Reliving Dancehall (and Carnival) romances at Galway Museum

BY TOM GILMORE   IT'S nostalgia time as the dancehall days of yesteryear, when Tuam was the showband capital of Ireland, and marquee dancing as well as a romantic tryst in a recently mown hay field, may all flash back into the memories of many, at a new exhibition at Galway City Museum. The carnivals were often located in recently mown hay fields, which suddenly became fields of romance, when a corner of the land was covered by a heavy duty canvas roof supported by wooden poles, with a maple floor beneath your feet for tripping the light fantastic to your favourite band. With atmospheric music from the carnival and dancehall days in the background, and the spotlights illuminating glass cases containing musical instruments, an old radio, other artefacts and vinyl records from that era, the echoes of a different social scene have been dusted down and polished up in an imaginative exhibition. Looking down on the exhibits from the walls of the first floor of the Galway museum is a colourful array of printed images from the days of the dances. Many of those are multi-coloured posters printed by The Tuam Herald during that time. Those posters represent a strand of social history too. Perhaps in some ways, similar to archaeological finds being the living proof of history, these multi-coloured posters advertising dances from Corrandrum Carnival to a hall where Irish emigrants congregated in Manchester, may be considered as printed proof of an almost forgotten entertainment era. 'Initially we were only going to look at the showband era. But as we did more research into it we saw there was an overlap to the Ceilí Band scene. 'So we decided to look at dancehall days from the beginning of the Public Dance Halls Act of 1935 and how that changed society in Ireland, from dances in private houses or at crossroads, to dancing in halls,' says Brendan McGowan, mediator and development officer with the Galway museum. A glass display cabinet has samples of the cutlery and crockery used for the first function in Salthill's Seapoint Ballroom as well as the original menu and admission tickets for the opening night. Not far away, in another spotlight-lit glass display case is a suit worn by Galway broadcaster and musician Des Kelly in his days with The Capitol Showband. 'This suit, blue jacket and white pants is very similar to ones made for the band by the same tailor who made suits for The Beatles,' says Brendan. When contacted by The Tuam Herald Des Kelly confirmed that his band had some of their suits made in London by a man who was known as the tailor to the stars. 'We had about half a dozen sets of suits made by Dougie Millings who was the tailor to acts such as The Beatles and The Bachelors at that time,' says Des. He added that Galway showband fan Ann Fahy suggested the blue and white suit as an exhibit. Des, also had a broadcasting career, almost in tandem with his work as a musician, as presenter of The Ruby Records Show on RTE Radio in the late 1960s. Brendan McGowan remarks that having suits made by the same tailor as used by The Beatles also shows the high regard the Irish bands had for their code of dress. 'Those lads were at the peak of their profession when they could afford to go and get suits made by such a distinguished tailor,' says Brendan. He also says the collection of posters printed during the dancehall days by The Tuam Herald subtly reflects the changes in entertainment during that era. 'It's a very interesting collection and if you look at the early ones from the 1950s it's the Ceilí bands that dominate the posters. But then, in a short period, the showbands take over. 'This is most noticeable in the period from 1959 to 1963 when the posters are then advertising 80 per cent showbands and dancebands with the Ceilí bands in the minority,' he added. But the posters reflect more than merely the dancing attractions at some crossroads' carnival or rural dancehall. Some of them highlight that tea and sandwiches are available at the dances, most of them advertise that mineral bars operate at the events and one or two even proclaim, 'ice cream is on sale at this carnival'. 'Having ice cream on sale at a carnival dance was a big thing in those days,' says Des Kelly with a laugh as he leafs through posters, many of them advertising bands that he was an integral part of, such as The Quicksilver and of course The Capitol. The Tuam Herald collection of posters also features some printed for GAA games, race meetings and many other events. They were carefully filed away by the late Jarlath Keane, who printed many of them, and the Galway City Museum say they are delighted that they have now been screened and put on display as an important part of the showband exhibition. 'I'm astounded that there was so much going on in little villages and towns, and the carnivals were operated from Easter Sunday until late autumn. 'You had the biggest names in music in Ireland playing in some of the smallest villages in the West. This is brilliantly illustrated by what is printed on the posters,' says Brendan. The posters highlight dancing in many halls and carnivals including places such as Corrandrum, Athenry, Las Vegas Ballroom, Tuam, Turloughmore, Glenamaddy and Dunmore. 'I have been told that the carnival of dancing in Dunmore was one of the big ones in this area,' says James Reynolds who recently became a resident of the Dunmore area and who is also a mediator and development officer with the Galway museum. His colleague Brendan McGowan says that while he had heard that Tuam was the showband capital of Ireland he only realised this was true after reading up about the many bands that came from the town. Some of them are highlighted in a section of the exhibition that focuses on the Tuam showbands. 'It seems that a lot of them resulted from young musicians playing with the Tuam Brass Band. With so many brass players around this town it had a knock-on impact on the showbands,' he added. One of those musicians is Jimmy Higgins, well known as a broadcaster now on Galway Bay Fm and author of the book Are Ye The Band, he played with numerous bands during his long career. He also played a pivotal role in putting this exhibition together. Jimmy's trumpet, which played many a note at venues from Ballinrobe to Berlin, is on display in a glass cabinet, which also contains memorabilia and photographs from the early days of Seapoint Ballroom. 'We also have a guitar on display belonging to Willie O'Dowd who played with The Galway Blazers and that guitar was purchased in 1963 at Raftery's Music Shop in Mainguard Street. 'Even though the whole exhibition looks at the dancehall era nationally, the real focus is on Galway city and county,' says Brendan as he points to records by bands such as The Conquerors, The Raindrops and Samba and the Philosophers also on display. The museum has put together a small library of books about the showband era. 'It's for anyone who might like to read a bit more about those times and the books are about the Galway showband scene as well as the national showband circuit,' says Brendan. The exhibition from the dancehall days is neatly tucked in between an area of the museum that houses a Macnas presentation and a display of posters from the cinema scene. The Macnas presentation tells the tale of a schoolboy who grew up to be a giant, it is complete with old style school desks and a school satchel as big as a desk! At the other end of this floor is an exhibition of posters from many of the famous, and some not-so-famous, movies that lit up the screens of cinemas over the years. An old-style projector and other artefacts from the golden age of the movies are among the other items in this exhibition. Brendan McGowan says their aim is to make this floor of the museum one that reflects the ever-changing live entertainment and film scene 'In the first floor of the museum we are concentrating on cinema, dancehall days and the arts, and the exhibition takes a close look at the changes in the cinema scene in Galway as well,' he added. The exhibition, officially opened by a number of showband stars, including Brendan Bowyer, yesterday (Tuesday) will be open from Tuesday to Saturday each week from 10 am to 5 pm each day at the museum at the Spanish Arch. 'The exhibition will remain open for the foreseeable future, most likely for all of this year and much of next year as well,' says Brendan McGowan. As Jimmy Higgins or Des Kelly or countless other bandleaders might say 'that's all for now, your next dance please'.