Chip Miller's 106 Year-Old Irish Grandmother, Mary Gleason, Plays Her 1911 Irish Melodeon

Описание: Filmmaker Chip Miller's Grandmother, Mary Gleeson was originally from Thurles, County Tipperary, Ireland. She came to America through Ellis Island on May 22, 1911. During her journey, she played traditional Irish music on this very melodeon for her fellow steerage passengers on the White Star Line Ship, the Cedric. Mary also met her future husband, my Grandfather, Daniel Gleason aboard that ship. They later married in 1917, and she changed her name by one letter, from Gleeson to Gleason. Both of my Grandparents are on the great American Immigrant Wall of Honor at Ellis Island, panel 164 to be exact.

Mary first settled in New York City, where she knew the young Jimmy Stewart, James Cagney, and Henry Fonda, before they were all famous. She raised five children, one of them, my mother, Catherine "Kitty" Gleason-Miller. Mary loved to sew and was very active in the March of Dimes. She also worked for Eleanor Roosevelt, teaching sewing for the WPA (Works Project Administration).

According to the original ship manifest, my Grandmother only had $20 in her possession when she arrived at Ellis Island. The immigration official wanted to know what was in the bottle she was carrying with her. "Oh that's just me Holy Water!" she replied. Little did they know that it was actually Irish Whiskey. In 2012 and 2013, I directed a big budget Irish dance and music TV special for PBS, "Rhythm of the Dance," which still airs and now streams on worldwide platforms. I dedicated both specials to her and my mother.

Currently being developed as a motion picture, is the Harry Gleeson story, a man hanged for a murder he didn't commit. He was exonerated through the work of Innocence Project Ireland and the President of Ireland, and became the first posthumous pardon for a once falsely convicted murderer. There have been books, Irish TV specials, and documentaries on Harry Gleeson, who happens to be my Grandmother's brother. Mary Gleason passed away in 1995 at the age of 106. She was a hero.