Skunk Ranch to Hollywood

The Evarts clan breeds storytellers, as this biography of Western fiction writer Hal G. Evarts confirms. Born in 1887, Hal Sr. was a true 'American Original.' Dropping out of the school in the ninth grade, he became a gypsy of the west: trapper, professional hunter, self-taught naturalist, and general hell-raiser. In 1915, he moved with his young family to Skunk Ranch, remotely near Cody, Wyoming. Here, he was stricken with one of the diseases endemic to the snow-bound north - boredom. Huddling over a table in front of the kitchen stove, dressed in a fur cap and mackinaw, he passed the time by transporting his life of adventures in the wild onto paper. Unbeknownst to Hal, his sister sent these first stories off to New York publishers. And just when his ranching operation went bellyup, the stories sold, launching his meteoric career as a bestselling Western fiction writer in the 30s. Then, as if graced by a lucky but whimsical star, his trail took a turn to Hollywood when three of his novels were made into movies - one of which introduced another rising star, John Wayne. Affectionately written by his son, Hal Evarts, Jr., this is a colorful history told with broad humor and a knack for sniffing out the comic and extraordinary details of Evarts extraordinary life.