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Show How I Broke Into I } IThe The Movies MoviesCopyniht MoviesCopyright Copyniht COPyr1iht Copyright by Hal Hol flat C . HermanBy Herman HermanBy By HOOT GIBSONI GIBSONAhi GIBSON GIBSONHAM Ahi A I sorry that I cannot relate relnte 8 a 8hIe atale atile I IA HAM hIe tale of hardships and privation prI\atIon prI atIon prsatton ( \ , but butmy butmy butmy my entry Into motion pictures was nc ac nccompllahed accomplished accompllshed compllahed complished with comparative comparnllve elli ease- ease easeafter ease easeafter > e- e - eafter - after I decided to work In them themI I can't cant ' exactly say that I broke Into Intothe intothe intothe the mm movies monies les It all seemed to happen happensJ happensystematically happensystematically sJ systematically stematicall ) The mo\ mo movies moles mottles \ les seemed seemed1Il.e seemedlike seemedlike 1Il.e 1Ile like . an opportunity , and antI when they theyoptned theyopened theyopened opt-ned opt ned opened - their doors to me I roc1p rode rod " inI In InI I 1 m a native nlltI\"e nlltI "e e \ " of Ncbrasi Ncbrnsl Nebrasl a , " was "nC nC ) born horn bornIn hornin bornIn In the small but ambitious town oC of oC'l'ekmah ofTeknmah ofTekimah 'l'ek\mah 'l'ek lek mah Teknmah ' ' ' \ , which v\ v w \ vas \ as smiller sm\l1er sm l1er smaller ' \ then than thanIt thanit thanIt It Is now , but it "a a " was wag large enough to toplease toplease toplease please me when I 1 started life under underthe underthe underthe the less fantastic name nnme of Edward Edwardand r.d\ard- r.dard r.d rd ard Idward- Idward r.dardand Idwardand . : \ , - and it g.1\ g.1 gave g.1e gale . \ e me my educition educ'ltlOn educltlOn education ' My Myeducation Slyeducation Iy Iye e education ucn tlOn completed I began to wan wander n wander an ander der , and Inasmuch , as the only thing thingI 1 I . knew I.new Inew anything about " was "as as ranch ranchssotlc ranchvvoik ,011e 011e ssotlc , , I " wandered "andered andered to different ranches ranchesI I have ha.e hae . been riding Iiorscs horses as ns far farbach farback farback bach back as I can remember and I 1 wis W'1S W1S ' as asmuch asmuch asmuch much much1 ' it \1 1 \ home in the < saddle laddie as on the theground theground theground ground Being BelOg an ad adventurous , enturou < \ youth youthI I begin beg\n beg n ' \ to try ' various 'nrlOllS nrlOllS difficult dll11cult and anddaring anddaring dar1l1g daring feats of horsemanship , and andnfter andafter andafter : nfter after plenty of hard work worl . and bumps bumpsI , 1 I got so I could cOllld Inndle h'1ndle h1ndle hindle ' a n horse well wellI wellenough wellenough wellenough I enough to get et i 1 a job \ ' wrangling ran lrng cattle cattlewhich , I whIch I 1 did dill for seveni sever'll severll several ' years yearsI ' I found the t'1 t1 tisk ' < : k of r pur&ulng purulng pur.ulng pursuing & : . cattle cattleover cattleover o\"er o "er er over \ " large and dusty prairies prnirles quite an ani anune.cltIng anunexciting anunexciting i une\.cltIng une.cltIng une .cltIng cltIng unexciting ' \ . emplo employment ) ment So " wlien wlen hen I Imet Imet Imet met up1th up \ with \\1th 1th \ a tnveling tr'1eHng traveling tr'1\ tr'1 tr1 ' \ eHng eHng'vlld \ Wild \'vlld 'vlld vlld 14ild ' West WestI Westshow Westshow Westshow I show IHiS I \ was \HiS HiS oveijoed overjoyed oveljO ; ) ed at the oppor opportunity opportunity I Itunlty tunlty tunity of joining joimng it as one of the star startrick < ; startrick tar I trIck and stunt riders It was knownthen kno known