Page 7 - The 16th Percy French Festival: Our Great Disconnect

audience, which can best be summed up as Ireland’s ‘polite soci ety’: the upper Letter’ by the famous society columnist,
middle classes and the landed class. Unfortunately we don’t know the circulation Nannie Lambert Power O’Donoghue,
figures for The Jarvey, but it seems that it struggled to gain a wide readership. from October 1889 to February 1890,
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According to French, ‘We started with no capital whatso ever, and the idea was to and ‘Chit Chatters’ by Ettie French from
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pay the artists and writers out of the profits of the first month. At the end of the first March 1890 onwards. The ladies’ co -
month there were no profits, at the end of the second month there were no writers lumn did not complement the rest
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or artists–except my very great friends, Dick Orpen and Eddy Radcliffe’. Two years of The Jarvey very well, as it rarely had
after The Jarvey ceased publi cation, French explained why he thought the news paper any hum orous content but focused
failed: these inclu ded the title itself, which he felt ‘was not a good one’, and he also instead on gossipy accounts of atten -
stated that ‘we had barriers of preju dice to beat down’. He felt that a comic paper in dees at balls, soirées, race meetings,
Dublin was doomed to fail because ‘it is impossible to get it properly pushed. Local the theatre and various high-society
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shopkeepers much prefer induc ing their customers to buy a London publication’. get-togethers, mostly in Dublin. Ettie
French’s column was enlivened some -
Nevertheless, French made a game effort what by the inclu sion of numerous
to not only keep The Jarvey afloat but also sketches that she herself had drawn,
to popularise it. This included run ning but apart from this the contents of her

sev eral prize competitions for readers, column differed little from those of her
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with win ners receiving 10s. for the best joke predecessors.
or best humorous pen and ink sketch sub -

mit ted. The longest-run ning contest was a The newspaper’s price was lowered
weekly picture con un drum compe ti tion, in from 2d. to 1d. on 2nd February 1889.
which readers had to correctly guess the French announced that ‘The Jarvey
caption which summed up each draw ing’s finds his yoke so well patronised by the
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con tents. In another comp e ti tion readers general public, and himself becoming
could nomin ate whom they consid ered to so great a favourite with all classes,
be the five best-looking women in Ireland. creeds, and cliques, that his Fare from
The most popular choice, Miss Armytage- this date will be the EVER-POPULAR
Moore, was either Priscilla Cecilia, the future PENNY’. This is not very convincing:
Countess of Annesley, or her sister, Ethel if The Jarvey had been as popular
Kathleen (Ettie), whom Percy French mar - as French claimed, there would have
ried in June 1890. A happy coin cidence been no need to halve its price in this
or possible ‘fix’: it’s impossible to say! manner. The much-publicised opening
of a kiosk on South Great George’s
To try to further broaden the newspaper’s Street in August 1889 should also be
appeal French also started a ladies’ column seen as a sign that the newspaper was
on 26th January 1889. The first of these, struggling to attract sufficient custom
unimag inatively headed ‘The Ladies’ from Dubliners, probably due to the
Column’, was run by ‘Mary Maguire’. Later previously mentioned reluctance of shop keepers in the capital to stock it. (Illus. 2)
versions had different titles and were run A series of publicity concerts by The Jarvey staff and others was probably the most
by differ ent writers, includ ing ‘Our Ladies’ innovative attempt to boost sales which French devised. (Illus. 3) French’s troupe
–which mainly consisted of French himself, Edward Radcliff (sometimes using the
above Illus. 2. The Jarvey kiosk on South George’s Street, Dublin. Advertisement in The Jarvey, 7th September 1889. stage name of ‘Mr Raymond, the topical songster’), Richard Orpen ‘the Lightning
facing Illus. 2. Advertisement for a Jarvey Concert to be in held Cork in May 1889. Limner’ and ‘Professor Leozedt, the marvellous London Prestidigitateur’–performed

•4• THE P ERCY FRENCH FESTIVAL 2024 OUR GREAT DISCON N EC T •5•