Here's an early Saint Patrick's Day present for you all. Having always wondered about the film described in "The Anthem Sprinters" ending with Deanna Durbin singing "The Lovely Isle of Innisfree," I decided to use internet resources to run it down if possible. This enabled me to learn that the composer of "The Lovely Isle of Innisfree" was Richard "Dick" Farrelly. Here is a link to a wonderful story on him: http://www.unison.ie/meath_chronicle/stories.php3?ca=45&si=634182&issue_id=6346
He is no longer living, but I contacted his son, Gerard, who recently released a CD in his honor, entitled "Legacy of a Quiet Man", a collection of songs by Dick Farrelly, Sinead Stone, and Gerard Farrelly, which is now available and can be obtained online at http://www.openear.ie and perhaps elsewhere as well. Gerard Farrelly writes, "My dad composed the 'Isle of Innisfree' on a bus journey to Dublin from his home town of Kells, county Meath in 1949. The song was published by Peter Maurice Music and there was a recording of the song which didn't make much noise (to quote my dad), and sometime later was then recorded by the wonderful Bing Crosby." (The date I found for the Crosby recording was 1951.) "Film director John Ford heard a version of the song while filming in Ireland and loved it so much that he made it the theme music of the film 'The Quiet Man.' The song would therefore not have been in a film prior to 1951 or 52. I don't know if Deanna Durbin ever recorded it, but I don't think so." I asked Mr. Farrelly if I was at least right about the Irish national anthem, to which he replied, "The Irish National Anthem is indeed a song titled 'The Soldier's Song.'" A famous Irish poet of which Mr. Bradbury is particularly fond wrote a poem about Innisfree. There even is a recording of it from 1937, but it is spoken, of Yeats reciting the poem. Gerard Farrelly adds, "The poet, William Butler Yeats is of course responsible for the stunning 'Lake Isle of Innisfree.' This poem is about an island on Lough Gill called 'Innisfree' and many people think that my father's song is about the same place because the title is similiar. Dad however was referring to 'Ireland' when he wrote the song 'Isle of Innisfree' using 'Innisfree' as a metaphor for Ireland. The Yeats poem has been set to music a few times over the years by different people and maybe it was the poem as opposed to my father's song that Deanna Durbin sung."
There's no official Deanna Durbin website, but there's a great fan page at www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Academy/5228/ddpage.html listing all her songs and films. There is no recording of hers, either from a film or an album, with "Innisfree" or anything remotely like it in the title. The only film Deanna Durbin made in 1937 was titled "One Hundred Men and a Girl." Her last film is listed as being from 1948--in other words, a year before this song was even written! Still not quite ready to give up entirely, I asked Mr. Farrelly whether he knew of ANY films featuring this song! He replied, "There are three films which The 'Isle of Innisfree' is involved and I think there may well be a forth. The melody as you know is the main theme of 'The Quiet Man' and is largly used as the love theme featuring in all the love scenes as well as its' use during the opening credits sequence. 'Innisfree' is also used in the soundtrack of ET when a scene from 'The Quiet Man' is shown."

(So at least it got into one of Bradbury's favorite films!)

"The melody is again used in the soundtrack of a British film made for television titled 'Distant Voices Still Lives.' The melody is played during a scene where a man dies."

Naturally I was disappointed not to locate what I was after--add Deanna Durbin singing "The Lovely Isle of Innisfree" to those things which exist only in Bradbury's "alternate universe"! I did, however, obtain all this information about one of my mom's favorite melodies from her favorite movie of all time! She's seen "The Quiet Man" at least 50 times and pops it into the VCR whenever she's feeling down. In fact, the strains of "The Lovely Isle of Innisfree" were such a sure tipoff Mom had hit rock bottom, I would just hear the music start and ask, "Mom, is it THAT bad?"

As to Ray Bradbury's possible reaction to all this, here's a little quote from Ray's section of the book "Mars and the Mind of Man." "You see, nine-year-old boys are always finding me out. A few years back, one dreadful boy ran up to me and said: 'Mr. Bradbury?' 'Yes?' I said. 'That book of yours, _The Martian Chronicles_?' he said. 'Yes,' I said. 'On page 92, where you have the moons of Mars rising in the East?' 'Yeah,' I said. 'Nah,' he said. So I hit him. I'll be damned if I'll be bullied by bright children. Needless to say, I've never revised _The Martian Chronicles_ based on new information given me by young boys." Luckily I'm older than nine, not a boy, and well out of striking distance. I AM, however, cancelling my plans for an expedition to Mars to search for Ylla's house. So there! And top o' the mornin' to ya!

