WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:04.000 The Tom Nicks, Ralston's Tratuitors are on the air. 00:04.000 --> 00:07.000 And here comes Tom Nicks, America's favorite cowboy. 00:07.000 --> 00:09.000 Come on, Tony, come on, boy. 00:09.000 --> 00:14.000 Where is Ralston for your breakfast? 00:14.000 --> 00:16.000 Start the day off, shine and dry. 00:16.000 --> 00:19.000 Gives you lots of cowboy energy 00:19.000 --> 00:21.000 With a flavor that's just right. 00:21.000 --> 00:24.000 It's delicious and nutritious 00:24.000 --> 00:27.000 Bite, bite, ready to eat. 00:27.000 --> 00:29.000 Take a sip from Tom, no one has your mouth 00:29.000 --> 00:32.000 But it's all that they think we need. 00:32.000 --> 00:37.000 The Tom Nicks, Ralston's Tratuitors bring you action, mystery and mile a minute thrill. 00:37.000 --> 00:41.000 Tonight you're about to hear another episode in a baffling mystery. 00:41.000 --> 00:45.000 The mystery of the Vanishing Village. 00:45.000 --> 00:52.000 Tom Nicks and Sheriff Mike are trying to solve the oddest mystery of their career. 00:52.000 --> 00:57.000 For an entire village of 600 people has disappeared. 00:57.000 --> 01:00.000 Vanished as totally as if it had never existed. 01:00.000 --> 01:07.000 Worse than that, two men, obviously somehow connected with the disappearance of the village, have been murdered. 01:07.000 --> 01:13.000 Tom is determined to find the answer to the mystery, not only because the people must be found and the murderers apprehended, 01:13.000 --> 01:21.000 but also because Sergeant Hank Smith of the United States Army is desperately anxious to find the girl he came home to marry. 01:21.000 --> 01:24.000 A girl who lived in the village which has vanished. 01:24.000 --> 01:28.000 In a moment we'll ride an action-packed trail of adventure. 01:28.000 --> 01:30.000 But first, here's good news. 01:30.000 --> 01:32.000 The best news you've ever heard. 01:32.000 --> 01:35.000 It's news of a sensational radio offer. 01:35.000 --> 01:39.000 Sheriff Mike Shaw has arranged to have some badges made. 01:39.000 --> 01:44.000 That's right, whistling sheriff badges, exactly like the one the vigilantes gave him. 01:44.000 --> 01:51.000 Think of it, you can have a whistling sheriff's badge, exactly like Mike Shaw's, for your very own. 01:51.000 --> 01:53.000 This badge is a knock-off. 01:53.000 --> 01:55.000 There's never been anything like it before. 01:55.000 --> 02:01.000 You see, it's made of metal, shaped in the form of a shield, has crossed six shooters at the top, 02:01.000 --> 02:05.000 and the word sheriff stamped in big letters to make it official. 02:05.000 --> 02:11.000 In the center of the badge, now get this, in the center of the badge, there's a siren whistle. 02:11.000 --> 02:13.000 Yes sir, a siren whistle built in. 02:13.000 --> 02:16.000 And when you blow on it, it sounds like this. 02:16.000 --> 02:21.000 Boy, oh boy, will you ever get a kick out of this whistling sheriff's badge. 02:21.000 --> 02:24.000 And will your friends envy you when you wear it? 02:24.000 --> 02:27.000 Now, to get yours, here's all you have to do. 02:27.000 --> 02:31.000 From the top of a red and white checkerboard package of delicious shredded Ralston, 02:31.000 --> 02:36.000 tear off the little circle with the letters RSS printed in it. 02:36.000 --> 02:42.000 Tear off the circle with RSS printed in it from the top of one shredded Ralston package. 02:42.000 --> 02:54.000 Mail this RSS circle with ten cents in coin and your name and address to Tom Mix, Box 808, St. Louis, Missouri. 02:54.000 --> 02:58.000 That's all you have to do, and we'll send you your whistling sheriff's badge right away. 02:58.000 --> 03:00.000 This offer is good only in the United States. 