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Funeral of William S. Hart.
Los Angeles Evening Herald-Express (newspaper),
Los Angeles, Cal.
Wednesday, June 26, 1946.
"The Last Round-up" was sung by Rudy Vallee.
William Farnum, another veteran of the silent screen, led a delegation of friends who attended the services. Then, with bowed heads, they said their good-byes and returned to their ranches, each with a deep feeling of loss.
SERVICES BROADCAST After his neighbors in the ranch country had paid their respects, the body of the 82-year- old screen cowboy was taken to the Little Church of the Recessional at Forest Lawn, high on a hilltop overlooking the canyon where he tracked down many a movie villain in the silent screen era. It was here that the legion of film colony friends, from old time western bit players and extras to the hierarchy of actors and directors, came to make their final tribute.
At the request of William S. Hart jr., no invitations were sent out, but the cemetery gates were open to all the veteran actor's friends and fans, and the first 400 to arrive were seated in the church. Other thousands sat in special bleachers thrown up outside the church to accommodate the overflow, and a microphone at the altar broadcast the services to millions throughout the nation.
'HOME ON THE RANGE' In the stillness of the little church an organ throbbed, and the strains of the western songs he loved—"Home on the Range" and "Twilight on the Trail"—rang out, while Rudy Vallee again sang "The Last Roundup" and "The Long, Long Trail."
Dr. Davidson, who came to the church from the Hart ranch home, read the services and then the solid walnut casket, covered with a blanket of red roses and white daisies, was lifted and thousands of mourners filed by.
Tomorrow evening Hart will be cremated and his ashes interred in a temporary vault at Forest Lawn for two weeks. Then his ashes will be taken to New York, his native state, and laid to rest in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, beside those of his sister, Mary Ellen.
His ashes in the grave, his heart in the western prairies and his soul in the "far-away ranch of the Boss in the sky."
Newspaper images: 9600 dpi jpeg of 300 dpi jpg of original newspaper from the collection of Alan Pollack
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