[2] Slim was born in St. Louis, Missouri, to Joseph Hebert and Hallie Cole.
[5][6][7] While working as a forest ranger in the San Bernardino Mountains, he learned how to ride a motorcycle, a skill that would serve him well when he entered the motion picture industry around 1915.
[8] "They laughed at me when I started patrolling the forests on motorcycle, but after I got the knack for following old trails and making new ones, I showed them that I could cover as much territory as four rangers on mounted horses.
"[1] After being spotted by a motion picture director, Slim was soon in demand for his willingness to perform all sorts of death-defying stunts.
[9] In 1922, he briefly returned to St. Louis with the ambition of starting a motion picture industry in his hometown.