of a car, he was very popular.

Irish Research Council for Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (IRCHSS)

Dr Kathleen McTiernan (Trinity College Dublin)

Dr Deirdre O'Donnell (Trinity College Dublin)