title: Marcos Chaves

texts:
<mask> (born 1961, Rio de Janeiro) is a Brazilian contemporary artist. Art practice
<mask>' art practice has been evolving since the 1980s throughout a range of works and projects spanning across media and mediums, including text, sound and video installations, assemblages, photography and site-specific projects. Mostly known and recognized through gestures of appropriation and intervention, <mask> searches for different meanings, or manoeuvres the existing ones inherent to objects, words and life-situations. His work extracts poetry and alternative representations by shifting the values of ordinary, everyday objects, landscapes and words. “<mask> surprises meanings and values that are immersed in vulgar things, dissimulated by habit or convention. He makes unpredictable displacements and produces assemblages in a tone of parody distilling his acute observations of the world, from technology to rubbish.”  writes Brazilian art-critic Ligia Canongia

Early life and education
<mask> was born in Rio de Janeiro in January 1961 as the youngest of seven children. He grew up in the neighborhood of Santa Teresa where he continues to have his studio.As a teenager, he was very close to his aunt, <mask> who worked for the architects Wilson Reis Netto and ; this triggered his training in architecture and urbanism (1979) at  Universidade Santa Ursula where he attended classes with Lygia Pape who had an important influence on him. He also took classes at the Visual Arts School of Parque Lage where many of his peers taught or trained, and at the Museo de Arte Moderna where Rubens Gerchman taught him painting. In 1984, he traveled to Italy and studied art history while working as an assistant with the Italian comic artist and satirist Francesco Tullio Altan. It was from Altan from whom he learnt the value of direct humor which one finds in most of <mask>' works. While in Italy, he met Antonio Dias, an influential figure in Brazilian contemporary art, who invited him to work as his assistant in Milan. During this period he was introduced to Arte Povera artists and aesthetics, another inspiration for his later work. Upon his return to Brazil in 1985, he met , a major artist in the Brazilian scene with whom he began a regular dialogue about art.Together they experimented with four-hands paintings. During this period, <mask> developed a studio practice and started working on his first assemblages and object-based works, shifting his interest from painting to what has shaped his current conceptual, language and text-based, and photographic practice. Important works

Eu Só Vendo A vista, 1997 (Conceptual photography)

<mask>' most notable photographic work, Eu só vendo a vista (1997), takes as its main subject Rio de Janeiro's iconic view of the Sugar Loaf mountain found on tourist postcards and collectively associated to the landscape of the city. This view, shot from a very traditional angle becomes almost invisible for having been overly represented and used. As an attempt to restore a relationship with it, <mask> takes this image to the field of art and transposes onto it a sentence which holds many semantic ambiguities: Eu só vendo a vista. Playing around the words vista (view, eyesight), the meaning of the expression à vista (cash) as well as vendo (depending on the conjugation means selling, seeing, and concealing) one could read the different sentences:

 Eu só vendo a vista =  I only sell the view
 Eu só vendo à vista = I only sell for cash
 Eu só, vendo a vista (with an added comma) = I alone or lonely, see the view. Só eu vendo a vista (words swapped) = Only I sell the view / sight

This apparently simple yet highly charged conceptual work holds within it, strong statements and criticism about art, photography and the position of an artist in society, including within the art and photography fields ruled by market transactions of selling and buying views on/ of the world.By questioning the meaning of overselling Rio de Janeiro's iconic view to mere merchandise (on postcards), <mask> asserts his ownership and power to sell that view as an artist. From a sociological perspective this work dissects and determines power relations between the artist and his social space (his city and its urban fabric), the artist and his eyesight (his photographic language) as well as the artist's role in a neoliberal economy of image and photography circulation. The question of value is inherent to the work, as it alludes to a form of payment (cash) but also to images that have different economic values while they represent the same view. On the one hand a cheap reproducible postcard, while on the other, an expensive limited edition photographic artwork. This work which apparently questions the meaning and value of Rio de Janeiro's view, actually also addresses deeper meanings and values relating to the nature of a work of art and the position of the artist in an image-selling world. The play with a mental associations triggered by words is filled with humor and a hint of cynicism as in most of the artist's works. Buracos (Holes), 1996 (photographic series)

For the last three decades, <mask> has been photographing the holes in Rio de Janeiro's streets and the ready-made sculptures they become when residents fill them up with objects as a warning for pedestrians and cars.It is an ongoing cartographic and archival project about the city, photography, sculpture and street interventions—all at once. A map of the city could be generated from this methodical archive, resembling the process of an urban anthropologist, extracting meaning and sense from the city's urban fabric and the way its users inhabit it or fill its holes...

[…] the series Buracos (Holes) is at the same time several indistinct things: it is a collective sculpture, a public installation, a popular intervention, and also a conceptual appropriation, an urban ready-made, a photography and, last but not least, a political work, and not necessarily in this order, for here what matter is multiplication and not sum—Adolfo Montejo Navas. Like true urban phantasmagoria, then, <mask> has been rescuing local street interventions in the fashion of Kurt Schwitters-like apparitions. For each hole is a liability in the city's public power, a symbolic fissure that is opened, a popular homage to the dangers of faulting politics that the social imaginary represents as a fracture. Each hole is an intervention that plays with presences and absences (of ground, of emptiness, of structure, of signs) and that is read with an accomplice and sardonic irony. It is not the first time that the artist approaches the urban imaginary of his city with a transversal and humorous gaze, but this time the aesthetic itinerary is different. […]The photos of the holes are self-representations, in which object and idea couple in their raw material (the piece lifted in the street) and in its category of thought (the photographic and conceptual registration), but in order to arrive at perverse tautologies, which never stop incurring on several levels of understanding.There are other signs on the road. Thus in this collection of holes one can see much more than one thinks—Adolfo Montejo Navas. Laughing Mask, 2005 (video)

Laughing Mask is part of three self-portrait mask videos by <mask>. It shows a disembodied head floating in the middle of a black screen. A latex carnival mask the artist bought in central street market of Rio de Janeiro covers the face from just below the eyes. It is dominated by a grotesquely over-sized mouth, fixed in a horrifying smile, which reveals two banks of yellow teeth. Laughing Mask questions the boundaries between the 'reality' of the artist as person / persona and the 'fiction' of the artwork, keeping both perceptions in play simultaneously.As with the most unnerving comedy, there is no laughter soundtrack – viewers are left to decide for themselves in which of the ambiguities to place their trust. [...]the mask carries, in the origin of its representation, the moral, political and poetic functions. Still, the mask has the potential of absorbing many of the issues that arouse the interest of the art territory in its modern acceptation: illusion, myth, allegory and simulacrum. In an even broader sphere, the mask touches the true/false dichotomy, a dilemma that, since Plato, has substantiated the aesthetic universe. The figure of the mask is not extraneous to the work of <mask>, and this has already been observed in the interventions that he carried out at Castelinho do Flamengo in 2000 when, using make-up, false eyelashes and other adornments, he transformed the eclectic-style sculptures into lively and hilarious images, like transvestites. There, he effected a deviation of the static nature of the statues, updating and ironizing the obsolete character of academic art, in addition to underscoring how much from eclecticism – which transits amidst various styles – was appropriated by the post-modern world.—Ligia Canongia

Academia, 2014 (installation)

This work is an installation made of wooden, metal, concrete and plastic elements: sculptures of gym and weight lifting equipment. Inspired by the public open-air gyms of Rio de Janeiro, the work is a comment on the social structures which produce a form of living together and social cohesion which public services for all, allow for.Vai Passar (? ), 2019 (public art intervention)

Vai Passar (?) is a monumental flag and public art intervention erected on the roof of Museu de Arte do Rio (MAR) museum, visible from the refurbished  and from the bay. Commissioned by the MAR in 2019 - three months after Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's conservative government began governing Brazil - the work is rooted in Brazilian popular music and subtly addresses the crisis and conservatism the country is going through. The flag holds the words Vai Passar (This too shall pass ? Will this pass ?) a direct reference to a title of a Chico Buarque song composed in 1980 during the military dictatorship.Sown on a green and pink shiny fabric, the flag refers to the colors of Brazil's first Samba School: Mangueira. <mask> is not the first artist to establish a relation with Mangueira. This social structure is collectively acclaimed for its contribution to the music and genre of Samba in Brazil but foremost for its political and social engagement through the lyrics of the songs they create and the gender/ class composition of its members. Exhibitions

In Brazil
<mask> has had several solo and collective exhibitions in Brazil's major art institutions and biennials including the Museum of Art of Rio (MAR), Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, The Museum of Contemporary Art of Niteroi (MAC), CCBB- Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, 1st and 5th Biennials of Mercosul Porto Alegre, and the 25th International Biennial of São Paulo. Internationally
His work has been part of major international exhibitions and collections including the Mori Art Museum (Tokyo – Japan); Martin-Gropius-Bau, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein – NBK (Berlin –  Germany) Manifesta7 - The European Biennial of Contemporary Art, (Bolzano – Italy);  Centre d'Art Contemporain (Freiburg, Switzerland); Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (Portugal – Lisbon) Ludwig Museum (Koblenz – Germany); Vantaa Art Museum (Helsinki – Finland); Temporary Contemporary Space (Cardiff – UK); 4th Biennial of Havana (Cuba); VI Festival Images-Vevey Visual Arts Biennial: Extravaganza. Out of the Ordinary (Vevey, Switzerland); 17th Bienal de Cerveira - award (Cerveira, Portugal); Esbjerg Kunstmuseum (Esbjerg, Denmark);  (Amersfoort, the Netherlands); Santiago Museum of Contemporary Art (Santiago de Chile); CAB– Centro de Arte Caja de Burgos (Burgos, Spain); Northern Gallery (Sunderland, UK); Centro per l’Arte Contemporânea Luigi Pecci (Prato, Italy); Zeppelin Universität (Germany). Published books and catalogs
NAVAS, A.M., L. CANONGIA and L. DUARTE, ed.ARTEBRA Marcos Chaves. , Casa da Palavra, 2007. CHAVES, <mask>, ed. <mask>. , Aeroplano editora, 2008. COCCHIARALE, Fernando, ed. <mask>.exhibition catalog in Casa de Cultura Laura Alvin, Rio de Janeiro, 2011. NAVARRO, Emílio, ed. MARCOS CHAVES. ARBOLABOR. , Caja de Burgos, Burgos, Spain, 2015.

