The Art of Manliness the Power of the Quiet Man

Manitoba History: Winnipeg'due south "Quiet" Homo: The Early Public Life of Motion-picture show Star Victor McLaglen

past C. Nathan Hatton
Department of History, University of Waterloo

Number 67, Winter 2012

This article was published originally in Manitoba History by the Manitoba Historical Lodge on the to a higher place date. We brand this online version bachelor every bit a gratuitous, public service. Every bit an historical document, the article may comprise linguistic communication and views that are no longer in common use and may be culturally sensitive in nature. Please direct all inquiries to webmaster@mhs.mb.ca.

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Victor McLaglen was i of Hollywood's smashing leading men and grapheme performers, winning the 1935 Best Actor University Award for his portrayal of Gypo Nolan in The Informer, and receiving a Best Supporting Player nomination for his depiction of Squire "Cherry" Will Danaher in John Ford's 1952 classic, The Tranquility Man. With a career spanning four decades, McLaglen was able to transition successfully from the silent to the "talkie" picture eras, a feat that was not readily duplicated by all screen actors of his generation. McLaglen often portrayed flatulent, rough-and-tumble characters that bawled and brawled their mode through some of the nigh memorable scenes in celluloid history. Unquestionably, his unforgettable performances were inspired past his ain exploits during his tenure every bit a policeman, wrestler, and boxer in pre-Get-go World War Winnipeg. McLaglen achieved local fame—and a measure of notoriety—for his exploits in and out of the ring in Manitoba'south capital.

English-born Victor McLaglen (1886-1959) acted in scores of Hollywood films, often portraying drunks, toughs, or Irishmen. He won an Academy Honour for Best Actor for his piece of work in the 1935 moving picture The Informer.
Source: world wide web.oldukphotos.com

Victor McLaglen was born in London, England in 1886, the son of Londoner Lily Marion Adcock and native South African Andrew Charles McLaglen, a clergyman with the Gratuitous Protestant Episcopal Church of England. The third of nine children (8 boys and ane girl), he grew upwards in London's East Cease, a traditionally working-grade region of the city. [1] During his adolescent and early developed years, wrestling, which already had a long and storied history in the British Isles, experienced a remarkable surge in popularity. Increased free time, brought about past a reduction in the work day, allowed a larger proportion of the population access to leisure pursuits. Once associated primarily with rural life in various regions in the country, wrestling became one of many commercial sporting enterprises offered to paying customers in growing urban centres. Although spectators appreciated wrestling for many reasons, part of its entreatment derived from its perceived merit every bit a spectacle that exemplified specific virtues such every bit force, physical endurance, and heightened muscular development. Wrestlers and those who promoted the sport were able to capitalize on widespread concerns, specially amidst the middle class, that modern comforts and a sedentary work life were producing a weak, physically feeble male population. [2] Through their well-developed musculature and demonstrable physical prowess, wrestlers represented a celebration of a more robust model of masculinity than what was feared to be the growing norm. The very social and economic weather producing the modern malaise were, therefore, the aforementioned ones that allowed wrestling to emerge as a feasible commercial enterprise by the beginning of the twentieth century.

The foremost exemplar of this concrete ideal in Great United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland was Estonian-born "Russian Lion" George Hackenschmidt, a Graeco-Roman champion who performed exhibitions in some of the country'due south most prestigious public venues, including London's Royal Albert Hall. Hackenschmidt'southward considerable grappling expertise (nether the tutelage of Manchester's Jack Smith he adapted readily to the English catch-every bit-take hold of-tin can style) was complemented past remarkable strength and a heavily-muscled physique which made him reminiscent of a reincarnated Heracles. Thanks to a growing marketplace for sports journalism, he was already well-known past the time he starting time arrived in England in 1902, and his matches attracted thousands of spectators. [three] In the context of heightened public involvement in male muscularity, Victor McLaglen could not accept helped simply to exist buoyed by his own physical evolution. Standing well over six feet tall and weighing in excess of 200 pounds by adulthood, he epitomized the muscular platonic then coming into vogue. Although it is unknown if he engaged actively in competitive wrestling while in England, it was later claimed that he had lasted 45 minutes in a match against the redoubtable Russian Lion. [4] Information technology is certain, however, that, like and then many of his contemporary Britons, the young McLaglen adult a keen affinity for the sport. He also took an early on interest in boxing, and in 1902, reportedly participated in a novice apprentice contest open up to athletes from England, Scotland, and Ireland. [5]

