John MacDonagh (1879–1961) was an Irish film director, playwright,
republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
, and a participant in the 1916
Easter Rising
The Easter Rising ( ga, Éirí Amach na Cásca), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the a ...
.
MacDonagh was born 4 October 1879 in
Cloughjordan
Cloughjordan, officially Cloghjordan ( , ), is a town in County Tipperary in Ireland. It is in the barony of Ormond Lower, and it is also a parish in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Killaloe.
The town is situated in the north-western part of Tip ...
,
County Tipperary
County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after th ...
, where he grew up in a household filled with music, poetry and learning. Both his parents, Joseph McDonagh and Mary Parker, were teachers who strongly emphasized the value of education.
He toured with the Moody Manners Opera Company in England and the United States before writing the script for D.W. Griffith's ''The Fugitive'' (1910).
During the 1916
Easter Rising
The Easter Rising ( ga, Éirí Amach na Cásca), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the a ...
, he was stationed alongside his brother
Thomas MacDonagh
Thomas Stanislaus MacDonagh ( ga, Tomás Anéislis Mac Donnchadha; 1 February 1878 – 3 May 1916) was an Irish political activist, poet, playwright, educationalist and revolutionary leader. He was one of the seven leaders of the Easter Rising o ...
(one of the seven leaders of the Rising) at the massive complex of Jacob's Biscuit Factory. Following the surrender, Thomas MacDonagh was
court martial
A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...
led, and
executed by firing squad
Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French ''fusil'', rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are us ...
on 3 May 1916, aged thirty-eight.
MacDonagh last saw his brother in Richmond Barracks after the surrender. He was initially sentenced to life imprisonment and was sent to
Knutsford
Knutsford () is a market town in the borough of Cheshire East, in Cheshire, England. Knutsford is south-west of Manchester, north-west of Macclesfield and 12.5 miles (20 km) south-east of Warrington. The population at the 2011 Census wa ...
Prison and thence to
Frongoch internment camp
Frongoch internment camp at Frongoch in Merionethshire, Wales was a makeshift place of imprisonment during the First World War and the 1916 Easter Rising.
History
1916 the camp housed German prisoners of war in a yellow distillery and cru ...
, from which he was released in August 1916.
He became involved with the
Film Company of Ireland
The Film Company of Ireland was the first film production company established in Ireland. It operated from 1916 to 1922.
History
The Film Company of Ireland (FCOI) was founded in March 1916 by Ellen O'Mara Sullivan, James Mark Sullivan, and Hen ...
. His first film as director was the comedy ''Paying the Rent'' (1917), starring Arthur Sinclair and photographed by Brian Magowan.
This was followed by the feature ''Willy Reilly and his Colleen Bawn'' (1920, at the height of the
Irish War of Independence
The Irish War of Independence () or Anglo-Irish War was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and British forces: the British Army, along with the quasi-mil ...
), a historical drama based on a novel by
William Carleton
William Carleton (4 March 1794, Prolusk (often spelt as Prillisk as on his gravestone), Clogher, County Tyrone – 30 January 1869, Sandford Road, Ranelagh, Dublin) was an Irish writer and novelist. He is best known for his ''Traits and Sto ...
and produced by
Jim Sullivan. It was shot in the grounds of St Enda's Rathfarnham, where his brother Thomas and
Patrick Pearse
Patrick Henry Pearse (also known as Pádraig or Pádraic Pearse; ga, Pádraig Anraí Mac Piarais; 10 November 1879 – 3 May 1916) was an Irish teacher, barrister, poet, writer, nationalist, republican political activist and revolutionary who ...
had founded a school to promote Irish education.
IMDB
/ref> John MacDonagh played the part of Tom the Fool (under the alias of Richard Sheridan) in the film. Some of the actors, such as George Nesbit and Jim Plant, used false names in the credits to protect themselves during those politically troubled times. It was premiered at the Bohemian Cinema, Dublin, in April 1920. He also filmed the funeral of his brother Thomas MacDonagh's wife, Muriel, the largest ever seen in Dublin at the time. At the same time as filming ''Willy Reilly'', he filmed the issuing of Republican Loan bonds by Michael Collins Michael Collins or Mike Collins most commonly refers to:
* Michael Collins (Irish leader) (1890–1922), Irish revolutionary leader, soldier, and politician
* Michael Collins (astronaut) (1930–2021), American astronaut, member of Apollo 11 and Ge ...
