The McDonagh Girls
Isabella (1899), Pauline (1900) and Phyllis (1901) were three of the seven children of Dr John Michael McDonagh (born in Dublin) and Anita J Amora. Their grandfather, Patrick McDonagh, was also a doctor. He died in 1889. These various McDonaghs come to be in my family tree because Mary McDonagh, Dr John's sister and the girls' aunt, married Patrick O'Connell of Goodiman.
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Mary O'Connell's nieces were at boarding school when they decided to make a film and began writing the plot. Phyllis, Paulette and Isabel all appear in the Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Isabel is listed under her acing name, Marie Lorraine.
The McDonagh sisters
Source: ABC news
Three Australians, daughters of the late Dr J. M. McDonagh, have produced a film, "Those Who Love". The "Still" reproduced above depicts life on one of Sydney's beaches in summer time
Source: ABC news
The Governor of N.S.W. wept at the premiere
of an Australian "Love Story"
WHEN THREE DASHING SISTERS MADE A MOVIE By LORRAINE HICKMAN
FORTY-ODD years ago three Sydney sisters fresh from school produced a "Love Story" film which became a phenomenon of its time and place. It was a silent film coyly called "Those Who Love." It took four weeks to film in Sydney and had audiences weeping in the aisles, from Sydney to London. The ancient weepy – it bears some resemblance to "Love Story"- cost its producers $2000 to make against Minsky's $2.4 million, and returned them $4000 against his $16 million (to date).
Those Who Love (1926)
Only a few older Australians would have recalled it if Mrs. F. T. O'Brien, of Kensington, riffling through the paper for her TAB daily doubles, hadn't glanced at a large photograph of Howard Minsky.
"I read the story underneath and I was thunder-struck. Absolutely," exploded Mrs. O'Brien, who happens to be Phyllis, one of the movie-pioneering McDonagh sisters.
Sylvie Newland in Those Who Love (1926)
"I turned around to O.B. (my husband)
and said, "There's nothing new under the sun! Paulette, Isabel, and I did
this decades ago here in Sydney!"
Mr. O'Brien (the calm type) went on reading
his paper. Phyllis, a dashing figure in purple
pantsuit, just sat staring at her father's old tiger-skin tapestry, propped
rakishly against the wall of their home unit.
"And did it start the memories rolling!
"Mr. Minsky paid Erich Segal $100,000
for his 'Love Story' script," said Phyllis, a generous figure with jolly
face and unchagrined personality.
"We didn't shop for our script."
In fact, they sat down in the prep room of
their boarding school and wrote their own plot. Like "Love Story," the result was
a popular, financial freak, drawing packed houses and earning its distributors
more than the leading Charlie Chaplin picture of the year. The McDonagh girls put their doubled investment into making a second film,
"The Far Paradise," another success.
The Far Paradise (1928)
The Far Paradise (1928)
 |
| PHYLLIS McDONAGH - she was art director and publicity boss. |
Rich boy, poor girl
Phyllis says "Those Who Love" was
like Erich Segal's story about the two loving young Americans. In "Love Story," the hero comes
from a stylish, moneyed background. The heroine, pure as snow in spirit, is
from a deprived one. Hence conflict. In "Those Who Love," the hero
comes from a noble, moneyed background. The heroine, poor but pure, is a
dance hall girl. Hence conflict. In both films, love crashes the barriers of
background environment. However, the heroine dies in "Love Story" and
lives in "Those Who Love."
 |
|
Champagne picnic at Tamarama
Beach early in the film. The flapper in diamond checks, played by Sylvia
Newland, is getting her hooks into Barry Manion (Bill Carter). His rich
parents buy her off, and the indignant Barry rushes away to become a wharfíe. |
The plot of "Those Who Love"
sounds far from simple as Phyllis tells it.
Hero Barry Manion (Sydneyite Bill Carter) throws
off his aristocratic background after a frustrating affair with an actress,
Bebe Doree ("a real hard-boiled little lizzie"), played by Sylvia
Newland.
Barry, son of Sir James and Lady Manion (J. C. Williamson's actor
Robert Purdie and Sydney socialite Mrs. Kate Trefle), becomes a proper plebeian
- "we had him working down at the wharves."
He discovers his true love, beautiful Lola
Quale (Isabel McDonagh, working under the stage name Marie Lorraine), in a bar
("Actually, he comes in for a drink after work and sees the bar boss
tackling the virtue, or however you put it, of this poor girl").
 |
|
ISABEL McDONAGH (professional name
Marie Lorraine) is the girl whose virtue is saved by Barry the wharfie,
battered in a fight. They fall in love. |
Chivalrous Barry knocks the pubkeeper
flying, thus losing the penniless girl her job and lodgings. He makes up by putting her up at his flat
("All very proper, of course - we showed them in separate rooms").
They discover their love during a terrific storm. She's so terrified of lightning,
she flies into his room and the scene ends with his arm around her, comforting her."
