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Hopalong Cassidy Music
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To go to each section directly, click on these links:
The Actor Who Was Hopalong Cassidy
New song about Hopalong Cassidy
Music in Hopalong Cassidy Films
Alan Livingston and The Capitol Record-Readers
Hopalong Cassidy music on CD and DVD NEW!
Hopalong Cassidy On Radio and TV
A Tribute to Grace Bradley Boyd (Mrs. Hopalong Cassidy)
Hopalong Cassidy Festivals and Reunions
Hopalong Cassidy Song Series and Fan Club NEW!
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A New Hoppy Song
© PineTree Music, 2010
Songwriter Roger Lee Hall has written a new song,
with beautiful lyrics by Susie Coffman, and it is titled --
"The Angels Handed Me A Rose"
(Hoppy's Song For Grace)
The song
is dedicated in memory of
Mrs. Hopalong Cassidy
(Grace Bradley Boyd)
The Actor Who Was Hopalong Cassidy
Hopalong Cassidy was the western character played by William Lawrence Boyd (1895-1972) in 66 films between 1935 and 1948, the longest running series of any fictional movie character.
William Boyd also made 52 half-hour television programs and 104 half-hour radio episodes that were broadcast in the early 1950s. He was one of the top box office western stars from the late 1930s to the mid-1940s. William Boyd didn't just play the part, he LIVED the part. He was loved by millions of adoring fans and was known by just one name: "Hoppy."
There were many actors who played Hoppy's sidekicks, including Britt Wood, singer Brad King, Jay Kirby, George Reeves (later in SUPERMAN on television), Jimmy Rogers (son of Will Rogers), and Rand Brooks.
There were also his two main comic sidekicks: George Hayes (as Windy) and Andy Clyde (as California).Robert Mitchum also began his acting career in a Hopalong Cassidy western: BAR 20 (1943).
The first time a trio of cowboys received top billing was in Hopalong Cassidy westerns.
The best of the threesomes in these westerns were:
First Threesome:
Shown left to right: Johnny Nelson (Jimmy Ellison), Windy Halliday (George Hayes), and Hopalong Cassidy (William Boyd).
First film as a threesome: BAR 20 RIDES AGAIN (1935)
Jimmy Ellison in Hoppy films from 1935-1937
Geoorge Hayes in
Hoppy films from 1935-1939
Second Threesome:
Shown left to right: California Carlson (Andy Clyde), Hopalong Cassidy (William Boyd), and Lucky Jenkins (Russell Hayden).
First film as a threesome: HILLS OF OLD WYOMING (1937).
In 1998, Roger Hall wrote to a national directory and asked them to put in an entry for William Boyd's birthday. They agreed to put it in the directory that year and every year afterwards. Look in this directory on June 5 and you'll see the announcement of the"William Boyd Birth Anniversary"
(June 5, 1895) in
Music in Hopalong Cassidy Films
By Roger Hall
Most B-western fans know about the singing cowboys of the 1930s and 1940s, such as Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Tex Ritter, and others .
Maybe you assume that because Hopalong Cassidy wasn't a singing cowboy there were no songs in his westerns. Wrong! There were actually over 40 songs featured in the Hoppy films. There were also talented music directors, such as Boris Moross who worked for many years at Paramount.
Highly skilled composers were also employed to write the background scores. These composers included: John Leipold (who did 8 Hopalong Cassidy scores), and Victor Young (who did 4 of them). Both of these composers received Oscars for other films:
John Leipold received his Oscar for John Ford's STAGECOACH in 1939.
Victor Young received an Oscar posthumously for Mike Todd's Oscar-winning film, AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS, in 1956.
1930s
In the first film of the long-running series, titled HOP - A - LONG CASSIDY (1935), "Following the Stars" was sung by Jimmy Ellison as Johnny Nelson -- he wasn't a strong singer but did very nicely making the song an important part of the film's story.
The first singing group featured in a Hoppy western was Chill Wills & His Avalon Boys, who sang in BAR 20 RIDES AGAIN in 1935, and again in THE CALL OF THE PRAIRIE in 1936. But only their voices were heard on the soundtrack.
There was even a Hoppy western with several Irish songs. In NORTH OF THE RIO GRANDE (1937), Walter Long playing Irishman Bull O'Hara, warbles the song, "Wearin' of the Green," accompanied at the piano by George ("Windy") Hayes -- who wasn't really a piano player! Later in the film, singer Bernadene Hayes as Faro Annie does rendition of the popular song,"When Irish Eyes Are Smiling (Chauncey Olcott-George Graff Jr-Ernest R. Ball).
