Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    Nostalgia Central
    • Home
    • Blog
      • Lists
    • Television
      • TV by Decade
        • TV – 1950s
        • TV – 1960s
        • TV – 1970s
        • TV – 1980s
        • TV – 1990s
      • Comedy
      • Drama
      • Kids TV
      • Variety
      • News & Sport
      • Advertisements
    • Music
      • Music by Decade
        • Music – 1950s
        • Music – 1960s
        • Music – 1970s
        • Music – 1980s
        • Music – 1990s
      • Artists – A to K
        • Artists – A
        • Artists – B
        • Artists – C
        • Artists – D
        • Artists – E
        • Artists – F
        • Artists – G
        • Artists – H
        • Artists – I
        • Artists – J
        • Artists – K
      • Artists – L to Z
        • Artists – L
        • Artists – M
        • Artists – N
        • Artists – O
        • Artists – P
        • Artists – Q
        • Artists – R
        • Artists – S
        • Artists – T
        • Artists – U
        • Artists – V
        • Artists – W
        • Artists – X
        • Artists – Y
        • Artists – Z
      • Artists – 0 to 9
      • Genres
      • Music on Film & TV
      • One-Hit Wonders
      • Playlists
      • Online Radio
    • Movies
      • Movies by Decade
        • Movies – 1950s
        • Movies – 1960s
        • Movies – 1970s
        • Movies – 1980s
        • Movies – 1990s
      • Movies – 0 to 9
      • Movies – A to K
        • Movies – A
        • Movies – B
        • Movies – C
        • Movies – D
        • Movies – E
        • Movies – F
        • Movies – G
        • Movies – H
        • Movies – I
        • Movies – J
        • Movies – K
      • Movies – L to Z
        • Movies – L
        • Movies – M
        • Movies – N
        • Movies – O
        • Movies – P
        • Movies – Q
        • Movies – R
        • Movies – S
        • Movies – T
        • Movies – U
        • Movies – V
        • Movies – W
        • Movies – X
        • Movies – Y
        • Movies – Z
    • Pop Culture
      • Fads
      • Toys & Games
      • Fashion
      • Decor
      • Food & Drink
      • People
      • Technology
      • Transport
    • Social History
      • 1950s Year by Year
      • 1960s Year by Year
      • 1970s Year by Year
      • 1980s Year by Year
      • 1990s Year by Year
      • Events
    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Television»Drama
    Drama TV Shows - 1950s 2 Mins Read

    Hopalong Cassidy

    Share
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email

    1 9 5 2 – 1 9 5 4 (USA)
    52 x 26 minute episodes

    The character of Hopalong Cassidy was created by Clarence E Mulford around the turn of the 20th century. But that was a different Hopalong to the one that kids knew and loved in the 1950s . . .

    Mulford had portrayed Cassidy as a rough, mean vagabond with a bad limp – a man who drank, swore and smoked.

    hopalong

    Actor William Boyd turned the character into a faultless hero, an idol for the children, immaculately turned out in black to contrast dramatically with his silver hair, his silver spurs, his pearl-handled revolvers and his white steed, Topper.

    William Boyd had already played the role in the cinema in a series of 66 films between 1935 and 1948, and he picked up the rights to his old B-movies when no one else was interested.

    He and his associate, Toby Anguish, re-edited them and repackaged them into 30  and 60-minute segments for TV when the medium was in its infancy.

    The first TV Hopalong therefore, was actually the cinema version revisited. Eventually Boyd produced this new series specifically for television.

    No longer troubled by the limp, he lived at the Bar 20 Ranch and was accompanied in his adventures by sidekick Red Connors (Edgar Buchanan).

    Hopalong Cassidy became an instant hit with younger viewers and went on to be one of the first great merchandising successes of the small screen.

    One million Hopalong trail knives were sold at 98 cents apiece in their first 10 days on the store shelves, and 4,000 bars of Hopalong soap were bought in one week. By the end of the 1950s, 108 manufacturers were producing Hoplaong Cassidy products, to the tune of $70 million a year.

    William Boyd died in 1972, a multi-millionaire, still faithful to his fourth wife, whom he had married in 1937.

    Long after his death, his character’s legacy was honoured by museum exhibits and a 2009 US Postal Service stamp commemorating Cassidy’s contribution to the early history of television.

    Hopalong Cassidy
    William Boyd
    Red Connors

    Edgar Buchanan

    hopalongcassidy_066

    Related Posts

    • Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok, The
      Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok, The
       1 9 5 1 - 1 9 5 8 (USA) 113 x 30 minute episodes "James Butler Hickok, mister" our hero…
    • Halls of Ivy, The
      Halls of Ivy, The
      1 9 5 4 - 1 9 5 5 (USA) 38 x 30 minute episodes Debuting on 19 October 1954, real-life…
    • Man from Blackhawk, The
      Man from Blackhawk, The
      1 9 5 9 - 1 9 6 0 (USA) 37 x 30 minute episodes This Friday night adventure series from…
    • Breaking Away
      Breaking Away
      1 9 8 0 - 1 9 8 1 (USA) 8 x 60 minute episodes Sunny-natured Dave Stoller (Shaun Cassidy) -…
    • Sergeant Preston of the Yukon
      Sergeant Preston of the Yukon
      1 9 5 5 - 1 9 5 8 (USA) 78 x 30 minute episodes Before Jay Ward's Dudley Do-Right humorously mocked…
    • Mr Broadway
      Mr Broadway
      1 9 6 4 (USA) 13 x 60 minute episodes Mike Bell (Craig Stevens), was a sophisticated press agent and the…
    • Joe Palooka Story, The
      Joe Palooka Story, The
      1 9 5 4 - 1 9 5 5 (USA) 26 x 30 minute episodes Based upon the comic strip character…
    • Ramar of the Jungle
      Ramar of the Jungle
      1 9 5 2 - 1 9 5 4 (USA) Adults shook their heads at this one, but kids thought it…

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Previous ArticleGlenview High
    Next Article Forsyte Saga, The

    Comments are closed.

    Follow us
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
    You May Also Like
    • Pearl Harbour & The Explosions
      Pearl Gates was born in 1958 of a Filipino mother and American […]
    • Wooden Horse, The (1950)
      The Wooden Horse tells the true story of the escape in Summer […]
    • Punk Rock: Its Day Will Come
      If you thought Jefferson Airplane was a weird name, let some of […]
    • Doppelgänger (Journey To The Far Side of the Sun) (1969)
      Gerry and Sylvia Anderson wrote and produced this tale of a […]
    • Celebrity Squares (UK)
      1 9 7 5 – 1 9 7 9 (UK) 136 x 30 minute episodes 1 9 9 3 […]
    • Oz magazine
      Oz magazine started in Australia in 1963 and, almost by chance, […]
    Twitter Feed
    Please note


    Nostalgia Central covers the period 1950 to 1999 and contains some words and references which reflect the attitudes of those times and which may be considered culturally sensitive, offensive or inappropriate today.
    Popular Tags
    1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1975 1976 Action Figures Amicus Arcade games Australia Beach movies Beatles Blaxploitation Board games Britpop Canada Crime Disco Disney Doo-Wop Elvis Presley Girl groups Glam Goth Hammer Heavy Metal Irwin Allen Labels Merseybeat Mod revival Motown New Romantic New Wave NWOBHM Oi! One-hit wonders Power Pop Pub rock Punk Radio Scotland Ska Soul music Surf music
    Search Nostalgia Central
    Copyright © 1998, 2022 Nostalgia Central
    • About
    • Contact
    • FAQ

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.