03:00.000 --> 03:05.000 The supply is limited, so get your order in tonight, tomorrow sure. 03:05.000 --> 03:11.000 And now, let's join Tom, Mike, and Sergeant Smith as they examine the body of Harry Phillips, 03:11.000 --> 03:16.000 Moose Creek Jaxon Station agent who has just been killed. 03:16.000 --> 03:18.000 He's the second one, Tom. 03:18.000 --> 03:20.000 Celestiel Albine was the first and he's the second. 03:20.000 --> 03:24.000 Both of them killed the same way by a long-range rifle equipped with a silencer. 03:24.000 --> 03:26.000 Holy mackerel sheriff, how can you tell that? 03:26.000 --> 03:27.000 Easy, Sergeant. 03:27.000 --> 03:32.000 You'll note that that there window at the other end of the room has a hole through it, a knee hole drilled by a bullet. 03:32.000 --> 03:34.000 Now, that bullet comes from the outside. 03:34.000 --> 03:35.000 Nice work, Mike. 03:35.000 --> 03:36.000 Thanks, Tom. 03:36.000 --> 03:42.000 Hole holes, bodies, blood, and this is no motion picture, it's real. Zals, what a tragedy. 03:42.000 --> 03:43.000 How come this man to be killed, Mix? 03:43.000 --> 03:46.000 If I knew that, Mr. Dane, I'd know the answer to a lot of questions. 03:46.000 --> 03:50.000 Oh, silly of me to ask you. I forget that after all, you're really only a cowboy. 03:50.000 --> 03:51.000 That does it. 03:51.000 --> 03:52.000 What, Mike? 03:52.000 --> 03:56.000 I said that does it. I just naturally can't hold myself no longer, Tom. 03:56.000 --> 03:59.000 Now, looky here, you saw the spindly shank imitation of a man. 03:59.000 --> 04:00.000 Huh? 04:00.000 --> 04:02.000 You may think you're a great Hollywood director. 04:02.000 --> 04:07.000 These ways you may think that they're a dinky little yellow French hat you're wearing, and that blue muffler makes you one. 04:07.000 --> 04:12.000 But around here, and especially with me, you're just a little shrimp trying to make a big noise. 04:12.000 --> 04:13.000 Oh, my, my, my. 04:13.000 --> 04:14.000 Now, shut up. 04:14.000 --> 04:15.000 Oh, Parrish is all. Did you hear what he said? 04:15.000 --> 04:16.000 Horrible. 04:16.000 --> 04:17.000 Quiet, boys, quiet, boys. 04:17.000 --> 04:19.000 Now, look here, my poor fellow. 04:19.000 --> 04:20.000 I said shut up. 04:20.000 --> 04:27.000 I ignore you. Mix, do you believe, honestly, that the death of this man has some connection with the lost village? 04:27.000 --> 04:30.000 If you don't mind, Harlequin, I'd rather not discuss the matter with you. 04:30.000 --> 04:32.000 After all, it's none of your affair, and I... 04:32.000 --> 04:34.000 Eureka! Eureka! 04:34.000 --> 04:36.000 Calls me around again, Willie. Now, Hor. 04:36.000 --> 04:39.000 I've found it, boys. It has come to me in a flash of miraculous brilliance. 04:39.000 --> 04:41.000 Oh, yes, Mr. Dane. Oh, indeedy, Mr. Dane. 04:41.000 --> 04:43.000 You're very wonderful, Mr. Dane. 04:43.000 --> 04:45.000 Just what has come to you, Dane? 04:45.000 --> 04:49.000 Why, the storyline for my picture. Oh, what an idea. 04:49.000 --> 04:53.000 Village vanishes. Six hundred people disappear. That gives us mystery. 04:53.000 --> 04:57.000 Now, for action, we have the murder of two men who are implicated somehow. 04:57.000 --> 05:01.000 Now, all we need is love interest. Must have love interest. How about it, boys? 05:01.000 --> 05:02.000 Oh, yes. Quiet, let me think. 05:02.000 --> 05:03.000 Quiet. 05:03.000 --> 05:05.000 Wait. I have it. 05:05.000 --> 05:08.000 We knew you'd get it, Mr. Dane. No, we didn't, yes, we did. 05:08.000 --> 05:12.000 The sergeant there. Of course, that gives us the war interest, too. 05:12.000 --> 05:16.000 The wounded sergeant returns home, desperately anxious to marry the girl he left behind him. 05:16.000 --> 05:20.000 But the girl has vanished, too. You get it? The girl has vanished with the man. 05:20.000 --> 05:24.000 Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness. 05:24.000 --> 05:28.000 Oh, what he did to Mr. Dane. He struck Mr. Dane with his fist. 05:28.000 --> 05:30.000 Take it easy, Hank. Take it easy. 05:30.000 --> 05:32.000 Get him out of here, Tom. Get him out of here, Oxford. 