[This message has been edited by dandelion (edited 02-19-2002).]

Gerard Farrelly's website is now up and available to view! All are invited to check it out at www.stoneandfarrelly.com and to recommend it to anyone you know who may be interested!

How do you know so much stuff? Are you a professor, an explorer, or both?

Continuing with the subject of accuracy, here are just a few of Ray Bradbury's STARTLING PREDICTIONS! Not accurate at the time, but they CAME TO PASS!

I don't have the exact source for this quote, but if I don't locate it perhaps someone else can. I believe it appeared in an interview from the early-to-mid 1960s. Objecting to the overly exaggerated ideas of some people regarding Hollywood's decadence, Ray made a comment to the effect of, "Any New York writer afraid of losing his virginity need have no fear of being tossed into a swimming pool with a beautiful starlet wearing nothing but her Fruit of the Loom undies."

Now, at that time, Fruit of the Loom did not manufacture women's underwear. Yet, some twenty years later they commenced, and continue to do so!

The short story "Besides a Dinosaur, Whatta You Want to Be When You Grow Up?" describes a trip long ago, possibly as long as the 1920s, to the Field Museum in Chicago to view a Tyrannosaurus Rex. In 1984, I arrived there, all excited to see this. When I asked the guys where the Tyrannosaurus was, they replied, "New York." The Field Museum didn't have a Tyrannosaurus Rex, though taking some lovely pictures of a Gorgosaurus worked as some consolation.

Lo and behold, some years later, not only did the Field Museum acquire a Tyrannosaurus, but the biggest, most complete, most fought-over Tyrannosaurus in all history!

http://www.fieldmuseum.org/sue/

Truly "King of 'em all," or perhaps "Queen of 'em all"--tests on "Tyrannosaurus Sue" are not complete, so results aren't all in yet.

With such amazing powers of prognostication on Ray's part, what more can I say but--anyone got a connection to Deanna Durbin? What are the chances of her coming out of retirement long enough to produce a recording of "The Lovely Isle of Innisfree" to satisfy all of us Bradbury buffs?

Underwear...anthems...accuracy...and dinosaurs--consider the connections! Anyone have any more examples of Ray's amazing powers of prophecy?

Hey, just got the 50th anniversary DVD of "The Quiet Man," with all the extras, including Maureen O'Hara setting the record straight on many stories connected to the film. The words she sang to "The Lovely Isle of Innisfree" were written for the film by John Ford, Maureen O'Hara's brother, Charles B. Fitzsimons, http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0280649/ and Maureen O'Hara herself.

Bing Crosby is credited on the DVD as the singer who recorded the one "new" song used in the film. I didn't hear the author, Richard "Dick" Farrelly, credited. I was in and out while listening, and can't necessarily just play it again or find a place on the DVD at will, as the remote is on the fritz--so it plays what it wants as it feels like, not as the user dictates.

To my knowledge, "The Lovely Isle of Innisfree" is played as an instrumental in the film mentioned above, but "The Quiet Man" remains the only film where the song was ever sung, albeit without Mr. Farrelly's words.

“The Quiet Man”, John Ford’s masterpiece. The film some have seen over three hundred times. Does Deanna Durbin sing “The Isle of Innisfree”? Do grown men still weep in theaters? They do, I’ll be thinkin’, if only because Ray said they do. What a great subject. What a sweet film. And the original White-O-Morn lying in ruins as we write. How sad.

I'll be watching Maureen O'Hara's commentary again--which is WONDERFULLY done, by the way--you feel she is talking just to you--when I can get the player to cooperate. (I URGE you all to RUSH OUT and buy this DVD!) She did mention the place but I didn't hear that it was in ruins--that IS sad, if so! It should be restored into a museum (one of my great interests!) and would be a fitting place for the jaunting car and other conveyance (surrey? buggy?) she has from the film! A bit early for St. Patrick's Day, but always good to watch and talk about "The Quiet Man." I doubt if even my mom has seen it 300 times!

