Playwright Eugene O'Neill born on October 16, 1888 in New York City

Eugene O’Neill, one of the great American playwrights, was born in a hotel on October 16, 1888 in New York City to parents Ella Quinlan and Irish actor James O’Neill.

He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1936, the highest literary honor in the world, and also won several Pulitzer Prizes for his plays.

O’Neill spent his formative years in New London, CT at Monte Cristo Cottage, the family’s summer home on Pequot Avenue. Later in life, O’Neill also spent considerable time in Massachusetts, taking a playwriting course at Harvard in 1914, then forming a troupe on Cape Cod called the Provincetown Players, which produced his play Bound East for Cardiff, in 1916.

In between, O'Neill led an adventurous life. As a sailor, shipping out of Boston, he traveled around the world, then headed down to Honduras to prospect for gold. He worked for awhile in Buenos Aires, Argentina, then jumped a tramp steamer to South Africa. Back in the states, he tried acting with his father's troupe, but was terrified of the stage. He turned to writing, working as a newspaper man and submitting occasional poems and 'nonsense' columns, before he took up writing plays.

Among his notable works: A Long Day's Journey into Night, The Iceman Cometh, Mourning Becomes Electric, Emperor Jones and many others.

In 1928, according to author Susan Wilson, O’Neill’s play, Strange Interlude, was banned in Boston, but played to a sell-out audience in Quincy.

O’Neill lived in California for many years, but moved back to Marblehead, MA in 1948, by which time he was suffering from Parkinson’s Disease. He moved to Boston to be close to his physician, staying at the Hotel Shelton on Bay State Road, which is today a Boston University dormitory.

He died on November 27, 1953, at the hotel. He is buried at the Forest Hills Cemetery in Jamaica Plains, a neighborhood of Boston, which is one of the stops on Boston's Irish Heritage Trail.

Comments

The Boston Celtics : The Story Behind Their Irish Green Theme

Many people wonder why the Boston Celtics wear shamrocks on their green uniforms and have a giant leprechaun smoking a cigar as their team logo. And why the team mascot is a guy named Lucky who looks like he stepped out of a box of Lucky Charms? According to the Boston Celtic’s official web site, the name came about in 1946 when owner Walter Brown started the team. He and his public relations guy, Howie McHugh, were throwing out potential nicknames, including the Whirlwinds, Unicorns and Olympics. It was Brown who had the epiphany, saying, “Wait, I’ve got it – the Celtics. The name has a great basketball tradition from the old Original Celtics in New York (1920s). And Boston is full of Irishman. We’ll put them in green uniforms and call them the Boston Celtics.” Red Auerbach , the now legendary coach of the early Celtics, then commissioned his brother Zang, a graphic designer in the newspaper business, to come up with the famous Celtics logo in the early 1950s. The logo mana

Boston's Airport Named for Edward L. Logan, South Boston Leader with Galway Roots

Statue of General Edward L. Logan Boston ’s Logan InternationalAirport was named for General Edward L. Logan (1875-1939), a first generation Irish-American, military leader, civic leader and municipal judge with family roots in Galway and South Boston . Logan was the son of Lawrence Logan and Catherine O'Connor from Ballygar, County Galway, according to historian Michael J. Cummings . The Logan family lived on East Broadway in South Boston. Read a full profile of Edward L. Logan on IrishMassachusetts.com . The Logan statue is part of Boston's Irish Heritage Trail , a collection of public landmarks, memorials, buildings and statues that tell the story of the Boston Irish from the 1700s to the present. Find year round information on Boston's Irish community at IrishBoston.org .

Boston Mayors of Irish Descent, 1885-2021

(Originally published in 2013, this post was updated in 2021) Here are the Mayors of Boston Claiming Irish Heritage: Hugh O’Brien 1885–88 Patrick Collins 1902–05 John F. Fitzgerald 1906–07, 1910–13 James M. Curley 1914–17, 1922–25, 1930–33, 1946–49 Frederick W. Mansfield 1934–37 Maurice Tobin 1938–41, 1941-44 John Kerrigan 1945 John B. Hynes 1950–59 John Collins 1960–68 Kevin H. White 1968–83 Raymond L. Flynn 1984–93 Martin J. Walsh 2014- 2021 The lineage of Boston mayors with Irish ancestry dates back to 1885, when Irish immigrant Hugh O'Brien of County Cork assumed office and became the first Irish-born mayor elected in Boston, serving four one-year terms (1885-88). O'Brien was followed by Irish-born Patrick Collins (1902-05), also of County Cork, who died in office in 1905. He was replaced by John F. Fitzgerald, who became the first American-born mayor of Irish descent, serving two terms. A noteworthy mayor was James

Irish Boston History & Heritage

Search This Blog