Tom Mix

This undated photo by Stan Healey shows a fair or carnival in Missoula, Montana, with several large tents and covered booths. A sign over one tent reads: "BIG SHOW Tom Mix is here."

According to a 2018 news column by Jim Harmon of Missoula, Mix did a tour of Montana in the 1930s, which included stops in Missoula, Butte, and Bozeman.

Mix was a silent movie star who got his start in a series of Wild West shows. He was first hired in 1910 to handle horses, and was in his first film that year. Mix was signed by Fox Films in 1917 and remained with them until 1928, becoming more popular than all of the other cowboy actors.

Harmon reports that sound in films "was his downfall. Tom Mix’s voice 'had been damaged by a bullet to the throat and repeated broken noses' over the years and wasn’t well suited for either radio or the new talkies.'”