Bruce Kiskaddon (1878 - 1950) was born in Pennsylvania, but he eventually moved to Southern Colorado. He started working as a cowhand when he was 20 years old, riding ranges in the American Southwest and, for a while, in Australia. Coming up with jokes and jingles was a routine part of spending a day on horseback; Bruce compiled some of his wit into a book which was published in 1924. A couple of years later, hearing there were jobs in Hollywood riding horses in the movies, Bruce and a few buddies headed for L.A. Observing how much bellboys got paid for delivering whiskey to the cowboys staying at area hotels, he decided to add that was a job worth pursuing. Bruce spent the last third of his life dividing time between bellhopping and cowboying—including the chance to drive a chariot in the original silent version of Ben Hur. Meanwhile, he kept submitting and publishing poems. Bruce's style of writing about the real facts of cowboy life, rather than a romanticized version, has made him one of this genre's most popular practitioners.