Hopalong Cassidy Music

Here he comes,
Here he comes,
There's the trumpets,
There's the drums,
Here he comes,
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 known by just one name: "Hoppy."

Unlike Gene Autry, Roy Rogers or Tex Ritter, William Boyd was not a singing cowboy. He was rumored to not like the singing much in his films. Yet there were some fine songs included in the Hopalong Cassidy westerns, especially during the 1930s: "Following the Stars" (lyrics: Dave Franklin/ music: Sam H. Stept) from HOP- A-LONG CASSIDY (1935)

"Take Me Back to Those Wide Open Spaces" (Harry Tobias/Jack Stern) from TRAIL DUST (1936)

"Lazy Rolls the Rio Grande" (Foster Carling/ Phil Ohman) from THE RENEGADE TRAIL (1939) --
sung by Eddie Dean with The King's Men. There were many actors who played Hoppy's sidekicks, including Britt Wood, Brad King, Jay Kirby, George Reeves (later SUPERMAN on television), Jimmy Rogers (son of Will Rogers), and Rand Brooks.

There were also the two main comic sidekicks: George Hayes and Andy Clyde. Robert Micthum 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.

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

Shown left to right: California Carlson (Andy Clyde), Hopalong Cassidy (William Boyd), and Lucky Jenkins (Russell Hayden).

Russell Hayden in Hoppy films from 1937-1941
Andy Clyde in Hoppy films from 1940-1948

While it is true that Hoppy was not a singing cowboy,
there are various singers and singing groups featured in these westerns.

Besides the songs, there were also the talented music directors, such as Boris Moross.
Composers were also employed to write the background score. The 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,
and Victor Young received an Oscar posthumously for
Mike Todd's Oscar-winning film, AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS, in 1956.

In the first film of the long-running series, titled HOP - A - LONG CASSIDY (1935), the main song
was sung by Jimmy Ellison (as Johnny Nelson) as shown on this sheet music cover...

Jimmy Ellison was not much of a singer but his natural voice lent itself to
"Following the Stars" (Sam H. Stept-Dave Franklin) which he sang in the film.

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. Only their voices were heard on the soundtrack.

Two years later The St. Bendan's Boy Choir direct by Robert Mitchell were featured in THE FRONTIERSMAN in 1938. They sang a bunch of traditional songs.

The next year, the first singing quartet to appear in a Hopalong Cassidy western were known as The King's Men and they sang two songs in the western. The first one was "Lazy Rolls The Rio Grande" with a solo by future singing cowboy star, Eddie Dean. The other song sung by The King's Men was "Hi Thar, Stranger!"
as shown in this photo:

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 muscals:
THE KING AND I (1956), PORGY AND BESS (1959), and CAMELOT (1967).

To read about Ken Darby's work with the young singer in LOVE ME TENDER, click here

Most of the early singing groups for Hopalong Cassidy westerns like TRAIL DUST (1936) and
HILLS OF OLD WYOMING (1937) were not identified on the film credits. But the later ones were:

The Jimmy Wakely Trio -- STICK TO YOUR GUNS, TWILIGHT ON THE TRAIL (1941)
The Guardsmen -- RIDERS OF THE TIMBERLINE (1941)
The Sportsmen Quartette -- LOST CANYON (1943)

There were over 40 songs featured
in Hopalong Cassidy westerns between 1935 and 1947.
A list of these songs is available in the eBook,

"Following the Stars" - Music and Memories of Hopalong Cassidy.

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Capitol Record Readers

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 creation of record producer...

Alan W. Livingston

The first record produced by Livingston in the series was
Bozo at the Circus and it became a million seller.

Others would follow that also were very popular.

In 1950 there were several sets produced known as "Record-Readers,"
which included an illustrated picture book. One of the first ones was

HOPALONG CASSIDY AND THE SINGING BANDIT

The set had two 78 rpm or 45 rpm records.

This was the first children's record set to make it to the Top Ten on the pop charts.

Listen to this complete record set here.

The cast of characters for this record set was Bill Boyd as Hopalong Cassidy, Andy Clyde as California, Rand Brooks as Luck, and Topper as "Himself." There was also an 18 page illustrated story booklet which accompanied the records. The 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!

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.

Many other single Hopalong Cassidy records were also released, such as
"Hoppy's Good Luck Coin."

All these records are listed in Joseph J. Caro's great reference book
with over 1,200 color photos titled,

Hopalong Cassidy Collectibles

If you are a Hopalong Cassidy fan or collector, you know about
the hard-to-find Look magazine from August 29, 1950.

You may have asked yourself -- who is that young boy
sitting on Hoppy's lap on the Look magazine cover?

