The Tom Mix Ralston Straight Shooters are on the air.
And here comes Tom Mix, America's favorite cowboy, with another thrill-packed Western adventure program.
Hop, Tony, come on, boy.
Shredded Ralston for your breakfast.
Start the day off, shine and dry.
Gives you lots of cowboy energy with a flavor that's just right.
Delicious and nutritious, bite-sized and ready to read.
Take a tip from Tom, go and tell your mom, shredded Ralston can't be beat.
The Tom Mix Ralston Straight Shooters bring you action, mystery, and mile-a-minute thrills in radio's biggest Western detective program.
Tonight you're about to hear another episode in a baffling mystery.
The mystery of the Vanishing Herd.
Thousands of cattle killed mysteriously on the range.
A series of strange accidents at the air base at Twin Rivers.
As Tom Mix seeks to solve these battling mysteries, the man who is behind all of this,
the Nazi saboteur known as the Iron Mask, prepares to strike one last powerful blow.
Tonight at exactly nine o'clock, he plans to kill 10,000 cattle and at the same time bomb the hangar at the air base
where Colonel Christie is carefully guarding a new secret fighter plane.
Right now, Tom Mix is at the air base while at the hideout of the Iron Mask atop windswept Devil's Mesa,
two people sit in a heavily barred room talking.
They are Jane and Vinny Asak's Tweedles who are being held prisoners by the mask.
Listen.
Oh, Jane, old girl, do you suppose these ruddy Nazis are trying to starve us into submission?
I don't know, Mr. Tweedle.
We haven't had a bite to eat for 24 hours. I say I'm frightfully hungry.
We've missed breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Oh, yes. And speaking of breakfast, old onion, the TM Bar Ranch serves a breakfast that's really a button popper.
A button popper? What's a button popper?
Oh, you know, a breakfast that makes you feel so positively a pip pip that you start popping the busket
and the button's off your whiskers. Oh dear, wasn't that funny?
Wash is a good cook.
Oh, ta ta. The breakfast to which I refer has nothing whatsoever to do with wash's cooking.
It's a ready-to-eat dish, you know. Oh, I can picture it now.
Delectable little biscuits of delightful size and delicious taste, a divine delicacy that filtrates one's taste buds.
Goodness, what a description. You must be talking about shredded Ralston.
Uh, come again, old girl?
Shredded Ralston. That's the cowboy's favorite cereal. Don't tell me you've never tried it before.
Can't see that I have.
Shredded Ralston is whole wheat baked into little bite-size biscuits that fit right on your spoon.
Oh, I see.
It's crisp and toasty.
Oh, stop it, old girl.
With a flavor that, oh, it's so good.
Oh, no, please, please, don't.
It's served with cream and berries.
Oh, I can't stand it. My mouth is positively drooling.
Shredded Ralston gives your cowboy energy.
Yeah, right.
Hey, listen.
Oh, sounds like aircraft.
Mr. Tweedles, I've never seen anything like this.
Look through the bars of this window here.
The Iron Mask's men have uncovered a runway, a runway we never even knew was there.
And what we thought were trees and bushes are actually cleverly camouflaged planes.
Yes, my dear, I spotted all of that when we were brought in here.
Oh, Mr. Tweedles, you know you didn't.
Uh, no, no, no, I beg your pardon.
Quite right, old girl, I really didn't. In fact, I humbly beg your pardon.
Look, it's dark, but you can see the planes by the floodlights there, you see.
Yes.
Those are fighter planes, Mr. Tweedles, and medium bombers.
Yes.
In 15 or 20 minutes, they're going to take off to bomb the air base,
to bomb the hangar where Colonel Christie is keeping that new secret army plane.
I know, my dear, I know, yes.
What can we do about it? We've got to warn Tom.
We've got to let him know what the Iron Mask is up to.
Oh, and goodness gracious.
I say, old Tupdy, what's wrong now?
The cattle.
The Iron Mask said he had plans to kill 10,000 steers tonight by gassing them.
Uh-oh.
We've got to save those cattle, too.
You're perfectly right, we do. The only question is, uh, how?
Mr. Tweedles, please don't just sit there. Do something.
Did it ever occur to you, my dear Jane, that one of the best ways of doing something is to do nothing?
Oh, Golly, you're no help at all.
No, no, no, seriously. I mean what I say.
You see, while you've been practicing in that fetching childlike manner of yours,
I, Phineas X. Tweedles, have been thinking.
What good will thinking do?
The truth of the matter is, my thinking has been helpful, or shall be shortly.
Oh, dear.
Jane, I can't stand to see you worry any longer.
I think the time has come for me to make a confession to you.
Please, not now. All I want to do is get out of here, escape somehow, and warn Tom of what's happening.
In that case, child, you had better listen to me.