05:32.000 --> 05:35.000 Steady, steady, son. I agree he's a kind of a callin' thing, 05:35.000 --> 05:38.000 but I don't reckon he knew he was hittin' that close to home. 05:38.000 --> 05:40.000 Why, that man hit me. 05:40.000 --> 05:46.000 Wait. You mean the things I said, the idea I projected? You mean it's so? 05:46.000 --> 05:50.000 I'm afraid it is, Dane. You better wait outside and wait quietly. 05:50.000 --> 05:55.000 Oh, yes, yes. I... perhaps silence is golden, perhaps. 05:55.000 --> 05:56.000 Come on in. We don't... 05:56.000 --> 05:59.000 Yes, Mr. Dane. You know you were marvelous the way you were hammered back then. 05:59.000 --> 06:01.000 Simply supreme, Mr. Dane. 06:01.000 --> 06:04.000 Thank you very much. I didn't want men to have all our caps because I... 06:04.000 --> 06:09.000 Hey, Tom, you sure ain't meanin' to have that there loudmouth skunk as a guest at the ranch. 06:09.000 --> 06:12.000 When I made that offer, it was hospitality, pure and simple, Mike. 06:12.000 --> 06:13.000 But now... 06:13.000 --> 06:15.000 Oh, but now you changed your mind, huh? 06:15.000 --> 06:17.000 No. No, my offer's still good, Mike. 06:17.000 --> 06:22.000 Huh? The great Harlequin Q Dane will be my guest at the TM Bar. 06:22.000 --> 06:23.000 Oh, Tom. 06:23.000 --> 06:26.000 But for a different reason, Mike, a completely different reason. 06:26.000 --> 06:28.000 What do you mean? What's in your mind? 06:28.000 --> 06:34.000 Just a feeling, Mike, just one of those hunches that Harlequin Q Dane is even more important than even he thinks he is. 06:34.000 --> 06:40.000 Tom, you gotta look in your eyes. It tells me you've discovered something, that you're fallin' a trail. Now, what is it? 06:40.000 --> 06:44.000 No, not now, Mike. Two men have been killed and we've got to do something about it. 06:44.000 --> 06:48.000 I want Doc Green and Dover to perform a thorough medical examination. 07:05.000 --> 07:09.000 Later that night, Tom sits in his darkened office at the TM Bar. 07:09.000 --> 07:16.000 He sits hunched in a chair, his feet propped on the open window, gazing out into the star-filled night. 07:16.000 --> 07:22.000 Tom is deep in thought and off in the distance a coyote yaps mournfully. 07:23.000 --> 07:25.000 Who's that? Who's that? 07:25.000 --> 07:26.000 It's me, Tom, Hank Smith. 07:26.000 --> 07:28.000 Oh, come in, Hank. 07:28.000 --> 07:30.000 I... I know you're thinkin', Tom. 07:30.000 --> 07:33.000 I know you're tryin' to figure out what the mess is all about. 07:33.000 --> 07:34.000 Oh, over here, Hank. 07:34.000 --> 07:37.000 No, no, don't turn on the light. Just take that other chair by the window. 07:37.000 --> 07:39.000 Thanks, Tom. 07:39.000 --> 07:42.000 Oh, I know how you're feelin', Hank. You're havin' a terrible time of it. 07:42.000 --> 07:44.000 You're certainly right about that. 07:44.000 --> 07:52.000 But, Tom, I... I just can't help feelin' guilty about having you brought all the way from Antwerp, from a hospital bed, to solve a case that hasn't got any solutions. 07:52.000 --> 07:57.000 Every mystery has a solution, Hank. Every question has an answer. And we'll find the answer to this one. 07:57.000 --> 08:03.000 If I could only know that Mary's safe, that she's well. But the chances are she isn't. 08:03.000 --> 08:08.000 I don't know how a village could possibly disappear, but it must have been something terrible that happened. 