A Girl Called May:

by Paul B. McNulty

This edition includes Appendices I through V. Margaret Mary ‘May’ McNulty was born on 5 November 1900 at 15 Warrington Place, Dublin 2, Ireland. There she lived for the rest of her life apart from the 1920s when she sojourned in Italy and Austria. She was the daughter of Thomas McNulty BA BL, originally of Derry City, and Mary Boylan, originally of Dublin. They married in a Roman Catholic Chapel on 30 December 1891. Little is known of May’s early years except that her father died when she was only three and she attended Muckross Park College, a private girls’ secondary school, in Dublin. May McNulty was a singer of sufficient talent to warrant further training in Milan commencing in 1921. She reputedly sang on Radio Éireann but no such record has been found. Neither has her singing talent featured in any Irish newspaper following an on-line search for Miss McNulty or variants thereof. A Google search was equally fruitless in relation to her singing although her career as an international bridge player was highlighted. While in Milan, she attracted the attention of some male admirers including the operatic singer, Davide Dorlini, a French Tahitian, who revealed his affection for her in a 1922 picture card: alla Signorina May McNulty con auguri (with best wishes.) His possible connection to the late Dag Drollett and the family of Marlon Brando is explored. May McNulty moved to Austria in 1924 after an opportunity to advance her singing career had apparently not emerged. Examination of picture postcards received from her many correspondents revealed that Frida Schad may have been a Holocaust victim; that J.McD in Donegal missed her singing; that M in St Mary’s, Dublin may have been suicidal; that a teaching role for May was indicated in a card signed Your little pupil; that May was a child-minder for eight-year-old Jeannie Enfer destined to become a distinguished Austrian writer who also translated the work of Irish authors into German. An April 1927 picture card reveals May’s move from the provincial Wiener Neustadt to the metropolis of Vienna while remaining dependent on family finance. While there she may have sought to promote her singing career by contact with noted musicologists, Harold Sheldon and Hugo Botstiber. Later that year, she received an intriguing card from Liesl Wanka inviting her to visit again at Vienna. Liesl is mentioned in a critique of Dr Paul Hasterlik by Helene König; in a letter by Hasterlik (later a Holocaust victim) to his son in 1935; and in the diary of Katharina Brömse who mentions Liesl’s involvement in an unspecified project. Having returned to Ireland in 1932, with no apparent sign of a singing contract, May turned to the game of contract bridge destined to become her enduring passion. Now, in her early thirties, her postcard archive peters out and is replaced by newspaper reports. She quickly establishes herself in the world of contract bridge. Progress was reported after WW II when she captained a championship team of the Contract Bridge Association of Ireland that travelled to Belfast to play their counterparts representing the Northern Ireland Bridge Union. In 1946, she set up a new record in competitive bridge by winning for the third time in succession the National Team Championship and Kelburn Cup using only four other players to complete her teams. This was sufficient to prelude an appearance on Radio Éireann, where she partnered Noel Peart in a discussion entitled Meet The Bridge Experts. In 1952, she must have revisited memories of her continental past when playing bridge against Austria whose team included Mrs H Breithner, likely to be the second wife of the famous Viennese Mayor and social democrat, Hugo Breitner. Torquay was May’s final appearance as an international bridge player. Her declining health persuaded her not to participate in the 1960 Women’s World Championship in Turin. May McNulty passed away, as a single woman, in 1966 but her memory lives on.

266 pages, Paperback

Published March 27, 2018

About the author

Paul is a Fulbright Scholar and Alumnus of University College Dublin, Ohio State and MIT. He served on the academic staff at UCD from 1972 through 2005. After retirement, he studied Genealogy/Family History and Creative Writing. His diploma project, “The Genealogy of the Anglo-Norman Lynches who settled in Galway,” led to the discovery of a treasure-trove of stories that inspired him to write historical novels based on real events in 18th century Ireland. These include Spellbound by Sibella, The Abduction of Anne O’Donel and A Story of the Bodkin Murders each published by Club Lighthouse CLP, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The first two novels have been finalists in the William Faulkner Novel Competitions, New Orleans in 2012 and 2013 respectively.

He has also self-published The Genealogy of the Anglo-Norman Lynches… in 2013 and a novella, A Rebel Romance in 2014, both with CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.

More recently, he has written the first draft of a play, based on an extract from his novel, Spellbound by Sibella. A reading of this play occurred within the Theatre Festival of UCD dramsoc in November 2015. He has also completed a second play based on an extract from The Abduction of Anne O’Donel. His third play based on an extract from his novella, 1798: A Rebel Romance was staged by UCD DramSoc on 18-22 April, 2016 at University College Dublin.

Paul lives in Dublin with his wife, three children and three grandchildrens. The wild splendour of Mayo and Connemara inspires his writing. Links to social media include Facebook and Twitter. His website address is https://ucd.academia.edu/PaulMcNulty