TWO-GUN BILL The Story of Williatn S. Hart by KATHERINE H. CHILD illiam S. Hart not only got "While playing in Cle. veland [in 1913], I attended that chance to make West­ a picture show. I saw a Western picture. W ern motion pictures, he It was awful! I talked with the manager of made the best of it. In spite of their early popularity, Western films were, as Hart the theater and he told me it was one of the best had seen, exercises in mediocrity. When Hart came to California in 1914, he Westerns he had ever had. Npne of the impossibilities brought with him a fresh approach to or libels on the West meant anything to him-it was Western film making. He added authen­ tic costumes and locales to a heretofore drawing the crowds .... I was so sure that I had made popular, highly idealized image of the West to create a truly original style for a big discovery that I was frightened that some one his films. Much as the work of Frederic would read my mind and find it out. Remington and Charles Russell has come to be emblematic of the West in the Here were reproductions of the Old West being art world, so does the work of William seriously presented to the public-in almost a bur­ S. Hart symbolize the West on film. Though he was not the first Western lesque manner-and they were successful. It made me actor/ film maker nor the last, he was surely one of the most important, tremble to think of it. I was an actor and I knew the achieving both commercial success and West .... The opportunity that I had been waiting for artistic recognition for his films. William Surrey Hart was born in New­ _ years to come was knocking at my door. ... Rise or fall, burgh, New York, sometime between sink or swim, I had to bend every endeavor to get a 1862 and 1865. There is some contro­ versy about the exact year of Hart's birth. chance to make Western motion pictures." During his later career he gave his year of birth as anywhere between 18 70 and William S. Hart (My Life East and West, 1929) 1876, but his death record and his civil service record both indicate that he was born in 1864. Hart was the eldest of eight My Life East and West, Hart seems to Mrs. Hart left Bill with her husband in children born to Nicholas and Roseanne look back on this period of his life as a Minnesota and returned East for medical (McCauley) Hart. Two brothers died great adventure. Many times the family's care with the girls and the baby. Nicholas shortly after birth and another, Nicholas, only neighbors were Indians. Nicholas worked long hours and Bill was often left Jr., died as a small child. The other four worked with Indians whose children with little or no supervision. He enjoyed children were girls, Frances, Nettie, were often Bill's playmates; he learned very little success in school-he much Lotta, and Hart's lifelong companion, to speak the Sioux language from these pref erred to spend his time riding horses Mary Ellen. children, although he was by no means or fishing. He worked briefly with local Hart's parents were both of European fluent. He also gained a respect for In­ farmers, but always returned home descent. Nicholas was raised in England dians and their culture that he never lost. discouraged. and emigrated to the United States as a But times were hard, and his father's Nicholas had heard about the swift young man, and Rose was born in Ireland employment was always uncertain. streams of the Dakotas from Indian and raised in Newburgh, where she When Bill was a small child, Nicholas friends, so he and Bill traveled to Kansas and Nicholas met. A miller by trade, began slowly losing his eyesight, making and the Dakota Territory in 1875 search Nicholas traveled from town to town in it increasingly difficult for him to find of the perfect millsite. Nicholas's Indian the midwest setting up millsites for work. A risky operation saved his sight, contacts enabled them to travel deep others. He was always in search of the but he was separated from the family into Sioux Country unmolested; while perfect site for his own mill where he for an extended period. In turn, Rose father and son spent a great deal of time could not only build his fortune, but succumbed to a series of ailments that with the Indians, their search for a mill­ could at last make a home for his fam­ necessitated her return to New York on site was unsuccessful and they returned ily. The uncertain nature of his work, several occasions. Life in remote settle­ home to Orinoco, Minnesota. along with his quick tempe~ made the ments was not easy on her, and several Christmas of 1875 was happy for the family's existence a precarious one. difficult childbirths with no one but an Harts. Rose had recovered, and the fam­ Memories of childhood poverty were Indian midwife to attend to her had ily was once again united. They were never to leave Hart. taken their toll. not, however, to settle in one place for Nevertheless, in his autobiography, Shortly after Nicholas, Jr., was born, long. Nicholas's former partner, a Sioux, 20 / TERRA, Vol. 26, No. 2 · N ov./Dec. 1987 Western actor William S. Hart in his charac­ teristic two-gun pose. A cast of this statue by C. C. Cristadoro w as given to the Natu­ ·ral History Museum by Hart in 1936 and is now on display in the Lando Hall of Califor- . Iiia and Southwest History. Acting was not Hart's only interest. As a young man he spent a great deal of his time at the Manhattan Athletic Club, making friends and winning his share of races. This photograph of the young Hart dates from 1879. 7U 6111 A,·tmne. TERRA, Vol 26, N o. 2 · N ov. / Dec. 1987121 Above: In The Silent Man (1917), Hart plays Right: Marr is tried for the kidnapping of "Silent" Budd Marr, who has abducted Betty Bryce (far left). A last-minute inter­ wrote to Nicholas asking him to join him Betty Bryce (Vala Vale) to save her from a vention has proved Marr's innocence, but in a venture on the Zumbro River in life of shame as a dance hall girl. In this his enemies attempt to incite the crowd to Minnesota. Before the mill was com­ scene, Marr has allowed her little brother to hang him. A friendly officer has just saved capture him in the hopes that the reward the day by slipping a gun to Marr. pleted, Rose again became ill. This time money can be used to help the friends who Bill went East with the rest of the family, have suffered because of the aid they have Below: In Three Word Brand (1921), Hart while Nicholas headed for the North­ given to him. portrays three different characters. In this west to look for work. The family would scene from the beginning of the movie, Ben never again call the frontier their home. Trego (Hart) is about to sacrifice his own The Harts moved to New York City life to ensure the safety of his twin sons. after Nicholas suffered a crippling acci­ Hart also plays both of the sons as grown dent while he was working on a farm in men later in the film. upstate New York. This, the death of Nicholas, Jr., and Mrs. Hart's continued illnesses precluded the realization of Nicholas's dream of a Western home­ stead. Bill helped support the family by working as a messenger for two major hotels. He spent his spare time at the Manhattan Athletic Club, competing in walking races with some of the best ath­ letes of the time, and attending perfor­ mances at New York's many theaters. Family hardships, however, once again prevented him from pursuing these in­ terests too intently. The city was not much kinder to the family than the fron­ tier had been. By this time young Hart had become fairly successful as a racer and his connections with other athletes got him a job as an errand boy for a tailor. His father found work as an engineer, relieving some of the burden for sup­ porting the family that had been placed on Bill. Now Hart's desire to become an actor began to surface. Nicholas encouraged him, even suggesting that the best way for him to proceed was to travel to Europe, to l'see the results of ages of proficiency in all arts." Hart worked his way to England on a steamer in 1880i once in England he entered and won a number of races and visited the theater. 22/ TERRA, Vol. 26, No. 2 · Nov. / Dec. 19 87 Unfortunately, his primary means of Filn1ography of Willian1 S. Hart support was the money he received for redeeming the cups he won in the races. 1914 Wolf Lowry He was homesick and hungry, and he His Hour of Manhood The Cold Deck returned home disappointed. He made Jim Cameron's Wife All Star Production of Patriotic one more trip to England and signed up The Bargain Episodes for the Second Liberty for acting lessons, but never took advan­ The Passing of Two-Gun Hicks Loan tage of them. He was even more home­ In the Sage Brush Country The Narrow Trail sick than on his first trip, and returned 1915 The Silent Man home almost immediately.