|
The Olympic Ballroom Orchestra Thanks to Aidan Scannell for this rare photograph |
|
Town/Village/County:
Olympic Ballroom, Dublin
Vocals: |
|
Bobby Baldwin (back row – far right) is my father. Bobby was his stage name but Michael is his real name. Originally from Cork he´s still alive and well at 81 years. He has a copy of this picture too. He says the orchestra was never called the Olympic Ballroom Orchestra but rather “The Jimmy Honeyman Orchestra” though they did play regularly at the Olympic. My father was the vocalist and he was very keen on the sounds of Bing Crosby and especially Al Jolsen whom he impersonated very well. My father left Ireland 2 or 3 years after this picture was taken and emigrated to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) where he continued singing for a time and was on radio and TV there with “Stan Wright & the Bunch O´Keys”. Eventually a career in banking took over and became his priority and singing had to be forgotten about. My father returned to Ireland in the late 60´s and still lives in Dublin. We have some 78rpm recordings of my father from the late 50´s as well as a scrapbook with many newspaper cuttings both from Ireland and overseas. When I showed him this picture online it piqued his interest and he said that he may consider documenting his memories of that time. Ill see if I can encourage him to do it. Best wishes, Ken Baldwin |