“This is a photo of myself and was taken near the metropole in 1962. I worked as a Page Boy in the Gresham hotel and was out on a message when the photo was taken. I was on a message for a resident and had just dropped off a prescription in a pharmacy.
The wages in Gresham were very low (4 pounds a week) but you could come home with anything between 15 and 25 in tips (all currencies) and the ice-cream was from that. You’d be doing errands three/four times a day and invariably you’d have three/four ice-creams a day.
I worked in the Gresham Hotel from late 61 to late 65. It was an exciting the place to work. RTE was launched from outside of the Gresham. President Eisenhower, Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, John Wayne, James Stewart, Pat Boom, Liz Taylor, Richard Burton, The Beatles, Laurel & Hardy, Gene Tierney, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and so on, I met them all. When James Stewart was saying there (he was there a considerable amount of time), he would get ten or twelve telegrams a day. Every-time, you delivered his telegrams, he’d give you a five dollar tip. When he had three telegrams, I was inclined to deliver them individually.
My job was primarily to call out people’s names when they were telegraphed. Mr. O’Donohue”
(1962)
Submitted by Gerard Griffin