James Edward Meighan, Sr. (1877-1981) is the oldest recorded Lambs member–just shy of 104 years old. He was a member for 70 years.
His brother was a movie star Shepherd of The Lambs, his son was an actor and Lamb.
Jim Meighan was elected as a Non-Professional Member in 1911 and became a Life member. He served as club treasurer for 15 years. Meighan lived in Westchester County and was a real estate broker.
He was born March 22, 1877, to John A. and Mary Jane (née Bell) Meighan in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. Both of his parents were first generation Irish-Americans from Castleblayney, County Monaghan. They had five sons and two daughters. One of his younger brothers, Thomas, became a silent movie star and Lamb. Thomas was Shepherd during the Speakeasy Era of Manhattan. Years later, their younger brother, John, joined the Club in 1951.
Jim Meighan was a real estate broker who resided in Rye, Westchester County, New York. It was said he was the agent who brokered the purchase of the land for the 44th Street Clubhouse. He served consecutive terms on The Lambs’ Council, beginning in 1916. Meighan continued to be active in Club business.
In 1902 he married Georgella Bates in Rochester, Pennsylvania. The couple lived in Pittsburgh when their only son was born in 1908. They lived in Harlem before moving to Rye, becoming residents until the 1930s. Their son, James E. Meighan, Jr. was elected to The Lambs in 1924. The couple were among the most famous residents of Rye, with homes on Dearborn Avenue and Oakwood Avenue, right on the Long Island Sound.
In 1921, Meighan was instrumental in building the first movie theater in Rye, the Rye Playhouse, on Boston Post Road. The 650-seat theater opened with his younger brother, a Paramount Pictures star, attending the opening of a double feature of his films and meeting fans. The theater was destroyed by fire in 1951.
Meighan started buying land in Florida during the 1920s land boom. In 1926, Meighan went into the real estate business with his brother Tommy in New Port Richey. The brothers formed a syndicate to buy up property, using Tommy’s film world connections. Among the other investors were Gloria Swanson, Leon Errol, George Fawcett, Blanche Ring and her husband Charles Winninger, Lamb (and copyright law attorney) Nathan Burkan. The Meighan Theatre opened on July 1, 1926 with a screening of Meighan’s movie “The New Klondike.” It’s still there today, called the Richey Suncoast Theatre. The venture was a bust during the Depression.
After the stock market crash and the death of his wife, Meighan worked in life insurance. His wife died in 1937 and their son in 1970.
In March 1977, syndicated newspaper columnist Jack O’Brien wrote “James Meighan is a retired insurance executive, spry and anecdotal with rosiest memories of late brother Thomas, as big a star as Hollywood ever twinkled… Brother Jim, tall, erect, handsome as Tom, a brainy man, had even more showbiz friends and associates then his glamorous kid brother. A member of The Lambs since 1911; as treasurer for some 15 years. As we write these admiring and decades-friendly words, Jim is able, willing and eager to drop into his beloved Lambs Club today in his 67th year of membership (most of them on its council) gently swinging his cane to a gathering of pals, some he’s known only a mere 25 to 50 years – for his 100th birthday!”
James Meighan Sr. died January 6, 1981, in New Bedford, Massachusetts. He was 103 years, 9 months, and 15 days old, making him the oldest Lamb in Club records. He is interred in the Meighan family plot in St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery, outside Pittsburgh, next to his parents, wife, and siblings.
Researched and written by Shepherd Kevin C. Fitzpatrick (2026)