The year 1920 in film involved some significant events.
William Carleton was an Irish writer and novelist. He is best known for his Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry, a collection of ethnic sketches of the stereotypical Irishman.
The history of Irish theatre begins in the Middle Ages and was for a long time confined to the courts of the Gaelic and "Old English" – descendants of 12th-century Norman invaders – inhabitants of Ireland. The first theatre building in Ireland was the Werburgh Street Theatre, founded in 1637, followed by the Smock Alley Theatre in 1662.
Rapparees or raparees, were Irish guerrilla fighters who operated on the Royalist side during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland and the Jacobite side during the 1690s Williamite war in Ireland. Subsequently, the name was also given to bandits and highwaymen in Ireland – many former guerrillas having turned to armed robbery, cattle raiding, and selling protection against theft to provide for themselves, their families, and their clansmen after the war ended. They were in many cases outlawed members of the Gaelic nobility of Ireland and still held to the code of conduct demanded of the traditional chiefs of the Irish clans.
Robert G. Vignola was an Italian-American actor, screenwriter, and film director. A former stage actor, he appeared in many motion pictures produced by Kalem Company and later moved to directing, becoming one of the silent screen's most prolific directors. He directed a handful of films in the early years of sound films, but his career essentially ended in the silent era.
The Oxford Book of Irish Verse; XVIIth century - XXth century was a poetry anthology edited by Donagh MacDonagh and Lennox Robinson. It was published "at the Clarendon Press, Oxford" in 1958.
The Colleen Bawn, or The Brides of Garryowen is a melodramatic play written by Irish playwright Dion Boucicault. It was first performed at Laura Keene's Theatre, New York, on 27 March 1860 with Laura Keene playing Anne Chute and Boucicault playing Myles na Coppaleen. It was most recently performed in Dublin at the Project Arts Centre in July and August 2010 and in Belfast by Bruiser Theatre Company at the Lyric Theatre in April 2018. Several film versions have also been made.
"Polly Vaughn" is an Irish folk-song.
Joseph Michael MacDonagh was an Irish Sinn Féin politician.
Arthur Donaldson, was a Swedish-American actor and opera singer. He appeared in 71 films between 1910 and 1934.
Stage Irish, also known as Drunk Irish, or collectively as Paddywhackery, is a stereotyped portrayal of Irish people once common in plays. It is an exaggerated or caricatured portrayal of supposed Irish characteristics in speech and behaviour. The stage Irishman was generally "garrulous, boastful, unreliable, hard-drinking, belligerent and chronically impecunious". This caricature includes many cultural outlets, including the stage, cartoons published in Punch and English language clichés, including terms such as "Paddywagon" and "hooligan".
The surname McDonagh, also spelled MacDonagh is from the Irish language Mac Dhonnchadha, and is now one of the rarer surnames of Ireland.
Smiling Irish Eyes (1929) is a Vitaphone American pre-Code musical film with Technicolor sequences. The film is now considered a lost film. However, the Vitaphone discs still exist.
Liam Redmond was an Irish character actor known for his stage, film and television roles.
John MacDonagh was an Irish film director, playwright, republican, and a participant in the 1916 Easter Rising.
Lily of Killarney is a 1934 British musical film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring John Garrick, Gina Malo and Leslie Perrins. The film was made at Twickenham Studios. It is based on the play The Colleen Bawn by the Irish writer Dion Boucicault. The film's sets were designed by the art director James A. Carter.
Ellen Scanlon, born Ellen Hanley, was an Irish murder victim. Born to a Limerick farming family in 1803, her murder at age 15 became the subject of books, plays, films, songs, and an opera, using the nickname given to her locally, "the Colleen Bawn,", which translates literally to "white girl," with "white" symbolically meaning purity, innocence, gentleness, or beauty. Thus the name can be interpreted as "the innocent maiden."
The Film Company of Ireland was the first film production company established in Ireland. It operated from 1916 to 1922.
Niall Sheridan (1912–1998) was an Irish poet, fiction-writer, and broadcaster, remembered primarily for his friendships with better-known Irish writers Brian O'Nolan and Donagh MacDonagh.
