"Now, I'll begin at the beginning. A fine soft day in the spring is was when the train pulled into Castletown, three hours late as usual, and himself got off. He didn't have the look of an American tourist at all about him. Not a camera on him. And what was worse, not even a fishing rod." The narrative as the movie opens at the rail station, sets the scene, as Father Peter Lonergan (Ward Bond), the avid fisher mand and parish priest starts to tell this quintessential Irish yarn.

BY TONY QUINN

Over half a century later it is still the best loved Irish movie of all time, a big screen feature that has almost achieved cult like status among its fans, young and old. Tourism chiefs in Ireland would give anything to have its likes again, as it would without doubt add millions of dollars to the national coffers and it is probably the reason why generations of American visitors have come to Ireland over the past five decades. What these visitors see today may not be the quaint local characters and 'White O' Mornin' like cottages of the film, but it has forever painted an image of Ireland in the minds of those who have seen it. The sprawling picture postcard landscapes and elongated downright comical fight scene, made it wholesome viewing for all before the days of bloodlust shoot outs and special effects. The movie The Quiet Man directed by John Ford and starring Maureen O' Hara, John Wayne, Barry Fitzgerald and Victor McLaglen, shot in the West of Ireland in Mayo and Galway back in the warm summer 1951 may now seem aged in these modern times and many of the original cast may have passed on, but all of us know the players and the story of the movie. Maureen O'Hara who played Mary Kate Danaher took some time to tell of the struggle and schemes to have the film made, and to correct the inaccuracies surrounding the history of this motion picture classic.

After all the years and 60 movies, Maureen is still sure of one thing and she will tell you again and again, The Quiet Man was made in 1951. "Every paper I read says something different, one says it was made at Christmas 1951 and another says it was made in the summer of '52, and another that it was made in October '51. The Quiet Man was made in July and August of 1951, and this year is its 51st anniversary." Movie web sites and databases list the film as made in 1952, but make no mistake abut it, Maureen was there, and it was made in 1951.

The village of Gong near were the movie was filmed, had its own private celebration last year, and by all accounts it was quite a party. Maureen however was ill and couldn't make the trip, only the second time in over thirty years that she has missed going home. This year is the film will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its worldwide general release, going on general release here in the U.S. on 14th August 1952.

She was suffering from laryngitis when I spoke to her at her home in Los Angeles and she is very wary of journalists. Not because of their opinions but because she has been misquoted and errors have been printed repeatedly. "You know one of the magazines in New York printed that I had said that my sister was Margaret Burke Sheridan. I never said any such thing, she was a famous and brilliant soprano, one of the top sopranos in Europe, she sang at La Scala, Milan, but I never said she was my sister. She couldn't have been my sister she was as old as my mother."

After buying the story of The Quiet Man, John Ford would often talk about the Irish movie he wanted to make, though nothing definite happened until 1944. Maureen, at the time was making the movie, The Spanish Main at RKO studios, when John Ford decided to stop by to talk to her about a role in The Quiet Man. Like today movie stars were protected and there was always a policeman at the gates of the studios allowing only those with appointments to enter. John Ford arrived at the gate looking his customary shabby self. Ford always hated fancy clothes, his wife would regularly buy him new pants and other attire, but he would burn holes in them with a cigarette or a cigar, and very rarely, if ever, looked dressed up. The young police officer on duty looked at Ford thought to himself, "my god this old guy is trying to barge his way in here." and refused Ford permission to enter the studio. Ford was furious, went home and telephoned the then second in command at the studio Joseph Nolan, an Irish American and gave Nolan a little piece of his mind. Nolan immediately went down to the set of The Spanish Main and said to Maureen. "John Ford came here to see you and security wouldn't let him in and now he is absolutely livid, for god sake can you call him up and calm him down. Tell him if he comes back tomorrow we'll put the red carpet down from the gate to the set for him".

Maureen called Ford and, intrigued with the idea of the red carpet he showed up the next day when they did indeed put down the red carpet all the way from the gate to the set and Ford drove over the carpet in his chauffeured car. Ford went in on the set, of The Spanish Main to see Maureen, as he wanted a handshake agreement that she would play Mary Kate. They shook hands in front of Frank Borzage the director of The Spanish Main, a friend of Fords, who witnessed the agreement. Ford had the same handshake with John Wayne, Victor McLaglen and Barry Fitzgerald, there were no written contracts with the leading players for the film their agreements were all witnessed handshakes. Next Ford set out to try to raise the money to make his movie.

The script was taken to Fox, to RKO, and MGM, and they all turned it down with remarks similar to "Silly little Irish story it will never make a penny." John Wayne asked to take it to Yates at Republic Studios or as he was known 'Old Man Yates', the boss and owner of Republic Studios. (It has been claimed that it was Maureen who took the script to Herb Yates she insists she did not.) Up until that time Republic only made small 'Western' type films, and to go to Republic was almost a step down for Ford, but the years were passing by and out of frustration and because he couldn't get any financing, Ford finally agreed to send it to Yates. Yates read the script and said the same as the other studios, "Silly little Irish story it will never make me a penny". "But", and that according to Maureen was the magic word, "if the same cast, the same crew and the same producer make me a Western first to make up for the money I'm going to lose on The Quiet Man I will finance it." So they made the movie Rio Grande to raise the money to make The Quiet Man. In the end it cost $1 1/2 million to make The Quiet Man at the time a fantastic fee.

