The Little Museum of Dublin has brought history to life with 15 short films covering nugget-sized pieces of Ireland’s history. Each week IrishCentral will release one of the new clips. This week’s topic is the Dublin born "Queen of Technicolor", the late great, Maureen O'Hara.
The series, "The Little History of Dublin," tells the story of this great city in 15 bite-sized clips. Made with the generous support of Aer Lingus and the Department of Foreign Affairs, the films are now finding a global audience on IrishCentral.
Presented by ‘Professor’ Jamie Harrington – proud young Dub and YouTube sensation – the films cover subjects as diverse as Switzer’s department store, Nelson’s Pillar and the Celtic Tiger.
Read more: Oscar winning Maureen O’Hara speaks about her life as a Hollywood legend
In this week's clip Harrington speaks from the heart about the star of "The Quiet Man," Maureen O'Hara. The fiery red-head grew up in Ranelagh, a suburb of Dublin and aspired to become an actress from a young age and trained with the Abbey Theatre.
It was Charles Laughton who saw her potential and arranged for her to co-star with him in Alfred Hitchcock's "Jamaica Inn." She moved to Hollywood the same year and went on to enjoy a long and highly successful career.
Having spent her latter years in Cork, O'Hara moved to Boise, Idaho to be near family. She died on October 24 2015 and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, in Virginia, next to her late husband Charles Blair.
Read more: Maureen O'Hara's top ten movies and her comments
The Little Museum, voted the number one museum in Dublin on Yelp, is located on St. Stephen’s Green, in a beautiful Georgian building. The collection, created by public donation, reveals the history of the city over more than 100 years, from Queen Victoria’s visit to U2’s global success. In fact, Alfie Byrne’s own family donated 4,000 archive items to the museum. Entry to the museum is by guided tour only and most tours sell out.
Museum director Wissame Cherfi explained the idea behind the new movies. He said, “The idea was to create a series of videos that are fun and informative. I’ve always thought that the best way to learn and remember something is to have fun while doing it. We also wanted the films to be accessible to a broad audience, reaching young and old alike.”
“Casting Jamie Harrington as the main character in the films was instinctive,” says Wissame, “as I have worked with Jamie on a couple of projects in the past and I knew he was the right fit. His natural talent allowed us to experiment a lot in terms of directing and creating the right character so that everyone can relate to him.”
“We had great fun making these films and we really hope you'll enjoy watching them – and that you will, hopefully, learn something new about Dublin's rich history.”
For more information visit www.littlemuseum.ie.
Read more: Top 10 quotes by Irish Hollywood legend Maureen O’Hara
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