Dear Bill, Thank you for all the information on record dealers who may have copies of my grandfather's recordings. You asked for some biographical details - so here they are - probably too much, in fact. Stage Name - VAL VOUSDEN Real Name - William Francis Maher MacNevin An actor, poet and playwright. Born in Carlow, Eire in 1886; died Dublin 1951. The Carlow Society put up a yellow plaque on the wall of the house he was born in - but unfortunately it has the dates of his birth and death wrong!. His Life as and Actor At the age of six he undertook his first professional appearance in Carlow Town Hall with the Pepper's Ghost Company when he played the part of Tiny Tim in 'A Christmas Carol'. According to an article in "Carloviana" written in 1953, he used the stage-name of "Bartley Hynes" during his very early years when he was touring Ireland and England. He returned to Ireland in 1910 - probably becoming Val Vousden about this time - and appeared at the Penny Readings at the Deighton Hall. Before the war he played with various stock companies and in his autobiography Val Vousdens Caravan, he mentions spending three years with 'The Royal Stock Company' who were resident at a bijou theatre 'The Theatre Royal in Warrington' where he played the prince in Hamlet. He then joined the Carrickford Repertory Company and toured with them until the war came in 1915. During WW1, he was appearing in Cardiff and joined the army, seeing active service in France and rising to become Regimental Sergeant Major of the Welch Regiment. After the war, he returned to Dublin and started with Roberto Lena's Company in Newbridge. He then went the the Queen's Theatre, Dublin, where he stayed for a season, after which he joined James O'Brien in the O'Brien and Ireland Company, He stayed for three years with this company, going all over Ireland. He then returned to the Queens in Dublin where he acted with some of the leading actors and actresses of the day, including May Craig, the Abbey actress and P.J. Bourke, founder of Bourke's the leading Stage Costumiers, and Peadar Kearney, later author of the Irish National Anthem. During one of his resting periods he met Pearl O'Donnell, a Belfast actress in Derry, and they were later married. She did Scottish turns and they toured the country together, returning to the Queen's in Dublin. They had three daughters, Sheila, Mona and Patricia. When Irish radio began broadcasting under Seamus Clandillon, he presented the very first light entertainment show and continued to be a regular contributor to Irish radio until he died. The radio station has featured a brief recording of him on its 75th anniversary web-site in 2001. He died at the Clonskea Hospital, Dublin, on 6th June 1951 and is buried in Glasnevin Cemetary, Dublin. His funeral was followed by a great host of troupers who regarded him highly. Oddly enough, his was the only funeral to Glasnevin on that day, a thing that had not happened for twenty years. So he certainly had the stage to himself! Hope this is useful with kind regards Gloria Pattinson _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.