masks:
Marcos Chaves
Marcos Chaves
Chaves
Marcos Chaves
Marcos Chaves
Mara Chaves
Chaves
Chaves
Marcos Chaves
Chaves
Chaves
Marcos Chaves
Marcos Chaves
Chaves
Marcos Chaves
Marcos Chaves
Marcos Chaves
Marcos
Marcos Chaves
Marcos Chaves


title: Nick Young (basketball)

type: original

texts:
<mask> (born June 1, 1985), nicknamed "Swaggy P", is an American former professional basketball player. <mask> played college basketball for the USC Trojans and was a two-time first-team all-conference selection in the Pac-10. He was selected by the Washington Wizards in the first round of the 2007 NBA draft with the 16th overall pick. He won an NBA championship with the Golden State Warriors in 2018. High school career
Born in Los Angeles, California, <mask> played for Cleveland High School in suburban Reseda, California. He averaged 27.2 points and 10.8 rebounds as a 2004 senior at Cleveland, earning 2004 CIF L.A. City Section, Los Angeles Times All-City and San Fernando Valley first team honors. He shot 57.3% from the field and 46.8% from three-point range (52-of-111), had 48 steals and 41 blocks as Cleveland finished 25–4.<mask>op and listed by prep basketball guru Frank Burlison as among the Top 50 recruits in 2004. He once scored 56 points in one game and had 23 rebounds in another. He earned CIF L.A. City Section first team honors in 2003 and was included in a list of Top Seniors by Athlon Sports heading into 2004. College career
<mask> played for the University of Southern California from 2004 to 2007 and was All-Pac-10 First Team in the 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons. In the 2007 NCAA Tournament, <mask> led the fifth-seeded Trojans to a berth in the Sweet Sixteen, where they lost to the one-seeded North Carolina Tar Heels, 74–64. Along the way, <mask> led USC to a 77–60 first-round win against Arkansas. In the 2nd round, <mask> led the team with 22 points over the Texas Longhorns in an 87–68 rout of the team featuring the National Player of the Year, Kevin Durant, though Durant led both teams in scoring with 30.As expected, following his junior season, <mask> announced on April 15, 2007, to the Los Angeles Times that he would forgo his senior year to turn professional and enter the 2007 NBA Draft, where he was selected with the 16th overall pick by the Washington Wizards. Professional career

Washington Wizards (2007–2012)

<mask> was selected 16th overall by the Washington Wizards in the 2007 NBA draft. He started his first career NBA game on December 15, 2007, against the Sacramento Kings. On January 9, 2010, <mask> was fined $10,000 by the Washington Wizards for participating in Gilbert Arenas's antics before a game on January 5, 2010, against the Philadelphia 76ers. Arenas was being investigated for a prior incident involving guns in the Wizards' locker room, but made light of the accusations by pointing his finger at his teammates, as if he were shooting them. His teammates were photographed smiling and laughing with him. <mask> scored a career-high 43 points on January 11, 2011, against the Sacramento Kings.Los Angeles Clippers (2012)
On March 15, 2012, <mask> was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers in a three-way trade involving the Denver Nuggets and Washington Wizards. Later, on April 16, 2012, he helped the Clippers clinch their first playoff berth in 6 years with a 19-point performance against the Oklahoma City Thunder. He was also a key part of the Clippers' comeback victory against the Memphis Grizzlies in game one of the first round of the 2012 playoffs, making three three-pointers in under a minute. Philadelphia 76ers (2012–2013)
On July 12, 2012, <mask> signed with the Philadelphia 76ers to a one-year deal. Los Angeles Lakers (2013–2017)
On July 11, 2013, <mask> signed with the Los Angeles Lakers. During the 2013–14 season, he converted a Lakers-record seven four-point plays while averaging a career-high 17.9 points per game. On July 21, 2014, <mask> re-signed with Lakers to a reported four-year, $21.5 million contract.During training camp, he suffered a complete tear of the radial collateral ligament in his right thumb, and was expected to miss six to eight weeks. After missing the first ten games of the season with the injury, <mask> made his season debut on November 18 against the Atlanta Hawks, recording 17 points and 5 rebounds in a 114–109 win. On December 12, he scored a season-high 29 points in a 112–110 win over the San Antonio Spurs. On November 30, 2016, <mask> was ruled out for two to four weeks due to a strained right calf muscle. On December 17, 2016, he made eight three-pointers and scored a season-high 32 points in a 119–108 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Between late December and early January, <mask>'s burst from long range gave him 36 three-pointers in eight games—the most in an eight-game stretch in Lakers franchise history. On April 2, 2017, after being held out of 11 of the previous 12 games despite being healthy, <mask> was shut down by the Lakers for the last five regular-season games.On June 21, 2017, the Lakers announced that <mask> elected not to exercise his option to extend his contract for the 2017–18 season, thus becoming an unrestricted free agent. Golden State Warriors (2017–2018)
On July 7, 2017, <mask> signed with the Golden State Warriors. In his debut for the Warriors in their season opener on October 17, 2017, <mask> came off the bench to hit six 3-pointers and score 23 points in a 122–121 loss to the Houston Rockets. He helped the Warriors reach the 2018 NBA Finals, where they defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers in a four-game sweep, with <mask> winning his first NBA championship. Denver Nuggets (2018)
On December 10, 2018, <mask> signed with the Denver Nuggets. Twenty days later, on December 30, he was waived by the Nuggets, after appearing in only four games. <mask>'s nickname is "Swaggy P", which he said is a pseudo-biblical reference to "the Prophet of Swag".Relationships and family
<mask> is the cousin of Kevon Looney, who is an NBA player. They became teammates with the Warriors in 2017–18. <mask> is also a cousin of rappers Kendrick Lamar and Baby Keem. <mask> has been in an on-again, off-again relationship with his high school sweetheart Keonna Green since 2002. They have three children together: two sons (born in 2012 and 2019) and a daughter (born in 2016). They became engaged in 2019. <mask> and Australian rapper Iggy Azalea announced their engagement on June 1, 2015.Azalea broke off their engagement a year later after a video of <mask> discussing how he was having an affair with another woman surfaced. After Azalea broke off her engagement to <mask>, Green confirmed that she was 22 weeks pregnant with their daughter. References

External links

 <mask> at usctrojans.com

1985 births
Living people
African-American basketball players
American men's basketball players
Basketball players from Los Angeles
Big3 players
Denver Nuggets players
Golden State Warriors players
Los Angeles Clippers players
Los Angeles Lakers players
People from the San Fernando Valley
Philadelphia 76ers players
Shooting guards
Small forwards
USC Trojans men's basketball players
Washington Wizards draft picks
Washington Wizards players
21st-century African-American sportspeople
20th-century African-American people
American men's 3x3 basketball players

masks:
Nicholas Aaron Young
Young
Young
Youngco
Young
Young
Young
Young
Young
Young
Young
Young
Young
Young
Young
Young
Young
Young
Young
Young
Young
Young
Young
Young
Young
Young
Young
Young
Young
Young
Young
Young
Nick Young


title: Patrick Gallagher (businessman)

