Brendan Behan: Volume I: Interviews and Recollections

171 Pages·1982·18.341 MB·English

by  E. H. Mikhail (eds.)

Brendan Behan
Interviews and Recollections
Volume
1
Also by E. H. Mikhail
The Social and Cultural Setting of the 18 9os
John Galsworthy the Dramatist
Comedy and Tragedy
Sean O'Casey: A Bibliography of Criticism
A Bibliography of Modern Irish Drama 1899-1970
Dissertations on Anglo-Irish Drama
The Sting and the Twinkle: Conversations with
Sean O'Casey (co-editor with John O'Riordan)
J. M. Synge: A Bibliography of Criticism
Contemporary British Drama 195o-1976
J. M. Synge: Interviews and Recollections (editor)
W. B. Yeats: Interviews and Recollections (two volumes) (editor)
English Drama I900-1950
Lady Gregory: Interviews and Recollections (editor)
Oscar Wilde: An Annotated Bibliography of Criticism
Oscar Wilde: Interviews and Recollections (two volumes) (editor)
A Research Guide to Modern Irish Dramatists
The Art of Brendan Behan
Brendan Behan: An Annotated Bibliography of Criticism
An Annotated Bibliography of Modern Anglo-Irish Drama
Lady Gregory: An Annotated Bibliography of Criticism
BRENDAN BEHAN
Interviews and Recollections
Volume
1
Edited by
E. H. Mikhail
M
Macmillan
Gill and Macmillan
Selection and editorial matter © E. H. Mikhail 1982
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1982 978-0-333-31565-1
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
without permission
First published 1g82 by
THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
London and Basingstoke
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
ISBN 978-1-349-06015-3 ISBN 978-1-349-06013-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-06013-9
Published in Ireland by
GILL AND MACMILLAN LTD
Goldenbridge
Dublin 8
Contents
Acknowledgements Vll
Introduction lX
A Note on the Text Xll
Chronological Table Xlll
INTERVIEWS AND RECOLLECTIONS
The Golden Boy Stephen Behan I
Schooldays 2
Moving Out Dominic Behan 2
A Bloody Joke Dominic Behan 7
Dublin Boy Goes to Borstal 9
The Behan I Knew Was So Gentle C. A. Joyce IO
In Prison Sean Kavanagh I3
In Jail with Brendan Behan Sean 0'B riain I6
I Knew the Real Brendan Behan Seamus G. 0' Kelly 20
The Catacombs Anthony Cronin 23
To France with Brendan Behan Anthony Cronin 30
Brendan Behan in Paris Sindbad Vail 38
Brendan Joseph Cole 39
Night Out in Dublin Joseph Cole 44
At Kelly's Pawn Office Dominic Behan 52
'Get the Rozzers' Anthony Cronin 55
The First Play Mary Lodge 58
Making up my Mind Beatrice Behan 6s
A Memorable Occasion Seamus de Burca 68
A Terrible Man Seamus de Burca 69
Borstal Boy John Murdoch 70
Ex-IRA Man Returns as Poet Edward Goring 73
The Years of Fame Had Begun Antho1!)1 Cronin 74
A Celebrated Interview Beatrice Behan 76
Drunk? Sure, I'd Had a Bottle Vincent Mulchrone 8o
Brendan Behan at Lime Grove Malcolm Muggeridge 82
Behanism Myles Na Gopaleen [Brian O'Nolan] 83
8s
Fourteen-Pint Behan Switches to Milk
VI CONTENTS
The Woman on the Corner of the Next Block to Us
Brendan Behan 86
My First Meeting with Brendan Behan lain Hamilton 88
His New Play Is Loaded Kenneth Allsop go
Half Angel, Half Beast John Montague 92
Brendan Behan Fought for Franco! Beatrice Behan
93
Brendan Behan Roderick W. Childers g6
Encounter with an Irish Genius Olof Lager/of I03
My First Visit to Dublin Rae Jif.fs I08
Book and Author Michael Campbell 109
Behan: the Last Laugh Alan Simpson I I I
Talk with the Author Frank Melville II9
My Husband Brendan Behan Beatrice Behan I20
Brendan Behan Insists on Use of Irish in Bray Court I22
'The Only Thing I Blame Paris For' Brendan Behan I25
A Cry Georges Wilson I27
'Success Is Damn Near Killing Me' Rae Jif.fs I30
The Doctors Warn Behan I32
I Swear I'll Beat It Yet Brendan Behan I33
His London Appearances Donal Foley I36
His Tremendous Humanity David Astor I42
Meet the Quare Fella I42
But Not in the Pejorative Sense W. ]. Weatherby I49
Meet the New Brendan Behan Alan Bestic I 52
Acknowledgements
I wish to express my gratitude to Dr Brian Tyson and Dr Colbert Kearney,
who read this work in typescript and made many valuable suggestions.