From an early on historic period, the future film star exhibited a penchant toward travel. In 1901, he sought to follow his brother Fred to S Africa, where the elder McLaglen was stationed during the Boer War. His big size immune him to pass for an older man when enlisting, although existence assigned to His Majesty's Kickoff Life Guards prevented deployment overseas. [6] Similar to many of his generation, economic necessity, in this instance his father'south decision to declare bankruptcy in January 1903, likely nurtured a want to seek opportunity beyond Great Britain'due south borders. [7] McLaglen emigrated to Canada in 1905, and worked variously as a silvery prospector in Cobalt and every bit a stevedore in Owen Sound earlier existence hired as a policeman with the Grand Trunk Railway. [eight] By early on 1907, he had ventured westward, part of a larger Canadian settlement movement which saw a massive increase in Prairie population earlier the First Globe War. The immigration boom enhanced the region's ethnic variety which, until then, was overwhelmingly Anglo-Protestant in character. [nine] However, as was the example with McLaglen, the largest proportion of new arrivals continued to come up from Slap-up Great britain. [10] Winnipeg served as the nexus through which all new arrivals from the E passed, and although many left the urban center to pursue homesteading, its population more than tripled between 1901 and 1911. [11] In detail, British immigrants who arrived in the region during the catamenia were typically fatigued from urban, not-agrarian populations, and lacked both the inclination and skill for farming. [12] As a result, many resettled in urban centres such as Winnipeg. [thirteen] Although his early activities in Canada demonstrate that he was not altogether averse to rural life, similar to many of his fellow countrymen, McLaglen'due south urban background and lack of agricultural feel made city living a more than palatable prospect than homesteading.

The East Londoner's arrival in Winnipeg not just occurred within the context of a rapid population expansion, but too a correspondingly dramatic increase in public involvement surrounding sport. [14] The growing concentration of sporting enthusiasts provided the opportunity for commercial athletic enterprises, including professional wrestling, to prosper. As in Great United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland, from which Canada derived many of its sporting traditions, early on twentieth-century professional person wrestling was typically conducted co-ordinate to catch-every bit-catch-tin rules. Cards were commonly staged in community halls and theatres throughout Winnipeg and, by 1909; even large indoor venues such as the Walker Theatre were hosting wrestling in improver to their regular stage attractions. [15] Although containing an element of showmanship, matches during the period lacked much of the in-ring histrionics that would after become emblematic of the sport. Instead, the focus was on mat-based grappling and the awarding of pinning techniques and submission holds. Wagering on the outcome, both betwixt the athletes and the spectators, was very common. Winnipeg audiences, similar to those throughout the English-speaking world, also appreciated wrestling as both a competitive (or ostensibly competitive) pursuit and a celebration of vigorous manhood. With his massively muscled frame, McLaglen was undoubtedly cognizant that his physical attributes represented a potentially saleable commodity. His first foray into local athletics, even so, was tentative, and perhaps even serendipitous.

Early pugilist. McLaglen was a well-known Winnipeg boxer and wrestler in the early on 20th century.
Source: Manitoba Free Printing, 29 May 1909.

On twenty Feb 1907, McLaglen attended a professional wrestling match between West. Priem and Thomas Dixon, staged at the German Hall on Heaton Avenue. [sixteen] During the event, Dixon, who would later become the Winnipeg YMCA's get-go wrestling coach, injured a rib three minutes into the contest, rendering him unable to keep. In gild to provide some amusement for the spectators, McLaglen offered to put on a ten-minute exhibition with the much smaller (145-pound) Priem, who agreed to last the prescribed time limit without being pinned. Priem succeeded in his task, although their impromptu disharmonize failed to meet public expectations for aggressive displays of athleticism, the Manitoba Gratis Press describing the upshot as "rather a tame i." [17] Nonetheless, McLaglen's imposing physical presence earned universal notice. [xviii]