texts:
<mask> (8 May 1951 - 15 March 2006) was an Irish property developer and businessperson. Early life and family
<mask> was born in Holles Street hospital, Dublin on 8 May 1951. His parents were Matt and <mask> (née Sheeran). He had 4 sisters and 2 brothers, Danny, Delia, Maureen, Helen, Paul and Kathryn. As a child, he lived at the family home, Hollywood Rath, Mulhuddart, County Dublin. His father was one of the largest property developers in the country, and as <mask>'s older brother had Down Syndrome, he was in line to succeed his father as the head of his business, the Gallagher Group. <mask> attended a number of secondary schools including St Gerard's in Bray, County Wicklow, Clongowes Wood College in County Kildare, and Blackrock College in County Dublin.He married Sue Craigie in 1970, and they had two sons, Matthew and <mask>. They lived in Ballymacarney House on the Mulhuddart estate from 1973. Early career
At age 17 <mask> joined the Gallagher Group, starting as a tea boy, before working as a plasterer, plumber and bricklayer. By 1971, he was head of house sales during the wider Irish housing boom. After the sudden death of his father in January 1974, <mask> became the head of the Gallagher Group at age 22. Along with the main business, he also inherited a stud farm, a shopping centre, a building society, a builder's providers company, and two small banks. He also inherited his father's network of political and business allies, in particular Charles Haughey and John Byrne, who both mentored him in those years immediately after his father's death.As his inheritance was held in trusts on the Cayman Islands it was exempt from estate tax, but the Gallagher Group was not protected. The failure of <mask> and the business was anticipated, but he saved the business by laying off staff and selling off a large portion of the land his father had accrued. He reconstituted the Gallagher Group board in March 1975, with new, younger board members. <mask> became known for his high-flying lifestyle in the most exclusive restaurants, bars and nightclubs of Dublin, being driven around by a chauffeur in a Rolls-Royce. He mixed business with leisure, often conducting meetings in hotel bars. In 1977 <mask> had a cancer scare, but this appeared to fuel his excessive lifestyle. He came under pressure from the Central Bank to divest his two banks, Merchant Banking Ltd and Merchant Banking (Northern Ireland) Ltd, of all their almost exclusive investments in the Gallagher Group.In 1977 he reduced Merchant Banking's activities significantly. While it continued to lend to the Gallagher Group, it also operated from an office in his shopping centre in Donaghmede where it received small deposits from local shoppers. Between 1977 and 1978 Merchant Banking (Northern Ireland) doubled its deposit base to £1.19 million, and it was transferred to the ownership of another Gallagher company in April 1978, removing it from the regulatory oversight of the Central Bank. This allowed it to lend freely to the Gallagher Group. <mask>'s building society, the O'Connell Benefit, was also growing fast, with the <mask> family having 4 of the 7 board seats. When the funds of Merchant Banking waned, the O'Connell Benefit was directed by <mask> to deposit amounts of £250,000 to £500,000 in the bank. While Ireland experienced a recession from 1974 to 1976, <mask> built homes for the higher end of the market, selling off large greenfield sites outside of Dublin which were earmarked for low-cost building, whilst then buying smaller sites near to more up-market and established suburbs.Unlike the semi-detached homes in large estates his father built, <mask> built bungalows with large gardens in small estates where the houses had a less uniform appearance. His developments were bolstered by very positive coverage in the property pages of both The Irish Times and Irish Independent, with the editor of the property section of the latter later admitting that <mask> paid them for the coverage. To further maximise his profits, <mask> would buy up large sites, secure planning permission for development, and then sell them on as smaller parcels to smaller builders and developers. He would then offer them finance from Merchant Banking with a phased payment scheme, only requiring repayment on completion. Alongside this, he also had marketing and architectural services, and would take on the development of housing estate amenities including parks and roads. This resulted in the Gallagher Group moving away from construction almost exclusively to property speculation by 1977. <mask> continued the relationship his father had cultivated with the leading planner in Dublin, George Redmond, giving him regular large payments and paying for family holidays.The <mask>s were both Fianna Fáil supporters and donors, but <mask> had allies in other political parties. In March 1977, <mask> had lost the right to final appeal on a permission to build 500 houses in Malahide, it was James Tully, the Labour Party minister for local government, who granted him permission despite strong local opposition. <mask> would often disregard the planning process entirely, instructing his contractors to build before planning permission was approved. His developments often ignored conditions laid down by planners, and <mask> would also fail to provide amenities such as footpaths and green spaces in his housing estates while still charging ground rent to the new homeowners. The Gallagher Group became notorious for proceeding against and seeking jail sentences for homeowners who did not pay the ground rent due. His new business model of residential development allowed him to free up large amounts of capital, which he directed towards office developments. When Rohan Ltd invested £500,000 in the Gallagher Group in 1976, these funds were directed towards purchasing land in Dublin city.Spurred on by the election of a Fianna Fáil government in 1977, and the expansion of the public sector brought in a new surge in demand for office space in Dublin. The government chose not to build its own offices, instead suspended the capital levy on office developments and encouraged certain developers to build the office facilities that the government would then lease long-term. <mask> concentrated on sites in Dublin 2, focusing on the St Stephen's Green area. The Gallagher Group was instrumental in the demolition of a number of historic buildings in the area's Georgian and Victorian core, and replaced them with unsympathetic, modern office blocks in which he was fiercely opposed by preservationists. Like his father, <mask> worked with Desmond Fitzgerald on these developments. Older buildings that <mask> owned were often left open to the weather, and there were a number of suspicious accidents that damaged them beyond repair. One of his most notorious developments was on Molesworth and Dawson Streets, when in 1978 he demolished a series of Georgian and Victorian buildings.Two of the most notable buildings razed were St Ann's School and Molesworth Hall which were designed by Thomas Newenham Deane and Benjamin Woodward. Architectural students occupied St Ann's School in an attempt to delay its demolition, and <mask> responded with a press conference announcing that he would lay off 300 workers across the city if the occupation was not ended. This led to counter demonstration from the construction workers, and ultimately a high court injunction ordering the squatters to be evicted, which <mask> did forcibly. The injunction was obtained on the grounds that the school could collapse at any moment, but the building had to be demolished by hand when the bulldozers failed to demolish it. He built an office block designed by Fitzgerald, which he later sold at a profit of £2-3 million to a pension fund. Through rapid turnover, <mask> spent an estimated £45 million between 1976 and 1982. He would occasionally appear to have over reached, but would save himself by closing a large sale when most in need of cash.One such occasion was when he had purchased Sean Lemass House (formerly St Vincent's Hospital) on St Stephen's Green for £5 million, he sold it 7 months later to the Irish Permanent Building Society for £7.5 million in December 1979. He had only paid a £500,000 deposit. <mask> was a friend of the Irish Permanent's chief executive, but he later denied he had been bribed to pay more than it was worth. Given his track record, a number of large banks backed <mask>, including the Northern Bank Finance Corporation (NBFC). An executive of NBFC sat on the board of the Gallagher Group and flagrantly broke Central Bank rules by lending over 5% of its total advances to <mask>. It was this support that allowed <mask> to outbid all his competitors in purchasing sites, paying more than market value. It also allowed him to offer very generous payment schedules to the builders who bought land off him for residential development, and flipping commercial sites before purchase payments were due, allowed <mask> to hold a large debt burden with a relatively small cash flow in comparison.His success was attributed, in part, to the rise of Haughey's political prominence. He continued to donate to Fianna Fáil, while giving Haughey annual payments of £2,000 to £3,000 and free use of his company cars. He facilitated the purchase of a house by Haughey's daughter with loans from Merchant Banking to companies controlled by Haughey in 1976. These loans from Merchant Banking were often used as gifts, with no expectation of repayment. In December 1979, when Haughey was elected taoiseach, <mask> was the only non-politician beside Haughey during his first press conference. The following day, <mask> was informed by Haughey that he owed over £1 million to Allied Irish Banks and he requested £750,000 be paid towards the debt. Agreeing to pay £300,000, this transaction was concealing the fact that this was a non-refundable deposit for land which Haughey would later sell to the Gallagher Group in 1984.However, there was no intention that this sale would ever take place. <mask> invested in racehorses, including £4 million in the bloodstock market, and participating in the racing and breeding syndicate at Coolmore. This led to a loss of £200,000 with the loss of Try My Best at the English 2,000 Guineas, leading to <mask> selling all but £50,000 of his interests. In a partnership with 2 others, <mask> bought Phoenix Park racecourse in 1980, and started a redevelopment. <mask> continued to spend large amount of money personally, including £200,000 on improving Ballymacarney House before he purchased Straffan House on its 300-acre estate in 1979 for £1 million. He then spent another £1 million renovating it over 3 years. During this time he ignored the gallery that his father had promised to the Royal Hibernian Academy, which had come to a halt in 1975.Instead, he used the site on Ely Place as a storage yard for his other building sites. In 1981, he paid the £1.5 million ransom for his friend Ben Dunne after his kidnapping by the IRA, which was later repaid. Gallagher Group collapse
The Irish economy began to falter under high interest rates from 1980, and for the first time <mask>'s properties were not rising in value to compensate for the interest on his debts. <mask> responded by taking on a number of ill-advised and ambitious projects, despite warnings from other including Haughey. He bought a 330-acre site at Fortunestown for low-cost residential development, but could not find any builders to develop it. In an attempt to stimulate cash flow, he built a high-end shopping centre on St Stephen's Green, the Galleria and started on the redevelopment of Phoenix Park racecourse, against the advise of his bankers. The Galleria struggled to find tenants, and the racecourse ran over budget, costing £2 million over the year from 1981 to 1982.As his debts mounted, <mask> relied on the O'Connell Benefit, taking out large sums and taking longer to repay. When his demand of £1 million was denied by the society's board of directors in 1981, <mask> lost control of O'Connell Benefit. Merchant Banking (Northern Ireland), now called Merbro, had been transferring such large amounts to Merchant Banking in Dublin that in March 1972, the Bank of England revoked its licence. Undeterred, <mask> bought the 4.5-acre Slazenger site on St Stephen's Green, the largest commercial property site in Dublin that would later become Stephen's Green Shopping Centre, acquiring the site for £50,000 in cash with the agreement that he would take on the Slazenger's debts of £10 million. Irish Life Assurance company had indicated it would pay £16 million for the site in 1981 if the outstanding planning and lease problems could be resolved by <mask>. <mask> wrongly assumed he had a legal agreement with Irish Life, and proceeded to by a 4-acre Earlsfort Terrace site in January 1982 for £9.5 million with plans of selling it to a British institution. <mask> struggled to resolve leasing issues with the Slazenger site, making some progress before he was stymied by one tenant with a strong legal case.In face of this, Irish Life backed out of the purchase, and later the British institution also reneged on the purchase of the site at Earlsfort Terrace after issues with planning permission. With the Irish recession beginning to take hold, and public opinion against the government, on minister conceded that many of the regulations and taxes on property development had been designed to benefit developers such as <mask>. In an attempt to save his business, <mask> made a bid to buy the successful supermarket chain, H. Williams, but delays resulted in the sellers realising <mask>'s perilous financial situation. <mask> sold off many personal assets, and proposed the sale of the Phoenix Park racecourse to his partners, but the banks did not agree to restructure <mask>'s debts. This resulted in him accumulating £100,000 in interest charges alone every week. The Gallagher Group was placed in receivership on 29 April 1982, owing £30 million to banks such as Bank of Ireland and AIB, and £20 million to other creditors. <mask> blamed the bankers for acting too swiftly, and he maintained that his assets were worth £60 million, double their real £26 million.Straffan House was repossessed by the banks just 3 weeks after <mask> had moved in, along with his stud farm, horses worth £2 million, and his Rolls-Royce. <mask>'s brother, Paul, had to vacate Castle Howard, and his mother forfeited his home, Dolanstown House. <mask> assisted the receiver for a year. The Dublin property market faltered under the burden of the fallout from <mask>'s bankruptcy, including all of the smaller creditors that went under following the Gallagher Group collapse. O'Connell Benefit survived, but both Merchant Banking and Merbro were liquidated, having lent 80% of their assets to the Gallagher Group, leading to many savers losing their money as the Irish government did not cover the losses of Merchant Banking. The liquidator's report, released in 1984, showed that the <mask> family, as well as associates, had accrued more than £250,000 in fictitious loans, and a wider fraud investigation was instigated. Later life and death
In partnership with his brother Paul, <mask> attempted to restart his career in property development in 1983, securing finances from small banks.This was owing to a group of friends, Tony O'Reilly, P. V. Doyle, Byrne, and his uncle Charles, paying <mask>'s living expenses and guaranteeing his loans. He moved to London in 1984, where he bought flats which he refurbished and sold on, and by 1987 he could afford Balsoon House on 31 acres at Bective, County Meath, where he lived at the weekends. <mask> was arrested in March 1988 by the British police following a fraud investigation into the management of Merbro Ltd, he was later bailed. He pleaded guilty in Belfast crown court in November 1989. His sentencing was postponed if he agreed to compensate the depositors, and while he made an initial payment of £500,000 but was unable to pay the further £500,000 with the agreed 11 months. He was imprisoned from October 1990 to October 1991. In June 1990, the Irish director of public prosecutions received a report recommending the <mask> be charged with fraud in relation to the management of Merchant Banking Ltd, but it was decided not to pursue the charges.The depositors of the bank took a high court civil action against <mask>, resulting in a settlement in 1996 of an undisclosed sum. When he was released from prison, <mask> separated from his wife, and immigrated to Zimbabwe. There he bought a farm and was involved in a scheme to settle Afrikaner farmers which was abandoned. He then moved to South Africa, and was involved in a number of failed investment schemes across Africa. In 1998, he confirmed that he paid Haughey money, and gave evidence to the Moriarty tribunal in 1999 on the matter. He denied he received any favours in return, and remained friendly with Haughey. He suffered with poor health, and his friends paid for his medical expenses.He divided his time between Dublin and Cape Town. <mask> died on 15 March 2006 in Dublin, and is buried at Three-Mile-Water cemetery, County Wicklow. He was survived by his partner, Yvonne D'Arcy. References

