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NOEL PURCELL Born in Dublin in 1900, Purcell star
ted his career in the theatre working as a call boy in the Gaiety at the age of 12. He graduated to various walk-on and small parts in amateur and professional productions. Purcell is particularly associated with the Theatre Royal where he performed as Dame Chatterbox in the 1943 production of Puss in Boots, Dame Doolittle in Jack and the Beanstalk (1945) and Dame Wimple of Waffle in 1952. The 1945 production of Mother Goose attracted an attendance of 258,000 people over its run, making it the most successful production ever staged there. In 1984, he was given the Freedom of Dublin along with Maureen Potter who he first starred with back in 1935. 25