How To Die-Hard Fans Of Western Movies
There are die-hard fans of Western movies and those who watch Westerns for the action and the great nature scenes and of course those darling horses. There are some Western movies that I like with actors like John Wayne but I was never a real fan. Let’s step back in time to look at a famous cowboy actor named Tom Mix. He died a very strange death on October 12, 1940. Mix had was involved in a car accident close to his ranch in Florence, Arizona. He was driving his single-seat roadster along a straight desert road. Unfortunately for him he ignored warnings that stated a bridge was out on a shallow gully. As a result of which Mix was fatally crushed by a heavy suitcase which flew off of the rear shelf of his car. According to Roadside America
the suitcase was made of aluminum and it hit Mix in the back of his head, breaking his neck when the car flew into the gully which has been renamed Tom Mix Wash. You must agree that is a very strange death perhaps in a way the fickle hand of fate.
In the 1920s Tom Mix was one of the biggest silent movie star in Hollywood. He appeared in over 300 Westerns and was making $100,000 a week which in those days was like a fortune to most people. His full name was Thomas Hezikah Mix and he worked as a cowboy, served as a soldier in the Spanish-American War and had also been a Texas Ranger. Mix joined a Wild West Show in 1906 and started filming in the movies four years later. He performed in one and two-reel western adventure movies. Unfortunately most of these have been lost because they were released on highly combustible nitrate film stock. The real co-star in his movies was “Tony the Wonder Horse” which might bring back to memory for some of you of Roy Rogers and his horse Trigger.
When it seemed that his career had come to a standstill Mix organized Tom Mix’s Circus and Wild West Show in 1933. However he wasn’t able to recapture the popularity of his Golden Era in the silent western movies. He was 60 years old when he died in the car accident. He has not been forgotten. A black iron silhouette of a rider less bronco marks the spot where Mix met with death on the highway about 17 miles south of Florence, Arizona. You can get a look at the “suitcase of death” at the Tom Mix Museum in Dewey, Oklahoma along with a life-size replica of Tony the Wonder Horse.
the suitcase was made of aluminum and it hit Mix in the back of his head, breaking his neck when the car flew into the gully which has been renamed Tom Mix Wash. You must agree that is a very strange death perhaps in a way the fickle hand of fate.
In the 1920s Tom Mix was one of the biggest silent movie star in Hollywood. He appeared in over 300 Westerns and was making $100,000 a week which in those days was like a fortune to most people. His full name was Thomas Hezikah Mix and he worked as a cowboy, served as a soldier in the Spanish-American War and had also been a Texas Ranger. Mix joined a Wild West Show in 1906 and started filming in the movies four years later. He performed in one and two-reel western adventure movies. Unfortunately most of these have been lost because they were released on highly combustible nitrate film stock. The real co-star in his movies was “Tony the Wonder Horse” which might bring back to memory for some of you of Roy Rogers and his horse Trigger.
When it seemed that his career had come to a standstill Mix organized Tom Mix’s Circus and Wild West Show in 1933. However he wasn’t able to recapture the popularity of his Golden Era in the silent western movies. He was 60 years old when he died in the car accident. He has not been forgotten. A black iron silhouette of a rider less bronco marks the spot where Mix met with death on the highway about 17 miles south of Florence, Arizona. You can get a look at the “suitcase of death” at the Tom Mix Museum in Dewey, Oklahoma along with a life-size replica of Tony the Wonder Horse.