Just looking online for some pictures of classic Irish beauties, at the request of commenter Seattle, when this one stopped me dead in my tracks.
Miss Constance Smith, from Limerick no less. Wasn’t she lovely?
It seems that a proper biography of Constance has yet to be written. This is a shame as she had an absolutely fascinating life. Of humble origins (her dad was in the rank and file of the Irish army) she arrived at Messrs 20th Century Fox in the late 1940s through the beauty contest route rather than by way of the Abbey Theatre.
Connie appeared in a number of movies, including ‘Man in the Attic’ (1953) and ‘Brighton Rock’ (1947). However her relatively short and (by Hollywood standards) uneventful professional career pales in comparison to her colourful private life punctuated by car accidents, drug overdoses and random acts of violence.
Connie’s most famous escapade was the stabbing, in 1962, of her then boyfriend, film historian Paul Rotha. The two subsequently married following her release from prison and, as far as I know, stayed married throughout the remainder of their respective lives, which included at least one further stabbing attempt by Constance. A typically Irish love-hate relationship (did I mention that Limerick is informally known as ‘Stab City’?)
Constance’s last years were punctuated by alcoholism, mental illness and the inevitable slide into obscurity and destitution. Her ending – disappearance following release from a mental hospital – was one of the saddest of all the Hollywood beauties.
You can read more about Constance here (great timeline summary of a Hollywood career in self-destruct), here and here. Links to newspaper stories featuring her (and other Limerick actors and actresses of the period) on the excellent Limerick City Council website here. All pics above courtesy of fanpix. net.
Hm. So the crazy Irish femme-fatale is not only a 19th-century (or earlier) phenomenon. I understand the desire to stab film critics- I get the urge myself once in a while- although I was never married to one. She did it not once but twice, according to Wikipedia. Looks like the Hollywood interlude was brief – she was back in the UK by the mid-50s and apparently spent the rest of her life there.
She does rather prove Lily’s point, that Irishwomen are nice but barking mad (3/4 Irish Veronica Lake would be another Hollywood example).
Booze doesn’t help. I would suspect the rate of female on male domestic violence in Ireland exceeds that in many other European countries. Genuinely.
Lol on the desire to stab film critics.
Never heard of this woman, she was clearly bonkers!
@Louis
As a Frenchman resident in Ireland, do you agree with Lily’s view that all Irishwomen are mad?
The first two syllables in the first word, of course, being silent.
@Maurice
lol
A young lass from Limerick named Connie…
(to the board: next lines-?)
Who tho’ poor was spirited and bonnie
Though her films were all dreck
Her life a train wreck
And she stabbed her film critic hubby!
(not the best, but wanted to finish).
A Limerick for a girl from … Limerick.
Try this one for size (have to go back to work now)
A young lass from Limerick called Connie
Who tho’ poor was spirited and bonnie
She did time inside
For stabbing her Clyde
And the rest of her life it went funny.
better than mine, thanks
ah no, it’s a well known fact that you need one mad Irishwoman to write a proper limerick about another.
Improper limericks, now…
hmm..got through 2 husbands before she got together with Rotha in her 30s (before stabbing him twice. The first husband’s second wife is…Nanette Newman! Different leagues or what. On Nanette Newman’s wikipedia there is a quote ‘A good marriage is at least 80 percent good luck in finding the right person at the right time. The rest is trust.’
Oh my goodness! I didn’t realise that. Fascinating.
Lily, have you been commenting on any other Irish blogs lately – in relation to the fashion sense of our weather presenters lol? Someone from the UK put in some good comments that sounded a bit like you.
Would love to take the credit for good comments but no not me.
Actually, looks like Nanette Newman was quite a beauty in her younger days, not like the mumsy lady we (or at least I) always think of her.
Here’s an article about her beauty habits on her daughter’s website with pic from days gone by.
http://www.forbesstyle.com/loving-the-classics
Very interesting, the Mammy had all of these beauty habits too, including the hot water in lemon juice thing.
Nanette was not a classical beauty but very attractive (love the little glimpse of cleavage in the photo).
Some time ago you mentioned a special word for women with too-large jaws; is Constance rather that way?
Manjaw (a phrase stolen from some less charitable blogger – a girl can’t help her jaw after all….).
I’d be quite happy to look like Constance, manjaw or no manjaw lol.
No it wasn’t manjaw; There was a post Beauty or this word? It was a specifically Dublin expression, I think.
Bowler, that was the word.
I wonder why the cat looks so scared. I think Constance looks very ill-at-ease in the Edwardian tart’s outfit.
I see it’s Bierstadt again. Will you ever do a post about those paintings?
She had a tough time in Hollywood. I’ve been doing some extra research. She got pregnant by her first husband not long after arriving in Hollywood – the fan magazines wrote it up, but no baby. I read elsewhere that the studios made her have an abortion. Not unusual at all in those days. Very sad.
Bowler covers all Face off Crimewatch situations and is not specifically linked to allegedly overdeveloped chins.
I may get round to Bierstadt eventually.
’tis a pity she’s a… hoarder
too bad, rly about the crazy cat lady ending
but, all hotties who dont marry money end this way
i never knew i had to get an irish broad so drunk she’d stab
Are you sure you’re an Irishwoman? You’re so accommodating. Anyway, she’s a beauty alright, but of the castrating- nutcase type. And I can draw a Venn Diagram of that sort and Limerick women with one circle. Honestly, I read “Miss Constance Smith, from Limerick” and immediately thought, ‘I bet this woman stabbed someone’.Whereas Maeve Brennan
http://sdaedalus.wordpress.com/2011/06/30/the-long-winded-lady/
is still the type I have in mind. It’s the snout that does it. I’ve seen this ‘archetype’ about 5 times in my life…breathtaking.
‘..less charitable..’ ‘..can’t help..’ True;but the comments were based upon the BEHAVIOR of said “girl” ;not,solely, her physical attributes.
@Seattle
At the risk of being TOO accommodating, I’ve found you a Maeve-alike from 1940s Hollywood:-
http://sdaedalus.wordpress.com/2012/01/29/peggy-cummins-irelands-unacknowledged-helen-mirren/