In March I hope to see it actually in a theater for the first time in my life--after hearing since infancy about my parents seeing it when it came out--in separate theaters, of course--and hearing since we got color TV (in 1977!) about how faded the color print has become. FINALLY, with the restored DVD version, my mom at last said, "That's more like it," instead of complaining about the washed-out greens. Again, anyone within an hour's drive of Dayton, Washington, is welcome to come on. The picture may not be as sharp and clean as the DVD version, but it will be big!

dandelion,
Sadly, White-O-Morn or White O’Morn Cottage is in ruins, somewhere in Teernakill about twenty miles northwest of Galway. Your idea of restoration is a popular one and I agree that it should be done. I’m going to try and attach a couple of images of it. It’s still a lovely spot, with all the greenery about it. And it is like Maureen O’Hara is "talking just to you" in the commentary--or maybe even Mary Kate. And I’ll bet she’s still got a wallop.
***
I don’t understand how to include photos but I was able to include one attachment anyway.

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White)-Morn2.jpg (21 Kb, 11 downloads)

Thanks, but...Aaawwww!

Here's the next best thing, anyway: http://www.museumsofmayo.com/quietman.htm

Too bad my sister didn't catch this when she was over there, but she was too busy being confused by all the road signs being in Irish!

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Following, please find a link to the subject of Paddy McCormick’s efforts regarding “White O’Mornin” cottage:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.users...6safe%3Doff%26sa%3DG

STOP THE PRESSES. MORE INFORMATION COMING. FURTHER PROOF THAT RAY BRADBURY IS CONNECTED TO EVERYTHING IN THE UNIVERSE.

The Maureen O'Hara board moderator has done research into the origins of this tune, which I'm trying to induce her to share for inclusion here.

Later: no luck on getting her to post, but, in short, she maintains that the tune to Richard Farrelly's composition is an ancient melody entitled "Dreams of Alwyn." Many sites list the tune as "Dreams of Alwyn/Isle of Innisfree." The existence of similiarly-titled songs "Dream of Olwen" and "Dream of Alwyn" with unrelated melodies has added to the controversy.

It seems Richard Farrelly may indeed deserve credit for writing the lyrics which brought the tune to John Ford's attention, but not necessarily for writing the tune itself. The only thing his lyrics have in common with the movie's is the use of "Innisfree" as a metaphor for Ireland, which goes back at least to William Butler Yeats (another big favorite of Bradbury's--I told you he was connected to everything!) Although in the DVD commentary Maureen O'Hara spoke of that being the only "new" song used in the movie, she probably referred to the words, not the tune. The fact that Mr. Farrelly never brought any sort of infringement lawsuit against the company or anyone involved with the film would seem to indicate he was not the sole creator of the tune.

I am unable to access it, but those of you with Windows Media should be able to hear Maureen O'Hara singing "The Lovely Isle of Innisfree" here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004X0L1/sr=1-1/qid=...moreAboutThisProduct

Later: Correction. It isn't her. I mistakenly thought I was discovering an original motion picture soundtrack. It seems there was one, and rather than Maureen O'Hara singing "The Lovely Isle of Innisfree," Bing Crosby's recording of that song, which inspired the motion picture score, was included. Again, they saved money by using an already-existing recording, and by not having to pay three other people for a different set of lyrics. This information makes it easy to see how Richard Farrelly got set on his ear, if I dare use an expression from the movie, as using the recording including his words on the movie soundtrack would seem to indicate a close relation between the two. But presumably the movie soundtrack would have given a lot more publicity to his song and provided royalties for him, even without screen credit!

For whatever reason, this CD was a recreation done later with the best resources available at the time. Probably nice to have, but not the "real thing." STRANGE TO SAY, the conductor's name was Alwyn!

From what I have gathered, the original motion picture soundtrack hasn't been released on CD and I gotta do the same thing I did in seeking out Maureen O'Hara's records--just keep going through old LPs and hope to find one for $1.00--then compare and decide which one I like best. I'm sure they're both worth having.

Personally, I thought the movie sound was great, but maybe what they were able to do in a motion picture in the 1950s was different than what they could get onto an LP? The 1950s mono LP recordings sound hollow to the modern ear, which is why the new CD was made. If the original recordings made for the soundtrack could be located, they should be able to be remastered into an excellent CD using today's technology! Perhaps a treasure languishing in a vault somewhere? Still, no Maureen O'Hara singing "The Lovely Isle of Innisfree."

