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146 FILMS IN REVIEW

to athletics. At nineteen he went to It was these plays, and an occur-
London with the fabulous track star, rence in Cleveland while he was play-
Lon Myers, and there set a world ing there, that gave his career its di-
record for the three-and-a-half-mile rection and his life its goal.
walk. In Cleveland Hart saw his first
At that time Hart had two am- Western film. The thing that im-
bitions: to go to West Point, and to pressed him most was the terrible mis-
go on the stage. West Point was representation of the Old West. "I
out because he lacked the schooling. was an actor and I knew the West,"
"The stage idea jus·t came," Hart said he wrote later. "The opportunity that
years later, "and always remained, I had been waiting for years to come
and will be with me when the final was knocking at my door . . . Rise
curtain is rung down." or fall, sink or swim, I had to bend
While working as a postal clerk in every endeavor to get a chance to
New York City's main post office he make Western motion pictures."
took acting lessons, and F. F. Markey, He kept this ambition to himself,
one of the finest actors and teachers and for the remainder of the season
of the day, was one of his teache;s. went to the movies whenever possible
Daniel E. Bandemann, an actor-man- and studied what he saw.
ager, gave Hart his first part on the While he was touring in The Trail
professional stage-in Romeo and of the Lonesome Pine the company
Juliet. By coincidence, it opened in played California and Hart dis-
Newburgh, the city of his birth. covered that his old friend, Tom
For the next twenty years Hart Ince, had become the head of the
earned his living as an actor. He New York Motion Picture Company's
toured the US and Europe, and was studios. He told Ince of his determi-
leading man to Mme. Rhea, Julia nation to make Westerns. Ince said
Arthur, and Modjeska. His first per- Westerns were a drug on the market.
sonal critical a0claim was as Messala \Xlhen Hart persisted, Ince agreed to
in the original Ben Httr company. give him a chance. He completed his
He played in Ben Hur for several tour with The Trail of the Lonesome
seasons, and then, like many another Pine and returned to California in
actor, hit a series of fl.ops. At this the summer of 1914.
juncture he shared a room in the The New York Motion Picture Com-
old Hotel Harrington, on Broadway pany was owned by Adam Kessell and
at 44th Street, with a young and Charles Baumann, and included Mack
struggling actor named Thomas H. Sennetfs Keystone Company. Their
Ince. studios were located in what was
Then Hart got the Cash Hawkins called Inceville, at the mouth of the
role in The Squaw Man- bis first Santa Monica canyon, along the pres-
"Western" role on the stage, and he ent Roosevelt Highway. · There were
played it to the hilt. Next came The several open air stages, a few open air
Barrier, followed by the lead in the sets of Western towns and the like, a
road company of The Virginian. building to house props, stables, and