Micheál MacLiammóir | The Little Museum Collection

Menu from Jammet’s, 1937

Jammet’s was the only French restaurant in Dublin for many years

The place where all of Dublin wanted to eat, and few could afford, Jammet’s opened in 1901 on Andrew’s Street, but moved to Nassau Street in 1927, where it continued to dazzle until 1967.

In “Dublin’s only French restaurant” – a claim sustained for 40 years – W.B. Yeats had his own table, Hilton Edwards and Micheál MacLiammóir were regulars, and visitors ranged from Laurel and Hardy to Walt Disney and Ronald Reagan. The drawing is by the artist Seán Ó Sullivan.

With thanks to Michael Maughan

Watch footage of Dublin in the 1930’s and 1940’s:

Hilton Edwards and Micheál Mac Liammóir in St. Stephen’s Green, 1975

Edwards and Mac Liammóir walking through St Stephen’s Green

Hilton Edwards and Micheál MacLiammóir were partners in both a romantic and a business sense. They opened the Gate Theatre together in 1928. Both were born in England.

In the Gate they presented European plays in contrast to the Irish peasant fare at the Abbey. (The two theatres were written off as Sodom and Begorrah.) The photograph is by Bill Doyle, ‘Ireland’s Cartier-Bresson.’

With thanks to Leslie Doyle for Bill Doyle and Lilliput Press

A documentary about Orson Welles’ time at the Gate Theatre:

Hilton Edwards by Harry Kernoff, 1928

Hilton Edwards, co-founder of the Gate theatre

Contrary to appearances, the Irish are not visually illiterate. This fine portrait of Hilton Edwards is by the Jewish artist Harry Kernoff.

In 1928 Edwards co- founded the Gate Theatre with Micheál MacLiammóir, who like Edwards was actually English. In the Gate they presented European plays in contrast to the Irish peasant fare at the Abbey. (The two theatres were written off as Sodom and Begorrah.) Edwards sat for this portrait in 1928, the year the Gate was founded.

With thanks to Don Buckley

Watch some clips of Micheál MacLiammóir acting:

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