Cinema: Exit Tony

A Los Angeles veterinarian and a taxidermist drove out one day last week to the San Fernando Valley ranch of the late Tom Mix, walked into a shed where the most famous horse since Pegasus stood in the mildness of his last few moments alive. The horse was Tony, who was a scrawny yearling following a vegetable wagon around a small town in Arizona when Tom Mix gave $12.50 for him. In the years that followed, Tony became the valiant central symbol of a cinematic age of innocence, the hero of millions of small boys and some of the best juveniles ever made.

Tony was in no sense a trick horse. But he was intelligent, utterly trusted Mix, and had what Tom called “a genius for acting.” He leapt chasms, he dashed down precipices, he received Mix (an indifferent horseman) from a parachute. He carried Mix through a blast of dynamite which knocked a hole in Tony’s side. He developed social graces. He managed to keep a straight face when he was honored in the dining rooms of the Savoy in London, the Crillon in Paris, the Astor in Manhattan, and when he was given quarters in the check room of Detroit’s Book Cadillac. Tom Mix used to boast gratefully that Tony had earned him more than any race horse in history. (Earnings of Whirlaway: $511,406; of Tom & Tony: $4,000,000.)

All this had been in Tony’s glamorous youth. Now Tony was very old (39). Most of his teeth were gone. It was no longer easy to get the molasses he needed for his diet. His front knees, broken in a film scene long ago, had grown so painfully stiff that someone had to be kept in his stall to help him to his feet. Since Tom Mix’s death two years ago, there had been a vacant look in Tony’s eye. He was scarcely aware of the veterinarian and taxidermist when they came in. A few seconds later he was no longer aware of anything. The veterinarian had injected five ounces of chloral hydrate into Tony’s heart. At once the taxidermist set about flaying the cadaver so that Tony (stuffed) may tour the country for the benefit of Boy Scouts, other boys’ organizations.

CURRENT & CHOICE

Flying Tigers (John Wayne, Paul Kelly; TIME, Oct. 12).

The World At War (documentary history of World War II issued by the U.S. Government; TIME, Sept. 21).

Wake Island (Brian Donlevy, Albert Dekker, Macdonald Carey, Robert Preston, William Bendix; TIME, Sept. 14).

Somewhere I’ll Find You (Clark Gable, Lana Turner, Robert Sterling; TIME, Sept. 14).

Bambi (Bambi, Thumper, Flower, Faline, Friend Owl; TIME, Aug. 24).

The Talk of the Town (Ronald Colman, Jean Arthur, Gary Grant; TIME, Aug. 17).

Mrs. Miniver (Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Teresa Wright, Richard Ney; TIME, June 29).