Notes

Sources

1951 births
2006 deaths
Irish businesspeople
Irish businesspeople in real estate
People educated at Blackrock College

masks:
Patrick Gallagher
Patrick Gallagher
Helena Patricia Gallagher
Gallagher
Gallagher
Patrick
Gallagher
Gallagher
Gallagher
Gallagher
Gallagher
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Gallagher
Gallagher
Gallagher
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Gallagher


title: Steve Rizzono

texts:
<mask> is a former professional wrestler best known for his stint in Xtreme Pro Wrestling. Coombs competed primarily as "The Gigolo" <mask>. At one time, <mask> was also a bouncer and a personal trainer. Professional wrestling career
<mask> trained alongside Spike Dudley at All Pro Wrestling's school, and made his debut on March 29, 1995, teaming with Mike Modest against Robert Thompson and Mike Diamond. While competing in APW, he captured the APW Tag Team titles with Mike Modest and Tony Jones. He also won a famous three-way dance that featured Vic Grimes and Erin O' Grady. On January 22, 1996 in Stockton, CA, <mask> made his World Wrestling Federation debut in a losing effort to Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw.The following night in Oakland, Rizzono jobbed to Duke "The Dumpster" Droese in a match that was featured on the WWF Superstars TV program. On the weekend of ECW’s November to Remember 1997 pay-per-view, Rizzono had a match with Robert Thompson on an APW show. Wrestling Observer journalist Dave Meltzer attended both shows. A few weeks later, Meltzer wrote in the observer that <mask>'s match with Thompson was better than almost anything he saw on the ECW event. In between his APW stint and his early 2000 entrance into XPW, <mask> wrestled in the United States Wrestling Association and for independent promotions based in the Portland area. In Portland, Rizzono was managed by Jonny Fairplay. Upon joining XPW, Rizzono initially had a partnership with Kid Kaos, but it quickly escalated into a bitter rivalry.At one point, Rizzono was managed by "Playboy" Buddy Rose, in an unsuccessful journey after the XPW World Heavyweight Championship. During his early tenure, he had matches against Public Enemy, John Kronus, and Juventud Guerrera. He was a member of The Black Army, and (following his banishment from the Army) founded The Enterprise with manager and porn star Veronica Caine, in order to avenge the rejection from his former teammates. Besides feuding with the Black Army, Rizzono feuded heavily with Pogo the Clown, as Rizzono was usually privy to receiving harsh beatings from Pogo. Their feud was featured in two (2001 and 2002) of XPW's annual King of the Deathmatch Tournaments, as both matches began as singles matches, but soon turned into triple threat matches midway through. In both bouts, Rizzono fell victim to brutal and memorable beatings from his nemesis, which resulted in Rizzono savagely losing in both of his appearances. <mask> departed from XPW in mid-2002 when XPW relocated its operations to the Pennsylvania area on the East Coast.<mask> returned to APW on November 8, 2002
as a trainer, a commentator, and a manager before leaving the business. He currently resides in California and he has health problems due to the severe injuries he incurred in XPW, including multiple concussions and broken noses as a result of death matches in which he participated. On July 18, 2007, <mask> received spinal surgery in which two ligaments were removed from his spine. Championships and accomplishments
All Pro Wrestling
APW Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Mike Modest (1) and Tony Jones (1)
NWA: Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling
NWA/ECCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Chance Beckett
NWA/ECCW Vancouver Island Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

Media
Video and DVD appearances
XPW: After the Fall. Perf. <mask>. DVD.Big Vision Entertainment, 2006. XPW: Retribution. Perf. <mask>. DVD. Xtreme Pro Wrestling, 2003. XPW: Best of XPW TV, Vol.1. Perf. <mask>. DVD. Xtreme Pro Wrestling, 2003. XPW: Best of The Enterprise. Perf.<mask>. DVD. Xtreme Pro Wrestling, 2002. XPW Class-X Presents: XPW Baptized in Blood, Vol. 1 & 2. Perf. <mask>.DVD. Big Vision Entertainment, 2007. XPW Class-X Presents: XPW TV The Complete First Season. Perf. <mask>o. DVD. Big Vision Entertainment, 2007.XPW: New Year's Revolution. Perf. <mask>. DVD. Xtreme Pro Wrestling, 2002. XPW: Blown To Hell. Perf.<mask>. DVD. Xtreme Pro Wrestling, 2002. XPW: Liberty or Death. Perf. <mask>. DVD.Xtreme Pro Wrestling, 2002. XPW: Baptized In Blood 2. Perf. <mask>. DVD. Xtreme Pro Wrestling, 2002. XPW: Baptized In Blood 3: Night of Champions.Perf. <mask>. DVD. Xtreme Pro Wrestling, 2002. XPW: Free Fall. Perf. <mask>.DVD. Xtreme Pro Wrestling, 2002. XPW: Genocide. Perf. <mask>. DVD. Xtreme Pro Wrestling, 2002.XPW: Best of The Black Army. Perf. <mask>. DVD. Xtreme Pro Wrestling, 2002. XPW: Damage Inc.. Perf. <mask>.DVD. Xtreme Pro Wrestling, 2001. XPW: Redemption. Perf. <mask>. DVD. Xtreme Pro Wrestling, 2001.XPW: Go Funk Yourself. Perf. <mask>. DVD. Xtreme Pro Wrestling, 2001. XPW: We Wrestle. Perf.<mask>o. VHS. Xtreme Pro Wrestling, 2001. Film and television appearances
Nash Bridges. CBS. Jan. 2001. Obscenery.Executive Producer Melissa Wegman. ClearVision Media Production Group. XPW archive footage appearance. "Pornographer runs for Los Angeles mayor." Extra TV. Syndication. July 2000."XPW archive footage appearance." References

Further reading
Ginzburg, Evan. <mask> interview. Wrestling - Then & Now<. Issue #165. Goldsmith, Susan. Mortal Combat.The East Bay Express<. January 14, 2004. Howell, Brian. One Ring Circus: Extreme Wrestling in the Minor Leagues. Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2002. Hunt, Don. Pro show at Armory brings out the beast in fans.The Mail Tribune July 2, 1999. Hunt, Don. Racing will be a real drag tonight. The Mail Tribune August 3, 1999. Hunt, Don. Wrestling: tights, fights, a ringside night.The Mail Tribune June 30, 1999. Meyers, Michelle.In Pursuit of a Dream. The Alameda Times-Star, The Oakland Tribune. October 20, 2003. Rodgers, Mike. <mask>o interview. Ring Around the Northwest newsletter. 2005.Saito, Fumi. Article and photo gallery on XPW’s second King of the Deathmatch Tournament. Baseball Magazine Japanese language. February 2001. Spotlight on All Pro Wrestling. The Fremont Argus October 19, 2003. External links
<mask> at CageMatch.net
<mask> at Genickbruch.com
<mask> at WrestleZone.ru

American male professional wrestlers
Living people
Sportspeople from Camden, New Jersey
Sportspeople from California
American exercise instructors
Professional wrestling announcers
Professional wrestling managers and valets
Bodyguards
1970 births

masks:
Steve Coombs
Steve Rizzono
Rizzono
Steve Rizzono
Rizzono
Rizzono
Rizzono
Rizzono
Rizzono
Steve
Steve Rizzono
Steve Rizzono
Steve Rizzono
Steve Rizzono
Steve Rizzono
Steve Rizzon
Steve Rizzono
Steve Rizzono
Steve Rizzono
Steve Rizzono
Steve Rizzono
Steve Rizzono
Steve Rizzono
Steve Rizzono
Steve Rizzono
Steve Rizzono
Steve Rizzono
Steve Rizzon
Steve Rizzono
Steve Rizzon
Steve Rizzono
Steve Rizzono
Steve Rizzono


title: Warner Baxter

texts:
<mask> (March 29, 1889 – May 7, 1951) was an American film actor from the 1910s to the 1940s. <mask> is known for his role as the Cisco Kid in the 1928 film In Old Arizona, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor at the 2nd Academy Awards. He frequently played womanizing, charismatic Latin bandit types in Westerns, and played the Cisco Kid or a similar character throughout the 1930s, but had a range of other roles throughout his career. <mask> began his movie career in silent films with his most notable roles being in The Great Gatsby (1926) and The Awful Truth (1925). <mask>'s most notable talkies are In Old Arizona (1929), 42nd Street (1933), Slave Ship (1937) with Wallace Beery, Kidnapped (1938) with Freddie Bartholomew, and the 1931 ensemble short film, The Stolen Jools. In the 1940s, he was well known for his recurring role as Dr. Robert Ordway in the Crime Doctor series of 10 films. For his contributions to the motion-picture industry, <mask> has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.Early life
<mask> was born on March 29, 1889. in Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio, to Edwin F<mask>, born October 1, 1867, Marysville, Union County, Ohio, and Jennie (Jane) B. Barrett, born December 30, 1869, Columbus. Jennie Barrett was the daughter of Leroy Barrett and Hattie Snider. (Note: Ohio Birth Index shows date as March 30, 1889.) <mask>'s parents were married May 10, 1888, Columbus. <mask> owned a cigar stand in Columbus. Edwin F<mask>, son of William E<mask> and Mary C. Miller <mask>, died on September 16, 1889, in Columbus. <mask> was not quite five months old when his father died.<mask>'s mother survived her son by ten years. Jane/Jennie <mask> died on March 29, 1962, at her home in Beverly Hills, California. Her cremated remains were inurned at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Great Mausoleum, Glendale, California, as well as those of his widow, Winifred Bryson <mask>, many years later but in different locations. <mask> and his mother went to live with her brother in Columbus. They later moved to New York City, where he became active in dramatics, both participating in school productions and attending plays. In 1898, the two moved to San Francisco, where he graduated from Polytechnic High School. When the 1906 San Francisco earthquake struck, <mask> and his mother lived in Golden Gate Park for eight days and then went to live with friends in Alameda for three months.In 1908, they returned to Columbus. After selling farm implements for a living, <mask> worked for four months as the partner of Dorothy Shoemaker in an act on the Keith Vaudeville Circuit. Film career

