Harry O'Donovan

Harry O'Donovan (c. 1896 – 3 November 1973) was an Irish comedy scriptwriter, stage manager and actor.

Life

He was born in Dublin, Ireland and was apprenticed to a painter. In his spare time, he took part in amateur dramatics, finally joining a troupe of actors and touring Ireland for several years. In 1924 he got to know Jimmy O'Dea in a production of You Never Can Tell at the Abbey Theatre.[1]

In 1927 he formed a partnership with Jimmy O'Dea. Their first show was Look Who's Here in the Queens Theatre. Their first pantomime was Sinbad in 1929 in the Olympia Theatre. Together they created O'Dea's most famous character, Biddy Mulligan. The character Biddy Mulligan is referenced in many Dublin music hall songs such as "Biddy Mulligan the Pride of the Coombe", "Daffy the Belle of the Coombe" and "The Charladies' Ball" (written by Harry with music by Eva Brennan).

For thirty years from 1929 they produced two shows a year in Dublin, first in the Oympia, later in the Gaiety.[2]

He wrote many scripts for Radio Éireann. He also acted as business manager and stage manager for O'Dea and the rest of the cast, and acted in bit parts in plays, sketches and pantomimes.[2]

Songs
  • "The Vamp of Inchicore"
  • "Rathgar"
  • "The Charladies' Ball"
  • "Men"[3]
  • "Daffodil Mulligan"
gollark: The trouble with brains is that if you stick them into full-power-off (no oxygen supply or whatever) they can't really turn back on again, unlike (sane) computer systems.
gollark: From my limited trek knowledge they just sit there doing nothing.
gollark: Little-to-no material scarcity doesn't mean there's not anything people want which isn't free.A relevant question is why lots of jobs shown in some of the nanofics aren't done by nonsophont AIs, though.
gollark: For all people's talk about destroying the planet, they are quite hard to get rid of.
gollark: Oh, plus more ability to do weirdness.

References
  1. Quidnunc (5 January 1950), "An Irishman's Diary", The Irish Times
  2. Boylan, Henry (1998). A Dictionary of Irish Biography, 3rd Edition. Dublin: Gill and MacMillan. p. 319. ISBN 0-7171-2945-4.
  3. Songs of Dublin by Frank Harte
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