Tom Mix

(Courtesy of Andy Southard)

Above is Ruth Mix, who was born in 1912, and was the older of Tom's two children (both daughters). She did heroine duties in a series of mid-1930s oaters starring Rex Bell for Resolute as well as a trio of cliffhangers for Stage and Screen --- THE BLACK COIN (1936), THE AMAZING EXPLOITS OF THE CLUTCHING HAND (1936), and CUSTER'S LAST STAND (1936).

(Courtesy of Fred D. Pfening, Jr.)
Tom Mix, circa 1935

(Courtesy of Fred D. Pfening, Jr.)

(Courtesy of Fred D. Pfening, Jr.)

(Courtesy of Donn & Nancy Moyer and the Jeannie Blair collection)

Above, a 1938 newspaper ad for a performance in Charles City, Iowa, and the admission was 60¢ for adults and 25¢ for children. In the fine print at the bottom, you'll see a mention of Ruth Mix along with 'Agee's Australian Hackneys' --- Agee is Johnny Agee, renowned horse trainer. Bud Norris adds that soon after Mix's death, Johnny Agee --- and his horses --- went to work for Gene Autry.

(Courtesy of Donn & Nancy Moyer and the Jeannie Blair collection)

Above and below, the Mix Circus at an unknown location in 1937. The photos do provide a good perspective on the size and quantity of the tents.

(Courtesy of Donn & Nancy Moyer and the Jeannie Blair collection)

For those of you interested in learning all the facts and nitty gritty about Tom Mix, M. G. 'Bud' Norris has authored the definitive bio on the great western movie star. This $24.95 trade paperback is about 8 1/2 x 11 inches in size, has 377 pages ... includes a complete filmography, details on Mix's circus days, info on the Tom Mix radio program and Ralston premiums, lots of photos of lobby cards, postcards, arcade cards, etc. I ordered my copy direct from Bud and the price was $27.95, including postage. Bud will also autograph if you wish. Bud's mail address is:

M. G. Norris
1324 N. Hague Ave.
Columbus OH 43204-2108

Want more info? Bud's e-mail address is: budntom9@aol.com

Bud also has a webpage at: http://hometown.aol.com/budntom9/indexbudntom9.html

Weblinks

Kevin Canfield e-mailed about a batch of old negatives that he found. Fourteen of those turned out to be cast and crew photos taken during the filming of Mix's JUST TONY (Fox, 1922). You can see the super-size images at: http://www.tularepictures.com/themovie.htm. There's a nice shot of Mix and Tony at: http://www.tularepictures.com/32000r11919.htm

Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) has information on Tom Mix: http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0594291/

Jim Tipton's Find A Grave site has a photo of Mix's grave marker at Forest Lawn - Glendale: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=721

The website for the Dubois Area Historical Society, DuBois, Pennsylvania, is: http://home.wrkcs.net/history/frmain.htm
(The website for the Tom Mix Festival in DuBois, Pennsylvania was http://www.tommixfestival.com/, but is no longer working. The final TM Festival was held in 2004.)

For those of you interested in producer Nat Levine and his adventures with Ken Maynard, Tom Mix and more, McFarland book publishers has a great book on the history of Mascot Pictures titled The Vanishing Legion. Originally published in hardbound in the early 1980s, author Jon Tuska knew and interviewed Maynard and Levine (and lots of other Mascot alumni). The book has been re-issued in softcover for about $30.00. The following will take you to the McFarland 'search' page. When you get there, enter Tuska as the last name of the author: http://www.mcfarlandpub.com/searches/advanced_search.php

The Santa Clarita Valley History in Pictures website has several webpages on Mix:
http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/lw2027.htm
http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/lw2030.htm
http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/lw2033.htm
http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/lw2040.htm

The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission website has info on their Tom Mix collection: http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/dam/mg/mg443.htm

Jerry Murbach's Doctor Macro website has several images of Tom Mix:
http://www.doctormacro.info/Movie%20Star%20Pages/Mix,%20Tom.htm
http://www.doctormacro.info/Movie%20Star%20Pages/Mix,%20Tom-Annex.htm

The Tom Mix Museum is located in Dewey, Oklahoma and their website is: http://www.okhistory.org/mus-sites/masnum31.htm

Circus expert Fred D. Pfening, Jr. has a lengthy article titled Tom Mix: His Life, His Films and His Circus at the Circus Historical Society website: http://www.circushistory.org/Bandwagon/bw-two.htm

There's info about the Tom Mix Memorial/Monument near Florence, Arizona (location where Mix died in the automobile accident):
http://scoop.diamondgalleries.com/scoop_article.asp?ai=6655&si=121
http://www.azcentral.com/travel/arizona/oddballaz/tommix.html
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/set/CELtommix.html

Paul Reddin authored an article on Mix and his early experiences, including the Wild West Shows: http://www.press.uillinois.edu/s99/excerpts/reddin/chap7.html

The Silents Are Golden site has a page showing Mix's home in Beverly Hills: http://www.silentsaregolden.com/homes/hometommix.html

David B. Pearson's Silent-Movies website includes a bunch of photos of Mix: http://silentgents.com/PMix.html

Here's some real Mix trivia --- Mix and William S. Hart were pallbearers at the funeral of Wyatt Earp: http://www.desertusa.com/mag98/mar/papr/du_earp.html

Ralston has an 'official' site and there's some neat stuff on the cereal and the Tom Mix Ralston Straight Shooters radio program ... including the words to the theme song: http://www.hotralston.com/tommix.htm

The Circus Museum in Baraboo, Wisconsin has a wagon that was used by the Sells-Floto Circus when Tom Mix was with them around 1930: http://www.circusworldmuseum.com/wagons/index.html

Mix did a bunch of silents in the Prescott, Arizona area: http://www.yavapaihills.com/tom_mix.htm

Gene Bell authored a multi-part article on Mix for Classic Images. Not all the articles are available online, but following are links to several:
http://www.classicimages.com/1996/april/tommix.shtml
http://www.classicimages.com/1996/may/tommix2.html
http://www.classicimages.com/1997/august97/mix_10.html
http://www.classicimages.com/1998/february98/tommix.html

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