Despite his initial unspectacular venture onto the Winnipeg athletic scene, the Londoner attracted considerably more than attending when he accepted an open up challenge being offered past professional person wrestler and strongman Hume Duval. During late May and early June of 1907, Duval was giving wrestling, jiu jitsu, and muscular posing exhibitions at Winnipeg'southward Happyland Amusement Park in the city'south Due west End. As role of his act, Duval was offering $twenty to any person who could remain on the mat with him for 15 minutes without being defeated. [xix] Challenges of this nature were a common way for wrestlers to attract publicity and remained a staple with travelling carnival athletic shows until as late as the 1950s, giving local athletes and aspiring "tough guys" a take chances to prove their manly mettle. [xx] Duval'due south declaration proved to be an attractive drawing carte at Happyland, and under the moniker "Immature Tom Sharkey" (a name borrowed from former heavyweight boxing contender "Sailor" Tom Sharkey), McLaglen agreed to encounter Duval on the evening of 8 June. Appearing before what the Winnipeg Telegram described as "a tremendous crowd", McLaglen held off his more skilled (although considerably smaller) opponent for the prescribed time limit, earning the $twenty prize. [21] In contrast to his previous mat venture, McLaglen's performance generated considerable excitement among those in attendance. [22]

Local strongman and wrestler Hume Duval was one of the opponents taken on by "Young Tom Sharkey" during his time in Winnipeg.
Source: Winnipeg Tribune, 5 September 1907.

Although he had garnered a sizeable sum for his efforts at Happyland, professional wrestling did not offer an opportunity for steady income in Winnipeg. Indeed, there were few professional athletes during this menstruum in Canada who could rely on sports for a comfy living. Appropriately, McLaglen sought employment with the metropolis constabulary, where he was hired on 11 June, merely three days after his friction match against Duval. [23] George Smith, who joined the Winnipeg City Police in Feb 1905, and afterwards served as Chief Constable from 1937 to 1947, recalled that the doctor who conducted McLaglen'southward physical examination alleged him, "the all-time developed man he'd e'er examined." [24] Employment with the local police did not, nonetheless, hogtie McLaglen to limit his professional activities to law enforcement.

By the first of the twentieth century, Winnipeg newspapers were actively catering to public demand for sport by publishing pages dedicated exclusively to the discipline. Newspaper challenges were a mutual feature in sports pages, and proved beneficial both for the publication and the athlete. The improver of drama and excitement to the daily columns potentially boosted apportionment figures while fostering interest in a prospective wrestling match. On 20 June, Hume Duval issued a declaration to McLaglen in the Gratis Press to encounter him again, without time limit constraints, in a match for a $200 side bet. [25] The following day, nether the Sharkey pseudonym, McLaglen replied, stating, "I will accept his challenge if he places $200 in the hands of the Sporting Editor of the Complimentary Press, myself to practice likewise, and the winner taking the whole." [26] On 19 July, they met for a 2d time at the Auditorium Rink, located on the corner of York Avenue and Garry Street. Both men gave a "fast and strenuous contest", but at the finish of one hour'due south wrestling, referee Dr. Joseph Mullally declared the friction match a draw. Although oft enthusiastic in their support for behaviour that they deemed meritorious, early twentieth-century spectators to wrestling bouts in Manitoba proved every bit willing to voice their indignation when the situation warranted information technology. Matches at the fourth dimension typically were conducted on a best 2-out-of-three-falls ground, significant that a contestant had to pivot or successfully utilize a submission hold (both termed "falls") on his opponent twice to secure victory. McLaglen and Duval, in consultation with the referee, had agreed beforehand to declare the friction match a describe if neither human secured a fall within lx minutes. The audience, nonetheless, some of whom likely had wagers awaiting on the event, was not informed of the arrangement. Considerable outcry followed the tour's premature termination, although the dissatisfaction evidently did not erupt into violence. [27] Although not a popular decision, McLaglen'south performance suggests a growing power to generate impassioned reactions from members of the public who were coming to run across his matches.

Any resentment directed toward McLaglen for his part in the abbreviated wrestling competition obviously did not terminal long, and certainly did not impede his ability to proceeds additional bookings. During the first calendar week of September, while withal employed as a constable with the Winnipeg city police, he was contracted to appear on the stage at Happyland, wrestling all comers. Using the aforementioned publicity stunt employed earlier by Duval, he offered $twenty to anyone he could not defeat in xv minutes. At least 2 men, William Keast and Jack Dewett, accustomed the claiming merely failed. [28] It was during his tenure at Happyland that McLaglen began to hone the loud, bombastic, and larger-than-life public persona which immortalized such roles as Sergeant Quincannon in John Ford's She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. Winnipeg Tribune reporter Jack Whittall afterwards recalled:

When in a playful mood he would tip over a hot canis familiaris stand and then hold the loudly protesting vendor at arm's length until he also laughed out loud from the very infectiousness of the large scamp's mirth. Then he would help the proprietor recollect the fallen dainties and past the sheer ability of his rough eloquence he would sell the whole stock of salvaged [hot dogs] to the laughing onlookers. [29]

