Comments on: JIMMY JIMMY

By: Niall Sullivan

Niall Sullivan — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:08:41 +0000

To Maria
It was called “Once upon a Time” and ran in the very early years of Telefis Eireann (1962 onwards). It could have run no later than 1964, as he died in January 1965.

By: Niall Sullivan

Niall Sullivan — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:04:11 +0000

To Erika
I noted during the recent obituaries to Betty Driver (Coronation Street’s Betty Turpin) that several of her film credits from the late 30s early 40s included Jimmy O’Dea’s name as one of the main stars. Perhaps Granada TV could assist you on that score.

By: Niall Sullivan

Niall Sullivan — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 11:58:10 +0000

My grandfather, Jack Sullivan was manager of the Queen’s Theatre ih the period covering the troubles of 1916-1924. One Summer while on holiday in Skerries, he spotted O’Dea in a production by a concert party known as “The Sand Dabs”, and was so impressed he made a note of his name, so when O’Dea and Jimmy McDonagh approached him with “Dublin Tonight” in 1924, he signed them up straight away. I remember a framed photo of O’Dea in his costume as King Brian from “Darby O’Gill and the Little People” on the drawing room wall in my grandparents’ house in Dartmouth Square in the 19660s. O’Dea had signed the photo “To my father of the Theatre, Jack Sullivan”. My grandfather had been forced off the stage in the 1930s Depresssion, and gone back to his original trade as a printer, though O’Dea and Harry O’Donovan tried to lure him back into theatre management in the late 1950s, during O’Dea’s 21st Anniversary season at the Gaiety. My grandmother put her foot down on that notion PDQ.

By: Eamonn Smith

Eamonn Smith — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 12:35:33 +0000

Jimmy recorded a number of monologues on 78s, made I think in the ’40s or ’50s. Can anyone help me find the words of these recordings? One in particular I remember about a day-trip to Ireland’s Eye. This has special memories for me because it used to be my mother’s party-piece. I would love to have the lyrics if anyone can help me find them.

By: Conor McCabe

Conor McCabe — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 10:13:08 +0000

Thanks for that Nicoline, I’m going to enjoy that. Cheers!

By: Nicoline

Nicoline — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 10:09:55 +0000

Hi there,
You might be interested in an archive documentary we have just published on the RTE Radio One Documentary on One website - “The O’Dea Story”, a documentary made about Jimmy O’Dea in 1954:
http://www.rte.ie/radio1/doconone//radio-documentary-the-o-dea-story.html

By: Conor McCabe

Conor McCabe — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 18:42:02 +0000

Hi Erika, I just tried them all and they are playing fine for me. If you right-click on the file you should be able to download them. They might play better that way for you.

By: Erika

Erika — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 17:01:56 +0000

Sorry, I meant all aside from the non troppo largo are having errors.

By: Erika

Erika — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 17:00:40 +0000

Wow never expected to find anything like these! I’ve been looking for anything to do with Jimmy for a long while and haven’t had a ton of luck, so this is really appreciated. I have to mention though that upon checking these out a second time, the “non troppo largo” are showing up saying “error opening file.” Just so you know.

I take it there’s probably no way to get a hold of any film of Jimmy O’Dea, aside from that Darby O’Gill film…?

By: Ian Baldwin

Ian Baldwin — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 15:07:41 +0000

Some nice clips of Jimmy here. A shame that there is nothing currently on CD. Also RTE should release their recordings of “Once upon a time” and “O’Dea’s Your Man” on DVD. They still had recordings when I tried to get copies over 10 years ago but they wanted £400 - far beyond my means.