Selfish Yates
1918 film by William S. Hart
Selfish Yates is a 1918 American silent Western film starring William S. Hart. It was directed by and co-produced by Hart along with Thomas H. Ince. Paramount Pictures handled distribution.
This is a surviving Hart western at the Museum of Modern Art.
Plot
As described in a film magazine, Mary Adams, her sister Betty, and her dying father arrive at the town of Thirsty Center which is ruled by "Selfish" Yates. After the death of her father, Mary scrubs the floors of the dance hall and cooks for Yates. However, soon her finer qualities awaken a spark of manhood in Yates and he sets her to work teaching his protege Hotfoot. After rescuing Mary from his unscrupulous manager, Yates decides to dispose of his dance hall and devote the rest of his life to righteous living and making Mary happy.
Cast
William S. Hart as "Selfish" Yates
Jane Novak as Mary Adams
Bert Sprotte as "Rocking Chair" Riley
Harry Dunkinson as "Oklahoma Hog"
Ernest Butterworth as "Hotfoot"
Thelma Salter as Betty Adams
Reception
Like many American films of the time, Selfish Yates was subject to restrictions and cuts by city and state film censorship boards. For example, the Chicago Board of Censors cut, in Reel 1, young woman at bar drinking with men, the intertitle "His protege, the nameless waif of a departed dance hall girl", Reel 3, Mexican shooting man, Reel 4, closeup of Riley as he is about to spring at young woman as she lies on ground, two closeups of Yates choking man, Reel 5, three intertitles "There's a rope waiting for you, Riley", "They're going to lynch Riley", and "You've got two minutes to pray", last two scenes of mob taking man from jail, scene of cowboy with rope in hand, and all scenes of man with rope around neck up to where young woman rescues him.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Selfish Yates” as 1918 film by William S. Hart. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as 1918 film by William S. Hart. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q18709071. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1918.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Selfish Yates” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.