At various stages I also received useful comments, information, support
or assistance from Mrs Beatrice Behan; Mrs Kathleen Behan; Mr Rory
Furlong; Mrs Paula Furlong; Mr Seamus de Burca; Ms Marianne
Levander; Dr OlofLagerlof; Mr Louis Burke; Mr Desmond MacNamara;
Mr Paddy O'Brien; Mrs Teresa Monaghan; Mr Brian McCoy; the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation; Mr Manus Canning; Mr Tony
Aspler; Mr John O'Riordan; Mr Catha! Goulding; Mr Michael
Cormican; Miss Alice E. Einhorn of Doubleday Publishers; Miss Kate
Mackay of Eyre Methuen Ltd; Research Assistance Routledge Associates,
London; Microfilming Executors and Methods Organisation Ltd, Dublin;
and Radio Telefis Eireann.
I am grateful to Miss Bea Ramtej for her usual skill in preparing the final
typescript.
Thanks are due to the University of Lethbridge for granting me a
sabbatical leave, during which this work was completed.
It is also a pleasant duty to record my appreciation to the staff of the
University of Lethbridge Library; the British Library, London; the
Newspaper Library, Colindale; the National Library oflreland, Dublin;
Trinity College Library, Dublin; the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris; and
the New York Public Library.
The editor and publishers wish to thank the following, who have kindly
given permission for the use of copyright material:
Granada Publishing Ltd, for the extracts from Brendan Behan by Ulick
O'Connor.
The Daily News, for 'Behan Back on Booze Binge';© 1g6oNew York News
Inc.; reprinted by permission.
Mr lain Hamilton, for 'Among the Irish' in Encounter.
Gill and Macmillan Ltd, for the extracts from Remembering How We Stood
by John Ryan.
The North American Review, for 'Brendan Behan: Vital Human Being';
reprinted with permission;© 1964 by the University of Northern Iowa.
Mr Seamus de Burca, for the extracts from his book Brendan Behan:
A Memoir.
Vlll ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Irish Press, for 'In Jail with Brendan Behan' by Sean O'Briain; and
'Brendan Behan' by Francis MacManus.
The Sunday Press, for 'The Behan I Knew Was So Gentle' by C. A. Joyce;
and 'Rich in Talent and a Great Personality' by Benedict Kiely.
The Evening Press, for 'The Man Brendan Behan' by Tim Pat Coogan; 'He
Ran Too Quickly' by Sean O'Casey; 'Great Man' by Sean Kenny; and
'Behan's Mother Wasn't There' by Clare Boylan.
The Manchester Evening News, for 'Behan Takes Swallow' by John
Alldridge.
The Observer, for 'Deckhand on Collier' by Maurice Richardson; and the
untitled obituary of Brendan Behan by Joan Littlewood.
The New English Library, for the extracts from The World ofB rendan Behan,
edited by Sean McCann.
Mr Brian Behan, for the extracts from his book With Breast Expanded.
