BW - EP153—004: Independence Day 1944—Tom Mix And Hop Harrigan Fight The War

Breaking Walls: The Podcast on the History of American Network Radio Broadcasting

At 5:30PM eastern time over Mutual Broadcasting on Independence Day, 1944, The Tom Mix Ralston Straight Shooters took to the air. Originally airing from NBC in Chicago in 1933, it featured the just-heard Hal Peary, and the ever-present Willard Waterman. Tom Mix was created as an advertising vehicle for the Ralston Purina Company. Its format was devised by Charles Claggett, a St. Louis adman and based on the life of a real cowboy, Tom Mix. Born in Pennsylvania in 1880, he became a soldier and champion roper, winning a national title in 1909. Mix began appearing in movies, and much like Buffalo Bill Cody, his legend soon outgrew his actual exploits thanks to natural showmanship. By the time radio got him, he was seldom mentioned in print without a platoon of fantastic adjectives. Perhaps the most famous actor to play Tom Mix was Russell Thorson, who held the role for the Blue Network in the early 1940s, until it was canceled on March 27th, 1942. Tom Mix was revived and moved to Mutual beginning June 5th, 1944 in a fifteen minute serial. By then, Mix joined others like Jack Armstrong, Captain Midnight, and even Superman in the war against the axis. The show became known as “radio’s biggest western-detective program.” Joe “Curley” Bradley played Mix throughout the later run. Bradley was a former Oklahoma cowboy and Hollywood stuntman who had learned to sing around bonfires. As for the real Tom Mix, he had nothing to do with the serial. He died in a car accident near Florence, Arizona on October 12th, 1940. At 6:15PM it was Hop Harrigan’s turn to sign on, over The Blue Network’s WJZ. It starred Chester Stratton as Hop Harrigan, young aviator known as “America’s ace of the airways,” with Jackson Beck as Tank Tinker. Beck was all over radio. Hop Harrigan first took to the air on August 31st, 1942, running on The Blue Network and later ABC until August 2nd, 1946. It was revived from October 2nd, 1946 through February 6th, 1948 over Mutual Broadcasting. Hop went on missions in dangerous territory behind enemy lines. He had dogfights, went underground in war-torn Berlin, and saw heavy service in the Pacific during the battle for Okinawa.