Ann "Ma" McNulty (1887–1970), was a

Melodeon Melodeon may refer to: *Melodeon (accordion), a type of button accordion *Melodeon (organ) The pump organ or reed organ is a type of organ that uses free reed aerophone, free reeds to generate sound, with air passing over vibrating thin metal ...

-playing

vaudevillian Vaudeville (; ) is a theatre, theatrical genre of variety show, variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comic ...

. She was widowed in 1928 in the wake of the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

and determined to support herself and her two minor children. She took to the stage with these children, who were Eileen McNulty (1915–1989), a singer and dancer, and Peter McNulty (1917–1960), a singer, dancer, violinist, pianist and, eventually, a composer of music and lyrics. Known as ''"The McNulty Family's Irish Showboat Revue"'', the trio first appeared on stage around 1932-1933 and through Ma's astute show business acumen they almost immediately achieved a success that lasted for decades along the

U.S. East Coast The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, the Atlantic Coast, and the Atlantic Seaboard, is the region encompassing the coastline where the Eastern United States meets the Atlantic Ocean; it has always played a m ...

entertainment circuit. The trio eventually appeared regularly on radio and at such venues as the

Rockefeller Center Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commerce, commercial buildings covering between 48th Street (Manhattan), 48th Street and 51st Street (Manhattan), 51st Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The 14 original Art De ...

Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall (also known as Radio City) is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York C ...

, the Yorkville Casino,

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

's Leitrim House and at

Rockaway Beach, Queens Rockaway Beach is a neighborhood on the Rockaway Peninsula in the New York City borough of Queens. The neighborhood is bounded by Arverne to the east and Rockaway Park to the west. It is named for the Rockaway Beach and Boardwalk, which is the ...

. For 16 consecutive years the trio of "Ma" McNulty, Eileen McNulty and Peter McNulty sold out the

Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a multi-arts center in Brooklyn, New York City. It hosts progressive and avant-garde performances, with theater, dance, music, opera, film programming across multiple nearby venues. BAM was chartered in 18 ...

's 2,109-seat Howard Gillman Opera House. In their nearly two decades of music recording for labels like

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

, Standard and Copley from 1938-1956, the McNulty family's ''"Showboat Revue"'' released 155 sides on

78-rpm A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English) or a vinyl record (for later varieties only) is an analog signal, analog sound Recording medium, storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, ...

shellac & vinyl. In 1953, they appeared through the then-new entertainment venue of television on

Milton Berle Milton Berle (born Mendel Berlinger; ; July 12, 1908 – March 27, 2002) was an American actor and comedian. His career as an entertainer spanned over eight decades, first in silent films and on stage as a child actor, then in radio, movies and ...

's wildly popular

Texaco Star Theater ''Texaco Star Theater'' is an American comedy-variety show, broadcast on radio from 1938 to 1949 and telecast from 1948 to 1956. It was one of the first successful examples of American television broadcasting, remembered as the show that gave M ...

. "Ma" McNulty did not appear on stage during her children's earlier duo performances. In 1926, after one theater's "professor" was unable to keep proper time for her children, "Ma" began, herself, keeping time for them from backstage on an old melodeon accordion. By 1928, she had been encouraged to perform on stage with her children. Though by the late 1930s, radio and motion pictures had already there and throughout the nation eclipsed as popular entertainment

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

, which had begun in the 1880s, the McNulty family managed to keep the art of Irish "vaudevillian" or variety theater alive on the U.S. East Coast well into the 1950s. The McNulty family had a powerful influence on the development of the Music of Newfoundland and Labrador in its modern era.Osborne, Eveylyn (2013) The most (imagined) Irish place in the world?: the interaction between Irish and Newfoundland musicians, electronic mass media, and the construction of musical senses of place (doctoral dissertation) Memorial University of Newfoundland, Abstract retrieved from http://research.library.mun.ca/6216/ Another testament to the popularity of the McNulty Family was the impressive number of recordings they made for Decca, Standard, and Copley: 155 sides on 78-rpm releases.The Irish Echo, ''All aboard the McNulty Family's Irish Showboat'', accessed 19 August 2015.
/ref>

Partial discography

*''Likeable Loveable Leitrim Lad'', composed entirely and performed in part by Peter McNulty *''When I Mowed Pat Murphy's Meadow''
/ref> *''A Mother's Love is a Blessing'' *''Boys from the County Cork'' *''Mother Malone'' *''Along the Rocky Road to Dublin'' *''When Rafferty Brought the Rumba to the Town of Aughnacloy''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mcnulty, Ann American vaudeville performers American accordionists American women accordionists 1887 births 1970 deaths 20th-century accordionists 20th-century American musicians 20th-century American women musicians

Partial discography

See also

References