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The Horgan Brothers
Films related to The Horgan Brothers
Clock Tower Animation - The Horgan Brothers Collection
The Youghal Clock Tower is a light-hearted and playful exploration of the possibilities of animation in its infancy. In this short, the well-known landmark is depicted dancing into frame as the clock gate comes to life, spinning and dancing through the main street of the Cork town. It is likely that James Horgan was one of the earliest animators in Irish film history, as he experimented with film production techniques including stop-motion animation and the use of models, as well as retouching still photographs. The Horgan Brothers’ films (1910-1920) are some of the earliest moving images made in Ireland. The brothers were photographers who turned their attention to the moving image, eventually opening a cinema in their home town of Youghal, Co Cork. It was here they screened their newsreel-style films, which they named The Youghal Gazette.
Declan's Well - The Horgan Brothers Collection
Located in Ardmore, Waterford, Saint Declan’s Well dates back to the 14th century. In this film the viewer is shown parts of the oratory and Saint Declan’s tower but perhaps the most interesting is footage of a man and a woman walking underneath Saint Declan’s stone. Legend has it, on the feast day of the saint (24th of July) pilgrims would crawl under the stone as a cure for arthritis. However the mythical tale also warned that the stone should not be approached by the unworthy as they risked getting stuck and trapped for their sins. Although most of The Horgan Brothers Collection had suffered the ravages of time and were incomplete, enough survived to provide an invaluable moving image record of what appeared on screen a century ago in a rural Irish cinema. The Horgan Brothers’ films (1910-1920) are some of the earliest moving images made in Ireland. The brothers were photographers who turned their attention to the moving image, eventually opening a cinema in their home town of Youghal, Co Cork. It was here they screened their newsreel-style films, which they named The Youghal Gazette.
Leaving Church - The Horgan Brothers Collection
As future cinema owners, The Horgan Brothers had the foresight to know any event that attracted enormous crowds was worthy of filming. From 1917, their amateur newsreel The Youghal Gazette was shown in The Horgan Picture Theatre, and people from the locality would come to catch a glimpse of themselves on the big screen. This footage of church goers leaving Sunday mass and walking down the church steps in Youghal, is one of the finest examples from their collection and vividly illustrates the broad strata of society that came to worship. The Horgan Brothers’ films (1910-1920) are some of the earliest moving images made in Ireland. The brothers were photographers who turned their attention to the moving image, eventually opening a cinema in their home town of Youghal, Co Cork. It was here they screened their newsreel-style films, which they named The Youghal Gazette.