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Boston Globe

‘Housewife of the Year' revisits Ireland's obsession with long-running reality show about women performing domestic duties

'It was absolutely huge,' recalls one former contestant in Advertisement The film — which gets a showcase screening Friday at the Somerville Theatre, presented by the Irish Film Festival, Boston — introduces us to dozens of women who gamely took part in the competition. Still in their childbearing years (one contender had 13 children by age 31, including four sets of twins), they welcomed cameras into their kitchens and donned their best dresses to banter with Gay Byrne, Ireland's most famous media personality, onstage in some of the country's poshest theaters. Ellen Gowan in her home standing on a box with her sash. Juno Films Years later, the women have changed. They've become feminists, or they're returned to the work force, or they've learned to live independently of the former man of the house. Some of them supported the 1995 referendum that approved the constitutional amendment to lift the country's ban on divorce. Some have taken issue with the Irish Constitution, which to this day strongly encourages Irish women not to neglect 'their duties in the home.' 'I think people don't realize how religious Ireland was in the '60s, '70s, and '80s,' says Ciaran Cassidy, who directed the film. 'Anybody who grew up here would realize how total the control of the church was. 'It was a kind of fundamentalism about keeping up with appearances,' he says. 'I think these themes are universal, but it's very difficult when people are living through it to have that kind of perspective at the time.' Advertisement As a boy growing up in County Cavan, Cassidy (who is 45) had a neighbor who had been on the show. 'It was a town of 12 or 15,000, and everyone knew this woman was appearing on the show,' he says. After years as a live event, in 1982 the program became a Saturday night television staple. By 1988, at the height of 'Housewife''s popularity, 5000 women competed. At the time, the host, Byrne, was the biggest star in the country, Cassidy explains. 'It was kind of weird — he almost represented the whole patriarchy. All the different female characters, and just this one man.' Ellen Gowan on stage in the Everyman Theatre, Cork, holding a photo of herself as a girl. Juno Films Byrne, Cassidy says, was like the Johnny Carson of Ireland — if Carson had hosted multiple shows on TV and radio, in an era with no alternative to the one national network. Looking back, the show brims with outdated coiffures and cringeworthy innuendo. When one contestant tells Byrne (who died in 2019) that she has six kids — ages 14, 13, 12, eight, six, and a newborn — he does the math and asks 'What happened to 11, 10, and nine?' 'I couldn't keep going,' she replies. To which Byrne responds with an impish grin, 'Why not?' The film features ample footage from the program, flickering on the screens of vintage vacuum-tube TV sets, staged in the sepia-toned sitting rooms of old homes. "Housewife of the Year" winner Ann McStay posing with her family and husband in 1969. Juno Films 'There was no color back then,' says Dawn Morrissey, the festival's director. 'Women were almost in the background, like curtains.' She grew up in the town of Kildare, where she often watched the show with her mother. 'She had a very different experience,' Morrissey says. 'She only had two kids, by choice. She had lived in London, and she had a career. But the majority of women just didn't get that opportunity.' Advertisement Ireland's massive shift on cultural issues has been well documented in recent years. The country's economic boom, the so-called 'Celtic Tiger' of the late 1990s and early 2000s, has slowed, while the cost of living has risen drastically. Still, Irish creativity 'There's kind of a lot of confidence in the generation,' Cassidy says. 'These are singular stories, but they actually translate internationally if they're executed well. 'There's a lot of skilled people here, a lot of talent. It does feel like an exciting time. Irish people do love stories.' And for the women who once vied to be 'Housewife of the Year,' they're getting another moment in the sun. In the film, they take turns walking out onto a bare stage, beaming for Cassidy's cameras, wearing the sashes they earned long ago. "Housewife of the Year" winner Philomena Delaney onstage at the Everyman Theatre, Cork. Juno Films HOUSEWIFE OF THE YEAR Presented by Irish Film Festival, Boston. Friday, Jan. 31, 7 p.m. Sold out. Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square, 617-625-5700 or James Sullivan can be reached at .