for Old Town Newhall Weekend Winter Wonderland Dec. 5-6
for SCVTV.com • Local Television for Santa Clarita

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'The Man Within'
Starring Tom Mix

Lobby card for the 1916 film "The Man Within," a 3-reel short starring Tom Mix, Mix's then-wife Victoria Forde, Pat Chrisman, Sid Jordan and Joe Ryan. Produced by Selig Polyscope Company, "The Man Within" was directed by Mix and written by Stanley Stedman. It was made during the period in which Mix did much filming in Newhall.

Born in Mix Run, Penn., on Jan. 6, 1880, Tom Mix appeared in more than 300 films (counting "shorts") from 1909 to 1935. He occasionally filmed in Newhall from about 1916 to the mid-1920s and set up one of his early "Mixville" Western movie towns between San Fernando Road and Newhall Avenue. He would later build his most famous "Mixville" on Glendale Boulevard in the Silver Lake section of Los Angeles.

Prior to his movie career, Mix appeared in a series of Wild West shows where he was noticed by pioneering film producer Col. William N. Selig, who hired him to handle horses. He worked with Selig, writing, directing and acting, until 1917, when he signed with Fox, making films with his sidekick "wonder horse" Tony. Mix reached the height of his popularity during the 1920s, assuming the mantle of King of the Cowboys from William S. Hart, who retired from filming in 1925. But Mix did not adapt well to "talkies," and his career waned in the 1930s. His popularity remained intact, however, as he took his show on the road on the Western performance circuit. It was on the road that he would perish, when his 1938 Cord sent him to his untimely death on Oct. 12, 1940, in Florence, Ariz. Mix was remembered fondly through his radio show and comic books, which outlived him by more than a decade.

Online photo only.

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