08:08.000 --> 08:11.000 Terrible? Yeah, in some ways, I suppose it was. 08:11.000 --> 08:13.000 What do you mean, in some ways? 08:13.000 --> 08:19.000 Son, I know how important this is to you, and while I've got an idea as to what happened, Hank, I... 08:19.000 --> 08:22.000 Well, I can't talk about it right now, even to you. 08:22.000 --> 08:25.000 I'm just getting to find the signposts along the trail. 08:25.000 --> 08:30.000 Just ride along with me till I've actually found the trail itself. Will you? 08:30.000 --> 08:32.000 Okay, Tom. 08:32.000 --> 08:36.000 But what about this Harlequin Dane jerk, the Hollywood director? 08:36.000 --> 08:40.000 Well, for one thing, Hank, don't consider him the typical Hollywood director. 08:40.000 --> 08:43.000 Dane is one of the phonies. A lot of talk and nothing behind it. 08:43.000 --> 08:46.000 He's also a chiseler of the First Water. 08:46.000 --> 08:50.000 And just before you came in, I was getting ready to make a call to the Twin Rivers Hotel. 08:50.000 --> 08:53.000 A call in connection with Mr. Dane. Do you mind if I do it now? 08:53.000 --> 08:55.000 Holy mackerel, of course not, Tom. 08:55.000 --> 09:00.000 But you see, there was one thing, among others, that I noticed about Mr. Dane that I never noticed before. 09:00.000 --> 09:02.000 Oh, Twin Rivers Hotel, please. 09:02.000 --> 09:04.000 Yes, ma'am, thank you. 09:04.000 --> 09:08.000 See, I've seen him often, Hank, when I've been making a picture in Hollywood. 09:08.000 --> 09:11.000 Him and his hangers on those boys who yes him to death. 09:11.000 --> 09:14.000 But there was one hombre who isn't with him on this trip, and that's surprising. 09:14.000 --> 09:16.000 Oh, who's that, Tom? 09:16.000 --> 09:18.000 A publicity agent named Hardy Post. 09:18.000 --> 09:21.000 A crackerjack when it came to publicity. Full of ideas. 09:21.000 --> 09:24.000 But he loved to gamble. The result was he was always in depth. 09:24.000 --> 09:26.000 No decent studio would have him around. 09:26.000 --> 09:30.000 But, oh, hello? This is Tom Mick speaking. 09:30.000 --> 09:32.000 Oh, hello, Bill. 09:32.000 --> 09:38.000 Say, Bill, have you got a person registered by the name of Hardy Post? 09:38.000 --> 09:40.000 Yes, Hardy Post, that's right. 09:40.000 --> 09:42.000 Yes, I'll wait, Bill. 09:42.000 --> 09:48.000 As I was saying, Hank, Dane was glad to hire him for a small salary when Hardy was broke and needed the money. 09:48.000 --> 09:50.000 Yes, Bill? 09:50.000 --> 09:52.000 I see. 09:52.000 --> 09:54.000 How long has he been registered? 09:54.000 --> 09:56.000 July 17. 09:56.000 --> 10:00.000 Yes, I see. Oh, no, no, no, Bill. Now listen, Bill. 10:00.000 --> 10:02.000 Just forget I called. 10:02.000 --> 10:04.000 Right. 10:04.000 --> 10:06.000 Oh, by the way, how's the youngster doing? 10:06.000 --> 10:08.000 Uh-huh. 10:08.000 --> 10:10.000 Specialist did the job, Eddie? 10:10.000 --> 10:14.000 Oh, that's good. Oh, no, forget it, Bill. Forget it. You don't owe me a thing. 10:14.000 --> 10:16.000 Oh, much obliged, Bill. 10:16.000 --> 10:18.000 It's all, fella. 10:18.000 --> 10:20.000 I was right, Hank. By heaven, I was right. 10:20.000 --> 10:22.000 Tom, you're excited. What is it? 10:22.000 --> 10:24.000 I don't know. I don't really know, but here are the facts. 10:24.000 --> 10:26.000 An entire village is back. 10:26.000 --> 10:31.000 A phony Hollywood director gets a letter from your father, a letter dated July the 8th. 10:31.000 --> 10:35.000 The letter says your father will be glad to have him come and make a picture in Smithville. 10:35.000 --> 10:44.000 Now, on July 17, the Hollywood director's press agent arrives in Twin Rivers, the closest large town to Smithville, and he's been registered there ever since. 10:44.000 --> 10:45.000 Tom, what are you driving at? 10:45.000 --> 10:47.000 I tell you, I don't know, Hank. I'm just giving you the facts. 10:47.000 --> 10:51.000 I'm giving you the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that we've got to put together. 