Niles Essanay SilentFilmMuseumIt's often said that the only voice recording of William S. Hart is his wonderful Prologue to the 1939 re-issue of TUMBLEWEEDS.
Not quite!
In September 1932 William S. Hart commissioned Columbia records to issue a personal record asking the whereabouts of a friend of his in Alaska who had written him but who went "missing" once Hart wrote back. Hart hoped someone would hear this record (supposedly a 100,000 were issued) who could tell him where his friend was.
On the reverse side of the record, is an amazing account of a gunfight in Abilene, Kansas where Hart tells the "true story" of Wild Bill Hickok plugging eight bad men with eight rapidly-fired bullets. At the end of his story, Hart even shoots eight bullets, most likely with a pistol Hickok owned (Hart was a collector of famous Old West pistols).
OK, he doesn't claim that the pistol is one owned by Hickok, but his story is wonderfully told as only William S. Hart could tell a story.
VINTAGE RECORD PLAYLIST • Audio Oddities: William S. Hart Seeks a Friend Lost in Alaska (1932)
Original Recordings from the Mainspring Press Collection . . . In September 1932, old-time cowboy-movie star William S. Hart commissioned Columbia to produce a personal recording. Hart was trying t…