McLaglen'southward last wrestling exhibition at Happyland during 1907 was on 6 September against his frequent competitive rival, Hume Duval. Evidently much improved, he defeated Duval in twelve minutes. Their rather crude come across was declared, "perhaps one of the nigh interesting features of the Happyland flavour." [30] While in Port Arthur afterward that fall, Duval protested that the referee had given him a "raw deal," but the incident did not appear to impact his relationship with McLaglen, as the 2 became good friends. [31] Subsequently the wrestling match with Hume Duval, Happyland closed for the season. Just three days later, McLaglen resigned his position with the Winnipeg city police force, having served on the force for less than three months. [32]

Buoyed past his early on sporting success in Manitoba's capital, the one-time Londoner sought out new markets to ply his fledgling skills. Despite being the largest metropolis in the Canadian Due west, Winnipeg's relative isolation from other major urban centres posed a challenge for wrestlers looking to earn a steady income in the sport. Exacerbating the situation was the famine of talented heavyweight athletes in the region. Although many proficient wrestlers were beginning to frequent Winnipeg by 1907, McLaglen's early on contests bear testimony to the fact that, purely on the ground of size, few men represented appealing matchups for the public. Accordingly, he relocated to the American westward coast, where he continued his wrestling career under the ring name Sharkey McLaglen earlier finally competing under his given name. Matched against skilled heavyweights such equally Seattle doctor Benjamin Franklin Roller, his lack of technical prowess became apparent. [33] Increasingly, yet, McLaglen turned his attending toward boxing.

In the blood. Art McLaglen (1888–1972), Victor's younger blood brother, was likewise an active member of Winnipeg'south boxing customs. He also became an actor.
Source: Manitoba Free Press, 8 August 1910.

Professional boxing was a highly pop, albeit contentious, activity throughout the English-speaking world at the commencement of the twentieth century. The sport's ultimate prize was the heavyweight championship of the world. Until 1908, swayed by widespread racist sentiments, heavyweight champions had, as a dominion, fatigued a "colour bulwark" confronting fighters of African descent. All the same, in December 1908, Canadian-born champion Tommy Burns broke with the longstanding practice when he fought, and was defeated by, African-American pugilist Jack Johnson at Sydney, Australia'south Rushcutters Bay. Johnson's victory, as well as his controversial lifestyle, sparked racial indignation amidst many segments of white society, ultimately culminating in the search for a "Great White Hope" to unthrone him. [34] In his kickoff ring advent since winning the heavyweight title, Johnson fought McLaglen in a half-dozen-round exhibition lucifer, staged in Vancouver on ten March 1909. Although outclassed, the sometime Winnipeg police force officer's ability to terminal the fourth dimension limit against the new champion further bolstered his growing fame. [35]

Fifty-fifty after he moved to the Us in 1907, McLaglen continued to visit Winnipeg, drawn there both by his older brother Fred's residence in the metropolis and his appeal every bit an internationally known athlete with established connections to the local professional sports market. In May 1909, he performed a six-round sparring exhibition with his blood brother as part of a benefit event staged for Hume Duval at the Winnipeg School of Concrete Civilization, a commercial gymnasium which offered "Health, Strength, Longevity" to its urban clientele. [36] The younger McLaglen received good reviews for his performance, the Free Press stating, "As a fighter, the immature Vic McLaglen sure looks the goods … he is an impressive figure and, with experience, might arrive." [37] Biddy Bishop, a Tacoma, Washington, paper editor who managed the aspiring pugilist, after recalled in the January 1932 edition of The Ring magazine, "[I]northward my xxx-five years of managing and promoting fights, I take never had a effectively heavyweight prospect than McLaglen." [38]

