The Outsiders Who Built Irish Entertainment : Louis Elliman

THE OUTSIDERS WHO BUILT IRISH ENTERTAINMENT: MAURICE AND LOUIS ELLIMAN

Publisher: Vallentine Mitchell

Publication date: November 19, 2025

By Wendy Elliman

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This is an engaging and informative history of one of Ireland’s most prominent entertainment families. Drawing on extensive family archives and her own familiarity with the history of Irish popular entertainment, Wendy Elliman creates a colourful picture of Irish-Jewish life from the early years of the State to the mid-1960s.

Maurice Elliman arrived in Dublin in 1892 as a penniless refugee from Tsarist Russia. He started out by projecting magic lantern shows in travelling fairgrounds. By the time he died some fifty years later, he was hailed as a pioneer of cinema and “the father of the Dublin film trade” (Dublin Evening Mail).

His son, Louis Elliman, would become Ireland’s “Mr. Show Business” (The Irish Independent), early 20th century Ireland’s greatest impresario. Expanding the business his father had begun, Louis turned it into a national entertainment empire, comprising over 30 cinemas and major Dublin theatres, among them the celebrated Royal and the Gaiety. He brought to Ireland leading lights from the worlds of theatre, opera, dance and music worldwide, giving Irish audiences entertainment equal to any on New York’s Broadway or London’s West End. When World War II closed the seaways to international stars, Louis nurtured homegrown talent, many of whom later shone on global stages. When the war ended, Louis made a lavish, high-profile visit to Hollywood, his journal providing a rare glimpse of ruthless studio heads and glittering stars.

Interwoven with this story of the evolution of Ireland’s entertainment industry is the intimate saga of an immigrant family finding its feet. With the numbers of Jewish refugees from Eastern Europe quickly submerging the country’s 600-year-old Jewish community, they were soon the dominant force in Irish-Jewish life, remoulding it to their needs. They also became a significant presence in national life, their economic, social and political achievements entirely disproportionate to their numbers.

This story of two generations of entrepreneurs, their Jewish identity, their love of cinema and popular theatre, and the part they played in the formation of Irish cultural life in this period will appeal to general readers and historians of the period alike.