You'd think my parents would have purcahsed a copy of the magazine when it came out in 1950.

But they didn't. Why didn't they?

The photo below shows me with a big smile on my face 'cause I'm mighty pleased
to be finally holding a framed copy of that magazine.

If you want to read all about it and why it took me 45 years to get a copy,
you should get the illustrated e-book titled:

This e-book was published to also celebrate the 70th anniversary of the first in the film series, titled appropriately:

It shows (left to right): Frank "Junior" Coghlan (a child actor with William Boyd in silent films),
Grace Bradley Boyd (Mrs. Hopalong Cassidy) and
Roger Hall at the 1995 Hopalong Cassidy Festival in Cambridge, Ohio:

There are now three illustrated eBooks which describe how one fan got to meet Hopalong Cassidy (William Boyd) and also meet Mrs. Hopalong Cassidy (Grace Bradley Boyd).

The above picture shows songwriter and singer Roger Hall holding a framed copy of the 1950 Look magazine with Hoppy and him on the cover.

Learn how this magazine cover photo was taken and much more in Roger's illustrated e-book, available on CD-ROM that you can read on your computer with Microsoft Word. Any of the pages can be printed if you want to read them away from your computer.

The e-book includes 50 beautiful photos, most of them in full color, including those from several Hopalong Cassidy Festivals held in Cambridge, Ohio.

1. Here He Comes! Hopalong Cassidy!

2. Hoppy and Me – A Mystery Story
Cowboy Kid
Meeting Hoppy
Magazine Mystery

3. Hopalong Cassidy on Records

4. Songs in Hopalong Cassidy Films
Top Ten Favorite Songs
Who Were The King’s Men?

5. Music, Music Directors, and Singing Groups
Hop-along Cassidy (1935)
List of Composers, Music Directors, Singing Groups

6. The Hopalong Cassidy Festivals
Meeting Mrs. Hopalong Cassidy (Grace Bradley Boyd)
1995 Festival
1999 Festival
2000 Festival

7. Photo Album from Hopalong Cassidy Festivals

8. Notes and Additional Information

Also available with the "Following the Stars" e-book are extra photos (including the Look magazine cover) and other documents, such as the list of all the songs in Hopalong Cassidy films.

It is also available in a printed edition, signed by the author.

To order your copy of the eBook or the printed book, click on this link:

His first story tells about his memories of Hopalong Cassidy and other cowboy stars.

Available for a limited time is this illustrated memoir which includes a chapter telling about Hopalong Cassidy and with a web survey of favorite cowboy songs.

There are four chapters devoted to Roger's early songwriting days.

Music tracks are included with this e-book:

Read all about the 16th Annual Hopalong Cassidy Festival
held in Cambridge, Ohio

Are you interested in possibly including songs about Hopalong Cassidy for a future CD?

There was a cute song with the title of "Hopalong Cassidy (Clippity, Clippity, Clop),
written by Harry Leon and Jack Henry in 1954.
I sang this song at the Hopalong Cassidy Festival
in Cambridge, Ohio in 2000.

And there's the much better known song, "Hoppy, Gene and Me," by Thomas ("Snuff") Garrett, Stephen Dorff, and Milton Brown. Written in 1975, it was the last hit record for Roy Rogers.

But most poignant of all was "Hoppy's Gone," by Johnny Slate, Larry Henley and Red Lane.
It was written in 1972 just after the death of William Lawrence Boyd.
This touching memorial song was beautifully sung by Roger Miller.

The man who wrote and recorded the song was Hans Meier, who later changed back to his real name of Braden Corby. He's a Canadian singer known as "The Gentleman Balladeer."

The story goes that about 1980, while he was performing at a pub, he met Lyle Crosbie who had some hit records in the U.S. Crosbie was part owner of a recording studio in Vancouver, so both of them went in and recorded Hans Meier's song,"Along Come Hopalong Cassidy."
It was released in 1981 as a 45 RPM on the Double A Records label.

The Avalon Boys - Chill Wills and his singing group who performed in two early Hoppy films.

Dorothy Sebastian - A great site with many wonderful photos of William Lawrence Boyd, his +fourth wife Dorothy Sebastian, and his+ fifth wife Grace Bradley.

Laura Maynes in 1917

Ruth Yeager Miller in 1921

Elinor Virginia Crow in 1926

Dorothy Sebastian in 1930

Grace Bradley on June 5th, 1937 (married on William Boyd's 42nd birthday).

He remained married to Grace Bradley Boyd, a Hollywood actress during the 1930s and 1940s,
until his death in 1972.

Later on, this wonderful lady became known and loved as
"Mrs. Hopalong Cassidy."

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