Despite his growing pugilistic reputation, McLaglen did non altogether abandon his mat activities, and during his visit to Winnipeg in the spring of 1909, he returned to Happyland. McLaglen's flair for self-publicity was in full bloom past this time, and at the end of May he proposed the novel thought of meeting an unabridged football team and defeating them, one after another, in the span of ane 60 minutes. He had originally conceived of the thought in 1908 while in Tacoma, challenging the Whitworth football club to a friction match. [39] Although the plan never came to fruition in Tacoma, on 29 May a Northward End Winnipeg team accepted the proposition. The spectacle occurred at Happyland on iv June. Out of eleven players on the team, only eight appeared: still a daunting undertaking in light of the fact that McLaglen offered $5 to each human he could not defeat in the allotted period. His first opponent, Edwin Quist, was a local resident of Swedish heritage who later wrestled periodically in the city. Audience members took an active role in the spectacle, and McLaglen drew their ire when he appeared to choke Quist with his right arm, bloodying the Swede's rima oris in the process. Hume Duval, who refereed the event, was criticised for non admonishing the former city policeman, since asphyxiate holds were typically disallowed nether take hold of-every bit-catch-can rules. The adjacent six opponents were easily disposed of, although the final football game actor, Jasper Franklin, offered considerably more resistance. [40] As impressive as McLaglen'southward stunt may accept been, still, wrestling a comparatively untrained team of football players did not place him within the top tier of grapplers on the continent. A February 1910 bout in Spokane, Washington, confronting Iowa's Frank Gotch, the earth's champion who had defeated George Hackenschmidt for the title two years earlier, cemented the impossibility of McLaglen'due south ever being considered a serious contender in the sport. The champion, who would remain undefeated for the remainder of his career, conquered McLaglen with cavalier ease. [41] Nevertheless, by opposing Gotch, Victor McLaglen earned the unique distinction of beingness the only human in history to take fought the world'southward heavyweight boxing champion, wrestled the globe's heavyweight wrestling champion, and won an Academy Award for Best Player.

Wrestling and boxing had proven to be fertile pursuits for the young athlete, but their inherently sporadic nature did not guarantee a steady income. Newspaper reports from the period ofttimes commented more than positively on McLaglen's tremendous physique than his athletic skills, and it was on this basis that he began touring as a vaudeville strongman. He besides took to the stage with his younger blood brother Arthur. [42] Their act drew heavily on a widespread involvement in classical culture that developed during the belatedly nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Those fascinated with muscular development garnered considerable inspiration from antiquity, becoming, equally fettle impresario and Physical Culture magazine publisher Bernarr Macfadden termed it, "re-born in the wisdom of the ancients." [43] Billed as the Romano Brothers or the Two Romanos, the impressively-muscled duo of Victor and Arthur McLaglen performed on the vaudeville excursion, appearing at Winnipeg'southward Dominion and Orpheum theatres in March of 1911 and 1913, respectively, as "Living Greek Statuary," a visual art class, also known as poses plastiques, whose origins dated back to 1818. [44] Coated in white stage paint which gave the advent of marble, they assumed various poses derived from ancient Greek and Roman sculpture. Borrowing from their own athletic backgrounds, they also enacted boxing and wrestling scenes, which, specifically regarding the quondam, the Winnipeg Telegram praised as "a realistic exhibition of the manly fine art of self-defence through a practical and scientific application as to its uses by champions of the pugilistic profession." [45] Although classically inspired, the Romano act included distinctly modern elements, including scenes from contemporary sports such as football. [46] Local theatre critics gave the Romano human activity favourable reviews, the Manitoba Free Press noting that "the pair was excellent," and the Winnipeg Telegram stating, both in regards to the entire show and more than specifically, the living statuary deed, "The whole evidence is a treat in every sense… The two Romanos posing is an attraction which should not exist missed." [47] With an active vaudeville career by the leap of 1911, Victor McLaglen was slowly inching toward a career in "bear witness business organisation" with ventures into the ring evidently becoming a secondary priority.

The McLaglen brothers sometimes performed in Winnipeg as "The Ii Romanos".
Source: Winnipeg Tribune, 27 March 1913.

McLaglen's appearance at the Orpheum Theatre marked the terminal of what had been many trips to Manitoba'south capital. The onetime Winnipeg policeman afterwards returned to United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland, where he saw service in the Great War with the Princess of Wales Royal Regiment. Although he made a few ring appearances as a boxer afterwards the State of war, in 1920 he retired from the pugilistic profession and began a career in silent motion-picture show. McLaglen returned to Northward America in 1924, making his Hollywood debut in managing director J. Stuart Blackton's The Honey Brute. Fittingly, he played the function of a wrestler. In a review published in the New York Times, McLaglen, in particular, was singled out for his performance, critic Mordaunt Hall stating, "Without Mr. McLaglen'south impersonation … 'The Beloved Creature,' might be nothing unusual every bit a motion picture of the 'Western type.'" Hall concluded that, "This is a about interesting moving-picture show of its type, the playing of Mr. McLaglen being singularly natural and convincing." [49]