10:51.000 --> 10:58.000 Now then, the Hollywood director, Harlequin Q. Dane, and his press agent, Hardy Post, are both the kind of men you wouldn't trust ten inches. 10:58.000 --> 11:02.000 Also, the minute they enter the picture, an entire village disappears. 11:02.000 --> 11:06.000 I tell you, Hank, they're connected with us somehow, somewhere. 11:06.000 --> 11:10.000 I knew Harlequin was in on it earlier this evening when he shot his mouth off about the picture he was going to make. 11:10.000 --> 11:11.000 I don't get it, Tom. 11:11.000 --> 11:17.000 Hank, the Great Dane is the type of person who will tell a lie and then begin to believe in himself. 11:17.000 --> 11:23.000 You hit him because he began to invent a story around you and a missing girl, but he wasn't inventing it. 11:23.000 --> 11:24.000 Huh? 11:24.000 --> 11:31.000 He knew it was actually so, Hank. He knew, even though he didn't realize it, that you had come back and found your boyhood sweetheart missing. 11:31.000 --> 11:33.000 Well, I just don't understand, Tom. 11:33.000 --> 11:38.000 Well, Hank, here, let me put it another way. The so-called Great Dane, and believe me, that's not his right name. 11:38.000 --> 11:39.000 Wait, what? 11:39.000 --> 11:41.000 Out there in the moonlight, staggering toward the house. 11:41.000 --> 11:42.000 Huh? 11:42.000 --> 11:45.000 Great guns, it's a girl. Look, she stumbled. She's fallen. 11:45.000 --> 11:47.000 Come on, let's get to her, Hank. Through the window. 11:53.000 --> 11:56.000 Tom, Tom, I got a feeling. I think, here we are, Hank, here we are. 11:56.000 --> 11:57.000 The girl. 11:57.000 --> 12:17.000 Tom, I was right. It's Mary. It's Mary, the girl I came back to marry. And she's hurt, Tom. She's hurt badly. 12:17.000 --> 12:23.000 What is the meaning of this new development? Where has Mary Slade come from? 12:23.000 --> 12:27.000 What story will she have to tell about the vanished village of Smithville? 12:30.000 --> 12:33.000 Straight Shooters, here's your chance to be a detective. 12:33.000 --> 12:39.000 You have all the facts and all the clues, just as many as Tom himself has. 12:39.000 --> 12:43.000 See if you can figure out the answer to this strange mystery yourself. 12:43.000 --> 12:47.000 And to check your solution and to follow a trail of breathtaking adventure, 12:47.000 --> 12:56.000 be sure to join Tom Mix and his Ralston Straight Shooters next Monday in the next episode of The Mystery of the Vanishing Village. 12:56.000 --> 13:06.000 And don't miss this sensational offer to get ahead some whistling sheriff's badge, exactly like Mike Shaw's, at Tonight, Tomorrow, Sure. 13:06.000 --> 13:09.000 Boy, this badge is made of metal and it's a beauty. 13:09.000 --> 13:17.000 Designed in the form of a shield, it has cross-six shooters at the top and the word sheriff in big glazed letters to make it a visual. 13:17.000 --> 13:24.000 And built in the center of the badge is a siren whistle. That's right, a siren whistle used by the vigilante. 13:24.000 --> 13:27.000 When you blow on the whistle, it sounds like this. 13:28.000 --> 13:32.000 Boy, oh boy, this is one offer you don't want to miss. 13:32.000 --> 13:42.000 And here's all you have to do. To get your badge, just ask Mother to get you a red and white checkerboard package of delicious bite-sized shredded Ralston. 13:42.000 --> 13:49.000 From the top of the package, tear off the little circle with the letters RSS in it. 13:49.000 --> 14:00.000 Mail this RSS circle with your name and address and 10 cents in coin to Tom Mix, Box 808, St. Louis, Missouri. 14:00.000 --> 14:05.000 That's Box 808, St. Louis, Missouri. 14:05.000 --> 14:09.000 Do it tonight, tomorrow, sure. It's all for good only in the United States. 14:09.000 --> 14:34.000 Tom Mix was played by Curly Bradley, Don Gordon speaking.