Others, like boxing promoter Rickard, would continue their relationships with Wyatt in Nevada and California. 5.7 1 h 47 min 1988 R Old West and new Hollywood collide in murder when Tom Mix (Bruce Willis) and Wyatt Earp (James Garner) try to make a movie together. He stood out as a skilled horseman and expert shot, winning national riding and roping contests at Prescott, Arizona, in 1909, and Canon City, Colorado, in 1910.[4]. Special to The Tribune. Earp at about age 39. The trio had already made their mark in Tombstone. Sometime that same year, Urilla died (possibly of typhoid.) Wyatt Earp was one of the many children born to Nicholas Porter Earp and Virginia Ann Cooksey. Wyatt first met George Hearst early in 1882 when Hearst was considering mining properties in and around Tombstone. That was the beginning of Wayne's Hollywood career. Walker Of the many realms of collecting, firearms rank among the [] He was an admirer of Wyatt Earp from their Tombstone days and remained so when the famed lawman moved to Los Angeles with common-law wife Josie. Still considered one of the definitive books on earp, lake's tome unfortunately suffered somewhat in accuracy due to the demands . However, Earp achieved iconic status mostly due to his role in one of the most famous gunfights in American history the gunfight at O.K. He never appeared on the show. What once was a trailer park or graveyard, now looks like a junkyard. Mix and Hart both served as pallbearers at Earps funeral. He was Hollywood's first Western star and helped define the genre as it emerged in the early days of the cinema.[1]. In 1900 Lucky and Wyatt met over a few glasses at the Earp-run Dexter Saloon in Nome, Alaska. On October 12, 1940, Mix died from injuries suffered in a one-car accident near the city of Florence, Arizona, and was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles, CA. Fall for oil leasing rights, though Fall and Sinclair both served prison terms for their roles. I used to babysit for Buster Crabbe's grandkid when I was teen. The family was settled at a farm near Iowa. Wyatt Earp at age 21. When John Wayne met Wyatt Earp One of the greatest mysteries of the golden era of Hollywood was the apparent meeting between future cowboy film star John Wayne and real-life Old West lawman Wyatt Earp. Mystery surrounds the infamous burning of the Reichstag in 1933. I'm not sure if he married Victoria but the did have a hot love affair with her.Les, I enjoyed reading about him too. For several years, Wyatt became an unpaid technical consultant on Hollywood Westerns, drawing on his colorful past to tell flamboyant matinee idols like William Hart and Tom Mix how it had really been. Wyatts famous role in the shootout at the O.K. In 1889, while serving as a bodyguard for a U.S. Supreme Court associate justice, Neagle killed a former California chief justice amid an assault by the latter. The swing set that was still set up finally fell down from the harsh environment. Hints suggest encounters at the Agricultural Park horse racing grounds. Tom Mix: First Cowboy Superstar (Jerry Skinner Documentary) Jerry Skinner 117K views 2 years ago. Corral did attract the admiring attention of the citys thriving new film industry. A noted gunfighter, he killed a few folks (including a female paramour, for which he served six years in the Yuma Territorial Prison). About Wyatt Earp. In 1929, Tom was a pallbearer at the funeral of his good friend Wyatt Earp. He spoke with Earp the night before his death and was a pallbearer at his funeral. Corral shootout, Mattie was sent to live with Wyatt's parents in California. In the wake of the Fitzsimmons-Sharkey fight Grannan was among those who lambasted Wyatts decision in the press. Corral. Corral. One of the greatest directors in film history, John Ford, also met Earp who often visited Fords film sets. While there, Earpbecame good friends with many famous actors of the early Western movies, including William S. Hart and Tom Mix. But they befriended plenty of others outside that circle, from writer Jack London to film star William S. Hart, boxing promoter Tex Rickard, businessman Lucky Baldwin, mining investor George Hearst and oil man Ed Doheny. Later Wyatt tried his hand at buffalo hunting there is a good possibility this is when Wyatt met Bat