The Tom Mix Ralston Straight Shooters

In early 1933, a survey of local school children determined their top western hero was Tom Mix, and from there, Tom Mix Ralston Straight Shooters was created as a new juvenile western radio adventure series.

Tom Mix and his Ralston Straight Shooters was the major rival of Jack Armstrong - The All American Boy, and began airing on NBC on September 25th 1933, for 15 minutes three times a week. 

The series was based on Tom Mix - a real cowboy and Hollywood screen star whose life had been so glorified through Hollywood publicity that he had become the ideal hero - along with his wonder horse, Tony, who was already famous from the movies. 

All of the stories were set around Tom's ranch, the TM-Bar in the Texas country, where Tom lived with his elderly sidekick - the Old Wrangler - and his two young wards, Jimmy and Jane.

Many of the older episodes have been lost, but old time radio aficionado Jim Harmon not only wrote about the Golden Age of Radio, he also wrote, produced and appeared in a radio revival of the Tom Mix radio series during the early 1980s, which we just added to RUSC this week.

At the start of the show it states that "This is the 50th anniversary of The Tom Mix Ralston Straight Shooters", which is why we are guessing Harmon created them circa 1983. The Vanishing Village, which originally aired in 1945, was missing the final episode. Harmon created a very clean, clear episode of the original concluding part. He even roped Curley Bradley in again, appearing decades on as Tom Mix to tell you the wind up of The Vanishing Village. Thank you Jim Harmon! (21 April 1933 – 16 February 2010).

For a bit of fun, I have put together a quick ten question quiz for you about the 'Real' Tom Mix who lead a full and fascinating life passing away in 1940 at the age of sixty in a road accident. 

So let's git-a-goin'! Head on over to It's Quiz Time and test your cowboy knowledge. 

Happy listening my friends,