THE death occurred last weekend of Paddy Ryan, affectionately know as Mr Showbusiness throughout Ireland and abroad. Back in the heydays of the Parkway Motel in the 1970s, management took the decision to introduce live cabaret in the spacious ballroom and entrusted Paddy with responsibility. Within months, the Parkway had established itself as the leading entertainment centre in the region, on par with the best that Dublin had to offer.
Owner Robert Parkes and family wasted no money or effort in providing Limerick with a format that was new to the region and crowds flocked on an almost nightly basis.
The venue even had its own orchestra.
Having successfully tapped into a market for live entertainment in a city that was hungry to welcome solo talent and groups known only through television and radio, the difficulty was that there was just a limited pool of talent available in Ireland to keep business ticking over.
Paddy Ryan spread his net to the United Kingdom and built a list of contacts and agents to ensure that there was a steady flow of top entertainers heading Limerick-way.
Indeed, I joined both himself and Michael Parkes on visits to the cabaret scene in such centres as Manchester, Liverpool, London and Wakefield.
One such visit, in the mid-7Os, took us to the home of the Nolan family in Blackpool, where parents Tommy and Maureen, signed on the dotted line to bring their all-singing family to the Parkway for a series of shows.
That was before the Nolan Sisters made it really big, and Paddy was always proud of the fact that he was one of the first to spot their potential.
Peters and Lee, winners of the Opportunity Knocks programme, hosted by Hughie Green, became firm favourites at the Parkway, and Paddy used his persuasive powers to bring the internationally known Rolf Harris here.
Singer Candy Devine became a regular, as did countless others, including Dana who, were it not for Paddy Ryan and the initiative shown by the Parkes family, never have brought so much joy and happiness to local audiences.
Roly Daniels, Joe Cuddy, Tony Kenny, Brendan Grace and countless other Irish artistes of the time had top billing.
Practically every showband in Ireland in the 70s and 80s took to the stage at the Parkway, where many a marriage was made.
Paddy Ryan had a special way about him, one that endeared him to all those who passed through his life.
Always courteous and obliging, he treated all with the same respect.
He brought the entertainment scene to such a level that agents world-wide pencilled his name into their diary, often pleading with him to book the acts they represented to Shannonside.
Later, Paddy moved to the Limerick Inn and the Two Mile Inn, and was equally successful at both venues.
Paddy suffered a stroke some years ago and was pre-deceased by his wife Peggy in 2009.
He is survived by daughters Emer and Fiona, and Sons-in-Law Keving Fitzgerald and Joe Joyce.
