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Merchant Prince: The Story of Alexander Duncan McRae (Heritage $16.95)
Betty O'Keefe's family roots predate Vancouver's trolley systems. "My father used to tell me about being a kid in Fairview,"; she says. "Whenever they went to visit his uncle in New Westminster, they rode a horse and buggy down Kingsway and took nearly all day to get there.";
At a reunion for Vancouver Sun and Province reporters from the '50s and '60s, O'Keefe got to chatting with Ian Macdonald. They confided they both wanted to write books. "We just decided why not do it together?";
Seven books later, the writing duo has released Merchant Prince: The Story of Alexander Duncan McRae (Heritage $16.95), an investigative portrait of the Shaughnessy industrialist who lorded over Hycroft Manor between 1909 and 1913.
"Sometimes we argue about which book to do next,"; says O'Keefe, "since we often have several ideas at the same time.";
"Ian tends to zero in on crime and corruption and politics, whereas I pay attention to the social history and context. The balance seems to make a good book.";
In 1965 the feisty Macdonald was sent to Ottawa as a reporter for the Vancouver Sun. He later handled media relations for Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau from '74 to '77. He now divides his time equally between Ottawa and Vancouver.
"The professional historian might be miffed about us invading their turf,"; says Macdonald, "but the problem with most Canadian historians is that they tell it dully. It's been interesting to watch Pierre Berton, who made a bundle telling exciting history, clash with the academics. It's like two dinosaurs-two massive egos having a battle.";
Macdonald's current beef is with media coverage for their books, or lack thereof. "We've done six books before this one. The Province has never said a thing, and the Vancouver Sun gave us 120 wasted words, one time. I don't think they owe us anything, but I do think they owe their readers.";
As longtime Vancouverites, Macdonald and O'Keefe have lived through some of the stories they've revisited, such as the scandal about Walter Mulligan. In The Mulligan Affair: Top Cop on the Take (Heritage $16.95) they recall the trial of the man who became Vancouver's Chief of Police in 1947. Mulligan enjoyed a career of bribe-taking and corruption-mongering prior to his sensational 1955 trial. Radio journalist and Vancouver Sun reporter Jack Webster, a friend of Macdonald's, was a key player in breaking the story. Both he and Macdonald had come to Canada from Glasgow.
"The inquiry had everything reporters wanted: graft, corruption, death, bootleggers, bookies, vice-lords, politicians with a sudden loss of memory, gambling squad cops who could barely remember their names, hookers, and Mulligan's own black-veiled 'mystery' lady.";
Canadian newspapers proclaimed it the news story of the year. Stumbling onto the Mulligan story many years later, O'Keefe and Macdonald realized, "No one's ever done the Mulligan story! We just dove in,"; says O'Keefe.
The pair also had personal ties with The Sommers Scandal: The Felling of Trees and Tree Lords (Heritage $16.95), an account of the events surrounding the career and demise of Forests Minister Robert E. Sommers.
The minister signed a deal in 1953 that had a major impact on the forest industry, and five years later was sent to jail for conspiracy and accepting bribes. The book concludes, "decisions made in the 1950s set the course for the death of logging towns, the corporate concentration, and the crisis of overcutting today.";
Macdonald was a legislative reporter in Victoria during the scandal, which left a major stain on the record of Premier W.A.C. Bennett's Socreds. O'Keefe spent many years handling corporate communications for a forest and mining company, and knew the ins and outs of the business.
"Our work is a true collaboration,"; says O'Keefe, "when there's something missing, one of us says, 'I'll go find that out.'"; They read over every word the other writes, and fill in the critical spaces-anything the other person might have overlooked. Macdonald candidly admits, "We have our disagreements, but nobody ever punched anybody.";
At some point, the work does get split up. "Ian tends to cover the political end of things,"; O'Keefe laughs, "thank goodness, because I couldn't stand it!";
The Final Voyage of the Princess Sophia (Heritage $16.95) chronicles the mysterious maritime tragedy that killed 350 people off the Pacific coast-leaving no survivors in 1918.
The story remained untold in book form for over 80 years, overshadowed by the end of WWI and covered up by the CPR
.
Macdonald and O'Keefe even had trouble convincing their publisher that the Titanic-like disaster was a great story-and now they get more response for that book than any other.
Macdonald and O'Keefe last year published Canadian Holy War: A Story of Class, Tongs, Murder and Bigotry (Heritage $17.95) about the famous Shaughnessy murder of Scottish nursemaid Janet Smith and the racial tension that was ignited in 1924 when the Chinese houseboy stood accused.
They returned to Shaughnessy's Hycroft mansion for the launch of Merchant Prince, an investigation into the life and times of the building's first owner.
Born in Glencoe, Ontario in 1874, Alexander Duncan McRae made his money in land speculation in Saskatchewan prior to his arrival in Vancouver in 1907. He invested in fish canning and lumber, joining the war effort overseas in 1915. He was briefly touted as a candidate for premier, became president and financial backer of the short-lived Provincial Party, then was elected federally as a Conservative in 1926. After his defeat in 1930, he was named to the Senate.
Hycroft was the scene of the annual costume ball for Vancouver's social elite. During World War I it was donated to the federal government as a convalescent home for veterans. McRae retired to Qualicum Beach. Hycroft is now home to the University Women's Club.
This year O'Keefe and McRae have had some film industry enquiries about their work-and their publisher has negotiated the sale of rights to one of their titles. But the pair resist any embellishment of their tales on the page. As journalists from the old school, they both believe 'what can't be proven can't be printed.'
Merchant Prince 1-894384-30-X; Earthquake 0-929050 60-6; Mulligan 1-895811-45-7;
Sommers 1-895811-96-1; Sophia 1-895811-64-3; Holy War 1-894384-11-3.
