# Mary Manning (writer)

Mary Manning Howe Adams (30 June 1905 – 25 June 1999) was an Irish novelist, playwright and film critic. She lived and worked both in Dublin, Ireland and in Cambridge, Massachusetts. There she married and had a family. She was one of the founders in 1950 of The Poets' Theatre in Cambridge.

## Biography

Born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, Mary Manning got her theatre training in Sara Allgood's teaching class in the Abbey Theatre. She had gone to school in Morehampton House and Alexandra College, Dublin. She also worked as a writer for the Gate Theatre. She adapted the short story "Guests of the Nation" for a film directed by Denis Johnston. Manning also helped found the Dublin Film Society in 1930. In this society she co-founded Irish Amateur Films. Mary lead this group and they were able to produce four films in 1930. She worked as a film critic and co-founded the Gate Theatre arts magazine Motley in 1932.
In 1935 Manning moved to Boston, Massachusetts. There she later met and married lawyer Mark De Wolfe Howe, who had clerked for Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. When married to him, Mary continued to work by writing plays and three novels. After World War II, Mark De Wolfe Howe became part of the faculty at Harvard Law School, his alma mater, and the official biographer of Justice Holmes.
The couple had three daughters: Susan, Fanny, and Helen. Susan Howe became a poet, scholar and critic. In the summer of 1936, Mary Manning had a brief affair with Samuel Beckett, which led to a rumour that he was the biological father of her eldest daughter, Susan. Susan Howe herself has stated that DNA tests show Beckett was not her father. Fanny Howe also achieved notability as a poet.
Manning continued her creative activities beyond the family. During World War II, she worked as drama director at Radcliffe College.
In 1950 Manning was among the founders of The Poets' Theatre in Cambridge. Massachusetts. Others included poets and writers Thornton Wilder, William Carlos Williams, Edward Gorey, and Alison Lurie. It was one of the first places in the United States to host performances of poetry. In 1953 it held the premiere of Dylan Thomas's Under Milkwood. The theatre flourished until 1962, when the building burned down. It was later revived in the 1980s, running to 2004; and has been revived again in the 21st century, with a non-profit set up in 2023 and the first performances held.
After her husband Mark died in 1967, Manning returned to Dublin. She lived in Monkstown, County Dublin for another ten years. During this time Manning wrote reviews, essays and criticism for various publications, such as Hibernia, The Irish Times, and The Atlantic.
She returned to the US in the late 1970s to live again in Cambridge, Massachusettss.
After Manning returned to the US, she married Faneuil Adams of Boston, Massachusetts in 1980.
Manning died on 27 June 1999, at the age of 93 years old. She died at Mt. Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

## Ireland's two waves of silent film

From 1914 to 1926, Ireland had numerous new films being produced, largely in the genres of historical melodramas and romantic comedies. Following this, the period of 1930 to 1935 was when a second wave of silent films were produced that were intended to be less cliched. The films were more experimental and dealt less with the commercial appeals of the first wave.
There's minimal information on how Manning contributed to the second wave, but she was said to have a role in producing five of the six films released during that period.
Prior to her career as a writer and filmmaker, Mary Manning worked as a film critic throughout the 1920s and '30s. She worked as a film critic for the Irish Statesman for a year until it went out of business. She was known to disapprove of Hollywood's "unimaginable stories and its stereotypical portrayal of Ireland and the Irish".