By Bill Lynam
(This is the second part of a two-part article.)
Tom Mix and his Ralston Straight Shooters radio program ran from 1933 until 1950, and is probably the best-remembered part of Mixiana by people today. Over the career of the radio shows, by contract, Tom Mix never appeared in any of them. This created an opportunity for different radio personalities to be the on-air Tom Mix.
If you became a Ralston Straight Shooter, you could sign up for the Straight Shooter's Secret Manual, that included a secret handshake and a secret password: "Ral" answered by "Ston." Over 150 Ralston premiums were offered over the life of the radio show, and the surviving items have become collectables, including: western gear, fake guns, compasses, watch-fobs, spinning charms, a movie make-up kit, magnifiers, rings, arrowheads, comics, caps, bandanas, I.D. and charm bracelets, spyglasses, badges, etc. The surviving premiums may be found in your attic or on e-bay. For example, the Fawcett Publication, Tom Mix Western # 10 comic, published in October 1948, which sold originally for 10 cents, had a recent bid price of $79.99. Of course, there are more Tom Mix items to be found at auctions.
One of the pledges to be a Straight Shooter was to eat all the Hot Ralston cereal you could. Tom Mason, in his internet Online Magazine, said when he was a kid, he found Hot Ralston to be so tasteless he had to make it palatable by sprinkling chocolate-flavored Ovaltine over it so it wouldn't taste so bad. He didn't think that Captain Midnight, who pushed Ovaltine, would mind.
Up until the 1950's and the debut of television, the focus of western films and radio had been on children's entertainment, for example: prior to the 1950's, Tom's horses and other animals would do tricks to entertain the kids. The 'good guy', Tom, always won out over the 'bad guys.' On the radio shows, the Straight Shooters always won. The golden rule and family values were stated explicitly. The Straight Shooter's pledge said you were to obey your parents, both mother and father, shoot straight with your friends and always try to win.
Most of his films are no longer available or are held in museums or private hands. The films were photographed on cellulose nitrate or acetate film, both of which degrade over time and have low ignition points and are extremely flammable. Few survive. If you have a hankering to see a Tom Mix film, your best bet is the Prescott Library, which has a copy of The Miracle Rider. Or, you can also find some on-line (try videoflicks.com).
Tom, in pursuit of family values in his personal life, married five times. He married Grace Allen while he was a Sergeant in the Army in 1902. After he re-upped, he decided he liked married life better than the Army, and went A.W.O.L (absent without leave). Grace's father, hearing about the AWOL, had the marriage annulled. Even though the Army never pursued Tom for this peccadillo, he nevertheless changed his name for a while to Tom Mixico, ostensibly to thwart anyone looking for him.
While bar-tending at the Perrine Hotel in Oklahoma, Tom caught the eye of
the owner's daughter, Kitty Jewel Perrine, and married her in December 1905.
Subsequently, he went to work for the 101 Ranch, a 101,000-acre ranch in Oklahoma that also used its cowboys in frontier days, Wild West and rodeo shows during the off-season. Life at the bunkhouse though was a little too rough for Kitty, and she signed off from the life-style and divorced Tom.
In January of 1909, Tom married Olive Stokes at the family ranch in Medora, North Dakota. Subsequently, they toured with a Wild West show then moved on to form their own group. They had a daughter, Ruth, who would later appear in shows with Tom as her mother did. They divorced in 1917.
Tom appeared in a number of pictures with Eugenie Forde, an actress of about his own age. But, he was more taken by her 18 year-old daughter, Victoria. He made Victoria his leading lady and married her in 1918. She appeared in many of Tom's pictures. They had a daughter, Thomasina, and a marriage that had lots of highs and lows. One of the lows was when, in 1924, Victoria took five shots at Tom with a pistol but only connected once and the bullet had to be extricated from his back. Tom soft-peddled it to the press, stating it was an accident and self-inflicted.
Tom's last marriage was to Mabel Ward in February, 1932. She did roping and shooting-tricks in shows with Tom and continued to do so in shows after his demise.
Tom Mix rode on to movie-cowboy heaven in October 1940, when his car left the road at high speed near Florence, Arizona. He was 60 years old.
If you were one of his Straight Shooters, one variation on the full Ralston ad jingle that may still be rolling around in your head, goes:
"Hot Ralston for your breakfast, start the day off shining bright.
Gives you lots of cowboy energy, with a flavor that's just right.
Made of golden western wheat.
So take a tip from Tom, go tell your mom,
Hot Ralston can't be beat!"
(Bill Lynam is a volunteer at the Sharlot Hall Museum.)
Our readers' thoughts...
The song I remember from the old radio days goes like this:
When it's roundup time in Texas,
Then it surely is a treat
To have some wholesome hot wheat cereal
Made from golden western wheat.
Tom Mix says it is "delicious"
And you'll find before you're through
With a lot of ????? it sure tastes great
And it's good for grownups too.
Ask your mother in the morning
To serve you up a steaming plate
of that wholesome Ralston cereal
And the cowboys think its great.
Won't you try it? Then you'll buy it.
Tom Mix says it's good for you.
Jane and Jimmy, too, say it's best for you.
Ralston cereal can't be beat.
Stanley Bine
June 8, 2008
You left out a line just before "Made of good ole' Western wheat"
The missing line: "It's delicious and nutricious".
Don Lewis, Whitney,
June 5, 2010
Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(pb130f13i9)
Reuse only by permission.
Tom Mix participated in the Rodeo held each year in Prescott. Frequent listeners to his show could become Straight Shooters and learn secret handshakes and passwords. Today, his movies, promotions, and the number of items that are found on e-bay that have his name measure his legacy.