Afterward 1924, McLaglen became a cinematic fixture and one of the best-known film actors of his generation. [l] However, the door to Hollywood fame had been opened by the skills he cultivated on the Happyland stage in Winnipeg'south W End. Through his mat performances and antics at the popular amusement park, McLaglen was given a forum which immune him to both hone his physical talents and develop a public persona that could alternatively inspire cheers and acrimony from those who witnessed his performances. His inaugural success in Winnipeg undoubtedly provided encouragement to continue with ventures that put him in the public eye. Information technology was practiced formative grooming for a future career that would span almost 130 films and earn him an Academy Award for Best Actor and a nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Notes

1. In 1891, the McLaglen family was living at 250 Burdett Road, merely past 1901 had relocated to 23 East Bharat Road, both in London'southward Due east Terminate. Many later sources list Victor McLaglen as having been born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. However, census records indicate that he was born in Stepney, London, and that only his eldest blood brother Frederick, was born in Kent. Run into Public Tape Office, 1891 British Demography, RG12, Piece 298, Folio 59, p. 39; and Public Record Function, 1901 British Demography, RG13, Slice 323, Folio 6, p. 3.

two. Colin D. Howell, Northern Sandlots: A Social History of Maritime Baseball game. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1995, pp. 103-104; Clifford Putney, Muscular Christianity: Manhood and Sports in Protestant America, 1880–1920. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001, p. 4.

3. Originating in Lancashire, grab-as-catch-can wrestling allowed opponents to utilize holds and execute techniques on the entire torso, in contrast to Graeco-Roman wrestling, which only permitted grips to be taken from the waist up. Hackenschmidt's popularity was in full evidence when, for example, he appeared before twenty,000 spectators in October 1905 at Glasgow'south Inbrox Park in a friction match against the Scot, Alex Munro, billed as for the "catch-as-catch-can championship of the earth." Revered by the British public, Hackenschmidt took upwards permanent residence in England, where he died in 1968 at the age of 89. For an overview of his significant public appearances on the mat, come across his autobiography, The Manner to Live, 1908. Reprint, Farmington, MI: William F. Hinbern, 1998, pp. 144-170. Concerning his lucifer against Munro, run into Lloyd'south Weekly News, 29 October 1905.

iv. Manitoba Free Press (hereafter MFP), 28 June 1907. As the "Russian Lion" typically tending of opponents in his British music hall engagements rather more quickly, it is conceivable that the claim is apocryphal. Additionally, inquiry from the menstruum has, to date, failed to uncover such a lucifer.

v. MFP, 28 June 1907.

6. Ibid.

vii. London Daily Mail, 10 January 1903.

viii. Winnipeg Gratis Press, 7 Nov 1959.

nine. Specifically with regard to Manitoba, Ken Coates and Fred McGuinness annotation, in Manitoba: The Province and the People. Edmonton: Hurtig Publishers, 1987, p. 32, that despite all-encompassing settlement during the 1870s by Mennonites and Icelanders, past 1881 Anglo-Protestants "had all but swamped other member[southward] of Manitoba guild."

10. Apropos ethnicity and migration on the Canadian Prairies during the period, see Marvin McInnis, "Migration," in Donald Kerr and Deryck W. Holdsworth, eds.,. Historical Atlas of Canada Volume III: Addressing the Twentieth Century, 1891–1961. Toronto: University of Toronto Printing, 1990, Plate 27.

11. Population tables, by decade, are provided for Winnipeg in Alan Artibise, Winnipeg: An Illustrated History. Toronto: James Lorimer and Company, 1977, p. 202.

12. Ruben Bellan, Winnipeg First Century: An Economic History. Winnipeg: Queenston House Press, 1978, pp. 62-63.

thirteen. Betwixt 1901 and 1911, the proportion of foreign-born residents living in Winnipeg increased from 37.8 to 55.9 pct of the total population. As evidence of the tendency during the early twentieth century for British immigrants to settle in urban centres, the overall percentage of Winnipeg's British-built-in population increased from xix.4 to 29.4 percentage during the same period. See Artibise, Winnipeg: An Illustrated History, p. 203.

fourteen. For a discussion on the increase in sports activities in Winnipeg during the decade and a half before the First World War, see Morris Mott, "Manly Sports and Manitobans: Settlement Days to World War One," PhD thesis, Queen's University, 1980, pp. 173-225.

