Picture Play Magazine (Jul - Dec 1929)

74 t'hoto by Autrey Victor McLaglen got his professional start by boxing and performing feats of strength before he got into the movies. He's a Soft-Boiled Egg Though you'd never suspect Victor McLaglen of being that on the screen, he discloses his real self when he talks of his family and the way he is bringing up his children. B? Alma Tailed IS there a good, rowdy role looking for some one to play it on the Fox lot? Page Victor McLaglen. A tough marine captain, a baggage smasher, a river pirate, a strong man — whenever a Fox film calls for a hard-boiled guy in its cast, the directors shout for Victor McLaglen. A hard-boiled bozo on the screen. Ugly, with a nose flattened by boxing gloves early in bis career — at least, I suppose that's how his nose got that way. Six feet three. Two hundred and five pounds of brawn. Exboxer, ex-soldier of fortune. No wonder he's ticketed, in the casting department, "hard-boiled." That's what he is on the screen. But at home — that's a different story. With his family, he's a gentle, devoted husband, an adoring father. When he came to New York, he had his family with him in photographs. His family in person were far away in England, visiting relatives. He cabled them every other day, Mrs. McLaglen and the two children. And he likes to tell you about them. Most actors have a favorite topic of conversation. And you don't need three guesses to figure out what it is! It's "Me and my career and me." But when I mentioned movies, McLaglen protested. "That's shop talk. When I leave the studio, I like to forget work." So I mentioned his family, and you could see at once what it is he likes to remember when he forgets work. Does any one think Victor McLaglen's hard-boiled? Well, they should see his eyes light up when he talks about his family. "The children? There are a boy and a girl. I'm Scotch-Irish, you know, so the boy has a Scotch name, Andrew, and the little girl an Irish name, Sheila. "And you should see my boy!" Proud papa beamed. Obviously he's one of these fathers who wanted a son and got him ! "Andrew's mine, and the smartest youngster you ever saw. He's the lightweight champion of his school ; he swims ; he rides. When he was six, and just learning to ride, he fell off his horse. He blinked at me a little, with tears in his eyes ; he wasn't quite sure whether to cry, or to laugh. But he wasn't hurt, so I just looked at him very sternly, and without a word he climbed right back on his horse again. "Not long ago his school held a track meet and I went to watch. The high-jumping event came along, and I saw to my surprise that Andrew was entered in it. " 'He can't be much good at jumping,' I told myself, 'he's never said a word at home about jumping. He'll probably drop out in the first round.' As each boy failed to clear the obstacle, of course, he dropped out. "So I waited for Andrew to be eliminated. He cleared it the first time. 'He'll be out next time,' I thought. But he wasn't. The other kids kept dropping out by twos and threes and fours, and Andrew kept on going and going, a regular jumping jack. Until first thing I knew, there he was, with only one other boy. Then the other boy dropped out, too, and they were giving Andrew higher and higher jumps to make. Why, the kid was the champion jumper and hadn't even mentioned it. 'Along with his athletic side, Andrew's got the softest, kindest heart you ever saw. The other day he saw a spider and he couldn't kill it. 'You kill it if you want to, dad,' he said, 'I can't step on it.' "He loves flowers. Maybe he gets that from me. I love flowers, but I don't know one from another. "I try to train Andrew to be completely self-reliant, and to know the value of money. It doesn't do for kids to grow up without learning about such things. "So I have a big blackboard at home, with a list of att the stocks I own, and how much I paid for each. Then I give Andrew a dollar a week to keep up with the market prices and record them after the names of the stocks. He takes quite an interest in it, too ; he'll come to me and say, 'Dad, your railroad stock went up three points. to-day.' He watches the quotations every day. "So you see he's not good only at athletics. I try to bring him up to be bright in every way, a first-rate, allround youngster. Would you like to see his picture?" Continued on page 94