The St. Bendan's Boy Choir directed by Robert Mitchell were featured in THE FRONTIERSMAN in 1938. This fine choir sang a bunch of traditional songs in this Hoppy movie, including "Home on the Range," "Columbia, The Gem of The Ocean," and "Auld Lang Syne." The film also featured a young Dickie Jones (who didn't sing), who later was the voice of the wooden boy in Disney's animated film classic, PINOCCHIO. Many years later, Dick Jones was a guest at the Hopalong Cassidy Festival in Cambridge, Ohio.
The next year of 1939 featured the first singing quartet in a Hoppy movie. They were known as The King's Men and sang two songs in THE RENEGADE TRAIL. This was one of the Hopalong Cassidy westerns with a young boy in the cast. His full name was Moyer MacLaren ("Sonny") Bupp [shown at right with Hoppy]. A few years later, he played Charles Foster Kane 's son in CITIZEN KANE. Sonny told me many years ago that he had really enjoyed playing in that Hopalong Cassidy movie opposite William Boyd, who treated him very kindly.
The first song in THE RENEGADE TRAIL was "Lazy Rolls The Rio Grande" with a solo by future singing cowboy star, Eddie Dean.
The other song was "Hi Thar, Stranger!"
Hopalong Cassidy with The King's Men
in THE RENEGADE TRAIL (1939)
One of the members of The King's Men was Ken Darby, who later worked at 20th Century Fox Studios as an arranger, songwriter and conductor.
He received three Oscars for his work on Hollywood musicals:
THE KING AND I (1956), PORGY AND BESS (1959), and CAMELOT (1967).To read about Ken Darby's work with a famous young singer in
LOVE ME TENDER, click hereMost of the early singers for Hopalong Cassidy westerns like TRAIL DUST (1936) and
HILLS OF OLD WYOMING (1937) were not identified on the film credits so are not known today.
1940s
There were less songs in later Hoppy movies, most of them in the early 1940s.
One of the movies featured The King's Men in STAGECOACH WAR (1940)
Brad King (real name: Jack Watt) appeared in 5 Hopalong Cassidy movies in 1941, including two with The Jimmy Wakely Trio: STICK TO YOUR GUNS and TWILIGHT ON THE TRAIL
The Guardsmen: RIDERS OF THE TIMBERLINE (1941) - "The Fightin' Forty"
The Sportsmen Quartette with Thurl Ravenscroft: LOST CANYON (1943) - "Jingle, Jangle, Jingle"
Read Roger Hall's Hopalong Cassidy Song Series in HOPPY TALK.
Join the Hopalong Cassidy Fan Club.
Click here.
You can watch the movie trailer for the first Hoppy western in 1935 on
See also this YouTube channel for more video clips at
Hopalong Cassidy
Ultimate Collector's Edition
(all 66 films on 14 DVDs in metal lunch box)
Alan Livingston
and
The Capitol Record Readers
By Roger Hall
Beginning in 1946, there was a series of children's records produced under the Bozo the Clown logo.
They were released by Capitol Records and were the idea of this creative record producer...
Alan W. Livingston (1917-2009)
The first record produced by Livingston in the series was Bozo at the Circus and it became a million seller.
He produced several sets known as "Record-Readers," which included an illustrated picture book.These record sets became popular with kids everywhere, especially the ones for Hopalong Cassidy, who was at his peak in 1950.
This was the first children's record set to make it
to the Top Ten on the pop charts...
HOPALONG CASSIDY AND THE SINGING BANDIT
was available with two 78 rpm or 45 rpm records.
The cast of characters for this record set:
Bill Boyd as Hopalong Cassidy
Andy Clyde as California
Rand Brooks as Lucky
and Topper as "Himself"
There was also an 18 page illustrated story booklet which accompanied the records. This set included a cute song with lyrics by Alan Livingston and music by Billy May, an accomplished arranger and conductor who worked with many great singers, including Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole and Peggy Lee.
The SINGING BANDIT song was sung by Lucky and begins:
There's a man you've seen on the television screen,
He's the kind I'd like to be,
He can ride and shoot and is plenty smart to boot
That's Hopalong Cassidy!
Listen to this complete story and song for
HOPALONG CASSIDY AND THE SINGING BANDIT
by clicking
here.
There was another Record-Reader released by Capitol Records in 1950,
HOPALONG CASSIDY AND THE SQUARE DANCE HOLDUP
It featured the same cast of characters and was again written and produced by Alan Livingston, with music provided by Billy May.
Later on, Alan Livingston became the President of Capitol Records where he signed up Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, and The Beatles among others.
Other Hopalong Cassidy stories by different writers were also released on Capitol records, such as these titles:
"Hoppy's Good Luck Coin" by Hamilton Richards
"The Legend of Phantom Scout Pass" by Steve Graham
"Hopalong Cassidy and The Two-Legged Wolf" by Charles Shows
Illustrated multi-media CD and DVD
"Peace Lovin' Blues" is a memoir by songwriter Roger Lee Hall of his early life and "survival songs" including one from a Hopalong Cassidy record set.