[Lisa Kerr / BCBW 2001]
At a reunion for Vancouver Sun and Province reporters from the '50s and '60s, O'Keefe got to chatting with Ian Macdonald. They confided they both wanted to write books. "We just decided why not do it together?";
Seven books later, the writing duo has released Merchant Prince: The Story of Alexander Duncan McRae (Heritage $16.95), an investigative portrait of the Shaughnessy industrialist who lorded over Hycroft Manor between 1909 and 1913.
"Sometimes we argue about which book to do next,"; says O'Keefe, "since we often have several ideas at the same time.";
"Ian tends to zero in on crime and corruption and politics, whereas I pay attention to the social history and context. The balance seems to make a good book.";
In 1965 the feisty Macdonald was sent to Ottawa as a reporter for the Vancouver Sun. He later handled media relations for Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau from '74 to '77. He now divides his time equally between Ottawa and Vancouver.
"The professional historian might be miffed about us invading their turf,"; says Macdonald, "but the problem with most Canadian historians is that they tell it dully. It's been interesting to watch Pierre Berton, who made a bundle telling exciting history, clash with the academics. It's like two dinosaurs-two massive egos having a battle.";
Macdonald's current beef is with media coverage for their books, or lack thereof. "We've done six books before this one. The Province has never said a thing, and the Vancouver Sun gave us 120 wasted words, one time. I don't think they owe us anything, but I do think they owe their readers.";
As longtime Vancouverites, Macdonald and O'Keefe have lived through some of the stories they've revisited, such as the scandal about Walter Mulligan. In The Mulligan Affair: Top Cop on the Take (Heritage $16.95) they recall the trial of the man who became Vancouver's Chief of Police in 1947. Mulligan enjoyed a career of bribe-taking and corruption-mongering prior to his sensational 1955 trial. Radio journalist and Vancouver Sun reporter Jack Webster, a friend of Macdonald's, was a key player in breaking the story. Both he and Macdonald had come to Canada from Glasgow.
"The inquiry had everything reporters wanted: graft, corruption, death, bootleggers, bookies, vice-lords, politicians with a sudden loss of memory, gambling squad cops who could barely remember their names, hookers, and Mulligan's own black-veiled 'mystery' lady.";
Canadian newspapers proclaimed it the news story of the year. Stumbling onto the Mulligan story many years later, O'Keefe and Macdonald realized, "No one's ever done the Mulligan story! We just dove in,"; says O'Keefe.
The pair also had personal ties with The Sommers Scandal: The Felling of Trees and Tree Lords (Heritage $16.95), an account of the events surrounding the career and demise of Forests Minister Robert E. Sommers.
The minister signed a deal in 1953 that had a major impact on the forest industry, and five years later was sent to jail for conspiracy and accepting bribes. The book concludes, "decisions made in the 1950s set the course for the death of logging towns, the corporate concentration, and the crisis of overcutting today.";
Macdonald was a legislative reporter in Victoria during the scandal, which left a major stain on the record of Premier W.A.C. Bennett's Socreds. O'Keefe spent many years handling corporate communications for a forest and mining company, and knew the ins and outs of the business.
"Our work is a true collaboration,"; says O'Keefe, "when there's something missing, one of us says, 'I'll go find that out.'"; They read over every word the other writes, and fill in the critical spaces-anything the other person might have overlooked. Macdonald candidly admits, "We have our disagreements, but nobody ever punched anybody.";
At some point, the work does get split up. "Ian tends to cover the political end of things,"; O'Keefe laughs, "thank goodness, because I couldn't stand it!";
The Final Voyage of the Princess Sophia (Heritage $16.95) chronicles the mysterious maritime tragedy that killed 350 people off the Pacific coast-leaving no survivors in 1918.
The story remained untold in book form for over 80 years, overshadowed by the end of WWI and covered up by the CPR
.
Macdonald and O'Keefe even had trouble convincing their publisher that the Titanic-like disaster was a great story-and now they get more response for that book than any other.
Macdonald and O'Keefe last year published Canadian Holy War: A Story of Class, Tongs, Murder and Bigotry (Heritage $17.95) about the famous Shaughnessy murder of Scottish nursemaid Janet Smith and the racial tension that was ignited in 1924 when the Chinese houseboy stood accused.
They returned to Shaughnessy's Hycroft mansion for the launch of Merchant Prince, an investigation into the life and times of the building's first owner.
Born in Glencoe, Ontario in 1874, Alexander Duncan McRae made his money in land speculation in Saskatchewan prior to his arrival in Vancouver in 1907. He invested in fish canning and lumber, joining the war effort overseas in 1915. He was briefly touted as a candidate for premier, became president and financial backer of the short-lived Provincial Party, then was elected federally as a Conservative in 1926. After his defeat in 1930, he was named to the Senate.
Hycroft was the scene of the annual costume ball for Vancouver's social elite. During World War I it was donated to the federal government as a convalescent home for veterans. McRae retired to Qualicum Beach. Hycroft is now home to the University Women's Club.
This year O'Keefe and McRae have had some film industry enquiries about their work-and their publisher has negotiated the sale of rights to one of their titles. But the pair resist any embellishment of their tales on the page. As journalists from the old school, they both believe 'what can't be proven can't be printed.'
Merchant Prince 1-894384-30-X; Earthquake 0-929050 60-6; Mulligan 1-895811-45-7;
Sommers 1-895811-96-1; Sophia 1-895811-64-3; Holy War 1-894384-11-3.
[Lisa Kerr / BCBW 2001]
Submitted on June 3, 2003 in By David.
