Hoppy
January 2, 2017
William Boyd as Hopalong Cassidy
There were no moral grays in the Hoppy westerns. Evil was always depicted as evil. Lawbreakers knew perfectly well that they were doing wrong and expected to be trailed and punished if caught. Sob stories, evasions, and excuses were so unacceptable in the moral code upheld in the Hoppy westerns that villains never even offered them.
ALAN writes:
One day in 1955, my mother took a few snapshots as I stood on the white stone steps in our front yard wearing a black shirt, black pants, and cowboy boots, ready for western action with my two-gun holster. At such moments, the heroism of TV western stars like Roy Rogers and Gene Autry and the Cisco Kid and the Lone Ranger was uppermost in that 5-year-old boy’s mind. “Hoppy” was one of those heroes. I vaguely recall having a Hopalong Cassidy writing tablet or jigsaw puzzle in the early 1950s. A retired bookseller friend of mine told me how fondly she remembers watching the Hoppy westerns when she was a girl and hearing his wonderful, distinctive laugh.
William Boyd appeared as “Hopalong Cassidy” in 66 western films, all of which were filmed in black and white. He appeared in most of them dressed in dark shirt, dark trousers, dark hat, and dark boots, a stunning contrast with his silver-white hair and white horse Topper. Sixty-six motion pictures between 1935 and 1948, and not a word of profanity. Select at random any 66 motion pictures made since 1965 and tell me how many include no profanity.
The story of actor William Boyd and the Hoppy character is a fascinating one. After achieving stardom in the silent film era, Boyd became very fond of wine and women. At one point he was the victim of some undeserved bad publicity concerning a different actor with the same name. It did not ruin his career, but neither did it help him. In 1935 he was offered a role in a motion picture based on Clarence Mulford’s “Bar 20” stories involving a ranch foreman named Hopalong Cassidy. As delineated by Mulford, the Hoppy character was not especially a nice guy. Boyd accepted the offer but altered the character by eliminating the bad habits and unrefined manners. Boyd changed the character of Hoppy for the better—and the character of Hoppy then changed Boyd for the better. [See “The Inside Story of Hopalong Cassidy” by Dwight Whitney, Coronetmagazine, Dec. 1950, and “The Redemption of William Boyd” by Allen J. Wiener, American History magazine, July 1995]
In his portrayal of the Hoppy character, Boyd personified everything good and decent. He invested the character with just the right degree of gravitas and masculine authority. He was the embodiment of sincerity and chivalry.
“When William Boyd was on screen as Hoppy, the attention of every viewer was his,” wrote poet and short story writer Susie Coffman in her pinpoint-accurate assessment of the Hoppy westerns and the reasons why “Millions of us fell in love with this character, young and old, men and women, boys and girls…
“Broad-shouldered, sitting tall in the saddle, he had that special thing called screen presence that so few have…. His screen presence is…physical and emotional…. He could create the mood of the scene with just a look, or the tone of his voice….
“When you see a Hopalong Cassidy movie, you are witnessing the talents of a wonderful actor who gave millions of us the wholesome escape that we all need. Today in this era of ‘reality’ entertainment and violent and raw moviemaking, Hoppy’s films seem more important than ever….”
[Susie Coffman, “Ride on Over to the Bar 20…A Tribute to William Boyd’s ‘Hopalong Cassidy’”, June 30, 2012]
I agree, except that I would say “the wholesome uplift that we all need,” meaning: The demonstration and reassurance that what is good and decent can be defended only by upholding a moral code that is not open to negotiation, something Hoppy did in all those westerns.
There were no moral grays in the Hoppy westerns. Evil was always depicted as evil. Lawbreakers knew perfectly well that they were doing wrong and expected to be trailed and punished if caught. Sob stories, evasions, and excuses were so unacceptable in the moral code upheld in the Hoppy westerns that villains never even offered them. That was because moral certitude was still part of Americans’ philosophical-cultural framework from the early 1900s, when Mulford wrote the “Bar 20” stories, through the 1940s, when the last of the Hoppy westerns were made. It would disappear from American entertainment in the 1950s-‘60s as more and more Americans agreed to abandon that moral certitude and accept in its place the modern, scientific-sounding lie that evildoing-is-sickness, one of the greatest myths in the lengthy annals of professional mendacity.