The game is up when Sir James' solicitor
tracks down the recalcitrant Barry, meets Lola alone, and warns her off. She runs away, not wanting to come
between Barry and his family. He goes to pieces ("really to the dogs,
drinking in low places and the like") while she works as a nursing aide at
the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. ("It's international, so the film
doesn't say what hospital it is."). Barry is taken to RPA to recover from a
wharf accident. Lola nurses him, and his parents become reconciled to their
love when Lola presents them with her devotion and a little Barry (born just
after the separation).
Phyllis says the picture was corny.
"But it had a human element people wanted.
"In those days every Australian-made
film made us out to be a lot of bush-whackers, on the 'Dad and Dave' theme. The three of us talked and talked and
decided if Australia was going to compete overseas we'd have to meet overseas
standards by making interior films - technically difficult then."
The three sisters did everything together.
"We practically lived and breathed as one. We were the oldest of a family
of seven and inseparable. Every Saturday afternoon the three of
us used to go down to the local picture house, cry together at the villainous
scenes, bellow with laughter at anything funny." They had known theatricals and sporting
people since they were toddlers.
"Father (Dr. J. M. McDonagh, known as Sporting
Mac to intimates) and mother used to have these Sunday-night receptions in the
drawing-room of father's home, which was then in College Street over-looking
Hyde Park. We three would sit there, quiet as
mice, looking and listening to all these fabulous theatricals. We cut our teeth
on theatre. So when we went to boarding school
that's all we talked and thought about. Schoolwork was a poor second."
When they left school, Dr. McDonagh (known in Sydney for
his spending ways) believed enough in his girls to give them $2000 for their
film experiment - and his blessing.
"Father always believed in us. And when
we proved on paper we knew what we were about, he let us have our head. We had a down-to-earth approach. We
thought well ahead and planned the details meticulously. We knew talent wasn't
enough if it was half baked." Paulette, the quiet, authoritative type, was
appointed director.
 |
|
PAULETTE McDONAGH directing a scene in "Those Who Love," the movie
that started the sisters on their short but successful film career. Paulette
joined a technical class to learn the job. |
She joined a film class to learn about
production techniques and camerawork. Isabel (the family beauty - "we'd just
stare at her for ages and think: 'Is she our sister?' We were so proud of
her") was the obvious actress. She got her experience by playing the lead
in two Beaumont Smith productions, ended up playing feminine lead in all four McDonagh films.
Paulette McDonagh directing The Far Paradise (1928)
Family calamity
Phyllis, the extrovert (who can make a
crossing on the Manly ferry sound like a saga down the Amazon), was appointed
art director and publicity woman. They formed themselves into a company called
MCD Productions. Before they got under way, Dr. McDonagh suddenly died - "the
saddest moment of our lives." But they didn't give up.
"Mother was a trained nurse, and after
father's death a group of Sydney doctors suggested she open a convalescent home
for their use. So we moved into Drummoyne House, a
terrifically interesting old house in Drummoyne, built by convicts.
Drummoyne House, their home and movie location
"Two wings were set aside for the
convalescent home, and we used the main part. Drummoyne House had 22 rooms and an
underground passage that led to the water. Marvellous! We packed our living quarters with
father's treasures - great Venetian mirrors, large gold-framed oils, ornaments,
furniture pieces, and tapestries. The house, with its 40ft. hall and
long, high-ceilinged reception-room, was a ready-made studio - and furnished
with wonderful props."
  |
| DRAWING-ROOM at Drummoyne House was used for this scene, in which Sir James and Lady Manion (Robert Purdie and socialite Mrs. Kate Trefle) discuss Barry's future. |
Paulette, Phyllis, and Isabel hired one of
Sydney's best-known movie camera-men, other local technicians, and a cast.
"We were full of fun and optimism. We
knew we would keep within our $2000
budget - although others in Australia were spending much more to make quite
ordinary films then - because we had everything planned and down on paper and a
rigid shooting schedule. As we were getting ready to
make the film, we had incredible publicity because we were girls and sisters
and this was our first attempt."
The first day, all of Drummoyne was
out on Wright's Road to get a good look at the cumbersome movie cameras, old
klieg lights with reflectors, and the host of painted actors and actresses. The McDonagh giris' equipment
blacked out all electricity in the street because of its heavy electricity
draw. No one in Drummoyne complained. The frantic makeshift conditions,
plus the rigid time limit, would have made a seasoned director throw up his
hands in surrender it spurred the girls on.
Paulette, John, Phyllis and Isabel McDonagh at Drummoyne House
Source: Paula Dornan via ABC Radio National
"We were utterly determined and
took every mishap in our stride. At the outset the three of us agreed to
abolish the word 'no' from our vocabularies."
Which was just as well. They were
beset by mishaps.
"The lights we used were
terrifically strong. After a day's shooting your eyes were raw and watery and
you couldn't see much at all - like someone had thrown pepper into them. Not long after shooting began
we all came down with klieg eyes. We just had to lie low for a couple of days,
which meant a complete holdup in the shooting schedule."
Then their cameraman had virus
influenza.
