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The extensive collection of material relating to the performing arts in the local area at Newry and Mourne Museum includes a number of posters, programmes and flyers relating to the Variety Concerts often held in Newry Town Hall. Featuring song, music, dance and drama, these events included artistes of national importance as well as showcasing local talent. The heyday of these concerts was the 1940s and 1950s but entertainment of this nature stretches back into the later 19th century.
One of the first concerts held in Newry Town Hall after it was built was A Grand Concert by Mr. Gilholy’s Choral Society on 11th April 1893. Featuring a chorus and orchestra of sixty performers, the programme on this occasion focused on songs and orchestral music by composers such as Handel, Schubert and Mendelssohn. A less formal occasion was the Newry Church of Ireland Young Men’s Society’s Annual Soiree held in the Young Men’s Institute in Hill Street in Newry in January 1894. A selection of popular songs was heard at this event reminiscent of the late Victorian music hall.
The revue, a type of multi-act theatrical entertainment that features music, dance and sketches, became popular throughout Britain and Ireland during the first half of the 20th century and this was also true in Newry. A Revue and Variety Concert was held in Newry Town Hall in February 1939 and featured a number of local musicians and actors. These included the St. Malachy’s Accordion Band, the Hunter Moore Memorial Band and the McKay School of Dancing. PJ KcKay was an award-winning Irish dancer from Newry, who set up an Irish Dancing School at the age of 15.
The years immediately after the end of World War II saw the development of the Newry Revue Society which staged a number of shows written and produced by Pat McKevitt. Born in Market Square in Newry in 1909, Pat McKevitt was a soloist with the Entertainment National Service Association which was responsible for entertaining the armed forces during World War II. In his home town during the late 1940s and early 1950s, McKevitt produced a number of revue shows and variety concerts such as Bubblin’ Over, Rainbeau Belles, When You’re Smilin’ and Rosa Marie. Stars, who were well known in Ireland during these years, often topped the bill supported by local actors, singers, musicians and dancers. A number of local Irish Dancing teachers, such as Arthur Burns and Ethel Foy along with their pupils, played a major part in these shows. The orchestra comprised leading local musicians including Harry Heather, Kathleen McNally and Alma Brown (neé Nicholson). Local people were also involved behind-the-scenes as stage hands, in scenery building, make-up, costume making and stage management.
With the growing popularity of television in the 1960s and 1970s, variety concerts went out of fashion. Variety shows on television, such as ITV’s Sunday Night at the London Palladium and the BBC’s The Good Old Days, attracted huge audiences to the detriment of ‘live’ shows. However, many people still have vivid memories of the shows held in the Town Hall sixty or seventy years ago and posters from some of these events can be seen in Newry and Mourne Museum.
The Museum is currently offering free tours of the exhibition galleries on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 2.00 pm. These must be booked in advance by calling our Education Officer at 0330 137 4422.
Newry and Mourne Museum is open Tuesday – Saturday 10.00 am – 4.30 pm. Please call 0330 137 4422 or email museum@nmandd.org for further information.
Please visit our website at www.visitmournemountains.co.uk