Men and women in their 60s-70s who remember watching the Hoppy movies or television series can now visit “The Hoppy Rocks” in the Alabama Hills near Lone Pine, California, where markers have been placed at sites where some of those westerns were filmed.
Most people would not expect to hear music from an 18th-century opera in a 1930s Hollywood western film, but that is precisely what we do hear in the first of the Hoppy films, “Hopalong Cassidy” (1935). Because there is no background music at all throughout most of the story, the use of Gluck’s “Dance of the Furies” makes the climactic scenes even more dramatic.
The best of the Hoppy westerns are those from 1935-1941, including “The Eagles’ Brood” (1935), “Trail Dust” (1936), and “Heart of Arizona” (1938). They feature gorgeous panoramic landscape photography and thrilling scenes where groups of ranchers converge behind Hoppy’s lead to nail the villains. Dramatic scenes are filmed expertly: Watch Hoppy in the poker game in “Sunset Trail” (1939) when crook and killer Robert Fiske realizes Hoppy has outwitted him, a scene made even more dramatic by the sparse dialog and absence of background music.
The Hoppy westerns also benefit greatly from the actors who portrayed his sidekicks: George Hayes, James Ellison, Andy Clyde, and Russell Hayden. And no one who saw them could ever forget Hoppy’s classic battles with villains portrayed so convincingly by talented character actors Victor Jory and Morris Ankrum.
One of my favorite scenes occurs in “North of the Rio Grande” (1937) where Hoppy is in a saloon and dances with the beautiful young actress Bernadene Hayes as she sings “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling”. She sings the seldom-heard verse and several choruses as they waltz around the saloon with other couples. The scene is one of extraordinary charm.
William Boyd was acutely aware of his moral responsibility to his audiences and especially to children who looked up to him. He visited children’s hospitals across the country during his tours in the 1950s and appeared in the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena. [See a color photo of Boyd riding Topper in the 1952 parade, in Reminisce magazine, Jan./Feb. 2002, p. 8]
One little boy got an unexpected thrill in 1953 when Boyd appeared at a circus in Madison Square Garden and lifted him out of his ringside seat and on to Topper. [“He Sat in the Saddle with Hopalong Cassidy”, Reminisce Extra, Aug. 1998, p. 15]
Cowboy singer Ken O’Rourke met William Boyd in 1949 and came to know him. Half a century later, he wrote about Boyd:
“He was a regular guy… He never talked down to anyone…. Bill was everything he was on screen [as “Hoppy”] and even more so in person. He had the most enjoyable chuckle and laugh. He was no Hollywood phony, but a genuine human being…..” [“Ken O’Rourke Remembers William Boyd”, Aug. 2001]
In a letter I clipped from a St. Louis newspaper in 1986, a woman wrote about how she and her children met the actor Boyd during their trip to California in 1952. She wrote:
“Our twins were Hopalong Cassidy fans. Anyone who had children during the 1950s knows Hoppy was one of the most popular cowboys of that time….
“I decided to write to Hoppy, telling him of our trip and asking if the twins could meet him.
“To our surprise, we quickly received a reply from his secretary. We could call a number upon arrival in Los Angeles and a meeting would be arranged.
“We drove to Hoppy’s office on Wilshire Boulevard…and went up the elevator. We were shaking with excitement but Hoppy greeted us with hugs and kisses.
“He took the twins on his lap and was interested in family stories. We talked for an hour. He left for another room and returned with gifts for the girls – books, puzzles, even cowgirl dresses and hats.
“….nothing has ever compared with that private time Hoppy gave to a family from the midwest.
“For years, he sent birthday cards to our twins, which made them the envy of all their friends.
“William Boyd was a wonderful man, one we will remember forever.”
[Hildegarde Schubert, “Family Remembers Film Star”, Letter, South Side Journal, April 9, 1986 ]
Though the Hopalong movies are available on DVD, I am part of the last generation of Americans who understand how she could write such things and why they were true.
— Comments —
“A faithful reader” writes:
This wonderful post brought to mind a favorite line from the film “Hopalong Cassidy Enters.”
The villain who killed Gabby Hayes’ character has fallen to his death trying to get away. Hoppy and his friends find the villain sprawled in the dust, and Hoppy simply comments, “That’s what it says in the Book. Whatever measure you give out, that same measure shall be given out to you.”
No moral grays.