Ford now set the wheels in motion and began his work on the movie, things continuing so slowly that John Wayne and Maureen would often go to Ford and ask him "When we were going to make this Irish movie!" Teasing him, saying that by the time they got around to making it, Wayne would be playing Victor McLaglen's role and Maureen would be the Widow Tillane.

During the summers of the late 1940s, Maureen would go with her daughter Bronwyn to John Ford's yacht at Catalina Island off Los Angeles. Mary Ford (John's wife) would take the Ford grandchildren and Bronwyn to the beach for the afternoon so as to leave the director free to work. Ford would wear the old hat Maureen's father had given him, put on some Irish records and chew on a white handkerchief while he thought. Maureen meanwhile would sit nearby and take the shorthand of the script, typing it up later in the day. "I could make no comment, I just had to take down what he said, and give it to him." The first script had been written by Richard Llewellyn, the writer of How Green Was My Valley but Ford decided not to use it because it was too political, feeling that most American people really didn't understand the politics of any country except the U.S. The issue again was financial, and the movie had to be a box office success in the U.S. to make any money.

Ford then hired the writer Frank Nugent who used the notes that Maureen had typed up, and when the final script was delivered it was well received by both director and cast. As with all Ford movies, on the set there would be changes because the director would often change his mind on how particular scenes were to be played. Maureen remembers Ford as; "A mean old devil, but by god he was the best director in the world. He painted pictures with the people he used, the cameras and the lights. I would often sit and watch him and marvel at what he was doing, it was absolutely fantastic. Mean and nasty as he was, and cruel and horrible, he could also be kind and sentimental, but mostly he was an old devil. You respected him and his talent so much you would have done anything to work with him." The cast then assembled and went to Ireland to start shooting the movie. On the way aboard a Pan Am flight they stopped in Reykjavik to find John Wayne stranded there from a previous flight. Maureen, shared a bunk with her daughter and gave up her bunk on the plane so Wayne could get some sleep on the way to Ireland. Having arrived, the cast stayed at Ashford Castle, then as now, a beautiful hotel, but due to the lack of elevators they had to climb many stairways to get to the rooms, which she says. "Kept the muscles in your legs good and strong." Maureen also clarifies the story that claims hotels in Ireland could not accommodate the American crew and filming in Ireland was cut to less than two weeks. "We were at least six weeks in Ireland, where do people get this rubbish!"

The cast and crew ate dinner together every night, not in the main dining room of Ashford Castle, but in a room off to one side. Ford had deliberately wanted to create a feeling of unity among the crew by having them spend as much time together as possible. Ford sat at the head of a long table and dinner only began for everyone else after he had started eating. After dinner more often than not a singsong would start up with everyone taking a turn at a tune. The food was good, some of it was often supplied by the crew themselves. When filming was finished for the day many of the crew would fish the local rivers, and their catch, usually Salmon or Salmon Trout, was taken to the hotel and prepared as the appetizer for that evenings dinner. This grand old hotel also proved a welcome haven for the actors at times, Victor McLaglen loved to go sit by the fire in the lobby of Ashford Castle, and very often when Maureen was not needed for a few hours she too would go the lobby for a snooze.

Filming in the west of Ireland countryside had its own benefits for Ford and for the final version of the film. One afternoon after lunch Ford was sitting in a field waiting. for everyone to get back and the entire field was covered in seagulls. Maureen thought it would make a great shot if Wayne walked up the field, through the gulls causing them all take off at once. As a rule actors did not dare suggest ideas to Ford, it had to seem to be his idea. On occasion when actors did suggest anything Ford would stop the entire crew and announce. "Well, now we have an actor who thinks". Ideas had to be suggested according to Maureen. "Through the back door." So in a roundabout way Ford got the idea and had everyone move quickly and quietly so they didn't disturb the seagulls. Maureen was up on the back of a truck when John Wayne came over and said to an old man on the crew. "Hurry up, get that box of film down" The old man stopped, put everything in his hands on the ground and said to John Wayne, "Look son, God made time and he made plenty of it." Over the years Wayne would often tell the story and, lesson learned saying, "I have never forgotten what that old man said, and I now try to live that way, there is plenty of time, and we should all stop rushing and hurrying about."

In another famous scene John Wayne drags Maureen back to her brother, Victor McLaglen because he hasn't paid her dowry In the script it merely said that Mary Kate was to be pulled/dragged through some bushes. Maureen and Wayne had no idea how they would play the scene, and they wanted as far as possible to lessen the chances that either one of them would be injured so they went off secretly to rehearse on their own for the scene. In the film, Mary Kate is dragged from under a bush, Sean pulls her, she falls on her behind and then has to put her shoe back on. When she gets up she goes ahead of him and throws a punch in his direction, she misses and spins around whereupon Wayne kicks her in the behind. Maureen and Wayne rehearsed this difficult scene by themselves and the entire scene was shot in one take.