This DVD also contains a bonus document titled, " Cowboy Songs Corral Round-Up" - with information about Hopalong Cassidy and other B-western stars, like Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, and Tex Ritter.To read how to order your copy, click on the link below:
Combo DVD: "Peace-Lovin' Blues"
and Cowboy Songs Corral Round-Up
Did you know there were over 40 songs featured in Hopalong Cassidy
westerns during the 1930s and 1940s?Read about them and other fascinating facts and listen to songs in this collection by songwriter Roger Hall, who met Hopalong Cassidy in New York City as a youngster in 1950.
The book (2009 and 2010 editions) and bonus features (documents, pictures and music) are all available on a CD-ROM readable on any computer and titled after the first song in a Hopalong Cassidy movie...
"Following the Stars" -
Music & Memories of HopalongCassidy
Hopalong Cassidy
on
Radio and Television
Radio
Do you remember those entertaining days when you enjoyed listening
to weekly radio programs?Between 1949 and 1952, William Boyd as Hopalong Cassidy appeared with his friend, Bing Crosby on his radio show, as well as the George Burns & Grace Allen Show and Dean Martin& Jerry Lewis radio program.
Now you listen to several of these fun and festive programs
with some wonderful songs included
on a special CD-R titled:
Hopalong Cassidy, Peggy Lee and Bing Crosby
Bing and Hoppy On Radio
December 7, 1949 (guests: Hopalong Cassidy and Peggy Lee)
December 13, 1950 (guests: Hopalong Cassidy and Peggy Lee)
April 4, 1951 (guests: Hopalong Cassidy and Dinah Shore)
Click on this button to
After you have placed your order
by credit card payable to PineTree Productions,
through safe and secure PayPal,
please mention this CD and
send your mailing address to:
On the radio program Bing and Hoppy mention making a movie together at
Paramount Pictures but unfortunately it was never made
with the two of them. Read all about it in Roger Hall's article
in HOPPY TALK (Vol. 18, No. 4, Fall 2011).
Get your copy and join The Hoppy Fan Club International.
Write to:
Friends of Hoplaong Cassidy
6310 Friendship Drive
New Concord, Ohio 43762-9708
The Great "Der Bingle" Sings Cowboy Songs!
Bravo, Bing!
A Tribute to Bing Crosby
Television
Here he comes,
Here he comes,
There's the trumpets,
There's the drums,
Here he comes, Hopalong Cassidy,
Here he comes!
These lyrics are from the television theme song,
with lyrics by L. Wolfe Gilbert (1886-1970)
and music by Nacio Herb Brown (1896-1964)
Though some of the Hopalong Cassidy movies were shown earlier in Los Angeles and New York, the first NBC TV network showing was on June 24, 1949.
Entertainment writer, Susan Sackett wrote that William Boyd was
"a gambling man, he hocked everything to purchase the TV rights to the films and his character...he sold the first package of Hopalong Cassidy television episodes - edited down versions of his films - to New York's local station WNBT. They were an overnight success, and by 1950 his show ranked in the top 10...children worshipped Hoppy, and the character became the first merchandising phenomenon."
-- quoted in "Following the Stars" - Music and Memories of Hopalong Cassidy.All of his TV shows, including 10 full length feature films, are now available on this DVD collection:
Hopalong Cassidy: The Complete Television Collection
The Hopalong Cassidy opening and closing
TV theme is included on this wonderful nostalgic CD collection:
Television's Greatest Hits, Volume 4:
65 TV themes from the '50s and '60s
Hear the complete TV theme, titled "Hopalong Cassidy March,"
as recorded by Frank DeVol in 1952 on this excellent 2 CD set with many popular themes and songs, including "Hoppy, Gene And Me" sung by Roy Rogers:
Treasury of the West, Volume 2
Read more at The Old Corral B-Westerns web page here
Books about Hopalong Cassidy
Former President Bill Clinton has written
the Preface to this lavishly illustrated book
by Grace Bradley Boyd and Michael Cochran titled,
Hopalong Cassidy: An American Legend
To read the book review
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To read the book review
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Music and Memories of Hopalong Cassidy
(book and music available on multimedia CD-R)
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Book review of this recommended book at this link:
Jingle of the Silver Spurs:
The Hopalong Cassidy Radio Program, 1950-1952
Hopalong Cassidy in Magazines
Get your copy of Roger Hall's informative article
on the first movie, HOP-A-LONG CASSIDY (1935)
in Films of the Golden Age (Issue 42, 2005).
Order your copy at:
Roger Hall holding a framed copy of the Look magazine
from
August 29, 1950
"Every kid needs a hero.
Hopalong Cassidy takes the place of
Buffalo Bill, Babe Ruth, Lindy, and all the rest.
