November 2, 1947Los Angeles
There were ten unhappy poker players at 711 E. 51st Street this evening, after a game at William W. Baker’s house was broken up by three gunmen posing as cops who lined the players against a wall and relieved them of about $2000.
Further reading:
An escaped convict, Killer Drake, is holding Judge Kirby’s daughter a prisoner in his mountain hide-out!
Interior, Day. Killer Drake is tying Judge Kirby’s daughter to a chair:
Kirby: “Your father sent me to prison… I swore I’d get my revenge!â€Â
Narrator: A few miles away!
Exterior, Day, Judge Kirby’s Ranch
Judge Kirby: But Tom, Drake will hurt my daughter if we try to rush him!
Tom Mix: Don’t worry, judge, we’ve got a plan!
Cowboy No. 1: “Here are your Glowing Spurs, boys. Remember, stick to Tom’s plan. Don’t rush Killer Drake!
Exterior, Night. Near Killer Drake’s Lair.
Narrator: The Glowing Spurs on each man’s boots gleam in the dark, guiding the man behind him as Tom’s posse creeps up an unguarded path to the killer’s hide-out.
Killer Drake: EYES! EYES! I’ve shot all my bullets and can’t stop ’em. I’m trapped!
Exterior, Day.
Judge Kirby: You saved her life, Tom!
Mix: It was the Glowing Spurs that did the trick! I want every Ralston Straight Shooter who eats hot Ralston to have a pair of these Glowing Spurs.
Narrator: How Tom did it… Each man tied his Glowing Spurs to a branch. The killer, thinking he was surrounded by wild animals, used up all his bullets and was easily captured…
Get your pair of Tom Mix Spurs
That Glow in the dark!
Rustproof metal!
Signal your friends!
Real Tom Mix brand!
Be extra safe by wearing spurs when you cross streets after dark!
+ + +
All right, kids, let’s do some math. 1947 take away 1940 leaves 7. That’s how many years Tom Mix has been dead.
Now some science… Does anybody have something at home that glows? Your dad’s wristwatch? The dial on your mother’s radio? How about the instruments in your car?
Who can tell me what makes those things glow? Right. It’s called radium. And why does it glow? Correct. It’s radioactive.
So what we have here, kids, is a long-dead movie star hyping a radioactive toy. Now you can either call the hazardous-materials disposal team to come to your house and take it away… or sell it on EBay for hundreds of dollars.
Bonus factoids: Even during his lifetime, Tom Mix was portrayed by a variety of actors in his radio show, and there was some attempt to turn his persona into an early 1950s TV show starring Monte Montana.
Mix was driving on the Florence Highway in Arizona when he failed to slow down for a detour around a bridge that was under construction and plunged into a ditch. His neck was broken by a heavy suitcase on the shelf behind his head.
The wrecked 1937 Cord 810/812 coupe in which Mix was killed was sold for $100 in 1942 and has been restored—complete with Mix’s holster. The suitcase that killed him is on display at the Tom Mix Museum in Dewey, Okla.
Quote of the day: “Bizarre, brutal, frightening.â€Â
National Association for Better Radio and Television, on “Captain Midnight,â€Â “Captain Video,â€Â “Dick Tracy,â€Â “Eastside Kidsâ€Â and “Ramar of the Jungle.â€Â
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