Cheerio, Titan by Eileen O’Casey

Cheerio, Titan

The Friendship between George Bernard Shaw and Eileen and Sean O’Casey

by Eileen O’Casey

PAPERMAC, Macmillan, 1991, ISBN 0333553497, black and white photographs throughout text, paperback

Very Good Condition, a little edge and shelf wear, some rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, previous owners stamp to half title page, no inscriptions, age toned edges (see photographs)

“’Cheerio, Titan’ ended George Bernard Shaw in a letter to Sean O’Casey during the great crisis of O’Casey’s life: the Abbey Theatre in Dublin had rejected his play.  The Silver Tassie.  Letters between the two men abounded.  Shaw was quick and eager to discuss O’Casey’s work and to help him find his true voice.  He was also always available to supply much needed moral – and sometimes financial – support to the younger playwright during his dramatic encounters with the Abbey Theatre and the controversies over his plays and politics.
O’Casey repaid him with unreserved devotion, but the debates between the Shaws and O’Casey’s were always spirited and the issues at stake were the most compelling of their time.
Through lively anecdote and correspondence, Eileen O’Casey has gracefully interwoven personal history with a unique portrait of the cultural life of Britain and Ireland in the first half of this century.  Cheerio, Titan is a treasure-trove of celebrated personalities – W. B. Yeats, Lady Gregory, Barry Fitzgerald, T. E. Lawrence, Eugene O’Neill – and it gives us a rare view of creative genius at work.”