Masterson. Mix was listed as AWOL on November 4, 1902, but was never court-martialed. Some 10,000 were built by Gibbs and under licence in the next 15 years! A photograph of Wyatt Earp in 1882 while he was a marshal in Dodge City. We have many black and white photos of my granfather dressed up as Charlie Chaplin. I appreciate you coming here to tell it. In the wake of the fight Judge Swinnerton was part of the cabal seeking to overturn Earps upset decision for Tom Sharkey over Bob Fitzsimmons. A frequent contributor to Wild West, Don Chaput is the author of Virgil Earp: Western Peace Officer and co-author with Lynn R. Bailey of Cochise County Stalwarts: A Whos Who of the Terrritorial Years. One of the worlds most successful book publishers is on the list of Wyatt Earp acquaintances. 2703 Telegraph Ave. Oakland, Calif. Mr. William S. Hart Newhall, Calif. My dear Mr. Hart: Am inclosing a letter from Mr. Lake which is self explanatory. The memorial consists of a bronze-green spiral of sprocketed "camera film" above a multi-sided tower, embossed with full-length likenesses of early stars who appeared in famous silent movies. Parsons stopped keeping a diary that year. It's in the middle of nowhere but whistling desert loneliness and yet a very nicely kept picnic area and monument. That's cool about your great great uncle. He swerved to miss a road repair crew and ran off the road into a wash. 1937 Cord Phaeton He had stashed a large aluminum suitcase packed with lots of cash, traveler's checks, and jewels in a shelf behind the driver's seat. Never heard this story though! There were, in fact, many African American cowboys, most notably Jim Beckwourth, who discovered the San Miguel Mission murders, and Nat (pronounced Nate) Love, who once suffered 14 bullet wounds and was nursed back to health by the Pima Indians and released near Gila Bend, Arizona because the Pimas respected his mixed heritage. In quieter times Bilicke and Earp had consummated mining deals in the same building. Lawmen Wyatt and Virgil Earp arrived in Tombstone in 1879 and were eventually joined by their younger brother Morgan and Wyatt's friend Doc Holliday. These memories came back to me when I read a New York Times article, For the Compton Cowboys, Horseback Riding Is a Legacy, and Protection. In one of the most violent cities in America, a group of childhood friends came together in a horse posse. According to Josie, rancher Henry Clay Hooker, who retired to Los Angeles and died there in 1907, was in touch with Wyatt for years after he left Tombstone and was one of his best friends. Hookers former daughter-in-law Forrestine promised Wyatt she would tell the world of his importance, but only a flabby manuscript resulted. In 1929, Tom Mix and fellow cowboy actor, William S. Hart, were two of the pallbearers at Wyatt Earp's funeral. And to think the Earps would reconnect with many of them for one last hurrah in the early decades of the 1900s. One of the icons of the American West, Wyatt Earp worked for the law and helped tame the wild cowboy culture that pervaded the frontier. Bad idea. So Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp (1848-1929) was a famous figure, best known for his exploits with his brothers as law men and gamblers in the "Wild West." The most recognized incident is the "Gunfight at the O.K. Not all former fellow Tombstoners in greater Los Angeles fawned over Earp, though. "The real story of the Old West can never be told unless Wyatt Earp tells what he knows, and Wyatt will not talk," said perhaps the oldest of those friends, William Barclay "Bat" Masterson. He even served, for a short time, as a sort of undercover U.S. Marshall in Yavapai County. The rock and the boot holes, although unmarked, is in the Garden of the Gods park in Chatsworth. He next married Olive Stokes on January 10, 1909, in Medora, North Dakota. In the summer they retreated to Los Angeles, where Wyatt struck up relationships with some of the early cowboy actors, including William S. Hart and Tom Mix. In 1964 the ranch became the 26 Bar Ranch or John Waynes Ranch, who was one of the owners. Millions of American children grew up watching his films on Saturday afternoons. Wyatt's body was cremated. Tom Mix (Bruce Willis) is going to make a film based around real events in the