<mask> began his film career as an extra in 1914 in a stock company. He had his first starring role in Sheltered Daughters (1921), and starred in 48 features during the 1920s. His most notable silent roles were in The Great Gatsby (1926), Aloma of the South Seas (1926) as an island love interest opposite dancer Gilda Gray, and as an alcoholic doctor in West of Zanzibar (1928) with Lon Chaney. David Shipman wrote in 1970,"He is the beau ideal, a Valentino without a horse and the costume of a sheik. He is the fellow the girls meet around the corner, that is, if the fellow were <mask>.He is the chap the lonely woman on the prairie sees when she looks at the men's ready-to-wear pages in the latest mail order catalogue"; this appraisal by Jim Tully appeared in Picturegoer in 1936. <mask> was certainly the inspiration for artwork in mail-order catalogues and adverts for pipes, the prototype for men modelling cardigans or pullovers or tweeds. During the early Sound period he was one of Hollywood's leading actors. There was no éclat with him no scandals, no Hollywood careering. Women liked him because he was mature and reliable. He was a good work-horse of an actor, often at the mercy of his material. When it was good, he gave positive, likeable performances.It was a long career but he is hardly remembered today. <mask>'s most notable starring role was as The Cisco Kid in In Old Arizona (1929), the first all-talking Western, for which he won the second Academy Award for Best Actor. He also starred in 42nd Street (1933), Grand Canary (1934), Broadway Bill (1934), and Kidnapped (1938). By 1936, <mask> was the highest-paid actor in Hollywood, but by 1943, he had slipped to B movie roles, and he starred in a series of Crime Doctor films for Columbia Pictures. <mask> had roles in more than 100 films between 1914 and 1950. In 1936, <mask> had what Leonard Maltin considered his finest job of acting in John Ford's The Prisoner of Shark Island. Personal troubles and breakdown
It was about this time that <mask> began to have career and personal troubles.The studio system and being a top leading man with Fox made him wealthy beyond his dreams but it also let him in for some significant personal problems. <mask> said he was envious of his friend, Ronald Colman. "Look at that guy. He only makes one or two pictures a year. I've got to work practically every day in the year." He seemed unable to pry himself away from his salary as a contract star. Some of his best roles in this period were on loan out from his home studio, Fox Picture Corporation.His MGM loan out for Robin Hood of El Dorado was an example. Director William Wellman's recollections in the 2015 biography by his son went into some detail. <mask>, according to Wellman, was aging and troubled by that, as evidenced by a major drinking problem. <mask> told Wellman he was fine during the day but as evening approached he was "gone". Adding to his own insecurities as a leading man, his home studio was not known for having a strong story department. They relied on the formula of having their major stars repeat the same type of stories and characters when it reverberated with an audience. In many cases, even for Will Rogers, it often would decrease the value of the actor's contract.By 1939 he was publicly complaining about being teamed up with new bright and very young actresses as he was advancing in years. He said working with Loretta Young was fine as she had been around since the silent days and fans did not view her as a youngster, but the new crop such as Lynn Bari and Arleen Whelan made him feel very uncomfortable. As his 20th Century Fox contact was nearing completion, he was openly talking of retiring, a decision he was making with his wife, Winifred Bryson. By 1941, columnist Jimmie Fidler was stating the retirement talk was on the level. Some time between Adam Had Four Sons and Lady in the Dark he suffered a mental breakdown. Over the subsequent years he was fairly candid about it in interviews. He said "It's like chasing a rainbow.You never see the end of it. Each part you get has to be better than the last one and before you know it you've got a nervous breakdown." Between 1935 and 1941, the Internal Revenue Service published annually the individuals with the highest incomes. These amounts may differ from other published sources that are usually higher. Baxter was under contract for a full years service to 20th Century Fox. Normally top talent contracts ran for seven years and allowed for six weeks off per year. The IRS stated in 1935, Baxter made $203,000 ($3,837,319.19 in 2019), 1936 reported $284,000 ($5,315,313.12 in 2019), and for 1937, $225,961 ($4,082,105.70 in 2019).As stated earlier, he was the highest paid contract actor in 1936. In contrast, toward the end of his career, <mask> signed a contract with Columbia Picture Corporation on July 1, 1947, for two pictures per year for the next two years effective December 8, 1947. The terms were that he be paid initially in increments of $12,000 a week the sum of $30,000 ($348,337.37 in 2019) for each picture. He also was to pay 1.5% of his compensation to the Motion Picture Relief Fund. Each picture was to be filmed in  weeks. Principal filming if beyond the  weeks was to be compensated additionally at a rate of $6,000 per week. The US minimum wage in 1947 was $0.40 per hour.The films described were a "Crime Doctor" story based on the radio program of the same name or another so-called "crime" film. He was to be given script approval and star billing above the title. His day was limited to nine hours within a 24-hour period with principal filming to begin at 10 am to include one hour for meals during his workday. The morals clause and a section of negative provisions were lined out. He was also obligated to participate in still photography, advertising and publicity to be in "good taste" and was not to travel by air during principal photography without written permission from the studio. Travel and lodging in excess of 25 miles from the studio would be at studio expense. As was common in this era he was to supply his own modern wardrobe, wearing apparel and shoes if called for by the story.Damage to his own personal wardrobe would be paid for by the studio. Character costumes and shoes would be supplied if necessary by the studio. <mask> was represented by Philip M. Schiefer Agency at 9172 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles 46, California. <mask> was candid in interviews giving credit for his long and financially rewarding career to his wife. "I never take a role until we both talk it over. I have a high opinion of her judgment". He said he no longer cared about high budget films or being a star."I don't need the money, and I work just to keep interested. I had a good part in a big picture about six years ago. There was tension in making it and I felt myself getting nervous again. I was glad when it was over." Describing his breakdown ten years previously he said he worried and stewed and fussed. "I'd start to walk one way and discover that I was going in the opposite direction. When I thought I was carrying on a conversation, all I was doing was mumbling.I thought I was going crazy." He said all he did for six months was sit and stare into space. They moved to their beach house in Malibu, soaking up the sun and gradually getting better. <mask> felt that the best role in motion pictures was being a leading man in a series. He had reached that conclusion during the production years of the various Crime Doctor films. "It's wonderful. I make two of them a year.Columbia has juggled it so I can make two in a row. That takes about eight weeks of my time. The rest of the year I relax. I travel. I enjoy life". Between 1930 and 1936,

masks:
Warner Leroy Baxter
Baxter
Baxter
Baxter
Baxter
Baxter
. Baxter
Baxter
Edwin Baxter
. Baxter
. Baxter
Baxter
Baxter
Baxter
Barrett Baxter
Baxter Manger
Baxter
Baxter
Baxter
Baxter
Warner Baxter
Baxter
Baxter
Baxter
Baxter
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Baxter