You see, I am not what I appear to be at all, and my name is not Phineas X. Tweedles.
I feel I should tell you this now, for I'm going to need your help badly.
What are you talking about?
First, my dear Jane, let me drop this silly English accent.
All right, now listen to my voice change.
See there? And here's a little more.
Oh, my goodness.
And now, now I'm down to normal. There. That's better.
Mr. Tweedles, you've changed your voice.
Yes, Jane, and I'm not Mr. Tweedles. I am Joe Begley of the FBI.
Joe Begley of the FBI?
That's right.
Are you kidding?
No, I'm deadly serious. I can't show you my credentials.
I was careful to throw them away just before we were captured.
But I don't understand.
Jane, there's no time to explain now, except to say this.
I was sent here to investigate the killing of these cattle.
I think the danger for my disguise is obvious.
But never mind all that now.
We've got to go to work, Jane. And we've got to go to work fast.
Mr. Tweedles, I mean Mr. Begley.
I'm so glad you're not Mr. Tweedles.
I feel safer. Oh, gosh, I'm not afraid anymore.
Good girl, Jane.
You're going to need every ounce of courage you've got, so keep your chin up.
What are you going to do?
Something very simple. So simple, it may work.
Now listen.
They've left some horses hitched to that picket line out there at the edge of the field.
Yes, I can see them.
What we've got to do is get to those horses and ride toward the Colonel at the air base.
at the air base.
But we're locked in this room and the window's barred.
How can we get out?
You and I are gonna pull an old, old trick, Jane.
Let's hope to heaven it works.
What trick?
You're gonna suddenly get a stomach ache.
Stomach ache?
Exactly.
When I tell you to, I want you to start moaning and groaning
as if you were really in pain.
If the trick succeeds, the guard outside
will come in to see what's wrong.
When he does, I'll take care of him.
Oh dear, do you think I can fool him?
Well, I mean, I don't know how good I am at pretending.
Jane, the food supply of this nation is at stake.
Our powerful new secret fighting plane at the air base
is in danger of being destroyed.
You've got to fool that guard.
I will.
You bet I will if it's the last thing I do.
Fine, fine.
All right then.
Now wait a minute.
Here comes the guy now.
I'm gonna take this big water pitcher, get behind the door.
You put on your best act, and when that Nazi guard comes in,
I'll let him have it with the pitcher.
All set?
All set.
Okay.
Start to go into your song and dance.
Lay it on thick now.
Right.
Oh, oh my stomach.
Come on, come on.
Oh, it hurts.
Give it everything you got.
Somebody come.
You've got a stomach ache now.
You're sick.
You're dying.
Come on.
Oh, my stomach.
Oh.
Oh, please come.
Oh, oh, oh, I see my good mind.
I'm glad you came along, sir.
I'm afraid the little girl in here is in, badly in.
She looks ghastly, old boy.
She's doubled up with pain, sir.
Oh, she's sick, huh?
What seems to be the matter?
Come in.
Oh, please help me.
What's his loss, me too, little girl?
Ah.
I fixed him.
He's out like a light.
Mr. Begley, it worked.
Quick, I've got his gun.
Let's get out of here.
Come on, Jane.
Yes.
The door to outside is this way.
Yes, you're right.
There it is, straight ahead.
Ah.
We're in luck.
There's nobody in sight.
There, there are the horses.
Run, poor Jane.
Run?
Oh, oh.
Don't stop, don't stop, it's too late.
Run, Jane, run.
Follow me.
I'll keep it in front of you.
They start shooting.
They're gonna have to hit me before they hit you.
No, Mr. Begley, no.
Keep running, keep running.
Oh, they're shooting.
Yeah, but keep going.
Get to those horses.
Run as fast as you can.
Oh, Mr. Begley.
I'll be hit.
Don't stop for me.
But.
Head to those horses.
Ride to the air base.
Go to it, Janey, go to it.
I'm sure you won't stay for at least a cup of coffee, Tom.
No thanks, Colonel Crusty.
I've gotta hit the trail and find Janey in Tweedles.
Tom, I know how you'll feel.
About Jane, I mean.
You can be sure I'll have every plane at the base
take off at daylight to make a search for her in Tweedles.
That's mighty fine of you, Colonel.
Mighty fine?
Tom, there isn't a single man on this base
that wouldn't do anything in the world for you.
For me, well, no matter what I did,
it would never repay you for all you've done for me.
I sure appreciate what you're saying, Colonel.
You've got your hands full guarding that secret plane
without worrying about my trouble.
Come in.
Captain Jenner reporting, sir.
Yes, Captain.
All quiet, sir.
Gordon and men surround the hangar
in which the plane is stored.
So far there's been no attempt at sabotage.
Good, keep a close watch, Captain.
Right, sir.
Well, Tom, so far everything's quiet.
Yeah, sure is, Colonel.
