Since I started this blog 2 years ago now, I’ve spent time trying to track down all the little bits and pieces I’ve edited over the years, unfortunetly it would appear some of them have been lost into the ether. So I’m always delighted when something turns up unexpected, as was the case recently when I discovered in a box of old VHS tapes a copy of the documentary “Recording Marjorie”. I was very young when I edited this show and it was a great learning experience to work with so many talented people on it. The show was directed by Anne Gately, produced by Paul Mercier and shot by Cian De Butleir, so I was in some good company. The programme was first broadcast as part of the much missed RTE documentary strand Townlands, which was a superb collection of random 25min docs from around the country. The docs varied in quality quite significantly but it was a great place for new documentary directors to get started and a chance to tell stories that might not have gotten told anywhere else.
Recording Marjorie is a documentary chronicling the life of Crosshaven costume designer Marjorie Fitzmaurice who began working in Irish theatre in the 1920s, amassing a wonderful collection of period clothing. Although almost completely blind, she helped Anne Gately of the Passion Machine Theatre Company to find the right outfits for a production in Dublin, and this programme is shown as a tribute to her achievements before she was taken into care
Its a lovely little film and a fitting tribute to an interesting life.
I’m still trying to get my hands on a proper version and not one ripped from a VHS but I’m just happy to have it at all.
John Murphy 