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Hopalong Cassidy Music
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The Actor Who Was Hopalong Cassidy By Roger Hall
Here he comes,
These lyrics are from the theme song for the Hopalong Cassidy television series, Hopalong Cassidy was the western character played by William Lawrence Boyd (1895-1972) in 66 films 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. 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) 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)
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). Russell Hayden in Hoppy films from 1937-1941
Music in Hopalong Cassidy Films By Roger Hall Most B-western fans know about the singing cowboys of the 1930s and 1940s, While it is true that Hoppy was not a singing cowboy, Besides the songs, there were also the talented music directors, such as Boris Moross.
In the first film of the long-running series, titled HOP - A - LONG CASSIDY (1935), the main song
Jimmy Ellison was not much of a singer but his natural voice lent itself to 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!" Hopalong Cassidy with The King's Men in THE RENEGADE TRAIL 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: 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
There were over 40 songs featured
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...
The first record produced by Livingston in the series was In 1950 there were several sets produced known as "Record-Readers," 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,
There was another Record-Reader released by Capitol Records in 1950,
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 All these records are listed in Joseph J. Caro's great reference book
By Roger Hall If you are a Hopalong Cassidy fan or collector, you know about You may have asked yourself -- who is that young boy Well, that little youngster was ME! Boy, I sure was a lucky kid to get that opportunity! You'd think my parents would have purcahsed a copy of the magazine when it came out in 1950. Well, read on...
LOOK, HOPPY AND ME! The photo below shows me with a big smile on my face 'cause I'm mighty pleased How did that Look magazine cover from August 29, 1950 come about? If you want to read all about it and why it took me 45 years to get a copy, "Following the Stars: - Music and Memories of Hopalong Cassidy
This e-book was published to also celebrate the 70th anniversary of the first in the film series, titled appropriately: HOP- ALONG CASSIDY You can watch the movie trailer for this 1935 western at
Here is one of the illustrations from the e-book. It shows (left to right): Frank "Junior" Coghlan (a child actor with William Boyd in silent films),
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). Here are the descriptions...
First eBook 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. Here are the chapters of this e-book: 1. Here He Comes! Hopalong Cassidy!
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. "Following the Stars"-
Second eBook
To read about Roger's illustrated collection click on this link: "Dream World"- Songs, Poems and Stories (PineTree Press) It includes his early song lyrics, his poems and stories about his life. His first story tells about his memories of Hopalong Cassidy and other cowboy stars. Music tracks are included with this e-book. To order "Following the Stars" or "Dream World" eBooks, go to the
Third eBook 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.
"Free As The Breeze"
Read all about the 16th Annual Hopalong Cassidy Festival
See a photo gallery from the Hopalong Cassidy Festival
By Roger Hall Attention musicians and record producers! Are you interested in possibly including songs about Hopalong Cassidy for a future CD? Write for more details to:
Over years there were some fine songs written in tribute to Hopalong Cassidy... There was a cute song with the title of "Hopalong Cassidy (Clippity, Clippity, Clop), 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. Then there was "Along Come Hoplaong Cassidy." Ever hear of that song? Well, there's an interesting story connected to it... 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." As Corby describes it on his website:
But there are those who still remember his song. Here's the chorus to his song with many western names mentioned:
To read about this song and hear it click on this link: Braden Corby - The Gentleman Balladeer
Official Hopalong Cassidy Site - Commercial site for items of interest to Hoppy fans. William Boyd - Wikipedia article. Hopalong Cassidy - The Early Years - DVD reviews. Hoppy and the Bar 20 - Nice tribute to Hoppy. Hopalong Cassidy Fans (Yahoo Group) - Read the lively discussions and then join the group. It's Free! Hopalong Cassidy - Music and More - News and reviews, movies, records, television. Hopalong Cassidy on YouTube - NEW! Watch the videos about Hoppy and join this YouTube group. The Sportsmen with Thurl Ravenscroft - Group that sang "Jingle, Jangle, Jingle" in Lost Canyon (1943). 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. +For the record, William Boyd was married five times: Laura Maynes in 1917
Later on, this wonderful lady became known and loved as Remember to credit this page! If you copy any photo or text from this page for a web site or publication, Hopalong Cassidy Music at American Music Preservation.com
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