The Ginger Man Gets the Shark Book and Dublin's Calling me to the Pubs

“The GM [Ginger Man], by the way, had real balls, a rare thing in these twisted times. I heard the priests gave you a rough time with the stage version, but to hell with them. The church is on its last legs and if we deal them blow for blow I think we may prevail.”

Hunter S. Thompson in a letter (December 8, 1960) to JP Donleavy from “The Proud Highway”.

Reading the letter excerpted above while in j-school was how I first came to know the name JP Donleavy and what drove me to pick up “The Ginger Man” and continue on through most of the rest of the JP Donleavy catalogue. That Hunter S. Thompson of all people would take the time to write a fan letter to anybody – he was the kind of guy who writes letters to the cable company complaining about the inanity of shows like “Hee Haw” (he asked them how dare they bill him after broadcasting a “waterhead zoo” like that) not fan letters – meant that Donleavy was required reading.

Thompson, Bukowski, Vonnegut, George MacDonald Fraser (who we blogged about here), Mordecai Richler, all of the greats whose unsanitized works at points give you the impression of the writer actually cackling while getting it down, they’re all gone. Donleavy is one of the few still around. So when the notice came up via the authoritative and well maintained (by David Hartzheim) JP Donleavy Compendium (as close a thing as the good man has to an official website) that Mr. Donleavy was going to be the subject of a tribute at the Dublin Writer’s Festival, I could not pass up the opportunity to make my first trip to Erin’s Isle, take in the festival and make acquaintance with a few of that fine city’s pubs and pints in the process.

The Writer’s Festival presentation took the form of an interview of Mr. Donleavy (click here for the full interview) conducted by a Radio Ireland presenter named Vincent Woods interspersed with musical acts. The highlight of those was the singer-songwriter ISE (Pronounced ‘eesha’) who knocked the crowd out with her own note-perfect rendition of Patrick Kavanaugh's "On Raglan Road", a Donleavy favorite (he knew the American woman who inspired the song, "a young beauty"). Kavanaugh was a legendary Irish poet and when I complimented ISE on her performance after the show, she said, “Thanks, but I didn’t write it you know.” And, I thought that was fine because I’ve always admired the work of Van Morrison anyhow.

Donleavy is a fine storyteller and a great interview subject, and he told many stories, the best of them about the Irish legend and "Borstal Boy" author Brendan Behan (He did things, Donleavy recalled, that were "literally unspeakable"), read from the “Unexpurgated Code”, twice and the concluding paragraphs of The Ginger Man (you should listen to at least the final portion of the audio recording of the interview just to hear Donleavy in that unique accent, with its traces of New York and ringing of the old aristocracy, sound out, "And, God's Mercy on the Wild Gin-ger Man". Those looking for a Johnny Depp “Ginger Man” movie will be disappointed though. When asked if he thinks it will be made: “I doubt it. It’s so much more fun talking about it. When will it be made? It will never be made probably.” But, he did say that if it were made, he might want to expand the character based on Brendan Behan if Shane MacGowan played him, calling that a bit of perfect casting. Indeed, MacGowan wrote Streams of Whiskey about Behan and also based the title of his "Fairytale of New York" on an underrated and lyrically stunning novel of the same name by Donleavy. He's been rehearsing for Behan all his life.

Following the presentation, Donleavy signed books and it was then that I gave him a copy of our book The Man Who Scared a Shark to Death and Other True Tales of Drunken Debauchery (see first photo) and thanked him for Dangerfield, Darcy Dancer, Balthazar B. Schultz and the rest. He accepted graciously and we’re hoping it did not warm his tootsies at his estate in the Irish countryside that very evening. It was the highlight of a terrific trip from Dublin to Belfast and a few pubs in between.

In Dublin, a recommended spot is the friendly and lively Ivy House on Drumcondra. There you can find a pint of a heavenly stout that goes by the name of Beamish but is not commonly available worldwide. This is because it is so delicious and full bodied that its widespread consumption would likely lead to world peace, something the arms manufacturers would sadly never allow. Beamish is superior even to Guinness. In fact, a Dublin taxi driver told us of how he had been a long-time Guinness drinker at his local suburban pub, but that after tasting the Beamish while on a trip into the city, there was no going back. He petitioned his local barman in the suburbs to get it on tap and eventually he did. Beamish inspires that sort of loyalty in the people who drink it.

Ivy also offers a breakfast that won’t lead to your death in five years, which can’t be said of Fagan's, the local of former Irish PM Bertie "Ahem" Ahern, (he must be quite heartened every time he settles down to business in the stalls as about at eye level in one of them someone has scrawled the message, “I love Bertie.”). He is the youngest PM in Ireland’s history but he may not make it to his golden years if he starts his mornings by setting into one of that pub’s breakfasts which will stick in your gut like a rock until, that is, you find a pint of Beamish to pour onto it. (Said Beamish can be found at this pub which is, despite the overabundance of photos of a blarney-full Bill Clinton, a handsomely decorated and rich-with-character sort of place).

In Belfast, the pub of choice was Bittles, a triangular shaped bar lined with paintings of famous Irish writers -- see the Brendan Behan portrait above and 10 points if you're able to name all of the great Irish scribes in the painting to the left -- and poets (and, oddly, Che Guevera and Fidel Castro). All of them, attached picture of Behan included, were said to have been painted by the same local artist, though this information was presented by an elderly gentleman who seemed to have had a head start on that day’s drinking by several hours, if not days.

The pubs in Belfast were a bit more spread out than they were in Dublin where it seemed like you couldn't walk 100 feet without ending up under a draught beer tap -- it really is that great a city. Hangovers are mild so long as you're not drinking something you shouldn't be, like Budweiser, but nonetheless, going in armed with hangover tip is advisable. Donleavy's strangest book is undoubtedly "De Alfonce Tennis", a game which he invented and which, presumably, only he and his immediate family play. In it he provides some tips on how the super athlete can best combat a hangover (check out our tips on the same here) .

"Although rarely appreciated by the victim, the pain of a hangover can be curative of the spirit, bringing upon the body a temporary physical depression, which teaches you a lesson on many levels and especially not to drink too much again. Let twenty four hours elapse before serious De Alfonce Tennis play recommences."

Also in line with me at the Donleavy event was a gentleman who goes by the name of Ron Mexico (though I didn't meet him and only found his site via Google) and runs an excellent Hunter Thompson site. In Thompson's letter to Donleavy excerpted above, the good doctor closes by inviting Donleavy to stop by if he's ever in Big Sur. While getting his book signed, Herr Mexico asked Donleavy whether he ever took Thompson up on the offer. Click here and check out his post to find out the answer.

Up Dublin!

Noel