When the scene was finished both Maureen and Wayne expected Ford to praise their efforts. Ford stood up and turned to the crew and said with generous dose of sarcasm. "Well now, you see how wonderful a thing can be when it is totally spontaneous". Unknown to Maureen and Wayne at the time, Ford had spied on the actors as they rehearsed even though they had though they were well hidden.

In the same scene while Maureen was being dragged and pulled around the fields, at one particular point she falls forward and Wayne continues to drag her on her stomach down a hill. According to Maureen before they shot the scene John Ford had collected a bucket full of sheep droppings and strewn them over the hill. Maureen's crew on the set, her make up man, hairdresser and a few other friends walked on the hill and attempted to disperse the droppings by kicking them out of the way, but Wayne and Ford came along kicked them back in place. As a result Maureen was dragged stomach first down the hill through the droppings. Afterward Ford gave orders that Maureen was not to be given a towel or water and she sat in that condition for most of the day.

When filming in Ireland was completed, cast and crew moved back to the U.S. to finish the interior filming. At one point Maureen picked up an injury while on the set, as she had been mad at John Wayne and John Ford she tried to hit the former. The scene takes place in the kitchen where Sean first kisses Mary Kate, and she tries to hit him. Maureen had it in her mind to really have a crack at Wayne and let fly with her fist. Wayne saw the punch coming and put his hand up to ward off the blow, Maureen's hand connected with his and his being the much stronger, hers was snapped back and a pain shot up her arm. Maureen acted as if nothing had happened and hid her hand in her red petticoat. Some time later Wayne went over to Maureen somewhat perturbed and said, "Damn it let me see your hand, you'd have broken my jaw, if I hadn't blocked your blow." Maureen's fingers had swollen up 'like sausages' and Wayne dragged her over to John Ford saying. 'She's after doing something to herself."

Maureen was taken to the hospital near Republic Studios where they x-rayed her hand and found she had cracked a bone.

Today Maureen is still busy and currently working on various film projects, including pieces on The Quiet Man, Rio Grande and a historical work on Pan Am. But things in Hollywood have changed since her day, and not all for the better. "Not so long ago, somebody called Fox about something to do with me. I was under contract to Fox from 1941 to 1962, and I made How Green was My Valley and other great pictures for the Fox studio. The young girl that answered the phone said,' Who is she! Did she ever work at Fox!' But you have to look at the funny side, time goes by as they say, tempus fugit."

Maureen has been back to 'Quiet Man' country every year save one since the filming, and has noticed a trend developing in the west of Ireland. "Today there are so many people who claim to have had something to do with The Quiet Man, if everyone who said they were connected with The Quiet Man actually were we would have had a cast of thousands." "Maybe," as he says herself, "in a strange way it's a compliment that so many people want to be connected with the movie." ·

Maureen O'Hara Filmography

• · My Irish Molly 1938
• · Kicking the Moon Around 1938
• - Jamaica Inn 1939
• · The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1939
• · A Bill of Divorcement 1940
• - Dance, Girl, Dance 1940
• · They Met In Argentina 1941
• · How Green Was My Valley 1941
• · Ten Gentlemen from West Point 1942
• · The Black Swan 1942
• · To the Shores of Tripoli 1942
• · Immortal Sergeant 1943
• · This Land Is Mine 1943
• · The Fallen Sparrow 1943
• · Buffalo Bill 1944
• · The Spanish Main 1945
• · Sentimentol Journey 1946
• · Do You Love Me 1946
• · Miracle on 34th Street 1947
• · The Foxes of Harrow 1947
• · Sinbad the Sailor 1947
• · The Homestretch 1947
• · Sitting Pretty 1948
• · A Woman's Secret 1949
• · Britannia Mews 1949
• · Bagdad 1949
• · Father Was a Fullbock 1949
• · Comanche Territory 1950
• · Rio Grande 1950
• · Tripoli 1950
• · Flame of Araby 1951
• · The Quiet Man 1951
• · At Sword's Point 1952
• · Kangaroo 1952
• · Against All Flags 1952
• · The Redhead From Wyoming 1953
• · War Arrow 1953
• · Malaga 1954
• · The Long Gray Line 1955
• · The Magnificent Matador 1955
• · Lady Godiva 1955
• · Lisbon 1956
• · Everything But the Truth 1956
• · The Wings of Eagles 1957
• · Mrs. Miniver 1960
• · Our Mon in Havana 1960
• · Scarlet Pimpernel 1960
• · The Parent Trap 1961
• · The Deadly Companions 1961
• · Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation 1962
• · McLintock! 1963
• · Spencer's Mountain 1963
• · Battle of the Villa Fiorita 1965
• · The Rare Breed 1966
• · How Do I Love Thee? 1970
• · Big Jake 1971
• · The Red Pony 1973
• · Only the Lonely 1991
• · The Christmas Box 1995
• · Cab to Canada 1998
• · The Last Dance 2000