, signed on the block on which Robert Emmet
Robert Emmet (4 March 177820 September 1803) was an Irish Republican, orator and rebel leader. Following the suppression of the United Irish uprising in 1798, he sought to organise a renewed attempt to overthrow the British Crown and Protes ...
had been beheaded. Buying the bonds were what the subtitle cards described as 'Republican notabilities' including Erskine Childers, Arthur Griffith
Arthur Joseph Griffith ( ga, Art Seosamh Ó Gríobhtha; 31 March 1871 – 12 August 1922) was an Irish writer, newspaper editor and politician who founded the political party Sinn Féin. He led the Irish delegation at the negotiations that prod ...
, Grace Gifford
Grace Evelyn Gifford Plunkett (4 March 1888 – 13 December 1955) was an Irish artist and cartoonist who was active in the Republican movement, who married her fiancé Joseph Plunkett in Kilmainham Gaol only a few hours before he was executed f ...
(whose sister Muriel had married Thomas MacDonagh, and who married Joseph Plunkett
Joseph Mary Plunkett (Irish: ''Seosamh Máire Pluincéid''; 21 November 1887 – 4 May 1916) was an Irish nationalist, republican, poet, journalist, revolutionary and a leader of the 1916 Easter Rising. Joseph Mary Plunkett married Grace Giffo ...
an hour before his execution in 1916), and Joseph MacDonagh
Joseph Michael MacDonagh (18 May 1883 – 25 December 1922) was an Irish Sinn Féin politician.
He was born in Cloughjordan, County Tipperary. His parents Joseph MacDonagh and Mary Parker were both national schoolteachers. His brothers includ ...
, his brother, Minister for Labour in the first Dáil, who would die on hunger strike on Christmas Day 1922.
After making other films in the United States he returned to theatre. From 1920 he managed the Irish Theatre Company's theatre in Hardwicke Street working with, among others, Jimmy O'Dea
James Augustine O'Dea (26 April 1899 – 7 January 1965) was an Irish actor and comedian.
Life
Jimmy O'Dea was born at 11 Lower Bridge Street, Dublin, to James O'Dea, an ironmonger, and Martha O'Gorman, who kept a small toy shop. He was one ...
. In 1921 he wrote the theatrical hit ''The Irish Jew'', about the election of a Jew as Lord Mayor of Dublin, for Broadway, in which O'Dea played a cameo part. This helped O'Dea on the way to become Ireland's most popular comedian. In 1922 he directed some light comedy films produced by Norman Whitten
Norman Hughes Chaplen Whitten (20 October 18813 March 1969) was a British silent film producer, director and actor and the first actor to play the Mad Hatter in film, which he did in the 1903 film ''Alice in Wonderland'', the first film adaptat ...
, including ''Casey's Millions'', with Barrett MacDonnell, Chris Sylvester and Jimmy O'Dea, which was critically well received. In the same year he directed ''Wicklow Gold'', from a libretto by himself, with Chris Sylvester, Jimmy O'Dea and Abbey actress Ria Mooney
Ria Mooney (1903 – 3 January 1973) was an Irish stage and screen actress, artistic director of the Abbey Theatre (1948-1963) and director of the Gaiety School of Acting. She was the first female producer at the Abbey Theatre.
Life
She was ...
.
After working in plays by Shaw
Shaw may refer to:
Places Australia
*Shaw, Queensland
Canada
*Shaw Street, a street in Toronto
England
*Shaw, Berkshire, a village
*Shaw, Greater Manchester, a location in the parish of Shaw and Crompton
*Shaw, Swindon, a List of United Kingdom ...
for a few years he and Jimmy O'Dea did revues, the first of which, ''Dublin To-Night'', was produced at the Queen's Theatre in 1924. In 1928, this company's first production ''Here We Are'' won international acclaim, and in December of the same year it produced its first Christmas Pantomime, ''Sinbad the Sailor''.
He subsequently returned to Ireland and joined Radio Éireann
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
as productions director, a position he held until 1947.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonagh, John
Irish poets
Members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood
People from Cloughjordan
1879 births
1961 deaths
Irish republicans
20th-century poets
John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Secon ...