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The Amazing Tom Mix: The Most Famous Cowboy of the Movies
The Amazing Tom MixThe Most Famous Cowboy of the MoviesTom Mix was a town marshal and cowboy in the Oklahoma Territory, a rodeo champion and a wild west show performer. With his devil-may-care attitude, quick wit and penchant for doing breath-taking stunts on his wonder horse, Tony, Tom Mix went on to become the #1 movie cowboy of silent films, earning millions of dollars at a time when movie tickets cost pennies.While he basked in this incredible acclaim, Tom Mix lived in fear that his deep, dark secrets would be discovered and his career and his cherished heroic image would be destroyed.Celebrated author Richard D. Jensen has spent more than 30 years researching the life of Tom Mix, the man hailed as "the idol of every American boy."With incredible detail, much of it gained from hundreds of original letters, records, documents and eyewitness accounts, The Amazing Tom Mix cuts through 100 years of public relations mythology, tall tales and outright lies to bring the true and inspiring story of a man whose Saturday matinee cowboy image would become the standard for all of the movie cowboys who rode the silver screen after him."Here is Tom Mix as he really was...a captivating biography ... brilliant ... delightful ... It is a splendid book."-Richard S. Wheeler, five-time Spur Award winning author of Trouble In Tombstone."... the most complete biography of Mix's life of trials, tribulations and victories."-John Duncklee, author of Bull By The Tale.
- GenresBiography
302 pages, Paperback
First published June 24, 2005
22 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 29, 2023
This has been a Tom Mix year for me. It started out in August when I was in State College in Pennsylvania for some meetings. I took an evening and drove up to Driftwood to see his birthplace. Spoiler alert, it’s now a hunting camp. While there is nothing to see, you get a feel for his beginnings. Fast forward to this past Monday I visited his final resting place in Forest Lawn cemetery outside of Los Angeles. Then on Wednesday, I found his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I’m glad I brought this book with me on my trip out west. I love westerns and silent films so this was right up my alley. Congratulations to the author on a job well done. I will read this again in the future. It’s one of the best bios I’ve read.
July 31, 2022
Informative and very readable. I enjoyed Jensen's distillation of what looks like an impressive lifetime of sources and archive-diving.
December 22, 2023
This is the only biography of Tom Mix I have read. The author refers to his subject as Tom throughout the book. Sometimes that can be a cloying affect but in this case it fits well with the tone of the book. Published in 2005 I suspect it has anthologized the biographies which have preceded it.
I came across this author-autographed copy while visiting the Tom Mix museum in Oklahoma. It was published by iUniverse, Inc. which has offices in New York, Lincoln, Nebraska and Shanghai; as is appropriate for Tom Mix, Lincoln is listed most prominently in this volume. There is a photo section, filmography, endnotes and bibliography but no table of contents or index. On the paperback cover appears the famous photo of Tom on one of his favorite horses, Blue, Tony, Tony Junior or a double leaping across the Newell Cut outside Los Angeles from the movie “Three Jumps Ahead” (1923). Newell Cut appeared later in “Stagecoach” but not in nearly so dramatic fashion. (Both films were directed by John Ford.) The film is considered lost and only the still remains but as you might expect what it depicts has been debated. Jensen doesn’t go into any detail at all about the opinions of the sceptics but points out that Tom was known for doing his own stunts, no one in the cast and crew ever said he didn’t do it himself and he points out a ramp at the edge of the abyss. The ramp isn’t visible in some versions of the photo.
Another apocryphal tale Jensen puts to rest is that Tom was one of those silent film actors who could not transition to talkies due to a squeaky voice. In what would be the final stage of Tom’s film career he turned out ten sound films for Universal and a fifteen episode serial “Miracle Rider,” for Mascot Studios. The serial is on an Amazon Prime streaming channel called “Best Westerns Ever” ($1.99 a month after a free seven day trial). Having watched (and listened) to it I agree wholeheartedly with Jensen that Tom’s voice was perfectly fine.
Although the author spent thirty-two years researching this biography he spent considerably less time writing it. There are numerous proofreading oversights throughout the book, the ones I found being on pages 8, 9, 16, 29, 40, 51, 52, 100 (uses “equates" for “acquits” as in “Tom acquits himself well”; also on p.146), 103, 105, 112, 121, 123 (uses an apostrophe instead of an accent aigu; also on p.151), 143, 145 (two mistakes), 148, 149 (two mistakes), 153, and 178. Most of these indicate rushed and careless work, others that diction is a weak spot with this author. What annoyed me was that after catch the first few, I involuntarily shifted into proofreading mode.
Although much of this book is a recounting of the events of Tom’s life, Jensen also expostulates on Tom’s desertion from the Army, the why’s and wherefores of the often conflicting versions of events, the difference between his persona and private self, and the reason behind John Wayne’s grudge against Tom.
I came across this author-autographed copy while visiting the Tom Mix museum in Oklahoma. It was published by iUniverse, Inc. which has offices in New York, Lincoln, Nebraska and Shanghai; as is appropriate for Tom Mix, Lincoln is listed most prominently in this volume. There is a photo section, filmography, endnotes and bibliography but no table of contents or index. On the paperback cover appears the famous photo of Tom on one of his favorite horses, Blue, Tony, Tony Junior or a double leaping across the Newell Cut outside Los Angeles from the movie “Three Jumps Ahead” (1923). Newell Cut appeared later in “Stagecoach” but not in nearly so dramatic fashion. (Both films were directed by John Ford.) The film is considered lost and only the still remains but as you might expect what it depicts has been debated. Jensen doesn’t go into any detail at all about the opinions of the sceptics but points out that Tom was known for doing his own stunts, no one in the cast and crew ever said he didn’t do it himself and he points out a ramp at the edge of the abyss. The ramp isn’t visible in some versions of the photo.
Another apocryphal tale Jensen puts to rest is that Tom was one of those silent film actors who could not transition to talkies due to a squeaky voice. In what would be the final stage of Tom’s film career he turned out ten sound films for Universal and a fifteen episode serial “Miracle Rider,” for Mascot Studios. The serial is on an Amazon Prime streaming channel called “Best Westerns Ever” ($1.99 a month after a free seven day trial). Having watched (and listened) to it I agree wholeheartedly with Jensen that Tom’s voice was perfectly fine.
Although the author spent thirty-two years researching this biography he spent considerably less time writing it. There are numerous proofreading oversights throughout the book, the ones I found being on pages 8, 9, 16, 29, 40, 51, 52, 100 (uses “equates" for “acquits” as in “Tom acquits himself well”; also on p.146), 103, 105, 112, 121, 123 (uses an apostrophe instead of an accent aigu; also on p.151), 143, 145 (two mistakes), 148, 149 (two mistakes), 153, and 178. Most of these indicate rushed and careless work, others that diction is a weak spot with this author. What annoyed me was that after catch the first few, I involuntarily shifted into proofreading mode.
Although much of this book is a recounting of the events of Tom’s life, Jensen also expostulates on Tom’s desertion from the Army, the why’s and wherefores of the often conflicting versions of events, the difference between his persona and private self, and the reason behind John Wayne’s grudge against Tom.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews