TOM MIX.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17570, 22 June 1925, Page 10

TOM MIX.

AMBITION TO “ PLEASE THE KIDDIES.” A LONDON INTERVIEW/. (Special to “Star.”) SYDNEY, June 12. “ Texas, where I come from, is a place where there arc more rivers and creeks and less water, more cows and less milk and butler, and where you can see further and see less, than any other country in the world-—but I haven’t .eon Australia yet.” Such were Tom Mix's opening remarks when T met him in the lounge of J.is hotel, writes the London correspondent of the Sydney “ Sun.” Tom Mix, who arrived here by the Aquitafia, has. during the last twenty four hours, been holding levees from his

motor-car in the Strand, dropping in on ■various Lord Mayors and members of Parliament and Cabinet Ministers, wandering into odd little homes in the poorer quarters of London, and generally attracting as much attend in as though he were the Prince oi Wales on England is supposed to be peopled by ci race of reserved, strong, silent men, who arrange international situations and falls of Governments over a casual drink, and who show the slightest sign of emotion only when such things as cricket tests or income tax arc the topic of the hour. The welcome of Tom Mix belied the imputation. London has simply forgotten its traditions and gone mad over this simple-minded, straight-speak-ing cowboy from somewhere down in Texas. From the moment the hero of a thousand Wild West adventures rode his pony Tony from the deck of the Aquitania, his reception was g; eater than that given to visiting monarchs or even prominent prize fighters. All along the Strand crowds besieged his car to shake hands with him. Yet Lord Jellicoe came silently home c few days before. -And Tom Mix is going to Australia. Within a year's time, somewhere out in the back blocks of Queensland, perhaps over the rough tracks made famous by the riders of the day of “ The Man from Snowy River” or in the peaceful plains and hills of the more populated districts. Tom Mix is going to make a film of the typical everyday life of Australia. lie is not going to delve into the well turned pages of our bushranger history or picture any of those romances of convict clays of which the-outside world already knows much. Tom Mix is going to prepare an Australian film that will show how the big cattle stations are conducted. He is going to depict a film of station life in the same strain as ranches have been thrown on a thousand screens in America, Europe and elsewhere. The jackaroo and the swaggic and the bush-whacker arc going to step out from the routine of nature’s struggle , into the romantic world of the cowboy and the cattle-puncher and the other minions of Wild West dramas. For the purpose Tom Mix is taking out a troupe of over seventy actors. Ilfs own horse Tony—that strange animal that you have seen slide down perpendicular precipices and land on his feet at the bottom—is going with him. Mix hopes to get other horses in Australia which later will make a name for themselves in the films, and aspiring movie stars of Melbourne and Sydney will certainly get a chance to show their worth. Between odd handshakes and traffic jams in the Strand, lie chatted to me about his plans as we drove in his car. “ Australia is one of the few countries left that have not been depicted on the screen to the outside world,” Tom said. ” You've got scenery and bush and country that is found nowhere else. Your land is undeveloped, and the little known about it only adds to the romance and lure of a picture. Why. there must be stories like the “ Covered W aggon ” hiding behind every gumtree ! “bay, but 1 just want to go along and see that country of yours, and let these guys over here sec it, too. That’s why I aim to get going on this .Australian picture -a scenario that will make all the kiddies who ever heard of Ned Kelly just hug themselves with delight, and go home to chop up the broomsticks into fake rifles. " bare, L\c heard them say in some of 1 ho books that one-half of the world don’t know how the other half live- but, say. 1 guess some of your i si tie woultln t he on speaking terms with some ot the herds we got down i exa>. I hey don t speak tho same-, language; yon treat them different—and that's just what 1 m aim'ing to get at. "Want to show the world how you treat ’em. what you call’ ©ill if you don’t call ’em steers; and how tho hoys livo and ride, and make money, and sometimes may ho don’t made too goddarned much, hut ain't no no the less good punelmrs -.suppose oi your horses and some of your houses, and some of your ranches or stations—always thought that was a crazy name to call places where cattle hang around, hut then, no doubt, ranches sounds just as strange if you ain't used to i(. And one thing, i’ve gotta have plenty rough-riding. something with thrills in it. and plenty of hairraisers. Something for the kiddies, because it's the kiddies that made me what I am to-day: and it's the. Kiddies 1 gotta keep on pleasing. 11* re. Tom Mix eularged on hi .J. l.t to the picture-going children of the world. ‘ You know- years ago, just when I'd sort of got going, I aimed to quit the silent drama for good. Sick to death of it and gettin’ ready to retire to the ranch I’d got ig Texas and he at home with the horses. Then, one day, passin’ through a little old town. I just happened to run across a group of kiddies who’ll seen one of my films. Well, tho look in t hose kiddie.-,* eyes and tho grins on (heir dirty little lines made

me hike right back to tho- davs when I looked on Buffalo Bill as some sort of superman. Couldn't get the look those kids gave mo out of my mind, and when I got to bed that night i just said to inv.self, ‘ Tom. if you got anything in you that can make kiddies fee! like that then why there's only olio thing to do. You’ve gotta forget all those notions about retirin’ and borne life, and from this minute keep on milkin' pictures for millions of other little kiddies.’ • £ ’Well, that's what I s.-t out to dole make pictures without any sex, or politics, or religion, but just wild hairraisin’ films for the kiddies. bo you seo I ow© them children some debt, and that’s why ( brought Tony over. I figured that Tony owed something to the kiddies, and the best way he could loto (he bill was to conic over and chance bein’ sea-sick, and let the children set him anil stroke him and call Tony to his ugly Ijttle face. Incidentally I’d read somewhere or others about a guy trading his kingdom for a horse. Well I'm lookin’ around to sanio lain,] an.l if Li I'fl lildlda like to liavo ;i look at their kingdoms. • Because you can ( ike il from ma right now that it. would take some kingdom to balance Tony!”