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lloe Angele& lJlme& Thursday, May 21, 1987 / Part IX 9 1111
After 40 Years, County Comes Through With TLC for W. S. Hart Museum

Ry LYN O' HAUCHNESSY, Timt1Stafl Writtr
When silent-film suir William S. Ince then, some or the muse- deteriorating. mcnl. "Other museums Lhal have initial years of Hollywood." career as a Shakespearean actor
llarl bequeathecl his Spanish villa um's artifacts have deteriorated to In a lengthy report last year, a failed lo maintain objects properly Many early Westerns were and didn't leave Broadway until he
and its surrounding 233-acre New- the poinl Lhal county museum consultant chided Lhe county for have been Ulken lO task by donors filmed near Lhe villa In Lhe Santa was 49. lie made 70 cowboy movies
-hall estate lo Los Angeles County experts consider Lhe vast collec- being remiss In caring for Hart's or families or donors and, In some Clarita Valley's rugged hills, dolled during his Hollywood career. He
in 19◄6, lhe county had LO fighl In tion's general condition Lo be only heirlooms. cases, have had Lo give Lhe collec- with scrub brush and crawling with lived In a large home on De
probate court for more than a fair. tions back!" rattlesnakes. Memories or Lhe real Longpre Avenue In Hollywood un -
decade Lo gain possession. A cherished Charles Russell OtheH 'Taken lo Tuk' Mark Rodriguez, chief deputy Wild West and Hollywood's ver- lit he retired lO Lhe Newhall ranch,
Bul over the years, Lhe county's palnllng Is beginning Lo buckle, and "The county has had possession director al the Los Angeles County sion of IL are captured at Lhe where he died al SL
interest In Lhe villa, which Is filled other oil paintings are bleeding. or this fine collecllun for over 40 Museum or Natural History, says museum in signed photographs, About 50,000 people annually
with Hart's invaluable Western arl Beads Lhal decorated ornate Indian years, bul has Ulken no real steps Lhe Newhall facility "captures a tellers and memenlOs from Lhe walk through Lhe cool, spacious
and artifacts collection, waned. In clothing and other tribal treasures toward malnuiinlng accountability portion or hlslOry, especially In the likes or Wyatt Earp, Calamity Jane, villa Lhal Harl dubbed La Loma de
the 1960s, during a county bureau- have been discovered on the floor. for IL," wrote Susan J. Buchel, a Los Angelea basin and Lhe Weal Buffalo Bill and Will Rogers. Los Vientos, or Hill of Lhe Winds.
cratic shuffle, Lhe villa-Lurned- Hart's stockpile or Westerns shot former curator with Scolly's Castle Coast IL has a loL or meaning as LO Harl was truly an urban cowboy. Some still visll because Lhey adored
museum lost its curators,, on nitrate mm Is reared to be al Death Valley National Monu- how Los Angeles developed In Lhe Born In New York, he suirted his Harl as a stern villain-turned hero
who usually gol the girl. Bul as the The Hart mansion is the only Volunteer Support Group Los Angeles County Supervisor
memory of his film aura fades, county-owned museum Lhat makes Mike Antonovich, who supports
more visitors are lured by Lhe do without curators. Since Lhe staff The Friends of Hart Park Muse-
fabulous collecllon of arl and mem- from the county's Museum of Nat- um, a group of supporters who have revitalizing the museum, made his
orabilia. ural History departed in the 1960s, worried about the facility for years, own pitch last year to raise funds
Perhaps the museum's mosl fa - believe that it is on the verge of a for the Hart museum. He ap-
mous painting, Russell's "Buffalo the museum has been under the renaissance. It was the Friends proached, among others, Holly-
jurisdiction of the county's Depart-
Hunt No. 14," hangs in the huge ment of Parks and Recreation, who raised the money to hire wood cowboys Roy Rogers and
living room near a grizzly bear rug, which many agree has done Its best consult.ant Buchel to assess the Gene Autry, as well as the J. Paul
a gift from Will Rogers. The under difncult circumstances. condition of the Hart collection, Getty Museum. But all he got was
an offer from Autry to showcase
Smithsonian lnslltullon issued Lhe "The parks department isn't set and the group has pressed county some of Hart's possessions In Au-
palnllng's number LO dlfferenllale up to run a museum," explained officials to devote more attention
it from other paintings Russell did Katherine Child, a curatorial as- and resources LO the museum. try's planned Western museum in
LO commemorate buffalo hunts. sist.ant at the Museum of Natural "It's not the bright, busy place It Griffith Park.
Bronzes by Frederic Remington used LO be. But I have great hopes Meanwhile, the Friends of Hart
and Charles Christadoro decorate History who has been directing an we'll be able to tum the corner and .Museum have been raising funds
Lhe house's shelves and tables. inventory of the museum's hold- get it shaped up," said Jim Yaple of and searching for museum LOur
Paintings and drawings by Jaines ings. "They don't have people Newhall, the group's president. guides. The group was able to
trained LO lake care of artifacts or
Montgomery Flagg, who drew the identify artifacts." As a first step, $223,000 in county match a $2,500 donation from Aet-
famous military recruiting poster John Weber, the park depart- and st.ate money has been invested na Life & Casualty to finance an
of Uncle Sam, are generously rep- ment's regional director, said his in recent months in physical im- inventory of the museum's hold-
resented. staff has tried hard to maintain the provements at the villa, the ranch ings-a necessary first step toward
Hart's extensive weapons collec- and bunkhouses, which were fea- documenting and preserving the
tion includes a Coll revolver once museum over the years and to tured in Hart's Western potboilers. collection.
brandished by train robber Al follow the experts' suggestions. Security alarms have been in-
"I think the county parks de-
Jennings, and an ax head auto- partment has done an excellent job stalled, and climate control devices
graphed by Kil Carson. Bul there Is in that facility, given the resources have been added LO protect the
an Impostor In Lhe collection, Hart buildings' contents.
Lhoughl Lhal one of his revolvers we've had," he said. The museum also might get back
belonged LO Billy Lhe Kid, but And Norm Phillips, the park's its curatorial staff.
someone taler traced Lhe serial recreational supervisor for the past Museum of Natural History offi-
number and discovered that Lhe year, has been taking crash courses cials, who would like to have the
in museum management. Phillips,
gun was forged four months after Lhe park's recreational supervisor, facility returned to their jurisdic-
Lhe notorious outlaw died. tion, have asked the Board of
figures Lhat he has almost learned Supervisors for $358,000 In next
enough about museums to qualify year's budget to pay for a profes-
for a curator's job. "I've had lo sional staff and supplies. A similar
become the jack of all trades," he request for money, however, was
said.
turned down in 1986.