PODCAST · arts

Hopalong Cassidy

by Old Time Radio

Hopalong Cassidy is a fictional cowboy-hero, created in 1904 by Clarence E. Mulford and appearing in a series of popular stories and later novels. Here the character appears as a rude, rough-talking 'galoot'. Beginning in 1935, the character, played by William Boyd was transformed into the clean-cut hero of a series of 66 immensely popular films, only a few of which were based on Mulford's works, but which led, in turn, to a comic book series modelled after the films. On June 24, 1949, Hoppy became the first network Western television series, airing on NBC. At first NBC fashioned the shows out of the films after paying Boyd, who owned the TV rights to his films, a quarter-million dollars for them. The footage later shot for the TV series starred Boyd, with Edgar Buchanan as his sidekick "Red Connors" and numerous tie-ins. The theme music for the TV show was written by veteran songwriters Nacio Herb Brown (music) and L. Wolfe Gilbert (lyrics). The show ranked number 7 in the 1949 Nielse