In Los Angeles, while performing at the new Pantages Theatre in 1922, Eddie heard a loud voice call out from the audience, “Hey kid!  What do you want for the coat?”  The fellow had spotted Eddie’s coat of black, white and tan calfskin that he had made for himself.  “Thirty-five dollars,” Eddie yelled back.  When Eddie returned the following night, the coat was gone from his dressing room and in its place was a thirty-five dollar check with Tom Mix’s picture and name on it. 

In those days the cowboy star Tom Mix (1880-1940) was one of Hollywood’s most popular actors.  Mix asked his friend and business associate, Pat Christman, to invite Eddie to the studio and to bring some silver and leather goods with him.  Tom Mix quickly purchased various items, including the silver decorated boots Eddie was wearing at the time, for seventy-five dollars.  Mix strongly encouraged him to stay on in Hollywood to produce silver and leather items for the studio market.

With this exciting encouragement, Eddie immediately gave two weeks’ notice to the vaudeville troupe’s owner and started looking for a place to set up shop.  He was fortunate enough to persuade the First Baptist Church in Hollywood to rent him part of their building on the corner of Cahuenga and Selma Avenues.  The fact that Eddie did not smoke or drink was most helpful in dealing with them as a landlord.