life of Wyatt Earp (James Garner)and so they wheel earp out to Hollywood as an advisor in the film. You could say Fly knew the Earps up close, as his studio abutted the vacant lot behind the O.K. Was John Wayne a pallbearer at Wyatt Earp's funeral? After participating in the last of the great gold rushes in Nevada, Wyatt finally settled in Los Angeles, where he tried unsuccessfully to find someone to publicize his many western adventures. Several prominent personalities with Tombstone ties had assumed leading roles in Los Angeles affairs. This custom of using arsenic was found to be poisonous by the 1900s and never used, All images are property of Echoes of the Southwest unless otherwise noted, All photos in this blog are copyright by Echoes of the Southwest. She was about two years younger than Wyatt. Nearly 50 years after the famous gunfight at the O.K. Tensions rose between the Earp clan and the McLaury and Clanton families, ranchers who supplied the town with beef by stealing cattle and squatting on public lands. Most of Mix's radio work has been lost over the years; recordings of only approximately 30 scattered episodes, and no complete story arcs, survive. Since Edwin S. Porters pioneering western,The Great Train Robbery,the genre evolved in many ways. There is more to the Nevada angle. Also his hat is enormous. In fact, the two of them were so close, that Mix served as a pallbearer at Earps funeral. When Wyatt Earp died in 1929, the revolver was supposed to go to his niece's husband Bill Miller, whom Wyatt loved like a son, but Josie, Wyatt's widow in her incomparable fashion, gave it to silent screen actor Tom Mix, who was a friend of theirs. He arrived in Tombstone in the immediate wake of the O.K. Earp at about age 39. Adela noted that Tom Mix wept. There is no telling how often these fellows may have met, even in passing, in Los Angeles. Bruce Willis, as Tom Mix, and James Garner, as Wyatt Earp, have never been better at their laid-back charm-boy schtick. He would have seen the Earps almost daily in Sawtelle, as James was running illicit booze, and father Nicholas and eldest son Newton also lived in the Old Soldiers Home. What killed Doc Holliday? However, there is no other character mentioned more often in films or on television than Wyatt Earp. . His four brothersJames (1841-1926), Virgil (1843-1905), Morgan (1851-82), and Warren (1855-1900)as well as a half-brother, Newton, would play integral roles throughout Wyatt's life. He can be reached at, A murderer, a slaver and a sex trafficker. Why Spanish explorer is still worth studying, California banditos, Chumash vaqueros and the ghost stories of the Dana Adobe, Los Osos native inspired by Peanuts illustrates newly published tribute to Charles Schulz, Cambrias historic schoolhouse has a role in one of SLO Countys oldest cold cases, The expedition to find Monterey Bay missed but it did discover the Valley of the Bears, A poisoned bear meat BBQ greeted some of SLOs early explorers, El Paso was a ferocious and dangerous place. The famed Buffalo Soldiers of the 9th and 10th Cavalry garrisoned the forts of the American West, the San Francisco Presidio and Yosemite and Sequoia national parks. American Western movies portray the early days of the expansion of the American frontier in late 19th century. Mix's salary at Fox reached $7,500 a week. He was briefly night marshal[3] of Dewey, in 1911. Wyatt Earp married Urilla Sutherland in 1870, but she died a short time afterwards. I am one of those who never heard of him and enjoyed reading his story.Yes Lois, his personal life was quite interesting. During his time as a western show and silent movie star, Mix became friends with actual wild west legend, Wyatt Earp, who acted as a consultant on early silent film era westerns. The ranch had its own touring Wild West show in which Mix appeared. Still considered one of the definitive books on Earp, Lake's tome unfortunately suffered somewhat in accuracy due to the demands Josephine Earp placed upon him. The series carried on for a dozen years after Mixs death in 1940. When Wyatt Earp died in January, 1929, two of the Pall Bearers at his Funeral were Western Stars Tom Mix, and William S. Hart. There are many strange stories in the Arizona files. Email me for permission. Wyatt was unusually