The Sixties

The Swinging Sixties saw the rise of youth culture in music, films and fashion, the beginning of the Vietnam War, and the assassination of the two Kennedy brothers, as well as Martin Luther King.

The Berlin Wall was built in 1962, the same year that Marilyn Monroe was found dead. The Beatles became the biggest music stars in the world, while in South Africa 1967, Dr Christian Barnard performed the first heart transplant. Neil Armstrong was the first man on the moon in 1969.

In Ireland, Teilifis Éireann aired for the first time on December 31st, 1961 with a New Year countdown from the Gresham Hotel in Dublin. President John F Kennedy visited Ireland in 1963.

On the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising in 1966, the Garden of Remembrance was opened in Dublin. Sectarian tensions in Northern Ireland culminated in 1969 with the deployment of British Troops.

Gay Byrnes’s Late Late Show was in trouble in 1966 when the Bishop of Clonfert protested over a woman claiming she didn’t wear a nightie on her wedding night. Meanwhile, the Bishop of Kerry, Dr. Denis Moynihan, stopped a Jane Mansfield concert in Tralee 1967.

In 1962 Kerry beat Roscommon in the All-Ireland football final by 1-12 to 1-6. In 1969 Sam Maguire was back in Kerry after a win over Offaly by 0-19 to 0-7.

In the Manhattan Hotel, during the annual dance organised by the Kerry Division of the Garda Siochana, some unknown persons threw a chain over the ESB power lines, causing a black out. District Justice RDF Johnson convened a Special Court in the hotel. A request for a special exemption for the revellers was granted.

When the shooting of the film, Playboy of the Western World, was concluded at Inch, the wrap party was held at the Manhattan for star Siobháin McKenna, extras and local helpers which was a gala occasion.