Mrs Peter A. Sebley, for the extracts from her book Brendan Behan: Man and
Showman; for her Preface to Confessions of an Irish Rebel; and for her
Afterword to The Scarperer.
The Daily Telegraph, for 'Brendan Behan: Uproarious Tragedy' by Alan
Brien.
A. D. Peters and Co. Ltd, for 'Behan: a Giant of a Man, Yet Gentle' by
Kenneth Allsop in the Daily Mail.
Mrs Beatrice Behan, for the extracts from her book My Life with Brendan; for
'The Only Thing I Blamed Paris for' by Brendan Behan in L'Express; and
for 'The Woman on the Corner of theN ext Block to Us' by Brendan Behan
in Vogue.
The Guardian, for 'But Not in the Pejorative Sense' by W.J. Weatherby.
The Irish Times, for 'Dublin Boy Goes to Borstal'; 'Behanism'; 'Book and
Author'; 'Brendan Behan Insists on Use oflrish in Bray Court'; 'Brendan
Behan Fined £go on Assault Charges'; 'Talking to Mrs Stephen Behan' by
Marion Fitzgerald; and 'Tribute'.
The New Statesman, for 'Brendan Behan at Lime Grove' by Malcolm
Muggeridge.
The Sunday Independent, for 'Was Poet, Comedian, Rebel and Lover of
People' by Proinsias MacAonghusa; and 'He Was So Much Larger Than
Life' by Frank O'Connor.
The Washington Post, for 'The Behan' by Walter Hackett.
The editor has made every effort to trace all the copyright-holders, but ifhe
has inadvertently overlooked any he will be pleased to make the necessary
arrangements at the first opportunity.
Introduction
Although it would not be fair to either writer to compare Brendan Behan
and Oscar Wilde, it might be instructive to examine some intriguing
similarities. Behan found himself cast in the role of the precursor of the
permissive generation as Wilde epitomised the aesthetic revolution. Both
Behan and Wilde were versatile writers who eventually achieved fame as
successful dramatists. Unlike Sean O'Casey, W. B. Yeats and James
Joyce-who gave the totality of their life to their art and created illustrious
literary works-both Wilde and Behan were too busy living to write. They
sometimes even needed to be pushed into the job of producing a
masterpiece. George Alexander, the actor-manager of the StJames's
Theatre, once commissioned Wilde to write a social comedy and offered
him an advance of £100 on royalties. This Oscar readily accepted. It was
soon spent; still no play. Alexander then tried to badger Wilde with letters;
but whenever they met Wilde said 'I am in what I call the invention
period', and would not make any promises. Likewise, lain Hamilton of
Hutchinson once interrupted Behan at a party to ask how much more work
he had to do on Borstal Boy, and at once there was a note of irritation in
Behan's reply as he dismissed the subject. 'It's all lies', he said. When Wilde
and Behan submitted Lady Windermere's Fan and The Quare Fellow
respectively to George Alexander and Joan Littlewood, both directors
badly needed a money-maker, as their theatres were in financial
straits.
Both Wilde and Behan died when they were still in their early forties and
after suffering the agony of not being able to write any more. The full span
of their respective careers bridged only a few years. Both appeared at Bow
Street Police Court in London-Wilde on charges of homosexuality and
Behan on assault charges. Neither of them had any sense of money or
practical affairs. The two dramatists delighted in shocking other people
and did not mind making enemies. Both of them joined the journalist
profession at an earlier period in their lives, and later suffered at the hands
ofj ournalists. Paris attracted both writers, who were cosmopolitan in their
outlook. When they achieved success, the limelight attracted-and then
eventually destroyed-them. In both cases Constance Wilde and Beatrice
Behan were not particularly interested in the social glamour that went
with fame. Critical evaluations of the achievement of both men vitiate
themselves in accepting biased popular judgements of the writers'
personalities, which pervaded all they wrote. Wilde once told Lillie