title: Warner Baxter

texts:
 Myrna Loy costarred with <mask> four times: Renegades, Penthouse, Broadway Bill, and To Mary—With Love. She wrote in her 1987 autobiography, "And I have fond memories of <mask>, a good actor and a charming man, because we did several pictures together.Renegades was a happy film because of them [<mask> and director Victor Fleming]". Of Renegades, <mask> said it was so hot "they had to keep the cameras packed in ice-bags like a fever patient so the celluloid wouldn't catch fire." Loy liked and respected <mask>, a high-salaried (because he had won an Oscar in 1928 for Old Arizona), competent, and darkly handsome but a rather stiff and bland Ohio native with whom she would appear again. Only two other actors costarred with Loy more often: Clark Gable and William Powell." <mask> Kid for the pictures. Then, too, the fact that I got an Oscar for the job caused me no pain." He said this film allowed him to ultimately play the roll of Cisco five times. Arizona Kid in 1930 was the second of five. He liked the warmth and color of the character while modifying O. Henry's story with comedy and drama.In 1945, <mask> said about his Oscar, "My gosh, I don't know. I think it's up in my gun room buried under a heap of maps. I must look and see." In keeping his Oscar in proper perspective, around 1945, Life magazine photographed him with the trophy but never published it. The photo shows <mask> in a club chair in his Beverly Hills home looking fondly at his dog, an American Cocker Spaniel, on the floor. The dog's leash is anchored to his gold Oscar and sitting on the floor with the dog. <mask> became for the first time a radio actor on May 24, 1934.After years of declining such offers he appeared on Hollywood Hotel as the guest the show's host, Louella O. Parsons. He and his film co-star Ketti Gallian, performed several scenes from their soon to be released film, Under the Pampas Moon. For a number of years stunt man and western actor Frank McGrath (actor) known best for his roll portraying Charlie Wooster on the TV series Wagon Train was a stand-in and stunt double for <mask>. He so greatly resembled <mask> that they could have passed for brothers according to Los Angeles Times reporter John Scott's 1935 article. The two men formed a friendship outside of the studios and McGrath worked in several capacities for him away from filming. Studio still photos exist today from 20th Century Fox film Slave Ship (1937) showing identically dressed <mask> and McGrath looking like brothers. In late 1938, McGrath gave an extensive interview carried by the Associated Press.He said they had met in 1928. <mask> was taken by their resemblance to each other and had him used as a stand-in. If closer in age they could have passed for twin brothers. In 1935, that professional relationship was written into <mask>'s contracts. By 1938, McGrath was being paid $150 per week ($2,762.32 in 2019) part by <mask> and part by his studio to be a stand-in, stunt double, personal trainer, and occasional body guard. In that era stand-ins usually were paid $35 per week. They did much together to maintain <mask>'s fitness, swimming, tennis, and boxing.<mask> also was a bicycle enthusiast. A personal friendship grew from that. They hunted several times a year in addition to fishing trips. It was on a hunting trip to a remote part of Colorado in 1934 when McGrath saved <mask>'s life. <mask> had broken his leg and McGrath carried him for four days on his back out of the wilderness and to a hospital. It was that event that cemented the personal friendship. When asked what they would talk about, McGrath said anything but pictures.Personal life
<mask> married Viola Caldwell in 1911, but they were soon separated and then divorced in 1913. He married actress Winifred Bryson in 1918, remaining married until his death in 1951. Through his marriage to Bryson he was an uncle by marriage to actress Betty Bryson. Betty Bryson was born Elizabeth Bryson Meikklejohn, daughter of Winifred's sister, Vivian. On August 5, 1931, <mask> survived uninjured with 40 other cast and crew members the train derailment of the Southern Pacific Argonaut east of Yuma on route to Tucson for location shooting for "The Cisco Kid" (1931). Two trainmen were killed in the derailment. <mask>, Conchita Montenegro, and Edmund Lowe were among the passengers in cars at the end of the train.The Baxter's beach house was at 77 Malibu Beach, Malibu, California for many years as noted in the 1942 voter roll for Malibu. He also had a cabin in the San Jacinto Mountains. He was very active in Malibu civic affairs. Was named Honorary Mayor of Malibu from 1946, replacing Brian Donlevy, through 1949. For a number of years he had an 80-acre working ranch about 12 miles north of Palm Springs at Desert Hot Springs, the Warner Baxter Ranch, later renamed the Circle B Ranch. It was used for years at a location for western films. It was listed for sale in mid 1945 for a price of $40,000 and sold over a year later.It was listed as having a large and comfortable house of four bedrooms and laid out for entertaining along with a caretaker's house. It was sold furnished. During the war he was chairman of the Malibu Rationing Board and also did some troop entertaining in Army camps in Fresno and Bakersfield areas. He and his entertainers put on dozens of day and night shows for the service men. He was a close friend of William Powell with whom he had starred in three silent films, the best of which was "The Great Gatsby" now considered lost. He was at Powell's side when Jean Harlow died in 1937. His friendship with Ronald Colman was perhaps even deeper.While tennis and the film industry were the origins of their friendship going back to their earlier days at Paramount Studios, Colman and his wife Benita Hume named <mask> and Tim McCoy as godfathers to their daughter, Juliet Benita Colman at her christening in 1944. Juliet Colman's biography of her father describes in detail the very private social circle of cocktails, dinner, and games of tennis or poker held between her father's Hollywood house at 2092 Mound Street above and behind the Castle Argyle, and <mask>'s home on South Beachwood Drive. When not acting, <mask> was an inventor who co-created a searchlight for revolvers in 1935, which allowed a shooter to more clearly see a target at night. He also developed a radio device that allowed emergency crews to change traffic signals from two blocks away, providing them with safe passage through intersections. He financed the device's installation at a Beverly Hills intersection in 1940. Death
<mask> suffered from arthritis for several years, and in 1951, he underwent a lobotomy as a last resort to ease the chronic pain. On May 7, 1951, he died of pneumonia at age 62 and was interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.His grave is located in a gated and locked private section, Garden of Memory. His bronze headstone has a reproduction of his signature. The remaining inscription is in the handwriting of his wife, Winifred Bryson <mask>. <mask> <mask>'s death certificate stated the following. He died at his residence on May 7, 1951, at 5:50 pm, 911 North Roxbury Drive, Beverly Hills, California. Informant Philip M. Schiefer (his manager). The death certificate further stated, "Cause of Death, Broncho-pneumonia, terminal 24 hrs.Carcinoma of prostate with generalized metastasis - 6 months. Treatment: 1/8/1943 to death; no operation; no autopsy." Much has been written about arthritis and the chronic pain <mask> endured toward the end of his life but it is not unreasonable to imagine the drastic action taken by undergoing a lobotomy may very well have been to relieve the pain from end stage cancer, a disease at that time most kept confidential. His funeral was held at the Wee Kirk O' The Heather chapel at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California on May 11, 1951. The service was conducted by Dr. Franklin Kelly  of Christ Church, Unity. The Los Angeles Times noted that the private funeral service was markedly reminiscent of the film capital's earlier days. Among his pallbearers were long time close friends Ronald Colman, William Powell, and Tim McCoy.He was buried in a bronze casket with a portrait of his wife. Prior to his death he was reported on February 6, 1951, to being "seriously ill" with a "chronic illness" in hospital since January 18, 1951. It mentions he was much improved and celebrated his 33rd wedding anniversary on January 29. On April 8, 1951, the L A Times reported the actor being ill at home the last month. His doctors John Sharpe and Richard Barton reported his "condition is steadily becoming more critical." On April 21, 1951, the L A Times reported that <mask> was out of the hospital following "a cranial nerve operation" described as a "complete success" by Phil Schaefer, <mask>'s manager. He said <mask> "had suffered for years from a chronic illness which caused eating difficulties and induced malnutrition."On June 13, 1951, his last will and testament dated April 10, 1946 was entered into probate at Los Angeles. He left all his property to his wife and no valuation was made in the documents other than stating it will exceed $10,000. His obituary stated in recent years he had long been interested in real estate and business projects. On the evening of October 15, 1953, his widow, Winifred Bryson <mask> married Ferdinand Herman Manger (December 22, 1910 – October 17, 1991) at the Desert Inn in Las Vegas, Nevada. Menger was an architect from St. Louis, Missouri, and they would remain married until the end of her life. Recognition
In 1960, <mask> posthumously received a motion pictures star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6284 Hollywood Boulevard. Filmography

See also
 List of actors with Academy Award nominations

Note

References

External links

Photographs of <mask>
 <mask> and his mother Jane tour the Fox lot in Hollywood: #1...#2(Wayback)

American male stage actors
American male film actors
American male silent film actors
Best Actor Academy Award winners
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
Male actors from Columbus, Ohio
Vaudeville performers
Deaths from pneumonia in California
1889 births
1951 deaths
1906 San Francisco earthquake survivors
20th-century American male actors
Lobotomised people
American inventors
20th-century American

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title: Michael O'Flanagan

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<mask>'Flanagan (; 13 August 1876 – 7 August 1942) was a Roman Catholic priest, Irish language scholar, inventor and historian. He was a popular, socialist Irish republican; "a vice-president of the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society, he was a proponent of land redistribution." He was Gaelic League envoy to the United States from 1910 to 1912, and he supported the striking dockers in Sligo in 1913. O'Flanagan was friends with many of the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising and was vocal in his admiration for the sacrifice made by the men of Easter Week. He was active in reorganising the Sinn Féin party after the Rising. He was the main driving force behind the Election of the Snows in North Roscommon in February 1917, when Count Plunkett won a by-election as an independent candidate. At the Sinn Féin Convention in October 1917, Éamon de Valera was elected president.Along with Arthur Griffith, O'Flanagan was elected joint Vice-President, a position he held from 1917 to 1923 and again from 1930 to 1931. He campaigned for the imprisoned Griffith in the East Cavan by-election in 1918, and was instrumental in securing the seat. For this O'Flanagan was suspended by the Bishop; he went on to work full-time for Sinn Féin and was the main platform speaker and campaigner during the 1918 election. While O'Flanagan was Acting President of Sinn Féin in 1920, he corresponded publicly with David Lloyd George about peace moves, to the upset of his colleagues. He went on to hold meetings with Lloyd George and Edward Carson in January 1921, and reported British terms to Éamon de Valera on his return. He was President of Sinn Féin from 1933 to 1935. O'Flanagan travelled extensively throughout his lifetime, spending many years in the United States, and several months in Rome.After five months as Republican Envoy to Australia he was deported in 1923. O'Flanagan, James Larkin and Frank Ryan were considered the best open-air orators of the twentieth century. He was suspended from the priesthood for many years because of his political beliefs and attitudes. In later years he edited the 1837 Ordnance Survey letters and prepared sets for institutions and universities; in the 1930s he worked on a series of County Histories, and ten volumes were published by the time of his death. He died in 1942, was given a State Funeral, and is buried in the Republican Plot in Glasnevin Cemetery. Early life and education

<mask> was born on 13 August 1876 at Cloonfower in the parish of Kilkeeven, close to Castlerea in County Roscommon. He was the fourth of eight children born to Edward Flanagan (born 1842) and Mary Crawley (born 1847); the children in order of birth were Maire, Luke, Patrick, <mask>, Brigid, Edmund, Kate and Joseph.Both parents were fluent speakers of Irish and English, living on a small farm in what was known as a breac or speckled gaeltacht. When he was three years old, the 1879 famine swept through the west of Ireland. While conditions were not as severe as thirty years earlier, there was great fear among the people who had survived the earlier starvation, expressed in a wave of religious fervour, as for example, the apparitions at Knock in 1879. The Flanagan family were staunch supporters of the Fenian movement. As a young man <mask> lived through the evictions, boycotts and shootings of the Land War. His parents were and members of the Land League, and he was fascinated by politics, avidly following the rise and fall of Charles Stewart Parnell. O'Flanagan attended the local national school at Cloonboniffe, known as the Don School, where his teacher was <mask>'Callaghan.In 1890 O'Flanagan went on to attend secondary school at Summerhill College in Sligo. He entered St Patrick's College, Maynooth in the autumn of 1894 where he had an excellent academic record, winning prizes in theology, scripture, canon law, Irish language, education, and natural science. O'Flanagan was ordained a priest of the Third Order of St. Francis for the Diocese of Elphin in Sligo Cathedral on 15 August 1900 at the age of 24. It was around this time that he began to use the Irish form of his surname. While working in Sligo O'Flanagan was active in his promotion of the Irish culture and language, and he gave evening language classes in Sligo Town Hall. He was a founding member and secretary of the Sligo Feis, which was first held in 1903, when Padraig Pearse was invited to give a lecture titled "The Saving of a Nation" in Sligo Town Hall. Both Pearse and Douglas Hyde were the judges of the Irish language competitions in 1903 and again in 1904.Fundraising in the United States

