1 Comment
There can scarcely be anyone living in Newry that doesn't know Charlie Smyth! The undisputed promoter of Pantomime in Newry was 90 in March this year and not a year has been wasted.
Endless pantomimes under his belt, he has won medals at Newry Feis, acted in many plays, took part in numerous musicals and variety shows. He worked at South Down Auctions in Patrick Street and the meat factory and was even Chairman of the Council at a stage. In between he had time for football, tennis and swimming. It was our absolute pleasure to interview Charlie recently at his home at Fourmile.
Charlie has lived near Glenn since 1958 when he married his soulmate Kathleen who sadly passed away in 2018.
He has been in charge of over 40 Newry pantomimes and along with Newry Panto Players they have been raising funds for worthy causes in Newry for years. One day in the 70's in the middle of The Troubles the Clerk of the Council, Paddy O'Hagan rang him saying 'I wonder could you do something to liven up Newry because it's doom and gloom at the minute especially coming near Christmas'. Charlie said he would do a pantomime and that's how it all started.
It all began in 'poor town' the youngest of three. Charlie said "I'm a Ballybot man. I was born in Needham Street which then became Patrick Street.
"Ballybot means poor town It was a wonderful spot and I spent a lot of time going up Dorans Hill or Kiln Street going towards Altnaveigh catching sprickly backs. I would have known all around that area, going towards the Bernish."
He went to the Convent School in Canal Street and then to the Abbey Primary around 1941/42. The Abbey in Courtney Hill was opened in 1937 he recalls. When he was at the school at a very young age, they discovered he was a boy soprano. His daughter Patricia believes that's when he got his first round of applause and the taste for performing.
Charlie explains "If it was a wet day most of the school pupils were put up into the assembly hall. They put me up on a pedestal to sing a couple of songs. Bless them All was a favorite one."
The War
Looking back on the war Charlie said "I know it was a terrible time but as a wee fella you were seeing these tanks and the different machinery and then there was the aircraft. The army were billeted in Monaghan Street and the Americans they came about the beginning of 43 end of 42 and they were billeted also in in the mill there. Haldane Shields but it was a mill. When the war started they were going into Normandy and that's where they did their training."
He continued "When the blackout started, every house had to have a blind, there was no light to be shown. We were brought out of our beds. It was the night of the blitz in Belfast when the Germans bombed it. We were taken up Altnaveigh, up Dorans Hill about half twelve, one o'clock in the morning and you were able to see the lights on in Belfast."
Everyone had to be kitted out in a gas mask ... just in case. Charlie explained "You were brought over as a wee fella to the Town Hall and you had to get a gas mask. Every man, woman or child had a gas mask. The only time you put it on was when you went to the Town Hall and they fitted you with it and then it was put in a box and then you went home. I will say that in some houses there's still gas masks sitting about."
The Stage
Newry Musical Society started in 1945 and they rehearsed in the Labour Hall in Ballybot with their first performance being The Mikado. The fact that Charlie lived nearly opposite the Hall no doubt contributed to his interest.
At the end of the war in 1945 Newry had quite a few dramatic societies. Charlie recalls "There was the Abbey Players, there was Newpoint Players, Newry Drama Society, the Colmcille Players and a couple of others, which was fairly big. when you think of it. They were all Newry.
"That was after the war. I'm talking about 1945/1946. Don't forget that people were gasping for a bit of entertainment. You had the Town Hall and you were seeing the like of Jimmy O'Dea coming down. from Dublin and Maureen Potter and a few other great artists."
The Feis was also in full swing at that time having started in 1928. "The Feis was a big asset to the whole area. It gave a lot of people a chance to get on the stage." explained Charlie. Charlie won at the Feis for boy soprano and verse speaking. Newpoint had started at the end of 1945/46 and he was asked to play in one of their plays.
Finding inspiration was never difficult for young Charlie who took part in Pantomimes with Sean Canavan in the 1950's. "Sean Canavan was a good inspiration for me. James Canavan I would rate to be top in acting in Newry in drama. If somebody asked me who would I put down for moving on drama in Newry I would say it was the late James Canavan. He showed everybody how to act if they could do it, and he was putting on some great shows."
Going back to the 1800's Charlie's family have had its fair amount of poets and writers in the female line as well as the male so it's in his blood.
Charlie's father was chairman of Newry Musical Society and Charlie got involved in musicals and operetta's. "The first one I did was an operetta called The Maid of The Mountains. I played comedy in it and I've played comedy ever since that. Well I hope people thought it was comedy. It's easy walking on to the stage and thinking they're going to laugh but you never know."