You know, I hate to say it, but I've got a feeling
it's not gonna be quiet for long.
What makes you think that?
I wish I knew.
Sort of a hunch, I reckon.
I've had plenty of hunches in my life.
I could show you a lot of bullet wounds
that came just 10 or 20 seconds
after I had a hunch to turn around.
If I hadn't turned around,
those bullets would have finished me off.
So any time I get a hunch,
I hate to toss it aside like a busted stirrup.
Course, I may be...
Colonel Christie, sir.
Yes, Captain?
Little girl's just arrived on horseback, sir,
and she's just on scene.
Oh, Janie, honey.
Oh, Tom, I'm so glad to see you.
Quick, Tom, you've got to do something.
You've got to stop the Iron Mask.
The child's overaw, she's hysterical.
No, Colonel, not Janie.
Looks like my hunch was right.
Janie, go ahead, we're listening.
The Iron Mask, he's going to bomb the hangar
the secret plane is in.
He's going to kill 10,000 cattle tonight at the same time.
What time?
Nine o'clock.
Nine o'clock, great Scott, it's almost that now, eh, Captain?
Yes, sir.
Get A and D fighter scutlins in the air at once.
Tell them to watch for enemy planes.
Enemy planes, sir?
Here?
You heard me, snap into it, on the double man.
Right, sir.
Janie, I sure am glad you're back safe.
Where's Tweedles?
Tom, his name isn't Tweedles.
He's Joe Begley of the FBI.
Yes, Janie, I know he is.
You know, you knew all the time?
Yes.
Well, what's the matter?
Honey, you mustn't cry.
Everything's going to be all right.
Of course it is.
But Tom, Joe Begley, they...
What about him?
Oh, it was terrible.
I just... I just can't...
Janie, tell me what happened.
They... they shot him.
Oh, they shot Joe Begley.
They shot him, didn't they?
Janie, where are they?
They're... they're in the building in the hangar, top devil's mesa.
Oh, I hope you get them, Tom.
I'll get it.
Colonel Christie speaking.
Eh?
Oh, just a minute.
What's for you, Tom?
The sheriff.
Hello, Sheriff.
Never mind that.
She's here and safe.
Sheriff, listen to me.
The Iron Mask is planning to kill 10,000 head of cattle tonight.
Round up every cowhound you can find.
Tell them to drive their cattle off to the plateaus
and get them down in the valleys.
I don't care how they do it,
but get as many cattle off the plateaus as you can.
And pronto.
Goodbye, Sheriff.
Colonel Christie.
What's that?
That signal red, the alert.
That means we spotted the enemy planes coming over.
There goes our first fighter plane.
And another.
And there goes another.
We're ready for them, Tom.
Ready for them, thanks to this brave little girl.
Come on, Tom.
Colonel, I want a plane.
But Tom...
I want a plane.
Do I get it?
You bet you get it, Tom.
And I'm flying with you.
I wouldn't miss this show for all the rice in China.
Come on!
Well, it certainly looks as if there's plenty of action ahead.
What will happen next?
Whatever Tom does, he hasn't got the iron mask yet.
And that's the most important thing to remember.
As Tom goes into action,
the enemy bombers are lining up for their bombing runs.
Will Tom and the other squadrons be able to intercept them?
Will the iron mask succeed in his plan
to destroy the new secret fighter plane?
And will he follow out his threat to kill 10,000 cattle?
Be sure to listen tomorrow.
And straight shooters, tomorrow morning,
be sure to sit yourself down to a bowl of
crisp, toasty shredded Ralston.
Boy, oh boy, served with milk or cream and your favorite fruit,
shredded Ralston has a flavor that tops them all.
Made of whole wheat and baked into little bite-sized biscuits
that fit right on your spoon,
shredded Ralston will start more excitement around your house
than a three-day rodeo.
And because it's whole wheat,
shredded Ralston is loaded with cowboy energy.
The kind of energy that gets you off to a flying head start for the day
helps you to be a winner and a straight shooter.
Now, if you don't have a red and white checkerboard package
of shredded Ralston on your pantry shelf right now,
rope your mother and tell her to get one for you.
Tell her it's the ready-to-eat, bite-sized whole wheat cereal
Tom Mix recommends.
And don't forget to join us tomorrow
when Tom Mix rides the range again.
Up, Tony, come on, boy.
Shredded Ralston for your breakfast
Starts the day off shining bright
Gives you lots of cowboy energy
With a flavor that's just right
It's delicious and nutritious
Bite-sized and ready to eat
There goes Tom Mix, America's favorite cowboy.
But he'll be back with another exciting adventure tomorrow evening,
same time, same station,
when the Tom Mix Ralston straight shooters are on the air.
Tom Mix was played by Curly Bradley.
Don Gordon speaking. This is Mutual.