Of Irish Interest

Having nothing useful to say about New Orleans, we'd like to take note of a couple of newspaper items. Saturday's Times of London ran a nice obituary for Wicklow actress Geraldine Fitzgerald, who had an odd American career -- bookended by high profile film roles in Wuthering Heights and Arthur (as his mother), but otherwise, seemingly by choice, content with pursuing roles on Broadway. The one question left dangling in the obit is the wisdom of this choice:

She argued with the studio [Warner Brs] over the direction of her career and refused to play roles she considered to be beneath her, such as in The Maltese Falcon.

Which cries out for elaboration, such as Which Role? The IMDB summary of the film says that she was offered the lead female role, but turned it down because of a schedule conflict. Two versions of the story being out there maybe suggesting two rationalisations of the original decision. But anyway, RIP.

Over in the Sunday New York Times, Colm Tóibín has a review of an Edmund Morris biography. There's no real Irish content to this one, but Colm nicely notes one anecdote from which we learn that in terms of opinionated owners driving the editorial line at The New Republic, it's plus ca change:

Neither Wilson nor The New Republic favored American intervention in World War II. The editorial board changed course when the British husband of the effective owner of the magazine insisted on reversing the policy in the autumn of 1940, removing members of the staff.

Finally, the NYT also takes a run at the controversy over the renaming of the Kerry town of Dingle as An Daingean, complying with its location in the Gaeltacht and therefore a requirement that its official name be in Irish. The article notes that opposition to the move cuts across linguistic lines in the town, reflecting resentment of a decision imposed from Dublin and a fear that the town's brand as Dingle is being lost. However, potential confusion with a similarly named town in County Offaly does not seem to be an issue.