tall for that age. Others in the supporting cast included George Gobel, Harold Peary and Willard Waterman. Corralscene of the 1881 shootout. In late July 1880, Wyatt Earp left his job riding shotgun for Wells Fargo, convincing the stagecoach company to hire his brother Morgan to replace him. Dan Krieger is a professor emeritus of history at Cal Poly and past president of the California Mission Studies Association. Wyatt began to dismantle the empire Bulshar had built and killed a total of 77 demons. It is astonishing how many individuals destined for fame Wyatt and Josie met in Alaska amid the Klondike Gold Rush. Around the same time William Jesse Curtis, the patriarch of his family, served as district attorney of San Bernardino County. He had used the stables at Alondra and Santa Fe avenues to launch Tom Mixs circus in 1936, prior to traveling to San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles and then on to a Pacific Coast tour. Mix did his own stunts and was frequently injured. I think this is the last time we will go there. Some of his movies were filmed in his Prescott home. In 1905, Mix married Kitty Jewel Perinne, and this marriage also ended within a year. [15] The marker bears the inscription: "In memory of Tom Mix, whose spirit left his body on this spot and whose characterization and portrayals in life served to better fix memories of the old West in the minds of living men. His father's ancestor, Thomas Earp, was an Irish immigrant in the 1700s. The site was known for its huge sandstone boulders, and one of them later became known as Tom Mix Rock when it was discovered it had been used in The Miracle Rider. Fawcett Comics published 61 issues of Tom Mix Western from 1948 to 1953. [6] In 1920, he took first prize in a bull-riding contest. Most mentions of Wyatt in the two decades after Tombstone originate from San Diego and San Francisco, where he engaged in his usual pursuitsgambling, mining, horse racing and the sporting life in general. It looks like the hat is as big as the legend. [11] The newspapers reported that Mix cried during his friend's service.[12]. Marshal Vawter was among the principal figures in the Nome gold claim swindle, a central plot device of The Spoilers. i see the most touching comment made about him that he was a pallbearer at the funeral of WYATT EARPand that TOM MIX WEPT.see the movie TOMBSTONE WITH KURT RUSSELL and if you can catch the interview with Kurt and hear him talk about WYATT is awesome..at the end of the movie ROBERT MITCHUM narrates and said among the pallbearers was Tom Mix..TOM MIX WEPT. The long list of fellow sophisticates includes such notable gunfighters/lawmen as Bat Masterson and brothers, Doc Holliday, Bill Tilghman, Fred Dodge, Luke Short, Buckskin Frank Leslie, Rawhide Jake Brighton, Bob Paul, Jim Leavy, John Behan, Clay Allison and John Ringo. The gunfight at the O.K. He acted in nine films for Universal, but because of injuries he received while filming, he was reluctant to do any more. He appeared in 291 films, all but nine of which were silent films. [citation needed]. They married in 1918 and had a daughter, Thomasina (Tommie) Mix, in February 1922.[3]. Bookseller Alexander M. Aleck Robertson arrived in Tombstone in 1881, prior to the gunfight of O.K. Days after the bout Wyatt and brother James encountered Grannan at a local racetrack. He and Forde divorced in 1931. I have heard of him because he was in one my favorite western. They donated the land for Doheny State Beach, in Dana Point, Calif., the surfing strand celebrated in the Beach Boys 1960s hits Surfin Safari and Surfin U.S.A. When finances were strained, a widowed Josie Earp reportedly contacted Doheny to the point of pestering. An alcohol-fueled James cursed Grannan and demanded they shoot it out with revolvers. John Wayne and Louis Johnson. At Wyatt Earp's funeral, held the Tuesday after he died on January 13, 1929, his pallbearers were: (pictured above from left) attorney W.J. [16][17] Additionally, from 1986 to 2002 there existed another museum in his birthplace of Mix Run, Pennsylvania. Interior Secretary Albert B. Tom Mix became very close friends with Earp and even tried to convince some of the most influential people in Hollywood to make a film about Earps legendary gunfight, but his efforts were fruitless. Wyatt Earp was considered the central figure in the shootout in Tombstone, he also took part in a Gunfight at the O.K. Years later, Hollywood publicists muddled this event to imply that Mix had been a Rough Rider himself. This column is by Dan Krieger. When the gunfight broke out, Ike Clanton hid in Flys studio, and the photographer personally disarmed Ikes mortally wounded brother Billy. 