In January 1880, just 100 years ago, the world's most popular cowboy star, Tom Ickx, was born.
During his long career, he appeared in barbill, traveled with rodeo shows, and starred in
numerous motion pictures.
In 1933, the Tom Ickx radio show went on the air, and for two decades, it was one of the
most popular afternoon adventure shows.
Radio's original Tom Ickx for many years was Curly Bradley, and it's an honor to present
him today, recreating his famous role.
Curly Bradley is Tom Ickx, Marvin Miller is the announcer.
The Tom Ickx-Rolston straight shooters are on the air, with action, mystery, and mile-a-minute
thrills in radio's biggest Western detective program.
Tom Ickx, come on, boy!
The
sun hangs low in the Western sky as we see the tall figure of Tom Ickx, the burly form
of Sheriff Mike Shaw and his warden, James, seated among the leather and wood of the T.M.
Bar Ranch House.
Tom, I've got a mighty funny feeling in my bones.
It's too blame quiet around Dovey these days.
Yeah, I know what you mean, Mike.
Sure as my name's Tom Ickx, there's something in the wind.
Yeah, everything seems all right on the surface.
We're sitting here in the living room of the T.M.
Bar Ranch House.
Out the window there are old Tonys who drop around the crowd.
Nothing's wrong on the surface.
Yeah, I'm still Sheriff Mike Shaw of Dovey County, at least till the next election.
Oh, I'm sure you don't have to worry about the boat, Mike.
But let's just review the facts to see if we can make a logical deduction to explain
our sense of danger.
Yeah.
One of your deductions, that's the ticket.
You know, sometimes when you're making those deductions, solving some mystery, you sound
like one of those detectives, Sherlock Holmes or Fido Vance.
More than like a cowboy.
Oh, shucks, Mike.
I'm just an ordinary cowboy, man of the West.
Even though I do make deductions sometimes like Fido Vance.
Fido is a dog, Mike.
Tom, never heard you put down your competition before.
Well, never mind, Mike.
Let's just stick to the case at hand.
Things were quiet last summer, too.
Remember that?
Seems that things are always quiet around Dovey during the hot months.
Yeah, it's kind of the off season, all right?
It's been going on for years like that.
Yeah, you're right, Janie.
But then comes along September, all creation seems to turn upside down here in Dovey.
This last season was kind of no exception, if you will recall.
Oh, I sure do recall, Tom.
One of those invisible men gave us heaps of trouble again, sneaking around doing things
we couldn't see him do.
Sure scared a lot of people, Tom.
Yes, Mike.
We've got to find a way to put a stop to these invisible villains who seek to mock justice
and use their powers to their own read-eens.
You know, I'd go so far as to say that invisibility is one of Dovey's major city problems.
Yeah, Tom, yeah.
But you know, the Civic Betterment Committee is trying to fix up the town to attract tourists.
No, Mike, I don't mean that the town of Dovey is invisible, although it has happened.
I mean, invisible criminals in Dovey are a major problem.
That's right.
Some of those big cities have problems with pollution and seeing too much crime,
but here we've got too much crime we can't see.
Well, fortunately, I've had the good luck to expose each one of these sneaky omariznas
attempt to circumvent justice any.
Tom, you know, that's something about you I admire.
Sometimes you're going out with one of those complicated deductions of yours,
and you sound like Albert Einstein or somebody.
But then you throw in some word like hombre or varmint,
and it shows you're just a regular fella, real straight shooter.
Well, thank you, Mike.
I know all of my straight shooters out there have a mighty high opinion of me.
They think I'm the truest shot in the West, finest horseman that ever lived,
greatest cowboy detective of all time.
You know, sometimes I feel like just easing off, just drifting along for a time.
But at the last minute I see it's my duty to prove them right.
Gosh, Tom, I wish I could be as humble as you.
You can, Mike, even more so.
You know, a straight shooter can accomplish anything he sets his mind to.
Yeah, and we had our minds set to solving the problem of why we feel danger hovering about us.
Well, the danger can't be from our latest invisible man. He's locked up.
But right after that, Dr. Doom came back into town.
Dr. Doom with his face that looked like a living skull with two eyes burning out of it.
Dr. Doom carried a rattlesnake in his pocket and claimed he could strike down any man through any kind of a wall.
Tom, there was always something about him I never liked.
Yes, I know, Janie. He left you to burn up in that forest fire he set on the Lost Plateau after he destroyed the only bridge.
Fortunately, Tony was able to jump the chasm with me and take us all out, one at a time.
Oh, no other horse in the world could have done it, Tom.
There's no other horse in the world like Tony, Janie.
And Tom, the way you figured out his underhanded trick.
Well, it's enough to say he's in prison where he can't bother us again.
Of course, some people must just not know when to quit.
Like that Nazi spy, the Iron Mask.
Yeah, Tom, the war's over, but Iron Mask, he coming back, making our herd of cattle disappear, causing trouble.
Yeah, last time was when he captured you, Janie. That was going too far.
You're just a young girl. It's...
You know, it's one thing to pick on Rangler, Peikus, or Walsh.
For some things, even a Nazi doesn't stoop to in our West.
But Tom, you can fight out and think the Iron Mask. He's where he won't get out. At least not the next season.
That's it, Mike. That's why we're feeling so uneasy.
There's been no new season for a long time. Our summer vacation's been going on for years.
Yeah, Tom, yeah.
But why do we feel such a sense of danger?
Because, Mike, our straight shooters are growing up. They're forgetting about us.
Oh, we're still here when they think of us, when they remember us. But too many are growing up forgetting us.
Gosh, Tom, I don't want to be forgotten.
Me neither.
I want to go on riding redskin beside you and Tony forever.
Well, it's up to them out there, Mike.
Will you remember Tom Hicks, Tony, Sheriff Mike, Jimmy and Jane, Peikus and Rangler, the TM boy?
Will you remember all the sinister ministers we faced together?
Will you remember eating raw salmon, sending for your whistling ring with a box-up?
We're all still out here, we're just waiting for you to return.
If you ain't too grown up, will you remember?
Once again we say goodbye to the TM boy ranch. Tom Hicks was played by Curly Bradley, Sheriff Mike Shaw by Tower McVeigh and Jane by Rhoda Williams.
The script was by Jim Harmon, Marvin Miller speaking.
Thank you.