"The poor man was in a terrible
way, shivering and sweating, and as the day wore on Paulette and I literally
held him up at the camera to get through."
Then the girls put him to bed in
Drummoyne House and took tums sitting up all night, feeding him aspirin and
lemon drinks. Next morning, spindly legged and
groggy, he was back at the job. The entire cast caught this keenness.
"One morning we had to shoot a
hospital sequence. The walls of the bedroom we'd adapted were reflecting too
much light. Every single person on the
film worked like demons repainting the whole room in their lunch-hour."
Each night the McDonagh girls saw
the rushes of the day's filming - "And we felt we had a good
picture."
Invitation preview
Preparations were launched for a
preview screening.
"We hired the Prince Edward
Theatre with its leading organist, Eddie Horton, at the Wurlitzer. We sent out 500 invitations to
members of the film industry and the Governor, Sir Dudley de Chair-whose
daughter Elaine had a small part in the film."
Phyllis still gets choked up when
she thinks about that grand preview moment - "The most momentous hour of
our lives. We knew we'd emerge either victors or embarrassing failures."
With the wistful notes of "Always"
(the film's theme) wafting through the theatre, "Those Who Loved"
began to unwind.
"We sat in the dress circle,
side by side, so nervous we could hardly breathe. Thea we relaxed a bit,
reassured by that quiet which always settles in a theatre when die audience is
being held. Halfway through, Paulette
nudged me and whispered, 'Look at the Governor.' He was sitting fairly close
by. We saw him hold a handkerchief to his eyes. Other men in the audience
followed suit. We looked at each other and smiled the happiest smiles of our
lives."
As the last scene faded the audience
rose to their feet with a burst of applause.
"It was still ringing in our
ears when we left the dress circle."
They rushed out to get that
evening's newspapers, and saw two headlines : "Governor Cries At
Film" and "Best Australian Film Ever Made."
The following year the McDonagh
sisters went into production with "The Far Paradise," which had a
long run at the Regent Theatre. They followed with a handful of
successful documentaries, including one on Phar Lap and another on Don Bradman.
In the mid-'thirties they produced
"The Cheaters," another long-run attraction, followed by the first
Australian "talkie" - "and by far the best picture we produced"
- "Two Minutes' Silence," from the play by Leslie Haylen, who became
the Federal Member for Parkes. "We'd done our bit"
With no
proper talkie equipment around, it was made, says Phyllis, under
"incredible difficulties." It turned out to be the McDonagh
girls' swan-song. A full talkie system was not
installed in Sydney, until two years later - and by that time the sisters had
given up movie-making.
Scene from Two Minutes' Silence (1933)
Almost Ready For Screening
When they occasionally get together
they wonder what would have happened if they'd moved on to Hollywood.
"Fox Films offered to send us.
But we were sensible girls. We sat down and talked and decided we would end up
very small fish in a big pond. At home we had work and a
reputation."
Not long ago Phyllis paid a
sentimental call on old Drummoyne House.
"Oh, it was terrible, terrible
- I stepped into the beautiful, high-ceilinged hall and almost died! It's been
turned into flatettes and it looks so cold and awful, I never want to see it
again."
1978 - McDonagh sisters
At the Australian Film Institute Awards in Perth in August, the Raymond Longford Award, for a significant contribution to Australian filmmaking, was awarded to the McDonagh sisters. In less than two months Paulette and Phyllis have both died, Paulette, who had been ill for some years, on August 29, and Phyllis on October 17.
The three McDonagh sisters, Paulette, Phyllis, and Isabel, made four feature films and several documentaries in the 20s and '30s. Paulette was the director, Phyllis art director and publicity person, and Isabel the actress. Isabel, now Mrs. Isabel Stewart, has been living in London for many years.
Phyllis McDonagh with Barry Jones at the AFI Awards
Paulette McDonagh
Paulette was one of three remarkable sisters who made history by becoming the first Australian women to own and run a film production company.The trio were inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2001.
SCENES FROM 'THE FAR PARADISE.
This picture was given a screening to the trade and Press at the Prince Edward Theatre on Tuesday last. It is a well made picture, full of the right kind of sentiment. The acting is excellent. Scene 1: Marie Lorraine and Arthur McLaglen. (2) Mrs. Trefle, Geo. Thompson, Gaston Mervale, and Marie Lorraine' (3) Arthur McLaglen and Marie Lorraine.. (4) Another bright scene, showing Marie Lorraine and Arthur McLaglen. (6) Paul Lonquet and Marie Lorraine.; (7) A scene from the picture well-known to Sydneyites.
On the set of the film Two minutes silence, New South Wales, 12 May 1932
Source: Aitken, A., photographer
Two minutes silence is a 1933 Australian melodrama set during World War I and was based on Les Haylen's anti-war play. A stark social-realist work, the film was praised by critics but was unpopular with general audiences. It was the fourth and last feature film by the Sydney based McDonagh sisters, Paulette, Isobel and Phyllis. The film is considered Australia's first anti-war movie and is now lost.
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