October 8, 2023
Working on a couple True West Moments. Here's a sneak peek at a work in progress:
featuring his wonder horse "Tony"
"It's Tom Mix And Cement!"
My dad thought that was the funniest joke, tying The King of The Cowboys last name to a cement mixer and he said it numerous times in my presence when I was growing up. The first time I remember him saying it was in Swea City, Iowa near his Phillips 66 gas station in about 1953. I remember at the time—I was perhaps six or seven—thinking it was a bit of a reach in terms of laugh out loud humor, but he was my dad and I always admired him no matter what he said or did.
Old Corny Joke Explained
Thanks to my Kingman compadre, Johnny Waters (brother to Charles), who told me his father (Dick Waters, editor of the Mohave County Miner) also loved to say this phrase, so it appears this is an old chestnut dating back to the 1920s when Tom Mix brought his horse Tony to the Grauman Chinese Theater in Hollywood to have his horse's hooves put in wet cement along with Tom's paw prints.
December 12, 1927 Tony puts his front hooves in wet cement at Grauman's Chinese Theater
This possibly led to the following joke:
"Have you seen Tom Mix?"
"In what?"
"In Tom Mix'n Cement"
"That's so funny I forgot to laugh."
—Old Kingman Junior High School Put Down
My Dad was a huge Tom Mix fan. One summer we traveled from MN to Dewey, Oklahoma to visit the Tom Mix Museum. As we got close we decided to stop late at night at the Tom Mix Motel-it was dark and we were all tired and my Dad couldn't resist staying at the TM motel, even for a guy who liked to drive straight through. We sere disappointed in the rooms as they were just regular rooms, not even a whisper of TM or cowboys. In the morning when we packed up to leave I pointed at the motel sign that read Tom NIX Motel.
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