15. See, for example, the MFP, 27 Nov 1909.

xvi. Located at 61 Heaton Avenue, Winnipeg's German Hall was the headquarters for the city's German Club, a benevolent society whose primary goals were the advancement of German-Canadians and the maintenance of a fund to intendance for sick members, widows and orphans. Construction on the hall began on 22 October 1904. Many professional wrestling matches were staged on the second floor of the two-storey building in a large lecture hall containing a raised platform and dressing rooms. See the 1908 Winnipeg Henderson's Directory, 112; and MFP, 24 Oct 1904.

17. MFP, 21 February 1907.

18. Winnipeg's iii local daily newspapers all reported on the event in their 21 February 1907 editions and noted McLaglen's large size. They were not, withal, consistent with their spelling, the MFP giving his proper name as "McLaughlin," the Telegram every bit "Laglan," and the Tribune as "McClellan," suggesting that he was not a "known" athlete in the city at that fourth dimension.

19. MFP, 29 May 1907.

20. For further insight into carnival wrestling and its associated conventions, see Dick Primal, interview by Scott Teal and Dean Silverstone, in Whatever Happened to…? (36), pp. 12-18; and Billy Wicks, interview past Scott Teal, Whatever Happened to…? (38), pp. 3-15.

21. Winnipeg Telegram, x June 1907.

22. MFP, 10 June 1907; Winnipeg Telegram, 10 June 1907.

23. See the Winnipeg Police Museum, Police Commission Books.

24. George Smith, quoted in MFP, seven November 1959. Come across too Archives of Manitoba, Paterson Collection, P3361, file xvi. Concerning Chief Constable George Smith'due south career with the Winnipeg Urban center Police, see Robert Hutcheson, A Century of Service: A History of the Winnipeg Police force. Winnipeg: City of Winnipeg Police, 1974, pp. 75-91.

25. MFP, twenty June 1907.

26. Immature Tom Sharkey, quoted in the MFP, 21 June 1907.

27. MFP, 20 July 1907; Winnipeg Tribune, 20 July 1907. Although audiences at professional wrestling matches were frequently vocal, umbrage over a dissatisfactory prove could sometimes escalate into violence equally well. Ane such instance occurred on 28 April 1908 at the Walker Theatre when spectators reacted angrily to the moving picture film of the heavyweight title friction match between champion George Hackenschmidt and challenger Frank Gotch, staged three weeks before in Chicago. Paying betwixt $0.25 and $0.75 for a ticket, those in omnipresence were promised an "verbal reproduction," of the competition, excluding some editing to eliminate extended moments of inactivity. The match, which lasted over two hours, resulted in simply a fifteen-minute show for Winnipeg residents. Frequent interruptions marred the already brief film, extending the entire affair to approximately 45 minutes. The MFP noted of the production that, "About the time the wrestlers showed any signs of inactivity out would go the light." During the numerous pauses in the moving picture, those in the galleries began to show their impatience with coughs, hoots, barks, and various other verbal remonstrations. When the show terminated, the oversupply became so aroused that police force were called to restore calm and escort them away from the premises. One spectator, Dennis Dever, was charged with wilful impairment and fined $5 plus $14 and court costs for kick in a glass door at the front of the theatre. The Gratuitous Press described it as the worst theatrical disturbance in 8 years. See the MFP, 29 April 1908; Winnipeg Tribune, 28 April 1908; 29 April 1908; Winnipeg Telegram, 29 April 1908; and Archives of Manitoba, Police Court Winnipeg, GR651, M1219, Roll ten, p. 29 April 1908, no. 18239.

28. McLaglen defeated William Keast, a regular on Winnipeg mats, who had also taken on Duval earlier in the flavour in ix minutes on iii September. Jack Dewett, who faced McLaglen the next day, was beaten in eight minutes. See the MFP, 4 September 1907; 5 September 1907. Concerning Duval'south friction match with Keast, see theWinnipeg Telegram, iii June 1907.

29. Jack Whittall, Winnipeg Tribune, 25 Nov 1936.

30. MFP, 7 September 1907.

31. MFP, xxx September 1907.

32. Winnipeg Law Museum, Police force Commission Books.

33. Roller was amidst the meridian heavyweight grab-as-grab-tin can wrestlers in North America before the Kickoff World War and took to the mat against about every well-known grappler on the continent. The "famous heavyweight wrestler," equally the MFP described him, appeared once before Winnipeg audiences at the Walker Theatre on 25 June 1910. Victor McLaglen wrestled Roller twice. Their beginning bout, staged in Tacoma, Washington, on 4 November 1907, was won by Roller in ii straight falls, the Tacoma Ledger noting on the adjacent mean solar day that the quondam Winnipeg police officer "displayed wonderful strength but trivial skill." The following April, the men met on the mat once more in Portland, Oregon, where the md defeated him with ease, the Oregon Daily Journal, 16 April 1908, opining that, "It was hardly skillful practice for Roller—he was so much superior to McLaglen."

