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I KEEP asking myself if I am turning grumpy, or have I lost the ability to catch the funny side of today's Irish comedy?
I don't know, but the more I look at it, the less impressed I am by the modern comedian. Now, if you go back, we have, over the years, produced comedians who would have you in laugh mode from start to finish, who I feel were great value.
My number one will always be Maureen Potter. Born in Fairview, Dublin in 1925, as Maria Philomena Potter, she had everything an entertainer could and should have. She was an all-Ireland dance champion at 17 and within three years was appearing in panto in the Gaiety Theatre with another great comedian of the time, Jimmy O'Dea, with whom she would perform on a regular basis up to his death from cancer in 1965.
She performed with the Jack Hylton band prior to WW2 with Adolf Hitler in attendance at a show in Germany. Maureen could dance, sing, she was a confident mimic and, above all, an outstanding comedian. Put the package together, and you had a performer full of zeal and confidence, whose shows transmitted a feelgood factor, which I find lacking in today's comedians.
Maureen's husband Jack O'Leary was a big supporter. The army officer wrote most of her material, another positive was her imaginary son Christy, always in some sort of bother, much to Maureen's annoyance, but the rapport between them will be a lasting memory, as will her references to the "aul one." For years, she continued to perform in the Gaiety panto and their summer show called Gaels of Laughter. She was an icon of Radio Eireann and later television; she took to both like a true professional.
Maureen died at her home in Clontarf on 7 April 2004. Oh, I almost forgot, she also wrote some children's stories which were very well received, the most popular probably being Tommy the Theatre Cat, published in1986.
Besides Maureen Potter and Jimmy O'Dea, Jack Cruise was popular...