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BILL HART
plain ties, and sometimes a plain, unattractive cap (when
not wearing the traditional Stetson).
"In real life, Bill was quiet and gentle. He had a robust
sense of humor, chuckling at conversation and laughing up-
roariously at a joke. He laughed by throwing his head back
and hollering with glee.
"There were also times when he raged in anger over studio
injustices, or, perhaps, the misdemeanors of someone in his
company at an inopportune time, BUT the public never saw
him angry or in a rage, or in an undignified position. He
played the role expected of him.
"Behind the scenes, Bill lived a simple, almost austere life.
"Once he quit the stage, in 1914, to star in 'The Bar-
gain' for his old room-mate, Tom Ince, he gave it up forever.
Bill was offered $400 a week by Eugene Walters to co-star
with Charlotte Walker at the time, but he made the plunge
into the lowly movies for $125 a week.
"He arrived in Los Angeles with his sister, Mary Ellen,
and their old English bulldog, Congo, and took residence at
a downtown apartment. On my way home from the newspaper
office I would meet Bill for breakfast at 5: 30, at a 'greasy
spoon' called Chili Mike's. I would be on my way to bed and
Bill on his way to Inceville, which was thirty miles away by
street car and bus. That was quite a trip to make every day.
Bill would be made up and on the set or location between
eight and nine o'clock. At night he had to make the same
trip back to Los Angeles, and still get to the Round Table,
at the Hoffman, for dinner. It was rugged.
"But from the moment Bill decided to gamble on the
movies, he went all the way.
"While waiting for the returns on 'The Bargain,' Bill had
to be content with making two-reelers. His first, 'The Passing
of Two-Gun Hicks,' was regarded by such discerning critics
as the late Harry Carr as the best two-reeler ever made. Early
in the spring of 1915, after Bill had made more than twenty
two-reelers, the Triangle Company was formed, headed by
D. W. Griffith, Mack Sennett and Thomas H. Ince.

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