He's everything that young America admires and wants."
(December 1950)
There were many articles written about Hopalong Cassidy, especially in 1950 in Time, Life and Look magazines, when he was at the peak of his popularity.
One of the most interesting was a Christmas issue of Coronet magazine (December 1950) with an article titled, "The Inside Story of Hopalong Cassidy" by Dwight Whitney.
This is an excerpt:
"His [Hopalong Cassidy's] Saturday radio program, sponsored by General Foods, is heard on 151 CBS stations from coast to coast. His movies, the cause for all the furor, are televised from 60 stations. Last summer his second record album, Hopalong Cassidy and the Singing Bandit, sold 200,000 before issuance. During his personal appearance tour with the Cole Bros. Circus, the crowds broke all attendance records. From these various sources, Boyd stands to make well over $1,000,000 this year."
Also included in this 1950 Coronet magazine is the ...
Mrs. Hopalong Cassidy
A Tribute to Grace Bradley Boyd (1913-2010)
Hopalong Cassidy
Festivals and Reunions
2010
©
Songwriter Roger Hall was one of the speakers
at the Hopalong Cassidy Bar 20 Reunion
in 2010 in Cambridge, Ohio. It was the 50th anniversary of
him meeting Hoplaong Cassidy in 1950.
Roger introduced his new song, "The Angels Handed Me A Rose"
with lyrics by Susie Coffman
Read more at
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2009
To read about the 2009 Hopalong Cassidy Festival
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
2006
Read all about the 16th Annual Hopalong Cassidy Festival
[In memory of the Dale Berry]
See the photo gallery from the 2006 Festival
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Hopalong Cassidy Fan Club
Sign up to the Hopalong Cassidy Fan Club International
and
receive the wonderful HOPPY TALK newsletter,
Laura Bates, editor/publisher
and Fred Romary, associate editor.
NEW!
Hopalong Cassidy Song Series
This series is written by songwriter, Roger Hall,
and featured in the fan club newsletter, HOPPY TALK.
The first song in the series is: "Hills of Old Wyoming" -
title song from the Hopalong Cassidy film with the same title.
It was included in HOPPY TALK, Vol. 19, No. 3 (Summer 2012)
The second song is "Twilight on the Trail" - the title song
sung by Brad King
with The Jimmy Wakely
Trio (Winter 2013)
The third song is "The Funny Old Hills" - made popular by
Bing Crosby in the 1938 film,
PARIS HONEYMOON -
sung in
TWILIGHT ON THE TRAIL by
Brad King with
The Jimmy Wakely Trio
To join the Hopalong Cassidy Fan Club and receive the
HOPPY TALK newsletter with lots of interesting news, write to:
Friends of Hopalong Cassidy
6310 Friendship Drive
New Concord, Ohio 43762-9708
Recommended Links
Official Hopalong Cassidy Site -- Commercial site of interest to Hoppy fans.
William Boyd -- Wikipedia article.
"Following the Stars" - Music & Memories of Hopalong Cassidy --
multimedia book with music on CD.Hoppy Fans - The Official Hopalong Cassidy Fan Site -- Hoppy fans welcome to join!
Hopalong Cassidy Collectibles -- Joseph J. Caro's reference guide with over 1,200 color photos.
Hopalong Cassidy Festival - information about the annual gathering of Hoppy fans and celebrity guests in Cambridge, Ohio.
Hopalong Cassidy on YouTube -- Watch the videos about Hoppy and join this YouTube group.
Cowboy Songs Corral -- Read tributes to Gene Autry, Eddie Dean, Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers and more.
The Old Corral -- Chuck Anderson's great website dedicated to B-western stars, including Hoppy.
The Silver Screen Cowboy Project -- new songs about past cowboy stars, including a new one about Hoppy.
Western Clippings -- latest cowboy news and info by noted author, Boyd Magers.
Dorothy Sebastian -- A great site with many wonderful photos of William Lawrence Boyd, his fourth wife Dorothy Sebastian, and his fifth wife Grace Bradley.+
+ For the record, William Boyd was married five times:Laura Maynes in 1917
Ruth Yeager Miller in 1921
Elinor Virginia Crow in 1926
Dorothy Sebastian in 1930
Grace Bradley on June 5th, 1937 -- she married William Boyd on his 42nd birthday. They remained married until his death in 1972. Later, this beautiful lady became known and loved as "Mrs. Hopalong Cassidy." She has written her memories about her life and her late husband in the handsome illustrated book titled, Hopalong Cassidy: An American Legend
Please remember to credit this page!
Much of the information on this page
was compiled
by Hoppy fan and songwriter, Roger Hall.
If you copy any text or pictures from this page
please give credit to
Hopalong Cassidy Music
www.americanmusicpreservation.com/Hoppy.htm
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