'In order to ensure that the utensils were not put to any profane use he sealed the string with sealing wax and affixed his seal which was on his ring '

'In order to ensure that the utensils were not put to any profane use he sealed the string with sealing wax and affixed his seal which was on his ring '

Harry Browne remembers working in the Shelbourne Hotel at the Grand Ball for the Jewish community in Dublin.

Harry Browne

Trinity College Dublin

1961

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Harry Browne

Work and Employment

Life Story

Shelbourne Hotel, St. Stephen's Green, Dublin

1960's

Each year there was a grand ball for the Jewish community in Dublin. This ball was traditionally held in the Shelbourne. In advance of the ball the Rabbi called to the kitchen to ensure that all preparations for the meal were Kosher. He selected various pots and pans to be used in the preparation of the meal, supervised their cleaning with proper religious observance and then tied their handles together with string. In order to ensure that the utensils were not put to any profane use he sealed the string with sealing wax and affixed his seal which was on his ring. We took fiendish pleasure in, immediately after he left, opening the seals with a hot knife and using the utensils. Afterwards the seals were reapplied by the application of the same hot knife. I don't know why we did this except that it seemed to us to be a tremendous bit of craic. It is quite possible that if he had not gone to such trouble to isolate the utensils we would have left them alone. Dress dances and grand balls were held in the Ballroom and I remember that Earl Gill was one of the bandleaders at the time. Louis Stewart, the internationally renowned jazz guitarist was a member of the band. Earl Gill played the trumpet and I was struck by the fact that he was missing a forefinger, but he produced very sweet music nonetheless.

Irish Research Council for Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (IRCHSS)

Dr Kathleen McTiernan (Trinity College Dublin)

Dr Deirdre O'Donnell (Trinity College Dublin)