Two Cowboys…
Two Legends and
Two…

Before Gene Autry and Roy Rogers ever saddled up, two other cowboy heroes rode the celluloid range! They became legends in their own time….and both met sudden and untimely deaths.

Tom Mix

Tom Mix invented “Tom Mix”. Yakima Canutt, one of filmdom’s greatest stuntmen, called him the “g..damndest liar that ever lived”. Tom was the original designer cowboy and he fooled even some of his friends (including Gene Autry). But his invention was America ’s first “King of the Cowboys” (sorry, Roy ).

Tom Mix and Tony the Wonder Horse

 

The way Tom told it, he was born in El Paso, Texas, the son of a cavalry captain and 1/8 th Cherokee. He attended Virginia Military Institute and later served his country in the army during the Spanish-American War (where he was wounded) and in the Boxer Rebellion in China . His military service also took him to the Philippines and Mexico before he decided that “the public would be interested in seeing a real cowboy doing real stunts on the screen”.

None of that was true but it was that cowboy that America took to their hearts…a cowboy that never existed except on the screen.

Poised for action

Actually Tom was born Thomas Hezekial Mix in Mix Run, Pennsylvania on January 6 th, 1880 . His father was a poor lumber man which was probably why Tom dropped out of school in the 4th grade. Later he did enlist in the navy but never saw action. When that enlistment was up in 1899, he reenlisted in the army but was officially listed as a deserter in 1902. That was the same year he married his first wife beginning a series of bad marriages (4). That marriage was annulled by her father when Tom abandoned her.

He joined Colonel Joe Miller’s 101 Wild West Show where he did become expert at riding and roping. He also met up with Will Rogers who became a close friend. Shortly after that, in 1910, Tom began making Western shorts for Selig Polyscope and by 1916 he was writing, directing and producing his own films. In 1917 Tom left Selig to work for William Fox.

Tying up loose ends

But the studio now insisted that Mix have a double to do the stunts. Among those who stood in for him when things got dangerous were Canutt and Buck Jones. However, the publicity department and Mix himself denied it. Press releases continued to insist that he did his own stunts and had “over 150 stitches and 33 broken bones” with “shattered bones held together with surgical wire”. While some injuries had occurred, many had had happened much earlier. Tom made his last film for Fox in 1928, made 6 more with Joe Kennedy’s FBO Studio (all poorly done) and in 1932, moved to Universal and sound pictures. Mix retired in 1932 and went back to the circus and personal appearances.

The 1938 Cord roadster

On October 12th, 1940 on his way to Phoenix , Arizona , Tom swerved his car to avoid a crew of highway workers. The car plunged down a hill and Mix was pinned underneath. But he was dead before the car ever stopped. An unsecured metal suitcase from the backseat had struck him breaking his neck.

Tom Mix is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale California . But this stone monument was built in his memory in Florence, Arizona .

The Arizona monument

Buck Jones

Buck Jones was created by studio design and much of his early life is still a mystery. The studio profile gave him Oklahoma Territory as a birthplace where he supposedly learned to be an expert rider. According to publicity releases, he ranched in Montana and served with Eddie Rickenbacker in France during WWI. None of it was true.

Buck Jones was born Charles Frederick Gebhart in Vincennes , Indiana on December 12 th, 1891 . But a discrepancy in some records making that year 1887 occurred when either his mother or grandmother made him 4 years older so he could enlist in the army….the Sixth Cavalry at Columbus , Ohio . While in service he patrolled the US-Mexican border and later served in the Philippines at the time of the Moro uprising where he

Buck Jones and Silver

received a severe leg wound. After he finished his first enlistment, Charles went back to Indiana ( Indianapolis ) to work in a garage before reenlisting in the army from 1910 to 1913. He was finally mustered out in Texas .

Ironically, Charles’ first real cowboy job came in 1914 when he joined the same Miller 101 Wild West Show that gave Tom Mix his start. He began as a wrangler but soon proved to be an expert bronco buster and trick rider. He also met his one and only, Odile Osborne, a rider with another show. They were married and later, toured together with other shows on the circuit. But when Odile became pregnant, the papa-to-be looked for a job with less traveling and being a movie extra and stuntman filled the bill. He ended up on the Fox lot and stunted for both their major stars, William Farnum and …Tom Mix!

Fox finally signed him to do Western roles in 1919 and he went on to make 60 movies over the next 8 years. He also changed his name to “Buck Jones”.

In 1928 he left Fox over a wage dispute and began making independent films. But without the studio support, the films didn’t do well and, combined with other bad investments, Buck lost his shirt.

Buck and Louise Brooks in "Empty Saddles" 1936

Buck and Odile were determined to start from scratch, pay off all their debts and get back on top…and making Westerns seemed to be the best way to recoup their money. His films for Columbia were very successful. In 1934 he was loaned out to Universal and things were looking even better. But, in 1937, Universal began to decline at the box office. Buck joined with two friends to form the Great Western Picture Company and, in partnership with Monogram Pictures made 8 very popular Rough Rider westerns (1941-1942). After the last one was released, Buck left on a bond tour.

 

Buck and Odile's home now the Mar-Ken School

The Cocoanut Grove fire!

The tour ended in Boston on Saturday, November 28th, 1942. Buck visited a children’s hospital and went to a football game. That evening he was a guest of honor at a party at Boston’s famed Cocoanut Grove when fire broke out. The resulting panic was as much a factor in the loss of life (181 persons) as the flames. Buck was found just inside the jammed revolving doors. Some say he was out and went back to rescue others, but that has to be left to legend. He died of his burns 2 days later. Charles Frederick Gebhart was cremated and his ashes spread off the coast of California.

 

A Little Mouse Told Me…..

 

The Tall and the Short of it! In a memo to the studio’s story department, David O. Selznick inquired “I note Bergman is five feet, nine and a half inches tall. Is it possible that she is actually this high and do you think we will have to use a stepladder for Leslie Howard?” Actually Howard was 5’10 ½” to Ingrid’s 5’10” so the only thing needed was flat shoes! But in “Gaslight” with Bergman, Charles Boyer (5’9”) had to stand on a box.

 

Ingrid Bergman	Leslie Howard
Charles Boyer

 

Gene Autry is the only actor who has 5 stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame….one each for motion pictures, recording, radio, television and live performances. Isn’t it a fact that actor/singer Nelson Eddy has exactly the same resume and yet has only garnered 4! Anyone out there listening?

Gene Autry

Nelson Eddy