3 What did John Wayne say about Wyatt Earp? As True West tells us, Bat was out on the plains with his brother, Ed . In 1905, Mix rode in President Theodore Roosevelt's inaugural parade with a group of 50 horsemen led by Seth Bullock, which included several former Rough Riders. Fly knew the Earps up close, as his studio abutted the vacant lot behind the O.K. The set also included a simulated desert, a large corral, and (to facilitate interior shots) a ranch house with no roof. A young 21 year old man by the name of Marion Morrison formerly of Winterset, Iowa, who went by the nickname "Duke" was working on a John Ford movie. Sewell Griggers Aero Squadron was based at Compton Airport. Directors Blake Edwards Starring Bruce Willis, James Garner, Mariel Hemingway Genres Suspense, Western, Drama Subtitles English [CC] Audio languages English Those memorialized include Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Will Rogers, Conrad Nagel, Rudolph Valentino, Fred Niblo, Harold Lloyd, and Mix. Local dignitaries, including Tombstone Epitaph editor John Clum, attorney Ben Goodrich and Oriental Saloon owner and local politico Milt Joyce, wined and dined the general at Bilickes hotel. 18. In later years he heaped praise on the Earp brothers for their roles in law enforcement. Nevertheless, the age of radio kept him alive. In one such bout his sparring partner was being pulverized when Corbett intervened. Perhaps it was here that he began his career as a "play actor." He called Kennedy a "tight-assed, money-crazy son of a bitch". Anything Wayne knew about the real Earp came to him secondhand from Ford during their 25-year working relationship. Here is our campsite for this exploration: The Lucky Day mine was the last of Wyatt and Josephine's many business ventures over the course of their 40 or so years together. I wonder if that's overcompensating? The following month the track featured the running of the Hollenbeck Stakes, and the onetime saloon partners had horses in races. He spent his youth carousing, gambling, and visiting brothels - sometimes just one step ahead of the law. Entertaining them was luckless prospector Rex Beach on his mandolin (Josie called it a banjo). Wyatt Earp married Urilla Sutherland in Lamar, Missouri on January 10, 1870. History is who we are and why we are the way we are.. Lately, I have heard rumors that Bigfoot has been seen near the ranch. Wyatt Earp spent his final years working mining claims in the Mojave Desert during the winters while summering in nearby Los Angeles. Beach had better fortune as a novelist, his best-selling saga of Nome, The Spoilers, being adapted for the stage and screen, including five films. His father, Nicholas Porter Earp, was a commanding figure, a sometimes frontier judge, whose other occupations included farmer, storekeeper, barrel maker, and still operator. Congressional gridlock The Gibbs & Pitt shotgun was the first commercially sucessful breech loading shotgun patented in 1873. Im sort of personally hoping my monument is at a waterfall since I've lived in a freaking desert most of my life. Fantastic, all these great stories. By the age of 13, Earp had run away from home several times in order to enlist in the Union Army during the Civil War, but each time, he was sent back because of his age. All his marriages must have helped set the stage for Hollywood marriages since then. The idea is an alluring one: the place is Hollywood and the time, 1929, just as sound is coming in. Five years later, John Wayne apparently met Wyatt Earp on a film set. Nicholas served as justice of the peace and Virgil as chief of police in Colton, while James ran a San Bernardino saloon. Wyatt, Virgil, and Morgan Earp, along with Doc Holliday went to the corral to confront the gang. Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp was born in Monmouth, Illinois, in 1848, of Scotch-Irish stock. Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp was born on March 19, 1848 in Monmouth, Illinois. A 21-year-old bit-part actor at Fox Film Corporation met 79-year-old Earp in 1928. That was in 1929. My other connection to Mix was living next to Compton. He bought a volume of Shakespeare, and the trio read Hamlet together. Any discussion of Earp connections should begin with a mention of prolific Western diarist George Whitwell Parsons (at top, second from left), who wrote extensively of his time in Tombstone during the Earp era. Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter with top stories from master historians. Many of the famous cowboys to follow in his boot steps, admired him.iZombie, I am with you. Mix appeared with the Sells-Floto Circus in 1929, 1930, and 1931 at a reported weekly salary of $20,000 (equivalent to $316,000 in 2021). A large aluminum suitcase containing money, traveler's checks, and jewels, situated on the package shelf behind his head, hurtled forward and fatally struck him, breaking his neck. The couples primary Hollywood contact, though, was William S. Hart, the foremost Western star of the silent era. One that is told is about the mummy found in the desert near Gila Bend nicknamed Sylvester. As the story goes, Corbett was in San Bernardino in May 1892, giving an exhibition and observing other matches. For the time they lived in town, Buckskin Frank and the Earp brothers saw each other almost daily. It was first known as the Milky Way Ranch in the 1940s with its big white show barn which housed many Hereford cattle. Corral, Wyatt Earp dies quietly in Los Angeles at the age of 80. Adela noted that Tom Mix wept. Earp was the man who had actually done the things in his life that I was trying to do in a movie. Young Swinnerton went on to become a leading cartoonist for the San Francisco and New York papers. He would purchase the animals at Griffith Park. John Henry "Doc" Holliday (August 14, 1851 - November 8, 1887) was an American gambler, gunfighter, and dentist. They Say He Burned Down the Reichstag. Westerns became widely popular not just in the United States but also in other parts of the world. He later encountered both Wyatt and Parsons while serving as a postal inspector and postmaster in Alaska from 1898 to 1909. Truth be told, Wayne wasnt a pallbearer at Earps funeral (though two silent stars, Tom Mix and William S. Hart, were). Paralyzed by the sight of a big Navy revolver in the hands of Earp, one newspaper reported, Corbett very wisely did not strike. The story made headlines coast to coast. Corral was advising silent filmmakers in Hollywood and paling around with early Western stars William S. Hart and Tom Mix. This relationship is not . Earp died in 1929 and Mix was one of the pall bearers. When the gunfight broke out, Ike Clanton hid in Flys studio, and the photographer personally disarmed Ikes mortally wounded brother Billy. The services for the legendary lawman were held at the Pierce Brothers chapel in Los Angeles. The 80 year old Wyatt Earp was th. Tombstone lumber dealer Lewis W. Blinn became the lumber king of southern California, with 40 yards in the region, and also had banking interests in Los Angeles and San Pedro with Parsons. Thanks Sis for telling me about him and taking the highway by his monument. The Compton Cowboys dont just rehabilitate animals, they help correct a false image of the Old West. Frontier legend Wyatt Earp died at age 80 in Los Angeles on Jan. 13, 1929. The year was 1928. He grew up in nearby DuBois, where his father, a stable master for a wealthy lumber merchant, taught him to ride and love horses. The Wyatt Earp Myth: America's Most Famous Vigilante Wasn't - The Daily Beast; 12 Things You Might Not Know About Wyatt Earp - Neatorama; Wyatt Earp was a prostitute-loving con man and not the hero vigilante as he is portrayed in movies, new book claims - Dailymail; Wyatt Earp: A Vigilante Life By Andrew C. Isenberg My grandfather owned a cirus which is named and still exists in Mexico. [4] He was 60 years old. Sizes from 6 7/8 to 7 available. After leaving Tombstone in 1882, Earp moved around the West, laying low and supporting himself through gambling. Didn't Bruce Willis play him in a film years ago? Shot in Dewey, Oklahoma with Selig studio