THE death of Mickey Rooney, who came to fame as one of the stars of Boys Town, which won the Oscar for best movie in 1938, yet again brings into focus Fr Edward Flanagan, on whose work the movie was based. Spencer Tracy won the Oscar for best actor for his portrayal of the Irish-born priest.

Edward J Flanagan was born in Leabeg, Co Roscommon, in 1886. He received his secondary education at Summerhill College, Sligo, before emigrating to the US in 1904.

He studied for the priesthood, in the US, Rome, and Austria, where he was ordained in 1912. In 1917 he was ministering in Omaha, Nebraska, when he set up a home for wayward boys that became famous as ‘Boys Town’.

He preached and practised love rather than correction, and he popularised the slogan: “There is no such thing as a bad boy.”

His message was not “spare the rod and spoil the child”, but banish the rod and cherish the child. From the outset, he emphasised that there were no fences to stop the boys from leaving.

“This is a home,” Fr Flanagan stressed. He was “not building a prison... You do not wall in members of your own family”.

In 1918, Fr Flanagan saw one boy carrying his crippled brother on his back. When he asked if the boy was heavy, the older one replied: “He ain’t heavy; he’s my brother, Father.”

This inspired Fr Flanagan to adopt the response as a slogan for Boys Town, and it, in turn inspired the famous song, which became a hit for the Hollies in 1969 and Neil Diamond in 1970.

Boys Town was a novel idea that attracted considerable international attention. In 1936, Fr Flanagan was elevated to the status of monsignor by Pope Pius XI. He then rocketed to international fame with the success of the movie in 1938.

Ironically, Louis B Mayer, one of the founders of MGM, initially decided not to release the movie, because he thought the grim tale of poverty, delinquency, and deprivation would not have public appeal. But Rooney claimed that he and Spencer Tracy prevailed on Mayer to change his mind.

“Our nation needs this,” Tracy argued.

“It will never sell. There’s no sex,” Mayer replied. “There’s no songs.”

“It’s a song of freedom,” Rooney rejoined. “It’s a song of rehabilitation. It’s a song of youth, no matter what colour or faith you are. It’s about praying. It’s about living a good life.”

The movie was an immediate box-office success. It was an inspirational story that quickly captured the public imagination.

On accepting his Oscar for best actor, Tracy credited Monsignor Flanagan. One MGM publicist announced that Tracy was donating his Oscar to Boys Town, without consulting Tracy, who was not amused.

“I earned the damn thing,” he told the studio. “I want it.”

The Academy of Motion Picture promptly cast another statuette for Boys Town with the following inscription: “‘To Father Flanagan, whose great humanity, kindly simplicity, and inspiring courage were strong enough to shine through my humble effort,’ Spencer Tracy.”

A young boy in the office of Father Edward J Flanagan mourns the Roscommon cleric’s passing. Pic: George Skadding

In 1945, President Harry Truman sent Monsignor Flanagan to war-torn Europe and Asia to see what could be done for homeless, abandoned, and neglected children. The monsignor inspired a further 80 Boys Towns around the world.

On visiting Ireland in 1946, he was initially treated as a celebrity. This country prided itself on its educational system and the role of teaching orders like the Christian Brothers, but if those people thought that the monsignor was going to enhance their international reputation, they were in for a rude awakening.

In the light of what was going on in those schools, reading his response now is truly refreshing.

Speaking to a large public audience at the Savoy Cinema in Cork on Sunday, July 7, 1946, Fr Flanagan delivered a broadside. “I do not believe that a child can be reformed by lock and key and bars, or that fear can ever develop a child’s character,” he said. “You are the people who permit your children and the children of your communities to go into these institutions of punishment. You can do something about it.

“If in trying to help the forgotten boys in reform schools and prisons, whether it be in Ireland or in the United States, is intemperate and offensive, I’m afraid I’ll have to plead guilty.”

Gerald Boland, the justice minister, was dismissive. He said he was “not disposed to take any notice of what Monsignor Flanagan said while he was in this country, because his statements were so exaggerated that I did not think people would attach any importance to them”.

When the justice minister was so dismissive, is it any wonder that society in general turned a blind eye to the outrages perpetrated in Irish orphanages, industrial schools, and reformatories in the name of God?