O'Flanagan was a keen supporter rural development and Irish self-reliance, with practical knowledge and point of view, having grown up on a small farm. He was a skilled public speaker and communicator and was vocal in agitating for radical social and political change. In 1904 he was invited by his Bishop John Joseph Clancy and Horace Plunkett to travel to the United States on a speaking and fundraising tour. Douglas Hyde wrote to him on 3 November to say that he had read O'Flanagan's work on Irish Phonetics with great interest and that he was sorry to see him go to America. His mission was to promote Irish industry, in particular the lace industry, and to find investment and collect donations for agricultural and industrial projects in the west of Ireland. The diocese of Elphin had purchased the Dillon estate at Loughglynn in County Roscommon and had established a dairy industry there, managed by nuns of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary. Part of O'Flanagan's mission was to pay off the outstanding debt on the venture.O'Flanagan was an imaginative and innovative fundraiser who disliked simply asking for donations and preferred to use other more practical methods to raise funds. He returned to Ireland in 1905 and procured a trio of lace and craftworkers, Mary O'Flanagan Rose Egan and Kate Davoren, and set up a travelling industrial and cultural exhibition. The trio would give public demonstrations and show samples of various regional styles of Irish lace while O'Flanagan curated the exhibition and gave lectures and interviews. The group travelled across the United States from coast to coast and held exhibitions in fifty-one cities over ninety-six weeks. In another example of his innovative approach to fundraising, O'Flanagan brought a sod clay from every county with him; these sods were arranged into a map of Ireland during the exhibitions, and the public were charged a dollar to step on the soil of their native county. O'Flanagan was an excellent publicist, and placed notices in regional newspapers to advertise his industrial exhibition. He gave countless interviews to newspapers and many public lectures during his travels, and forged many connections within the Irish American community.Apart from trips home in 1905 and again in 1908, O'Flanagan remained in the United States until he was recalled to Ireland in 1910. Sinn Féin
In June 1910 O'Flanagan returned to Ireland. He joined Sinn Féin, the party with which his name would become synonymous, and was elected to the standing committee. The party had evolved from the National Council, a loose umbrella group of nationalists originally founded by Arthur Griffith in 1905. When O'Flanagan, fresh from his travels and keen to participate, joined Sinn Féin the party was in its "Monarchist" phase. Griffith's working model for Irish independence was based on the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, where Ireland would regain her sovereignty and share power as an equal member of the Commonwealth. Griffith believed Irish MP's should begin by boycotting English Parliament and setting up a native Parliament in Dublin.Sinn Féin's policies were beginning to appear irrelevant after 1910 when John Redmond's Irish Parliamentary Party won enough seats to put Home Rule and the Irish Problem firmly on the new Government's agenda. O'Flanagan's radical influence and energy would help transform and reorganise the party after the Election of the Snows in 1917. Gaelic League Envoy
In August, after attending a meeting of the Gaelic League O'Flanagan was elected to the standing committee. He reported "the existence in every part of the States of an Irish population that is ever anxious to hear of home progress and to meet any representatives of any Irish movement." Within a few weeks of his appointment to the standing committee the Gaelic League asked him to return to United States with Fionan MacColum on a fundraising mission to repair the League's dwindling finances. O'Flanagan advised Douglas Hyde to seek permission from Bishop Clancy, who not only agreed, but published a letter congratulating O'Flanagan on his selection. O'Flanagan and MacColum arrived on 1 October 1910 and set up an office at 624 Madison Avenue in New York.Problems arose with American funders over the controversial "Playboy of the Western World" with John Devoy threatening to withdraw his support from the Gaelic League, if this was the kind of Irish culture American money was supporting. O'Flanagan, after consultation with Hyde in Dublin, issued a statement in the New York Times on 4 December 1911 disassociating the work of the Gaelic League from anything to do with William Butler Yeats, Lady Gregory or the Abbey players. Return to Ireland
O'Flanagan returned to Ireland where Bishop Clancy appointed him curate in Roscommon in 1912. On 19 October Bishop Clancy died, and his successor, Dr. Bernard Coyne was a conservative who seems to have resented O'Flanagan's perceived modernism and independence, and their relationship was to be a poor one. In 1912 O'Flanagan was invited to Rome to give a series of lectures for Advent, and was a guest preacher in San Silvestro for four weeks. While in Rome he spent time with his good friend Dr. John Hagan who was director of the Irish College, and there is a large collection of letters between the two in the Hagan archive there. O'Flanagan is often referred to as "Brosna'" in the letters.In March 1913 a protracted strike broke out at the Sligo Docks. In May O'Flanagan visited the strikers to show his solidarity and advised them to continue insisting for their rights. It has been suggested that this display of socialism prompted the Bishop to move O'Flanagan to Cliffoney. When the advanced nationalist Keating Branch took control of the Gaelic League, O'Flanagan was elected to the Standing Committee for two years. A recently discovered photograph shows O'Flanagan in a large group, many of whom were advanced nationalists at a meeting of the Gaelic League outside Galway Town Hall in August 1913. O'Flanagan was active in attempting to reorganise and popularise the Sinn Féin party. On 22 February 1914 while staying in Crossna, he wrote a letter to Count Plunkett, then head of the National Museum in Dublin, hoping to encourage the Count to join Sinn Féin:I enclose my rough outline of plan of organisation.It will need a good deal of criticism in regard to detail. My object was to get money in as quickly as possible so that we might get on with the work to hand. You would need somebody who has made a study of organisation methods to consider it carefully before adoption. I think myself that the Sinn Féin organisation will now spread through the country if vigorously pressed from headquarters. Get the Sinn Féin Executive to send out copies of the rules to the principal men amongst the local committees of North Roscommon. If Sinn Féin spreads rapidly the Irish Alliance will not be needed. However, there is no time to lose.In 1914 O'Flanagan was invited back to Rome to give a series of Lenten lectures, and he spent six weeks, again preaching in San Silvestro's.At the end of his course of lectures he received a medal from the pope, Benedict XV. While preparing to leave Rome, O'Flanagan was informed he was to be removed from Roscommon and was to proceed to Cliffoney in County Sligo. Cliffoney

In late July 1914 the Bishop Bernard Coyne transferred O'Flanagan to Cliffoney, a small village in the parish of Ahamlish in north county Sligo. He had instructions from the bishop to assist the ailing priest, help the faltering lace industry in Cliffoney, and to look for land or a building for a village hall. Initially he rented a Lodge in Mullaghmore before eventually moving up to Cliffoney where he rented a cottage from Mrs. Hannan. While living in Cliffoney he actively campaigned against recruitment in the British army. His sermons were noted down by the RIC from the barracks next to the church who often occupied the front pew with notebooks to hand.Along with his old pupil from Summerhill, Alec McCabe, O'Flanagan was instrumental in re-organising the company of the Irish Volunteers in the Cliffoney area after the split with Redmond's National Volunteers. "At that time we had a Catholic Curate, the late Father <mask>'Flanagan, a great Irishman and strong supporter of the Republican Movement. He gave us every assistance and encouragement and advised the young men of the parish to join the Irish Volunteers. In all, forty men joined the Cliffoney Company." O'Flanagan was actively opposed to the conscription of young Irishmen into the British army. O'Flanagan condemned the export of food from the area, and demanded a fair and proper distribution of turbary rights. In newspaper pieces he contrasted Irish opinion-makers' outrage against Germany's contemporary treatment of Belgium with their indifference to England's ongoing treatment of Ireland.The Cloonerco Bog Fight

While living in Cliffoney, O'Flanagan discovered that the villagers were being denied access to the local bogs by the Congested Districts Board, the public body in charge of land redistribution. After a protracted and fruitless correspondence with the CDB he eventually took action, coincidentally on the day O'Donovan Rossa died in New York. On 30 June 1915 O'Flanagan led some 200 of his parishioners up to Cloonerco bog where they commenced cutting turf, an incident which became known as "The Cloonerco Bog Fight". When the RIC constables, who had followed the marchers to the bog, intervened and threatened to arrest anyone who cut turf, O'Flanagan stepped forward and began cutting. A large quantity of turf was harvested and distributed, despite police interference and an injunction being served on six of the turf-cutters. The surplus turf was stacked outside the Fr. O'Flanagan Hall and opposite the R.I.C barracks.The stack was draped with a tricolour, and a banner inscribed by O'Flanagan, saying Ár Moin Féin, "Our Own Turf" was attached, and attracted much attention from passers-by. The affair simmered on over the summer of 1915; eventually the locals in Cliffoney were granted access to the bogs. The Father O'Flanagan Hall
The villagers of Cliffoney had no church hall or communal gathering place, and meetings were generally held on the main street at the crossroads, outside the R.I.C barracks at Speaker's Corner. Shortly after O'Flanagan's arrival in Cliffoney, a new national school was opened. He wrote to the owner of the old school, Colonel Ashley of Classiebawn castle and asked him to give the building to the villagers. Ashley complied and handed over the building, which was erected in 1824 by Lord Palmerston. In gratitude the villagers named their

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 new hall the Father O'Flanagan Hall and it soon became the home of the Cliffoney Sinn Féin club.During the Cloonerco Bog protest a large stack of turf, draped with a tricolour, was built outside the hall. The Father O'Flanagan Hall was used for drilling by the Cliffoney Volunteers, who also held dances, concerts and plays. It was burned by the Auxiliaries at the end of October 1920 in reprisal for the Moneygold ambush a few days earlier. O'Donovan Rossa funeral

At the end of July O'Flanagan was invited, at the request of Mary Jane O'Donovan Rossa, to speak at the funeral of her husband the veteran Fenian Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa. O'Flanagan had visited the O'Donovan Rossa family during his travels in America. O'Flanagan posed for a photograph with Mary Jane and Eileen O'Donovan Rossa, and Tom Clarke, the notoriously camera-shy organiser of the funeral and subsequent Easter Rising. O'Flanagan then delivered a passionate oration to a select group of Irish Volunteers and nationalists at the reception of O'Donovan Rossa's remains to the lying-in-state in Dublin City Hall.Countess Markievicz was so profoundly moved by his speech that she began to consider converting to Catholicism. The following day O'Flanagan accompanied the O'Donovan Rossa family to Glasnevin Cemetery where he recited the final prayers in Irish by the graveside standing beside Patrick Pearse who then made his iconic speech. Sligo Tillage meeting
On 9 October 1915 O'Flanagan attended a "tillage meeting" in Sligo court house. "Chaired by Canon Doorley, later bishop of Elphin, the meeting was packed with official personages such as the crown solicitor for Sligo T. H. Williams and the RIC district inspector, O'Sullivan." A campaign was under way to encourage increased tillage cultivation to support the war effort. The main speaker was T. W. Russell, the Minister of Agriculture, who proposed a motion to that effect. O'Flanagan proposed a counter-motion to the effect that Russell's motion should be rejected without radical land reform, and went on to denounce the war and conscription.He said that Irish people should stay out of the war not of their making, and to raise plenty of crops to be kept at home to feed the many native people in want. His motion was ignored. His speech was reported in the local papers and the following morning the RIC visited Bishop Coyne at his residence in St. Mary's. The Cliffoney Rebellion
Within days of the Sligo meeting O'Flanagan was transferred to Crossna, County Roscommon. The people of Cliffoney responded to his removal by locking the church, an incident which became known as the "Cliffoney Rebellion". On the morning of 17 October, the key of the sacristy was taken; the door of the church was nailed shut from the inside and the new priest, Fr. C. McHugh was denied entry.The villagers began kneeling outside the church door each evening to say the Rosary for the return of O'Flanagan. They marched en masse into Sligo to interview the Bishop, who made himself absent. They also as sent a petition to the Pope, but nothing came of this. The Bishop refused to back down, or to meet the villagers and the rebellion continued through the autumn of 1915. Eventually the church was opened after ten weeks, when O'Flanagan intervened in the dispute and appealed to the villagers to open the church for Christmas as a present to him. The door was unlocked on Christmas Eve 1915. Crossna

