Wings of the Morning—an early Technicolor film with a fascinating origin
by Tony Canavan, consulting Editor
Having had our house flooded during the storm over Halloween, I found myself without a television (although the least of my worries). Using my laptop to find something to watch on YouTube one evening, I came across a curiosity of a film.
Wings of the Morning is a 1937 British film directed by Harold D. Schuster, starring Annabella, Henry Fonda, and Leslie Banks. It was the first ever three-strip Technicolor film shot in Europe. Count John McCormack, the Irish tenor, appears in the film as himself and sings two songs. It was French actress Annabella’s first English language film, and notable as Henry Fonda met his second wife, Frances Ford Seymour, mother of Jane and Peter Fonda, on the set at Denham.
Donn Byrne
The film is based on two short stories in Donn Byrne’s 1928 collection, Destiny Bay. It begins in 1889 with the love affair between an Irish nobleman and a Romany Gypsy known as Princess Maria. The couple marries despite the disapproval of their families. When Lord Clontarf dies shortly afterward in a riding accident, Maria departs for Spain. The story picks up fifty years later when Maria and her great granddaughter return to Ireland where a new romance blossoms between a member of the old Irish family (Henry Fonda) and Maria’s Great granddaughter.
The young Byrne had a passion for Irish folklore and tradition, and was fluent in Irish and English, winning prizes at feiseanna
Byrne was born Brian Oswald Donn-Byrne on 20 November 1889 in New York, the son of Thomas Fearghaill Donn-Byrne, an architect, and Jane D’Arcy. Shortly after his birth, his parents returned to their home in Forkhill, Co. Armagh, where Donn and his younger sister Rosalys spent their childhood. Thomas died when his son was five years old, and the family subsequently suffered some financial difficulties.
The young Byrne had a passion for Irish folklore and tradition, and was fluent in Irish and English, winning prizes at feiseanna (Irish cultural festivals). He studied Romance languages and Irish literature at University College Dubin winning various prizes and scholarships. He published verse in The National Student, and enjoyed sports, even becoming lightweight boxing champion at UCD. Later he studied at the Sorbonne and the University of Leipzig. One legend about him (which may have been his own invention) was that he turned down a PhD when he learned that he would have to wear evening clothes to his early morning examinations, which he apparently felt that no true Irish gentleman would do.
One legend about him (which may have been his own invention) was that he turned down a PhD when he learned that he would have to wear evening clothes to his early morning examinations
The issue of Byrne’s politics is open to debate (the Dictionary of Irish Biography sidesteps it entirely). He was an associate of Bulmer Hobson and Robert Lynd, both prominent nationalists, and it is said that they introduced him to Irish history and nationalism. He hoped at one point to join the British Foreign Office, which seems an unlikely career path for one who sought an independent Ireland. Whatever the case, in his writing Byrne would appear to be at the very least a cultural nationalist if not a political one.
Literary life
In 1911 he moved to New York, where on 2 December he married Dorothea Cadogan, of Waterford. They settled in Brooklyn and had two daughters and two sons. In New York he worked for the publishers of the Catholic Encyclopedia, the New Standard Dictionary, and the Century Dictionary. He formed a lasting friendship with the American journalist and poet Joyce Kilmer. Byrne was a popular figure on the New York literary scene, socialising with many noted American writers. In February 1912 his poem “The Piper” appeared in Harper’s magazine while his first short story, “Battle,” was published in Smart Set.
He subsequently had many stories published in magazines such as The Red Book, Scribner’s, and McBride’s International. His first novel, The Stranger’s Banquet (1919) marked the beginning of a prolific output. It and The Foolish Matrons (1920) were popular enough for the film rights to be sought. Dorothea Donn-Byrne, meanwhile, was a successful playwright: she co-authored Enter Madame which ran for 350 performances at the Garrick theatre, New York. With their newfound prosperity, they bought a house in Riverside, Connecticut, where Byrne wrote Messer Marco Polo (1922), an historical romance that established him as a popular novelist. Alongside this he was a successful poet.
However, despite both his and Dorothea’s success, Donn, it would seem, was not good with money which forced him and his family to abandon America in 1922. While they travelled throughout Europe and the Middle East, Byrne produced a prolific number of short stories and novels, which were published on both sides of the Atlantic. In all, he published eleven novels, three collections of short stories, and a travel book, Ireland: the rock whence I was hewn (1929). He finally returned to settle in Ireland where they purchased Coolmain Castle, near Bandon in County Cork. Sadly, shortly after, Byrne was killed in a car accident on 18 June 1928.
He is buried in Rathclarin churchyard, near Coolmain Castle. His headstone reads, in Irish and English: “I am in my sleeping and don’t waken me.” His final novel, Field of Honor, was published posthumously in 1929. Dorothea Donn-Byrne edited a collection of his verse, Poems by Donn Byrne, published in 1934.
Opinion on Byrne as a writer differs. His early novels are dismissed as potboilers, written for the money, but he seems to have found his own voice with his 1922 novel, The Wind Bloweth. This is a romantic tale of the sea and contains lyrical passages among more mundane prose, which became the hallmark of his style. Some of his novels were of Irish interest: The Wind Bloweth, Blind Raftery, O’Malley of Shanganagh, and Hangman’s House.
Some regard his novel, Blind Raftery, as his best work. It echoes traditional Irish storytelling as the prose is interspersed with verse, which is also appropriate for the story’s hero, the blind poet who wanders Ireland and ultimately avenges his wife’s dishonour. The novel’s appeal endured, resulting in a television opera by Joan Trimble which was broadcast by the BBC in 1957. Some of Byrne’s novels have been compared with those of George Moore, another Irish novelist. It was with his 1926 novel, Hangman’s House, that he openly declared himself as an Irish writer. He called his introduction “A Foreword to Foreigners” and in it declared that, “I have written a book of Ireland for Irishmen.” It is also in this novel that Byrne is more openly sympathetic to Irish nationalism in its references to the Irish War of Independence and Civil War.
