Longford's Derek Cobbe in tribute to the late Gay Byrne

In the days when ‘teddy boys’ stood at the Royal Bank corner at Dolphin’s Barn, complete with crepe sole shoes, drape coats, DA haircuts, drainpipe trousers and lace ties.

Residents of this south Dublin suburb in the 40s and 50s were a close knit community.

The local population was increasing, with the building of Dolphin House Corporation flats, on the site of the former Dolphin’s Barn Brick Works behind the Rialto Cinema and Fatima Mansions the far side of the South Circular Road.

One of the biggest employers in the area was Guinness, and if a member of your family wasn’t working for the brewery, your neighbour was.

Gay Byrne’s father Edward worked as a labourer in Guinness (or Guinnesses as locally known!), and his wife Annie (nee Anne Carroll) and family, moved from 17 Rialto Street, around the corner to 512 South Circular Road.

There were six children in the Byrne family and Rialto Boys National School, where Gay first attended, was just the far side of the road from his house.

A YEAST WIND

The number nineteen bus stop was outside their door, the next stop was outside ours. Depending on the climatic conditions of the day, we lived with the ‘Yeast Wind’ from the brewery, or the opposing but not so pleasant pong, from ‘O’Keeffe’s the Knackers’ in nearby New Street.

Despite the nine year age gap, our paths crossed on many occasions in those early years - not on the street, but at various charity concerts in parochial halls and theatres around the city. The Boy Scout’s Hall at Dolphin’s Barn, the Archbishop Byrne Hall in Harrington Street, St Anthony’s Theatre on Merchant’s Quay, the St Francis Xavier Hall in Upper Sherrard Street.

Gay was a very popular compere. I was a young teenage magician using the stage name ‘Zonda’. One of Gay’s party pieces was reading a passage from a book and making various hand gestures and vocal noises, in place of punctuation marks - the audiences loved it.

THE LAST TIME

He was already well known, and making a name for himself as an ambitious young broadcaster. On one occasion, at a charity event in St Anthony’s Theatre on Merchant’s Quay, the promoters (in error I may add), gave me top billing as ‘the famous magician’, and Gay just included in the list of other artistes taking part. It didn’t go unnoticed, and as it happens, that was the last time we performed together in Dublin.

I appeared a number of times on ‘Telefis Eireann’ as a young magician, in the early days of the National television service, but never on the Late Late Show - well, that was until one day, when Bridget Ruane, a researcher from the show, rang me at the Longford News to say that Gay had been watching my progress in the provincial newspaper business, at the Longford Leader and the Longford News, and he was wondering was I still a magician!

My days of magic were long over, although being a magician could be very handy sometimes, especially when you’re running a local newspaper!

Bridget came to Longford and we spent a day together in my Dublin Street office, covering every aspect of my chequered career, from schooldays to Vincent Gill - from a stage career to editing a newspaper. The plan was to have me as a guest on the then Saturday night show, some months later, but plans changed overnight.

CHANGE OF PLAN

Due to a throat and vocal cord problem, which was having a serious affect on my voice, it was decided to operate without delay at Dublin’s Eye and Ear Hospital, and the best prognosis was that I wouldn’t get my voice back for about four or five months, or if it didn’t work out, a lot longer, if at all!

Gay heard about this and immediately contacted me with an invitation to take part on that weekend’s show - my operation being the following Monday.

And this is where the real human side of Gay Byrne jumped into action. He broke rules for me - one being that no alcohol be consumed on the set or during the show. At every commercial break, and often when the camera was trained on the audience, one of his team passed me a hot whiskey to sip and keep the vocal cords working. The Late Late Show had always been live, but on this occasion, for the first time, it was recorded on Friday night as the studio was required for another major production over the weekend.

On the night, waiting for my interview to take place, a member of his team gave me some strange advice, ‘Enjoy yourself. Gay will give you lots of time to chat, but remember it’s OK to be a disciple, but never try to be the Master, and you’ll do great!’

NO BADGE FOR GAY

During the interview we talked about my days as a student at The High School when I sold milk and chocolate cheaper than the official school tuck shop and was stopped by the headmaster. As an apprentice compositor in Bailey Gibson in Dublin, when I raffled my unopened wages of nine pounds, and made twelve pounds each week selling tickets at ten shillings each to fellow workers.

Starting off a badge business in Longford, and when on air, I produced a Longford News badge for Gay to wear, he refused to put it on - but laughed with the refusal and that took the sting out of it!

Apart from the usual Saturday night slot, at that time, there was an additional hour of the Late Late Show on a Sunday night, and this was recorded at the end of the Saturday live show.

The Sunday hour had one major personality as guest and that weekend, the honour was given to Leitrim born Pat Quinn, the founder of Quinnsworth Stores. No stranger to Longford, with his original store in the town and lots of relations in the county, and as the photo shows, Pat had no problem wearing the Longford News badge!

During the break in the recording, Gay asked me could I maybe do a quick magic trick, at the end of the Sunday hour, with Pat Quinn and himself. ‘How quick’ I asked. ‘Minutes, with no time for audience participation’ was the reply.

THE BURNING QUESTION

I had a good trick which necessitated burning a piece of paper, with the make of a car written on it, and then rubbing the ashes on my arm. And by magic, the name of the car was burnt on my arm. The burnt name was in itself a good trick, but usually an audience member would pick the name of the car in advance and disclose it at the end.

‘Don’t bother about it’, said Gay, ‘we’ll use Ford and you can ask me for the name - no time for the audience’. Everything went great and the trick was going as planned. I rubbed the name Ford on my arm, and before I showed it to Gay, I asked him the make of car he picked. ‘Fiat’ he replied, and I showed the nation the name ‘Ford’ on my arm!

That was the end of the show and Gay closed by saying, ‘Derek Cobbe, I hope you make a better newspaper editor than you do a magician - goodnight!’.

I had the operation the following Monday and the very first note I received when I returned home to Longford, was from Gay. I remember the message well. ‘Rest that voice, take all the medical advice you can get, and keep working. If I can be of any help to you, let me know’. That was the genuine kindness of the man.

VISITS TO LONGFORD

I had two further Late Late Show appearances in Gay’s time and we kept in touch. When I presented stage shows at Coole Hall for Fr Sean Slattery’s Boherquill Parish fundraising efforts, and at the new Ardagh Community Centre, Gay came down for me and performed on stage. Apart from the annual Rose of Tralee in Kerry, and the Housewife of the Year, he seldom appeared on stage in those days, but he did for me and the audiences loved him.

When Eugene Prunty opened his ‘Stage Door Restaurant’ on Killashee Street, he thought it would be nice to have autographed photos of various TV and stage stars on the walls, and he asked could I help out. Gay was first on my list and first to oblige with a big signed photo, wishing Eugene all the best at the Stage Door.

A few years ago, when sending Gay his Christmas card, I included an old copy of Vincent Gill’s Longford News. He was fascinated by it and read articles from the paper over the air, much to the enjoyment and amusement, of his Lyric FM listeners.

STAR QUALITIES

Over the past week, many words have been spoken and many paragraphs written, about the professionalism of Gay Byrne, and his star qualities as a broadcaster. I could never claim to have been a close friend of Gay, but I can claim to be an old friend. We soldiered together on the boards of many of Dublin’s theatres and halls, we both came from Rialto, he was kind and generous to me, and we kept in touch.

I don’t know to this day, if Gay, with such a meticulous memory, mixed up the agreed make of car, or maybe despite being advised not to do so, I tried to elevate myself from the table of thirteen, and I was being taught a good lesson by the Master. I’ll never know.

Goodnight Gay. Sleep tight. You were the best, and thank you.