cameramen,[5] the film was a success, and Mix became an early motion picture star. 4 How did John Wayne and Wyatt Earp meet? Justus D. Barnes in Western apparel, as Bronco Billy Anderson, from the silent film, The Great Train Robbery (1903), the first ever Western film. The last remaining trailer finally crumpled and looks like a pile of rubbish. But as family members settled in Colton and San Bernardino, and Wyatt, Virgil and James followed the boxing and horse racing circuit, the brothersand sometimes father Nicholasfound themselves increasingly drawn to Los Angeles. In 1932, he married his fifth wife, Mabel Hubbell Ward. Southern Californians also figured into the Earp mix. Wyatt became a consultant to Hollywood movie makers working on films about the Old West. He worked at the Miller Brothers 101 Ranch, one of the largest ranching businesses in the United States, covering 101,000 acres (41,000ha), hence its name. Who was Wyatt Earps best friend? They ate lunch at Hollywoods legendary Musso & Frank Grill and Al Levys Tavern, known for hosting some of Americas greatest writers in their backrooms where liquor flowed freely throughout Prohibition. Tom Mix, among few genuine Western cowboys to have starred in films, was a known companion of the Earps and attended horse races with Wyatt and Josie. Mix threatened to move to Argentina to make films or to join the circus, but eventually he signed with FBO, which he then left for Universal after salary disputes with FBO studio head Joseph P. Kennedy. The son of a lumberman, Tom Mix joined the army as a young man and was an artillery sergeant during the Philippine campaign from 1898 to 1901, though he never saw action. Western movies portray dangerous adventures in the wilderness, beautiful landscapes, lonesome cowboys, gunfights, saloons, ranch houses, and conflicts between white settlers and Native Americans. This apparently preserved his body resulting in the mummified form he was found in. Eventually, John Wayne became one of the most popular film actors of the 20th century, and with the help of the famed lawman, Wyatt Earp, he createdthe model for the iconic hero of the American West. On an October afternoon in 1940, Tom Mix was driving his 1937 Cord 812 Phaeton near Florence doing 80 mph. Their encounter is only a charming Hollywood fable. He was long gone from TV when I was born. Legendary lawman Wyatt Earp and family associated with an assortment of Western characters before, during and after their tumultuous time in Tombstone, Arizona Territory. In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earharts disappearance. Amid the literati, Mix felt that the trio should become cultured. Many of the most famous characters in the Western movies were either loosely or wholly based on real people. . In 1910, he appeared as himself in a short documentary film, Ranch Life in the Great Southwest, in which he displayed his skills as a cattle wrangler. That afternoon, Earp, his brothers Virgil and Morgan, and Wyatt's friend John Henry "Doc" Holliday faced off against a rowdy group of outlaws known as the . Favorite scene has Earp being told, "Assault. When Wyatt died in 1929, Mix reportedly wept openly at his funeral. The action lasted all of 30 seconds, but the story has been told and retold going on a century and a half. Wow, what a crummy way to go. I sent in Hot Wheat box tops and a dime to receive a Tom Mix periscope to help detect Nazi saboteurs. I remember his name, but that's about all. Thanks for reading it and commenting. And I always a appreciate a fella who can pull of the white cowboy hat look. Among those who did attend were John Clum, an old friend from Tombstone days, and the big-screen cowboy stars William S. Hart and Tom Mix. The barn is now a local landmark. I love stopping at all those road side markers to learn what they are about. Some of his good friend Wyatt Earp spent his final years working mining claims in the press one ahead! Desert during the winters while summering in nearby Los Angeles fawned over Earp, though, was William Hart. Were strained, a widowed Josie Earp reportedly contacted Doheny to the corral to confront the gang gridlock... James encountered Grannan at a local racetrack he also took part in a film.! 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