Hello, I'm Dorothy Clarke - Episode 20 - The Dublin we lost.

So the first one that comes to mind is the Royal Theatre, which was in Hawken Street and it opened in 1935.

It was a most fantastic event.

Art Deco Theatre.

And it was just unbelievable, the programme they produced.

You went in first and there was a musical show.

It was absolutely first class and would stand up well to Radio City, which I saw I had the luck to see in New York one year.

They had the Royalettes and they had stars from, I'll mention them later, who they were at every show.

every week or month there was a different star would come over.

But it was just absolutely a fabulous experience.

So they started with the dancers, the Royalettes, who were a team of very well-trained dancers, sort of the forerunner to river dance, if you like, but more international than Irish dancing.

And always the costumes were absolutely incredible and the colors and the big orchestra in front playing so then they would be followed by the star and the stars they had were incredible they had Judy Garland who sang Over the Rainbow.

They had Danny Kaye, who was a film star and comedian and a lovely character.

And he did a show one night and I had the luck to be at it.

And he was so good that they just wouldn't stop applauding.

So he came, stepped out, came to the front of the stage, sat down, Draped his legs over the edge of the stage and he said, OK, I'm staying.

Well, we all went mad.

It was absolutely amazing.

So he told more stories, sang more songs.

And it was just, you know, as I say, a bit of magic.

But we all missed the last bus home, which was hilarious.

And in my case, it was the last tram to Terranure.

But anyway, we didn't mind.

We said whatever about it, you know, we we heard Danny Kaye and had the fabulous show.

And as I mentioned in one of my earlier podcasts, Noel Purcell was doing a pantomime called Mother Goose when my.

darling mother gave me a little shove up on the stage and I ended up holding his hand as we sang on the stage, which had a profound effect and lasting effect on me and gave me my love of the theatre.