Explaining how he really enjoyed comedy Charlie said "I've played in a lot of dramatic plays, but it was comedy that I was interested in, to be able to entertain and make people laugh." He continued "When I was in the pantomime along with Sean Canavan in the early days we played a Morecambe and Wise type of style. To me it was real entertainment and Sean was great. I played also for Cloughogue Dramatic Society and Camlough had a dramatic society and I played for them a few times. My main one was Newpoint though and I played in a fair amount of their plays. They had a great cast at that time."
Winning the All Ireland
Charlie acted with Newpoint and in 1958 their show Arms and the Man won the All Ireland Drama Festival. "That was a big lift to be in a dramatic show or a comedy like that to win the all Ireland. Of course Newpoint have done very well since that." Charlie said.
He added "That was the first time they won the All Ireland. They won it later on with Our Town and then a few others like that. You had some great people that came along later; Sean Hollywood and Donal O'Hanlon and Sean Trainor. Donal O'Hanlon and his wife Kate have done tremendous work with the youth especially in the summer schemes."
Their Party was better known than their shows
Newry Musical Society won the best show at Waterford International Festival in 1976 for The Desert Song. "I was fortunate to get the best comedian for The Desert Song - Romberg. It was a great musical. Those shows were entirely different from plays, the were marvelous. You had great people who were in it and it gave them an opportunity to show their skills."
There were great parties when they went to Waterford. They would have sang and done party pieces and people from other societies would have asked could they go to their party. Charlie recalls "Their party - It was better known that their shows. You had the like of Ethel Fitzpatrick doing recitations and Eithne Bell."
What makes it all worthwhile
There are about 250 people involved in each pantomime and Charlie loves to see tiny tots and young people taking part and encourages them all the way. He has had the chance to give a lot of young people an opportunity to get on stage. "The talent in pantomine is a different style from doing a variety show. You have to be able to entertain, you can't bluff them, but to see the faces of the tiny tots or the faces of the children in the audience and the reaction from them. I mean, it makes it all worthwhile."
On the Ball
When not on stage Charlie was keen on Football too and played for Ballybot. No doubt in part because of his fathers involvement in founding Newry Town. "My father and a couple of others founded Newry Town in 1919. He was Charles James and I'm Charles Patrick. Newry Town was founded in The White Cross Hotel, Margaret Street." Charlie explained.
Just when you think he couldn't have any spare time Charlie points out that he also played Tennis and swam regularly at Sandy Bottom in Warrenpoint starting from the age of 4 or 5.
Work
Charlie worked for 12 years at South Down Auctions in the livestock market in Patrick Street, Newry and remembers Auctioneers George Bryson, Scarva; Eamonn Magill from Poyntzpass and Billy Baird. He went from there to the Meat Factory known as Emdall Meats at the time before it was bought by FMC (Fatstock Marketing Corporation) and then ABP.
Charlie recalls "It was entertaining. You were meeting the farming community. If you were buying or organising a lairage you had to know what you were doing but to me it was nearly entertainment in a way."
Bringing the house down
Charlie said "Every show can throw up a different thing. You think it's funny and the audience mightn't think I'm funny, but they might think something else was funny that you didn't think was funny."
Recalling one interesting occasion Charlie added "I was standing at the stage door and I couldn't understand the crowd started to move backwards. It was actually the door was starting to fall with me in the middle of it, it was like Laurel and Hardy.
Of course his line was "It's the first time this week that we brought the house down."
Variety Show Compere
The Manager of the Empire in Belfast, P.J. (Pat) McKay would have put on Pantomimes or different variety shows in around Newry. The Ardmore ran the Finn McCool Banquet every Saturday night organised by P.J and Charlie Compered it. It was a variety show with stars of the day. People would have been eating around the tables and you'd have the likes of James Young who could have the audience weeping one minute and laughing the next. Frank Carson was another visitor.
Council
Charlie was a Newry Councillor for 11 or 12 years starting around 1989 to the the end of 90's and though he wasn't saying, he surely picked up some additional acting skills. "It's a Pantomime on it's own" said Charlie "You could visualise and enjoy the humour in it. I'm not gonna say that we were all comedians. - I'd be chased."
Beauty and the Beast
Newry Town Hall has always been his favourite place to perform and the Newry pantomime tradition continues in 2024 with Catherine Farrell in charge of a production of Beauty and the Beast from Friday 19 to Saturday 27 January. Be sure to get your ticket.
