When you went to a Jimmy O’Dea panto, you left your troubles in the foyer and allowed a master craftsman make your Christmas special, writes Conor Doyle

It was St. Stephen’s night in a Victorian gold-gilded theatre in Dublin, another favourite Christmas tradition is about to fall into place.
With a crackle of anticipation, the large velvet curtain moved upwards and the audience, including the children, went quiet.
A few cheers rang around the auditorium as the opening scene in this year’s pantomime unfolded.

Yes, it could have been any theatre in any town or city around the country or any era back to the 19th century, but this was the early 1960s in the Gaiety Theatre.
The first part of a panto has not changed down through the years, the usual village square/market scene takes place.

We are introduced to the main actors such as Danny Cummins – he was always the “Buttons” type character and was destined never to get the love of his life “Cinders” or someone like her! Ursula Doyle was ninety-nine per cent of the time the “Fairy Godmother”; Maureen Potter played the “friend of the Mother of Aladdin” and then of course the “Baddie” would appear terrifying the villagers, increasing taxes and issuing evil decrees or tariffs to anyone who crossed his path. Some things never change! This part of course would be played by Vernon Hayden.

Off stage Vernon was an absolute gentleman. He was also a gentle soul and scaring children in the audience was far from his nature.
Chris Curran and Cecil Nash were typecast as the “two incompetent” officials of the Lord or King of the Land or as my Grandmother would put it “Gomes”.
The “Principal Boy” was a women and the “Principal Girl” a man and no one objected or would take offence!
Of course, there would have been a “Speciality Act” usually from the Variety circuit in the UK with animals or puppets involved.

The village children back then were either from Connie Ryan or Lilly Comerford’s School of Dancing.
Billie Barry had not started her amazing performance school at this time.
Halfway through the first scene the orchestra would start to play strains of “Biddy Mulligan the Pride of the Combe” and Jimmy O’Dea would enter singing his famous theme song. What in today’s world would be called “Brand Recognition”.

The audience would cheer and shout in delight. The PANTO had really started now!

Off the audience would be swept by Jimmy and the whole O’D Company on a magic carpet of emotion, good verses evil was the order of the day.
This all done through laughter, music, song, dancing, cheering, booing plus obligatory shouts of “behind you” and “over there” thrown in for good measure from both children and adults alike.

But how did Jimmy get to this pinnacle of Irish panto performers?

Continue reading in this week’s Ireland’s Own