It seems I am constantly not finding what I really want. First no Deanna Durbin recording of this song, and now no Maureen O'Hara! These gems must exist only in the elusive realm of the imagination, alas!

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Much has emerged regarding the history of the tune I've always thought of as "Innisfree," as well as other tunes with related titles!

As far as the Ray Bradbury mystery aspect--I've hesitated to contact him directly about it, but am in touch with a source close to him who knows him much better than I and should know how best to pose the question, so I've contacted that source to get to the bottom of that.

There is one funny anecdote concerning my online search regarding "The Quiet Man." No matter how many times we saw the film, there was one line my mom and I could never make out. When Michaleen Oge Flynn runs out of the pub on hearing of the fight, he says, "One if by land, two if by sea, and if it's ta Danaher's I'll fire the lot," then I could make out, "horse, foot, and" (my mom was lost by that point) then something neither of us could understand.

Thanks to the internet, I was able to learn the name of the institution which keeps John Ford's papers and asked them to look in the script. They returned that the line is, "One if by land, two if by sea, and if it's ta Danaher's I'll fire the lot, horse, foot, and artillery." I kind of expected Maureen O'Hara might mention it in the DVD commentary, as other lines that no one can understand, such as "The Flintstones"'s "through the courtesy of Fred's two feet" and "All in the Family"'s "Gee, our old LaSalle ran great" were legendary (so much so that "All in the Family" re-recorded the theme song) but she didn't. I wonder if we were the only ones bothered by not understanding this line? Maybe it's a common expression and everyone else was able to guess it.

Dandy, I've always been interested in misheard lyrics, since I figured out that, in the "Mr. Ed" theme the line "people yackity-yack a streak" was often misheard as "yackity-yack the street". Never had any trouble with the Flintstones or All In The Family, though.
Ever wonder what Aretha is singing in "Respect"?
Sounds like, "R-E-S-P-E-C-T, take out the TCP", right? I found this link that clears this up:
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mrespect.html
Boy! The things that get discussed on this site!

Um, yeah, at least one whole website is devoted to misheard lyrics. I think the title is a takeoff on "Excuse me while I kiss the sky" which is often misheard as "Excuse me while I kiss this guy." When I brought up the garbled line on the Maureen O'Hara board it was mentioned that Barry Fitzgerald had run into some problems concerning his accent, having to do retakes, no doubt so "the Yanks" could understand.

The moderator at Maureen O'Hara's site ran the dialogue question by her and called the expression "Typical IRA talk." She mentions having a shooting script which doesn't even have that line in it.

The question about "The Quiet Man" dialogue which comes up the most frequently concerns the Gaelic lyrics at the end of Maureen's song as she sits at the piano--"I'll rest awhile beside you grad mo croide" (grah ma cree)--which means "Love of my heart." Maureen O'Hara did cover this and some of the other Irish dialogue in the DVD commentary.

I hesitate to say the Ray Bradbury Mystery aspect of this is completely "solved," but it's been considerably "enlightened" by a close and vital source!

A phone conversation between this individual and Ray Bradbury reveals "this was just a compilation of fictions.

"(Bradbury) was trying to remember what Deanna Durbin movie he might have been thinking of, but hasn’t come up with anything yet. As for the song, he’s aware that Deanna Durbin didn’t sing it, but liked the song and title and incorporated it into the story."

I said if the recording didn't exist, I'd be very interested as to what was used instead when the play "The Anthem Sprinters" was performed. I also asked, since there is one song titled "Isle of Innisfree" by Richard Farrelly, and another, (The) "Lake Isle of Innisfree" by William Butler Yeats, but no "Lovely Isle of Innisfree" that I've been able to find, which one he was thinking of.

The source replies: "(Bradbury) can’t remember what they used in the play and neither can I. As for the song itself, he just said that that title popped into his head, so he used it. I hope all is well."

To which I replied: "Fine; I didn't have a bet riding on it or anything." (Unlike most of the characters in "The Quiet Man.")

It seems I was also less than 100% correct in believing Deanna Durbin to have become an utter recluse. It seems she did some voice work in a film in 1999: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002052/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnxteD0y...bT0x;fc=1;ft=29;fm=1

Perhaps Bradbury should compose a song titled "The Lovely Isle of Innisfree" and Deanna Durbin should record it!