On 25 November 1915, O'Flanagan delivered a lecture entitled "God Save Ireland" to a packed audience in St. Mary's Hall, Belfast at a commemoration for the Manchester Martyrs.In January 1916 he took the train to Cork where he spoke to a monster crowd at an anti-conscription meeting chaired by Thomás MacCurtáin—later assassinated by Crown forces—and policed by Terence MacSwiney who would die in 1920 after a 74-day hunger strike. O'Flanagan's fiery speech was recorded by the RIC and widely reported in the national press. Upon his return to Crossna he was sanctioned by Bishop Coyne, who sent O"Flanagan a letter on 14 January 1916 stating:I regret exceedingly that I find it necessary - in the interests of religion, ecclesiastical discipline and good order - to withdraw from you as I do hereby and until further notice, permission to preach anywhere in this diocese: - as also to celebrate mass outside the parish of Ardcarne without my permission in writing...... The letter concluded, "I remain your grieved and afflicted Bishop, signed Bernard Coyne." He was invited to speak at a gathering of the Volunteers in Dundalk, but declined, sending a copy of the Bishop's letter to illustrate his problem. O'Flanagan, sometimes ignored the Bishop's orders, and presided over meetings at Ringsend and Donnybrook in Dublin on Thursday 6 April 1916, shortly before the Rising. The meetings were in protest against the deportation of Ernest Blythe and Liam Mellows.Among the speakers were The O'Rahilly and Thomas McDonagh; some 100 recruits were signed up for the Irish Volunteers. O'Flanagan spent the summer of 1916 in North Roscommon, and did his best to obey the Bishop's instructions. While living in Crossna he became friends with Patrick Moran. When a company of Volunteers was formed in the area, Moran, a member of the Volunteers procured sixteen rifles which were transferred from Dublin to Carrick-on-Shannon by O'Flanagan. He wrote and published many articles in the papers and journals, and outraged nationalists with a letter to the Freeman's Journal in June 1916 where he considered the implications of David Lloyd George's proposal to implement the 1914 Home Rule Act outside the six counties. Though he was ridiculed by fellow nationalists, who threw this letter back at O'Flanagan many times over the following years, another Vice-President of Sinn Féin, Martin McGuinness eventually came to the same conclusion in 1998. Easter Week
O'Flanagan was in great demand as a speaker at events and meetings: "Invitations poured in upon me from all over Ireland.I was getting tired of trying to explain how the Bishop had forbidden me, and why I continued to act in obedience to his prohibition." He was taken by surprise by the events of Easter Week, when many of his friends from the Irish Volunteers and the Gaelic League launched an armed insurrection in Dublin. He had been invited to Athenry in County Galway to review a parade of Volunteers on Sunday 23 April 1916. However he did not feel he could make the journey there and back without drawing the Bishop's censure and so he stayed in Crossna, where he remained for the week. O'Flanagan was friends with many of the leaders of the Easter Rising, and had met with many of them at the O'Donovan Rossa funeral, where he was photographed with both Tom Clarke and Padraig Pearse. "Fr. O'Flanagan realised that unless something was done immediately to exploit the inspiration of the men of Easter Week, and the abhorrence of the executions, the drift into political normality, as shown in West Cork, would be unstoppable."In a letter to Alice Stopford Green dated 30 July 1916, containing signatures collected for the petition to reprieve Sir Roger Casement, O'Flanagan expressed his admiration for "the men of Easter Week," commenting: Some of us do not like the quasi apology for the execution of the Irish Volunteer Leaders, insinuated in the fourth paragraph but we are willing to waive that point for the purpose of doing our part for Roger Casement. The men who were executed in Dublin are to us martyrs & heroes, & the Government that ordered their execution are guilty of a great crime. The Election of the Snows

In December 1916 the Irish Parliamentary Party member for North Roscommon, the old fenian James O'Kelly died and his seat became vacant. A by-election was scheduled for February 1917 and O'Flanagan, forbidden to leave North Roscommon took full advantage of the situation. Along with J. J. O'Kelly and P. T. Keohane, O'Flanagan proposed Count George Noble Plunkett, father of the executed 1916 leader as a candidate, as "the passport to the situation at the time," and they wrote to the Count, then under house arrest in Oxford, inviting him to stand for the North Roscommon seat. Noting these preparations Bishop Coyne issued a warning by letter to O'Flanagan on 21 January 1917, beginning "In view of the present political unrest in part of the country, and to prevent any misunderstanding in the future, I would like to call your attention to the following statute on the national Synod of Maynooth (Page 121, No. 379)."Citing four statutes in Latin the Bishop's letter concludes: "Non-compliance with the terms of these statutes will mean, in your case, an "ipso facto" suspension, and deprivation of the ordinary faculties of the diocese. I am, B. Coyne." O'Flanagan, meanwhile, was busy organising and coordinating the campaign as events unfolded. He wrote to his friend John Silke of Castlerea, asking him to "kindly get as much money as you can and send it to me for deposit with sheriff on behalf of Count Plunkett. It must be deposited with sheriff in Boyle before 2 o'clock on Friday 25th inst." On 27 January O'Flanagan wrote twice, sending a letter-card to both Oxford and Dublin, with arrangements for Count Plunkett to speak in Boyle and Ballaghdereen: "I have written to you in Oxford asking you to come to Boyle by the train that leaves Broadstone at 9 a.m. on Thursday & to speak there and at the fair in Ballaghadereen next, lest you might have left Oxford I am also writing this to Dublin."Indicating the importance of the Catholic church in elections, he adds that they are planning to hold meetings at some 25 churches the following day. The campaign became known as the Election of the Snows on account of the adverse weather conditions which saw snow drifts of up to ten feet high blocking the roads. O'Flanagan, though forbidden to speak outside the boundaries of the parish, was at the forefront in running the campaign for the Count, which included the organisation of clearing the snow off the roads so that supporters could get out to vote. Count Plunkett only arrived two days before election day. O'Flanagan was joined by Seamus O'Doherty, a native of Derry, who became director of elections for the Count and Laurence Ginnell, the rebellious independent MP for Westmeath, who became Plunkett's election agent. They were joined by workers from Dublin and other parts, such as <mask>, Arthur Griffith, Larry Nugent, Rory O'Connor, Darrell Figgis, William O'Brien, Kevin O'Shiel, Joseph McGrath and Count Plunkett's daughter Geraldine with her husband Thomas Dillon. After the election the Irish Times commented "For twelve days and nights he was up and down the constituency like a whirlwind and talking to people at every village and street corner and crossroads where he could get people to listen to him."The winner was Count Plunkett, who took the seat by a large majority, the tally being Plunkett: 3,022; Devine: 1,708; Tully: 687. Count Plunkett and O'Flanagan were "chaired" from the courthouse to a celebration where Plunkett surprised his audience by announcing he would abstain from Westminster. Count Plunkett's Convention
On 19 April 1917 Count Plunkett chaired a Convention of advanced nationalists at the Mansion House in Dublin in an attempt to seek common ground in the aftermath of the North Roscommon election victory. There were tensions between Count Plunkett and Arthur Griffith, as to the form and direction the movement should take and who should be in charge. Count Plunkett wanted to establish branches of his Liberty Clubs throughout the country, while others present felt they should more usefully continue to use the name and organisation of Sinn Féin. A split seemed imminent. Fr.Robert Fullerton proposed that O'Flanagan to mediate between the two groups and prevent a split. O'Flanagan reached an agreement with Griffith, and they proceeded with the meeting, though later that evening O'Flanagan had to break up a row between <mask> and Arthur Griffith at a post convention gathering at Count Plunkett's residence. A compromise "rainbow" committee was formed represented by members from all sides: Plunkett, O'Flanagan, Cathal Brugha and Thomas Dillon representing the republican wing, Arthur Griffith and Seán Milroy for Sinn Féin, Thomas Kelly and William O'Brien representing the Labour movement and Stephen O'Mara for the Irish Nation League. O'Flanagan proposed Countess Plunkett to represent the women of Ireland. This group became known as the Mansion House Committee. The authorities of both Church and State were concerned by O'Flanagan's activities and the RIC kept notes of his movements and speeches. Sinn Féin revival 1917
The Mansion House Committee met five times.Their brief was to plan the forthcoming by-elections and organise a deputation to plead Ireland's case at the Paris Peace Conference at the end of the war. They also issued a statement rejecting any contact with Lloyd George's proposed Irish Convention chaired by Sir Horace Plunkett. As the 1916 prisoners were released over the summer of 1917, a number were co-opted onto an expanded committee. Another by-election was held in South Longford in May 1917 and republican prisoner Joseph McGuinness was put forward. Neither McGuinness nor Éamon de Valera, who was leader of the prisoners were keen on contesting, being wary of constitutional politics. The election was under the slogan "Put him in to get him out". O'Flanagan was forbidden by the Bishop's restrictions to participate in the election campaign, which he found profoundly frustrating."I did not think the time had come to break the muzzle and had to stay away from Longford," he remarked later in December 1918. McGuinness won by the narrow margin of thirty-seven votes after a recount. Successes in North Roscommon and South Longford persuaded de Valera to go forward in East Clare and he too was successful. Another by-election in Kilkenny was then won by another volunteer, William T. Cosgrave, who had been preferred to Arthur Griffiths as a candidate. Thomas Ashe, arrested for making a seditious speech, died while being force-fed in Mountjoy Prison on 25 September. Requiem Mass was celebrated at the Pro-Cathedral by O'Flanagan on Friday morning before removal to City Hall where his body lay in state for two days. Ashe's remains were followed by a procession of 30,000 who marched to Glasnevin cemetery where <mask> gave the graveside oration.Vice-President of Sinn Féin
A convention was held at the end of October 1917, where the Easter Rising veterans and other supporting groups merged with Arthur Griffith's older organisation and adopted the name of Sinn Féin. Despite expectations of a split, Arthur Griffith and Count Plunkett stepped aside allowing de Valera to become president, with Griffith and O'Flanagan elected vice-presidents for a three-year term. "Long-term friends of Griffith in Sinn Féin, such as Alderman Tom Kelly, Robert Brennan and Jennie Wyse Power, remained the party's directors of elections, but this responsibility was taken on more by newcomers such as Fr. O'Flanagan who, in the absence of a chief whip (this was not a parliamentary party), was effectively the party's chief organiser." O'Flanagan proved a highly effective organiser and party manager. On the same day the Irish

masks:
Michael Collins
Michael Collins
Michael Collins