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Volume 8, Issue 3
Book finally gives Irish dancers a hero of their own
If you've ever attended one of the nearly two hundred feisanna held North America each year, you've probably been impressed by the variety of Irish merchandise sold by the vendors who are a staple at the events. The thousands of young dancers who attend each feis can find t-shirts with Irish homilies, jewelry with Celtic designs, histories of the Emerald Isle, and even Irish underwear. Unfortunately, they cannot find books about Irish dancers like themselves.
Scratch that last item.
Author Rod Vick recently released Kaylee's Choice, a novel about a ten-year-old girl, Kaylee O'Shay, whose father wants her to be a soccer star like he was. Kaylee, however, discovers Irish dance, and this new interest pulls her away from old friends and her father. The novel includes a forward by Sean Beglan, former principal dancer with Riverdance.
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The following is just a small sample of these "hidden Hibernians" as revealed in Edward T. O'Donnell's book 1001 Things Everyone Should Know About Irish American History (Broadway Books, 2002).
Willis O'Brien, the Man Who Made King Kong
Willis O'Brien was born in Oakland, California and worked many jobs before finding his calling in film animation. Working as a cartoonist for a San Francisco newspaper, he started making sculptures in 1913. Soon, he began experimenting with rubber, allowing his models to move. O'Brien eventually found word with Thomas Edison's Biograph Company. His animated dinosaurs in The Lost World (1925) was a breakthrough moment in the history of film special effects. O'Brien's most famous work was his creation of King Kong for the (1933) film of the same name.
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