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Bright Eyes

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The movie that made child-actress Shirley Temple a star was the December 1934 film Bright Eyes, in which she played an orphan, Shirley Blake, living with a wealthy and mean-spirited family but befriended by her godfather and pilot Loop Merritt (played by James Dunn in their third movie together that year, after Stand Up And Cheer! and Baby Take A Bow) (WP Bright Eyes | WP James Dunn). She was awarded a special Oscar for her performance the following year (WP).

The Strand Cinema in east Belfast opened a year later, on December 7th, 1935, and Bright Eyes was the first movie shown. The venue for a time operated exclusively as a concert hall (from 1984-1988); in 2013 it became the charity ‘Strand Arts Centre’, supporting a variety of arts in addition to a now-independent four-screen cinema operation (StrandArtsCentre History).

The 3-D mural by emic (ig) on the Pim’s Avenue side of the theatre reproduces a publicity photo from 1935.

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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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Cooking With Gas

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AC-12 is based in the West Midlands of England but headed by former RUC-man Ted Hastings, who is famous for his Northern Irishisms, including “Now we’re suckin’ diesel”. (For “I didn’t float up the Lagan in a bubble”, see Mother Of God.) The Line Of Duty character is played by local Enniskillen actor Adrian Dunbar.

By Karl Fenton and Danni Simpson in Church Lane, Enniskillen.

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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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Around Every Corner

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April additions to the green off Queen’s Parade, Bangor, by Aoife Laverty (@saul_art42), Chop Suey (ig), artist unknown “Bright things around every corner”, Ana Fish (ig), and HM Constance (ig) ‘No Barking’.

For the adjacent art (to the left) from the January jam, and before, see This Is Not The Same As Other Days.

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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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My Mustache Defends The Entrance To My Real Self

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“Like two erect sentries, my mustache defends the entrance to my real self” is the name of a 1954 photograph by Philippe Halsman (web) of his friend and collaborator Salvador Dali, included among the 28 portraits in the book Dali’s Mustache: A Photographic Interview (WP). It is reproduced here by Cha Cha (Carla Hodgson) (ig) in Catherine Place, Bangor, (where you can also find her Rock-Paper-Scissors Octopus).

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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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