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THE BEATLES PLAYED their first and only Irish concerts fifty years ago this week; whipping up mass hysteria as they whistled through a series of short-sharp shows in Belfast and Dublin.
Much like the GPO in 1916 and U2′s Dandelion Market concerts in the late 70s — those who claimed to have been in attendance far outstrip the numbers who actually were.
Believe it or not, the four-piece were on stage for only around 50 minutes when they played Dublin’s Adelphi Cinema on Middle Abbey Street in 1963 — completing two 25 minute sets in concerts staged at 6.30pm and 9 o’clock.
Thirteen years earlier, screaming teenage girls were conspicuous by their absence when a seven-year-old George Harrison strolled along O’Connell Street sporting what looks like an early version of the Beatles mop-top haircut.
The photo was taken by Arthur Fields — a Jewish-Ukranian street photographer who became a Dublin institution; it’s estimated he took over 180,000 images on and around O’Connell Bridge during his career before he retired in 1984.
George was snapped in 1950 as he walked through town with his mother and his brother Pete. The Harrisons were close with their Drumcondra cousins — regularly taking the ferry from Merseyside to spend their holidays in the northside suburb.
A documentary on Fields career is currently being produced by Dublin-based ‘El Zorrero Films’. Project director Ciaran Deeney told TheJournal.ie that they were currently in the middle of the shoot, and they had tracked down “dozens” of stories about the photographer since securing funding earlier this year as part of the ‘Arthur Guinness Projects’ programme.
However, they’re still hoping to raise more money to complete the project, and Deeney’s asking anyone interested in seeing the final film to help them out by heading over to t-shock.net and buying a limited edition poster of one of Fields’ works.
More background detail – including the facade of the old Metropole Cinema – can be made out in the picture on the right, also taken by Fields.
Check out the Dublin Beatles Festival website for more details on anniversary events.
Edit: The headline here initially referred to ‘O’Connell Bridge’, but our geography has since been corrected by a reader of a certain vintage. Many Thanks.
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I would of loved to have gone for a pint with George Harrison
He was bit young.
I have lots of fabulous photos of my parents, both together and with friends, taken by street photographers in Patrick st.Cork in the 50′s. If it weren’t for those photographers, there would be no photographs of my parents at all bar their communion photographs.
I’ve a smashing pic of my parents walking across O’connell bridge on the way to a dance, they look fab so classy not like what you see going to wrights !!! God I sound old :(( lol
Sounds like a super photo. You can submit your photo in advance of the project’s launch by email info@manonbridge.ie
Great snapshot of George Harrison as a wee lad.
I remember random photos being taken when I was a teenager in the late sixties. A ticket was handed to the person in the aftermath. There was a premise, if I quite rightly recollect, nearby Talbot St./Nth. Earl St. where one could purchase the photos. I’ve often wondered what became of the thousands and thousands of photos that were captured by street photographers on O’Connell St., as the shop I went into had them displayed everywhere.
I’ve got very old photos of a grand-aunt & co. They too were randomly taken on O’Connell Bridge, when she was a fairly youngish woman in the 30s.. She was wearing an animal’s head mink stole (Wouldn’t be acceptable by today’s standards at all. Think animal rights and the like).
“A documentary on Fields career is currently being produced by Dublin-based ‘El Zorrero Films’.”
That should be something to look forward to viewing.
Some great memories Marie. If you can dig out the photos, you can submit them before the project’s launch by emailing info@manonbridge.ie We’d love to see them!!!
Ah George! I so would have!
I never knew The metropole cinema was on o’connell bridge ;)
It wasn’t on I,Connell bridge. It was next to Easons. It’s rebuilt now and is a soulless penny’s now.
Talking about this on the radio, apparently George Harrison got told to Shag Off by some girl in a Dublin club when he asked to dance with her. Must have gone to Coppers on its opening night without making an effort to look like a Garda.
I wonder if the photographer is any relation to Strawberry?
My dad bunked in on that gig, he was 16 and had no ticket. Got reefed just as they came on stage and was chucked out. Gutted. He went back the following year (ticket in hand) to see the Rolling Stones.
Is there a link to view these 1000s of snaps ?
We’ll be crowd-sourcing the photos when we launch the documentary. No negatives survive so the only copy of over 200,000 photo exist on people’s mantlepieces. You can see some of them here though: http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2013/aug/17/arthur-fields-oconnell-bridge-gallery
I have a nearly identical photo take in October 1944 of my grandparents and great aunt, you can see a cinema hoarding and Ritchie chemist in the background.
We’d love to see it! If you want to submit the photo prior to launch, you can email it to info@manonbridge.ie
One of the photographers was supposed to be a Jewish gentleman that was frowned upon for marrying a catholic woman by his community or so a story about him was rumoured ,did anyone else hear this story
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