Page 85 of The Girl with the Irish Secret
‘Oh, hello,’ Vi said. ‘My name is Violet Fleury and I’m?—’
‘You’re going to play Kathleen O’Sullivan in the movie about her life,’ Fidelma interrupted.
‘How did you know?’ Vi asked.
‘I read the article inThe Irish Times,’ Fidelma explained. ‘You look so very like her, you know.’
‘Oh, thanks,’ Vi said. ‘I’m glad you think so.’
‘That Finbarr didn’t have a clue who you were,’ Fidelma scoffed. ‘He said you were some kind of journalist doing research. You’d think he’d pay attention. But young people are so into their own world and don’t know how to read properly. Always on those dratted phones, whatever it is they do on them. It’s a curse of the times we live in.’ She paused. ‘So… where werewe? Oh yes, Kathleen O’Sullivan. You’re going to play her, so you need to know all about her, is that right?’
‘Yes,’ Vi said. ‘I just felt I should have all the background information in order to be as close to her character as possible. There isn’t much in any biography that I can find, just the bare bones of her life. Birth, youth, marriage, movies and so on. But not anything that will tell me who she really was.’ Vi thought fleetingly about the production company and how they seemed not to have been in touch with people Kathleen might have known. But perhaps the dance studio was too much of a long shot for them.
‘I see,’ Fidelma said. ‘Well, I can only tell you what I remember of the early days. She was at the dance school at the same time as she went to drama school. She wanted to learn to dance in order to move gracefully on the screen. I thought it was a very good thing for her to do. She was quite a big girl and a little awkward when she first started dancing. But then she improved, all thanks to Maximilian. He was a Russian teacher of modern dance. He inspired her. In fact he inspired us all, I have to say. Marvellous man.’
‘Tell me more,’ Vi urged, intrigued. ‘It’s great to talk to someone who knew Kathleen.’
‘Oh, I knew her better than a lot of people,’ Fidelma said. ‘I was young, only fifteen, and very shy when I started taking lessons at the studio. Kathleen encouraged me and gave me confidence. Taught me how to stand up for myself. She had been up against some difficult times early in her life and that had hardened her. She was quite feisty and some would say mean, but she was like a big sister to me.’ Fidelma drew breath.
‘That’s very interesting,’ Vi said. ‘I didn’t know Kathleen had had a difficult childhood.’
‘I think we all did to some degree,’ Fidelma said. ‘People were generally poor in those days. The war years were not easy, even though Ireland was not involved.’
‘I can imagine,’ Vi said. ‘Especially in Kerry. So Kathleen would have felt that growing up here.’
‘Oh, yes, she would,’ Fidelma said with feeling. ‘Her parents didn’t approve at all. She ran away from home and hid in some kind of hostel while she worked as a cleaner while she went to drama school. Then she got small parts in plays and managed to live on the meagre wages from that.’
‘I had no idea,’ Vi said, taken aback. ‘There’s nothing about that in her biography.’
‘I think she wanted to keep that quiet,’ Fidelma said. ‘It wasn’t the kind of thing she wanted people to know.’
‘I see.’ Vi felt a dart of pity mingled with admiration for Kathleen. It must have been difficult to make ends meet and to go against the wishes of her parents. She seemed to have fought hard to realise her dreams. ‘I suppose cinema was really what she wanted to do,’ she suggested.
‘I think so. Do you dance yourself?’ Fidelma asked.
‘No,’ Vi replied, startled by the sudden change of subject. ‘I did a bit of Irish dancing when I was younger, but that’s all.’
‘Maybe you should have lessons,’ Fidelma suggested. ‘If you want to move as gracefully as Kathleen. I think body language and way of moving are important in this case.’
‘That’s a good idea,’ Vi said. ‘I think there is a school of dance in Dingle. Only for children but I could ask if I could have private lessons perhaps.’
‘Excellent,’ Fidelma said.
‘So could you tell me a bit more about Kathleen?’ Vi asked. ‘I’d love to know as much as I can about her.’
‘Not much more to tell,’ Fidelma said. ‘She left the school as soon as she got that offer from Hollywood. So I only knew her for a little over a year.’
‘Oh,’ Vi said, disappointed. ‘I was hoping…’
‘But,’ Fidelma interrupted, ‘we formed a close friendship during that year. I think she saw me as a younger sister to whom she could tell things nobody else knew.’
‘Oh,’ Vi said. ‘Like what?’
‘It’s a little complicated to talk about it over the phone. But I have letters you might be interested in. We wrote to each other, you see. And sent cards at Christmas. She told me all about what she was doing and who she met and so on. Fascinating for me who had just done a bit of dancing for fun and then went on to get married and raise a family. Those letters were the high point of Christmas for me. A little hard to read as Kathleen’s handwriting was not the best. Not exactly calligraphy, if you know what I mean,’ she added, laughing.
‘Gosh,’ Vi said, her heart beating faster at the thought of reading those letters. ‘I would love to read them. Would it be possible for you to send copies to me?’
‘I suppose,’ Fidelma said, sounding doubtful. ‘You can see the originals, if you like. If I can find them. My house is not very tidy these days. I still live in the same house my husband and I bought over sixty years ago. He passed away three years ago and now I’m on my own. My children keep telling me to move to somewhere smaller, but who is going to sort out the house and put it up for sale and all that, I wonder? They’re all too busy to help.’
