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This year as the people in Lone Pine give homage to "Our Cowboy Heroes and Their Horses," no names have more right to be front and center than Tom Mix and Tony. Tom and Tony, as the name's alliteration remind us, were the first great cowboy horse film partners. There had been a few before, and several after, but in his day, Tom Mix was a super star and so was his horse.

The Film Festival Button has a very sweet Tom and Tony picture where they are clearly being affectionate with each other.

Tom was a true cowboy, and one of the best film riders of all time: consider the best by many fans and critics alike. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1880, but came to early silent westerns by way of the famed Miller Brother 101 Ranch Wild West Show. He became one of their great stars and then went on to the Selig Polyscope Company where he made 170 films. Petrine Mitchum, in her new book which will be introduced at the Film Festival this weekend, quotes a press release touting Mix' skill: "The mounting and riding at full gallop of western horses, and of an unbroken bronco by Tom Mix, are some of the most thrilling feats of horsemanship ever exhibited in a motion picture." (1911 Saved by the Pony Express.)

During this time, Mix rode many different horses but his favorite was certainly a tough little roan with two hind socks and a long dished face called Old Blue. When the horse broke a leg and had to be put down, Mix was heart broken and had the horse buried at Mixville in Edendale, California. He never forgot this horse.

The film cowboy's persona was quite different from others at the time. He was humorous and wore fancy clothes. As Mitchum writes, "imbued with clever tongue-in-cheek humor." He needed a horse sidekick.

The most likely story, although the truth is veiled in legend today, is that Olive Stokes saw a colt behind a chicken cart pulled by his dam. She contacted Tom's horse trainer Pat Chrisman, and the colt was bought for $14. After being trained and turned into Tony the Wonder Horse, Mix bought him from Chrisman for $600.

Tony first appeared with Mix in his 1917 film The Heart of Texas Ryan in 1917, but only became is full time mount with the death of Old Blue in 1919. Tony's personality became legend, quirky just like his owner. He might master a trick for a scene, but when the time came, not perform, no matter how much he was whipped, urged or cajoled. Come the next day, he would willingly perform it perfectly.

Mitchum writes in her book, "On screen, however, Tony was always a loyal comrade. He was probably the first movie horse depicted as possessing a sophisticated knowledge of the English language, not just of simple phrases such as 'whoa' or 'good boy' but also of whole sentences, usually directing him to perform some task. While horses can be trained to respond to certain repetitive phrases, the anthropomorphizing was pure fantasy. Audiences loved it, though, and from then on many actors talked to their horses and the horses were shown responding as if they really understood."

One time, the cowboy and his horse were caught in a special effects man's mistake, an explosion that blew both them fifty feet, and knocked them unconscious. Tom Mix's fame grew and so did his horse's. Tony received fan mail and was starred in three films all with his name in the title. The first of these, Just Tony (1922), was made entirely in Lone Pine and Bishop at the rodeo. Tony's stardom was secured and the film went on to be very profitable.

Finally, Tony became too old. His official retirement was announced in 1932. The horse named Tony, Jr. although no relation was going to take his place and was given credit. Writers some times mistakenly gave the Lone Pine Tom Mix film Flaming Guns as the first to have Tony Jr. as the star. In fact, Tony had been retired in 1929. Tony Jr. had four white stockings, Tony only two on his hind legs, and the differences could be spotted on the screen. Robert Birchard, also appearing at this year's film Festival on Saturday, states in his authoritative book King Cowboy: Tom Mix and the Movies that when a publicity photographer Ray Jones was sent to Mix to record his fifty second birthday the horse "Tony" was not Tony.

Tom Mix was killed in an automobile accident in 1940. The failing thirty-two year old Tony was put down in his stall on October 10, 1942.

Celebrate the career and legend of these two partners this weekend. Petrine Mitchum will present he book Hollywood Hoofbeats: Trails Blazed Across the Silver Screen at 1:30 pm at the District Conference Room, and sign books at Statham Town Hall. She will also appear on the panel "Our Cowboy Heroes and Horses," on Sunday, October 9 at 11 am at the L.P.H.S. Quad.

Robert Birchard will appear at the District Conference Room at Noon on Saturday and will sign his book there. He will be on the Hopalong Cassidy Panel at 3:30 pm in the Quad.

Best of all, attend the classic showing of our Hallmark Film, Just Tony at 7:30 pm at the L.P.H./S. Auditorium. A special $8 ticket is necessary for this show. World famous, silent film accompanist Dennis James will accompany the silent film, just like the old days.