34. In improver to defeating the best white pugilists in the world, Jack Johnson's activities outside the ring, which included lavish spending and marrying white women, frequently generated anger within white guild. For more on public views surrounding Jack Johnson as well as the search for a "Great White Hope," see Al-Tony Gilmore, Bad Nigger! The National Impact of Jack Johnson. Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press, 1975. The most detailed test of Tommy Burns' career can exist found in Dan McCaffery, Tommy Burns: Canada'southward Unknown World Heavyweight Champion. Toronto: Lorimer, 2000.

35. McLaglen took the fight with Johnson on short notice when the champion's original opponent, "Denver" Ed Martin, cancelled. Printing reports noted that McLaglen was "game equally a pebble," despite posing little challenge to the champion. See the Winnipeg Saturday Post, 20 March 1909.

36. Originally styled the Western School of Curative Physical Civilisation, Duval'southward gymnasium (which he operated under his given proper noun, Hume MacDonald), was located at 273½ Portage Avenue, Room 9 in the Hample Block. Information technology commenced operation on fourteen January 1908. The facility was open up to men and women of all ages and specialized in education jiu jitsu-based self-defence. Although many clubs preceding it offered lessons in battle and wrestling, Duval'south school was perchance the commencement in Manitoba to specialize in an Asian martial fine art. Run across the MFP, eight January 1908; 9 Jan 1908; Winnipeg Tribune, xv January 1908; and 1909 Winnipeg Henderson's Directory, 1364.

37. MFP, 12 May 1909.

38. Biddy Bishop, "What Price Movies?" in The Band, January 1932, p. 21.

39. MFP, 20 April 1908.

40. MFP, 5 June 1909. The individual identified as Jasper Franklin may accept been Casper Franklin, a boxer who appeared several times in the urban center.

41. According to a report of the friction match from the Spokane Spokesman-Review, which was reprinted in the MFP on 10 February 1910, "[Frank Gotch] merely toyed with the immature Hercules. He flopped him around by an arm or a leg like a child with a rag doll, picked him upwards and pulled him effectually at will and finally but laid down on top of McLaglen and smothered him to the mat."

42. Arthur McLaglen likewise pursued a career as a prizefighter, albeit with minimal success. Ii bouts in Winnipeg illustrate his limited potential as a pugilist. On 8 August 1910, he boxed Chicago fighter Tony Caponi at the Auditorium Rink. Although McLaglen outweighed his opponent past nearly thirty pounds, the referee stopped the fight in Caponi's favour in the sixth round. On 17 October 1910, in a match which capitalized on the racial tensions surrounding the recent heavyweight title fight betwixt African-American fighter Jack Johnson and former champion Jim Jeffries, Arthur was knocked out by "Coloured Boxer" Charlie Robinson in two rounds. The MFP commented that, "It wasn't really a fight and information technology wasn't an exhibition: it was merely a display of bag punching. McLaglen hadn't a adventure from the start." See the MFP, 9 August 1910 and 18 October 1910.

43. Mark Moss, Manliness and Militarism: Educating Young Boys in Ontario for War. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 57; Bernarr Macfadden, Muscular Power and Beauty. New York: Physical Civilisation Publishing Co., 1906, p. 13.

44. Nicole Anae, "Poses Plastiques: The Art and Manner of 'Statuary' in Victorian Visual Theatre," Australasian Drama Studies 52 (April 2008), p. 113.

45. Winnipeg Tribune, 28 March 1911.

46. Winnipeg Tribune, 25 March 1913.

47. MFP, 25 March 1913; Winnipeg Telegram, 25 March 1913. See as well Winnipeg Boondocks Topics, 29 March 1913.

48. Mordaunt Hall, New York Times, ten November 1924.

49. For an overview of McLaglen's significant film roles, see David Shipman, The Keen Flick Stars: The Gold Years. London: Hamlyn, 1970, pp. 387-391.

Page revised: 1 January 2017

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Source: http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/mb_history/67/quietman.shtml

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