PRIZE RING TO MOVIES

Evening Star, Issue 23681, 14 September 1940, Page 5 (Supplement)

PRIZE RING TO MOVIES

VICTOR M'LAGLEN S CAREER It’s a far cry from the prize ring to the motion picture Jot. Fighters from the days of John L. Sullivan to the present have tried their hand at theatrical work of some sort —vaudeville, the legitimate stage, or the screen —but only a fow who have attempted to make the grade have succeeded. It was John L. Sullivan who started the ball rolling, and it was James J. Corbett who reached the top rung of the ladder as a thespinn who had graduated from the pugilistic field. "What Sullivan and Corbett were to the legitimate stage, Victor M'Laglan is to the motion picture industry to-day. He has made the greatest strides and heads the list of former fighters now parading before the public in the movies (says a writer in ‘ The Ring ’). M'Laglen as a professional boxer did not reach the heights of Sullivan, Corbett, Jack M'Auliffe, Jimmy Britt, and Jack Dempsey, among other boxers who became actors, but as a motion picture actor he rates exceptionally high. His exploits in the ring are recalled by those who followed the sport 30 years ago, but it js his work on the screen that keeps him in the public eye to-day. Vic. M'Laglen, unlike his predecessors who went over to the drama while they were still in their fighting prime, quit boxing for the cinema because he thought the latter a more lucrative field. AVhon Raoul Walsh started filming ' "What Price Glory,’ he wanted a “hard-boiled guy,” a “tough mug,” to play Captain Flagg, so ho selected Victor M'Laglen to do the job. That Walsh’s choice was justified was evident by Victor’s wonderful performance, in •which ha was a “ wow.”

Ho looked tough and acted tough. His screen performance was everything that could be desired for the part. All he had to do was to be natural to give a perfect characterisation of a human, tough army officer at the front. But as a movie star he is not limited to being tough, however. In some scenes with Dolores del Rio, Mexican beauty, whom grease paint transformed into a French girl, M'Laglan typified the awkwardness and care-free spirit of the American Doughboy in his war-time love affairs.

WRESTLER AND STRONG MAN. At the age of 14 M'Laglen ran away from his home in London and enlisted for the Boer War. At the end of the enlistment in the British Army he migrated to Canada, where he joined a prospecting party in the Cobalt silver rush. When Cobalt was wiped out by fire M'Laglon went to Quebec and started his fighting career. He met with success and in three months he was acclaimed the Eastern Canadian heavy-weight champiqu. It was then that Biddy Bishop, internationally famous sportsman, who still is living in the north-west, in the State of Washington, took an interest in Vic. Ho wanted M'Laglen to come out to the Pacific Coast. In the meantime, M'Laglen worked in a side-show as a strong mail and a wrestler. Travelling through a college town, ho took one after another of the college’s football team and pinned each member to the mat, the entire eleven being downed in less than an hour. The side-show was too strenuous a job, so Vic. accepted the proposition of Bishop and hied himself west to Tacoma, Washington. He arrived during the summer, and for his first bout, Bishop arranged a contest with Curley, Carr. To avoid police interference,' Biddy had all hands board a boat, and M'Laglen, Carr, and his entourage set out for a small island in Puget Sound. On the way, the boat touched Seattle, where Lonnie Austin, Frank Clancy, Mark Shaughnessy, a prominent Seattle doctor, and a number of Seattle sports were taken aboard. When the island was reached, Bishop got his men busy pitching the ring on the turf, tho referee was selected, and within a short time the men were called to the ring and the bout was on. It was a terrific battle, with plenty of gore spilled. When the contestants faced each other for the fifth round, it became obvious that M'Laglen was the stronger and more vicious puncher, and that his opponent couldn’t last much longer. He didn’t. He was knocked cold with a right to the jaw that raised him off the ground and landed with a thud to doze off into dreamland. A month later, at Aberdeen, Wash.. M'Laglen defeated Emil Schock, of Tacoma, in a vicious twenty-round affair. BOUT WITH JACK JOHNSON. Then came the lughlight and also practically the end of M'Laglen’s career in a meeting with Jack Johnson. The world champion had just returned from Australia, where he took tlje title from Tommy Burns, and to get a* little extra change, he consented to a six-round nodecislon match with Vic., the bout to take place at Vancouver, Canada. M'Laglen exhibited plenty of courage in that bout, but found Lil’ Arthur his master. Johnson won the fight—but it went into the records as a nodecision mill with M'Laglen lasting the limit.

Following the battle with Johnson, M'Laglen and his brother, Arthur, decided to go back into vaudeville. "When the company went broke, he and Arthur journeyed to Hawaii, then toured the Fiji Islands, Tahiti, and went on from there to Australia with their act. They were in Australia when the Kalgoorlie gold rush started, and joined tho other prospectors. Both found the going pretty tough. They nearly died from want of water in the desert. Many of tho prospectors passed away, hot tho hardv, well-conditioned M'Laglcn brothers wore among tho survivors. During tho World War, Victor M.'Laglen served as a lieutenant in the Royal Irish Fusiliers in Mesopotamia. He saw action on various fronts. BROTHER WON CANADIAN TITLE. Few people know that Fred. M’Kay, former South African boxer, tbo man who couldn’t take it when engaged in ring but was a hero on tbo battlefield, was a brother of M‘Laglen. Fred, died a hero’s death in the British attack on Turkey during the World War. Ho exhibited the courage of a lion in the face of the enemy, yet when lie took part in boxing bouts in this country be seemed to fear injury every time be faced an opponent. Victor and bis brother, Fred., were members of the Winnipeg police force. When they quit Fred, became a bartender at the Savoy Hotel, and later turned to boxing. Ho won the championship of Canada by defeating Walter Adams at Dauphin, Manitoba, then came to the United States, whore he boxed under the name of Fred. M'Kay. He was stopped by Gunboat Smith in two rounds ; was knocked out by Carl Morris in the first, and was stopped by several others. As a fighter in tho ring he was a failure, but as

a soldier they came no braver than Fred. ADKay. . Brother Arthur likewise was a boxer. He was knocked out by John Wide, of Chicago, in the second round. After the World War Victor spent much of his time at the National Sporting Club of London, where he was a favourite. Ho was matched to tight Frank Goddard, former heavy-weight champion of England, and Victor received a severe beating in that battle. Victor was knocked out in the third round. , , ~ , That affair proved to M'Laglen that his lighting days were over, ho then being = 29 years old, and ho got a job in England in the movies. It was there that he met J. Stuart Blackton, motor boat enthusiast and cinema producer, and Blackton offered him the male lead in ‘ The Glorious Adventure,’ in which he proved a great success. Since then his movie career has been a busy one. His groat success was as Captain Flagg. He won the Academy Award for his work in ‘ The Informer.’ Ho starred with Lady Dianna Manners in 1 The Glorious Adventure.’

Victor ADLaglen is a linguist and a bird fancier. He is an ardent boxing and wrestling fan.