knownthen " n nthen then as Dick DId , Stanleys Stanley s Congress oC of ofRough ofRough i iHough Hough Rough nidersIn RidersIn Riders niders RidersIn In 1912 1012 I entered the annuil annu'll annull ' Pendle Pendleton Pendleton , ton ( Ore ) round up as one of they theVaf4 the theHoot y y yS yr Vaf4 { S r { s ' ! # } a A Aa AL AHoot L Hoot Gibson 175 contesting riders When the dust dusthad dusthad dusthad had settled on the rodeo I found my myself myself myself self holding the all aU around cowboy cowboychampionship cowboychampionship cowboychampionshipIt .hamplonshlp hamplonshlp championship ( ' . .hamplonshlpIt championshipIt It was a tougn job , and I worked workedhard workedhard workedhard hard to get it , , but I kept right on rId- rId rIdIng riding rid riding - ing for I left with tlie the American delegation dele dele- delegaUon delegation - gation gaUon of or cow punchers for Australia Australiawhere Australiawhere Australiawhere where I rode In the foreign meets forseven for forsewn ' se sewn , ea monthsAbout monthsAbout months monthsAbout About this time motion motlon pictures were werejust werejust werejust just beginning to show some ' signs 3lgns of ofdevelopment ofdevelopment : development and after reaching reacblng thiscountry thb this thilcountry I 'ountry ountry country ( ' again I found round mself myself mi ) self talklhg talklbg talklhgwith talklbgwith talkingwith with motion picture producers talklhgI They Theyhtlppened Theyhappened Theyhappened I htlppened happened to has have haH e a field for "estern estern western "esternI "esternpIctures westernpictures " westernpictures I pIctures so I started directing dlrecthg directiig 'pro pro 'proI 'program ' pro program program I gram " or short length westerns westernsI I might have continued on this un- un unpretentlOu unpretentious un unpretentious - - pretentious pretentlOu status stntus for the rest of my mycareer mycareer mycareer career but seeing seemg the opportunities OPIOrtunlttes ) In Int11e inthe Intlie t11e the acting actmg end of the game , I decIded decIdedto decidedto to get Into the grease paint and see seewht seewhit seewhit wh\t wh t whit ' \ would develop I had hnd directed directedabout directedabout directedabout about 40 pictures and hid h'ld hld ' a fair flur I knowi knowiedge knowedge . no " ! ] edge of11at of \ what \\11at 11at the industry Industrv wanted In Inthe Inthe Inthe the line of western productions productionsI I hive h'lve hlve ' alwa always s had what some peo peopIe peopie peopie pIe call a sense of humor and I scant scanted \ wanted \ ant anted ed to use It to advantage If It po possible < : slble . . I Isaw Isaw Isaw saw tremendous possibilities In mnk mak mnkfng makbug makIng fng bug westerns that went off oft ' the beaten beatenpath beatenpath beatenpath path of melodramatic action pIctures picturesI I wanted to Intersperse the exaggerat exaggerated ed action of my pictures with comedy comedyand comedyand and human touches I found a dlrec direc dlrector director director tor a d together we conspired to do docomedy docomedy comedy and nnd human touches The re resuIt resuit resuit suIt wis W'1S W1S ' a better and more popular popularbrand popularbrand popularbrand brand of or pictures picture'3 picture3 picturesI picture'3I ' I know of no other otber business where wheremerit wheremerit wheremerit merit Is rewarded as It Is In the themovieshut themovieshut themovies movies-hut movies hut - but merit must be aided nldcd by bylabor bylabor bylabor labor , and nnd plenty plentv of ItWNU itWNU It ItWNU WNU Servic Service S rvlce : * |