Barney Williams was born on July 20, 1823 in Cork, Ireland, the son of Michael Flaherty, who emigrated to America, and became a grocer and then a boarding-house keeper near the Bowery in New York. The son, Bernard Flaherty, grew up in that section of Manhattan, and was familiar with the life of the immigrants who were beginning to stream in, and with the "fire boys, " or volunteer fire companies, who were so conspicuous and colorful a part of metropolitan existence in those days. He assumed the name of Williams for the stage.
Career
He is said to have made his début as a super in New York in 1836 at the Franklin Theatre, Chatham Square, but his name does not appear on play bills until June 15, 1840, when he was playing small parts at the Franklin in a kind of variety show. The top price for admission was thirty-seven and a half cents. The next night he was cast in a play called Gamblers of the Mississippi.
In July he danced a hornpipe, and enacted Pat Rooney in Powers' farce, The Omnibus. But he did not immediately obtain serious recognition, for in June 1843 he was with a circus at Vauxhall Gardens, New York, enacting Jack in Jack Robinson and His Monkey. He also took part in a blackface act, for minstrels were just beginning to be the vogue.
In the next half dozen years, however, he began to find an assured place in the New York theatre, enacting Irish rôles with a rollicking good nature. To a later age the plays in which he appeared mean nothing. In June 1848 The Irish Lion and The Happy Man were his vehicles at the Chatham, then managed by Francis S. Chanfrau. In that year Chanfrau was acting his famous Mose the fireman, in A Glance at New York, and it is surprising to find that on January 26, 1849, Williams enacted the same rôle in a benefit at the Olympic; he must have been sure of himself and his public to risk the comparison.
After marriage he and his wife always appeared as co-stars, and both Williams' business and artistic fortunes were greatly improved by the match. The pair began almost at once to tour the country in Born to Good Luck and other plays with an Irish male leading rôle, and were everywhere popular. Sometimes Barney appeared in the Irish play, and his wife in a musical afterpiece. Solomon Franklin Smith records that in 1852-53 they made a great hit in New Orleans, and earned $10, 000 on their engagement.
They continued their tour to the west coast, and appeared in San Francisco and the mountain towns. The following year (1855) they sailed for England, and made their début at the Adelphi, London, June 30, 1855, Williams acting in Rory O'More. Williams was so satisfied with his success that he remained abroad till 1859, when he and his wife returned to America.
On October 17, at Niblo's Garden, they reappeared in New York, giving three plays in one evening. Barney appeared in Born to Good Luck, Mrs. Williams in An Hour in Seville, and both in The Latest from New York, by J. S. Coyne. This bill lasted two weeks, and was then varied by other plays - The Irish Lion, O'Flannigan, Shandy Maguire, etc. The engagement lasted for thirty-six nights in all, a fairly long run in those days.
From 1867 to 1869 Barney tried his hand at the management of the old Wallack's, Theatre (called the Broadway), but gave it up to resume touring with his wife. He made his last appearance on Christmas night, 1875, at Booth's Theatre in The Connie Soogah and The Fairy Circle.
He died April 25, 1876, at his home on Murray Hill, New York, leaving a large fortune.
Achievements
Personality
"Irish Barney" had full cheeks, merrily twinkling blue eyes, a well-shaped mouth wrinkling with laughter, a compact but graceful figure, and a rich native brogue. His acting was conspicuous for breadth and florid coloring, and he was said always to enter the stage with a jovial "who tread on the tail o' me coat" air. In the parts he depicted, and in method of depiction, he was true to the ragged, reckless, drinking Irishman he had doubtless known in his youth.
Quotes from others about the person
According to the critics of the sixties and seventies, Dion Boucicault "raised the stage Irishman from the whiskey still and peat fire to regions of chivalry and poetry. "
Connections
In 1849 he married Maria Pray, the widow of Charles Mestayer, and a sister-in-law of William Jermyn Florence. She was a popular actress and singer, and the marriage was fortunate for the happy-go-lucky Barney. They had a daughter.