Hopalong Cassidy Music

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.

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

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

While it is true that Hopalong Cassidy was not a singing cowboy, there were singers and singing groups featured in his westerns, especially during the 1930s and early 1940s.

According to the script for the first Hopalong Cassidy film in 1935, he was supposed to sing "Following the Stars" in the last scene while he is riding off into the sunset. It is difficult to tell if he is really singing but even if William Boyd sang with the other two actors, he never did sing again in a Hoppy film.

Besides the songs 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, 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), "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.

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

The next year, the first singing quartet known as The King's Men, sang two songs in THE RENEGADE TRAIL. The first one was "Lazy Rolls The Rio Grande" with a solo by future singing cowboy star, Eddie Dean. The other song was "Hi Thar, Stranger!"

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 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.

There were less songs in later Hoppy movies, most of them in the early 1940s:

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 Sportsmen Quartette with Thurl Ravenscroft: LOST CANYON (1943) - "Jingle, Jangle, Jingle"

You can watch the movie trailer for the first Hoppy western in 1935 at

Hopalong Cassidy

YouTube

See also this YouTube channel for more video clips at

Hopalong Cassidy

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

Bing and Hoppy on Radio

Do you remember those entertaining days of yesteryear on old-time radio?

Now you can listen to three complete radio programs
featuring Hopalong Cassidy as guest on
Bing Crosby's Chesterfield Show on these dates:

December 7, 1949 (guests: William Boyd and Peggy Lee)
December 13, 1950 (guests: William Boyd and Peggy Lee)
April 4, 1951 (guests: William Boyd and Dinah Shore)

You can receive a CD-R with all three enjoyable radio shows
(over one hour of songs and laughs)

Please help support the mission of this web site
and its owner (PineTree Productions) by
making a donation of $20
and you will receive this "Bing and Hoppy on Radio" CD-R
at no extra charge.

Just click on this button to:

Make sure to include your mailing address
and indicate this Bing and Hoppy CD for your donation.
Send it to:

Bing and Hoppy on Radio

Hopalong Cassidy Arrives
On Television

Here he comes,
Here he comes,
There's the trumpets,
There's the drums,
Here he comes, Hopalong Cassidy,
Here he comes!

These words 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 Hoplaong 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."
-- from "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

Former President Bill Clinton has written
the Preface to the lavishly illustrated book
by Grace Bradley Boyd and Michael Cochran titled,
Hopalong Cassidy: An American Legend.

To read the book review

Follow Your Stars by Susie Coffman is an enjoyable collection of new Hoppy short stories and poems, dedicated to William "Hoppy" Boyd and his beautiful wife, Grace Bradley Boyd. In addition to the stories, it includes many pictures from Hoppy movies
with Lucky, California, Windy, Topper and the rest of the Bar 20 crew,
and wonderful pictures of William and Grace Boyd like this one...

With lyrics by Susie Coffman, the song
was written in honor of
Mr. and Mrs. Hopalong Cassidy --
William Boyd and Grace Bradley Boyd.

Are you interested in featuring songs connected with Hopalong Cassidy
for a possible future concert performance or a CD?

"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.

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.

Songwriter Roger Hall, who sat on Hoppy's lap as a young boy for the
Look magazine cover in 1950, was a guest at the Hopalong Cassidy
Bar 20 Reunion on April 30 and May 1 in Cambridge, Ohio.

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Look magazine.

Roger has written about the day he met Hoppy and also the music in Hopalong Cassidy movies in his new illustrated booklet now available in limited quantity, and also a souvenir sheet with the 1950 Look magazine cover. Roger will autograph it for you.

He will also autograph his new song, "The Angels Handed Me A Rose."

To receive copies of the song and booklet, go to this link:

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

Cowboy Songs Corral -- Read tributes to Gene Autry, Eddie Dean, Roy Rogers and others.

The Old Corral -- Chuck Anderson's great website dedicated to B-western stars, including Hoppy.

Useful Graffiti -- an assortment of Hopalong Cassidy merchandise (t-shirts, mugs and more).

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.

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 now written her memories about herself and her late husband in the handsome new book titled,

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