Person Page - 157

     The following was posted on the Find-A-Grave site;
Benjamin V. Drohan

Composer of the well-known South Boston tune -'Southie Is My Home Town'

Benjamin died in a Boston Hospital after a long illness.
Born and raised in South Boston, Bennie Drohan spent his life in show business, beginning with local minstrel shows, and moving into vaudeville and musical comedy.
On October 28, the same year, his beloved wife also died in a Boston Hospital after a prolonged illness. Bennie Drohan performed for several decades with his wife, Margaret McCarthy Drohan, whose stage name was Marty Dupree. The couple starred in vaudeville shows on the Loews and Keith circuit and headed a tabloid show that featured two dozen performers.
During WW II Bennie and Marty danced, performed and sang "Southie" for the USO in the front lines of battle. They performed for servicemen in Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge and in England during the Blitz. In Korea, the couple gladdened the hearts of homesick GI's with "Southie".
Bennie was a frequent singer and performer at political rallies for James Michael Curley, late Mayor of Boston and governor of Massachusetts.
In his later years he was an assistant public relations director at Rockingham Park in New Hampshire, where he arranged and performed in several charity shows. He was a constant member of the L Street Brownies.
A requiem Mass was sung April and October in St. Gregory's Church, Dorchester.
Burial was in St. Mary's Cemetery, Dorchester, Mass.¹⁰