lyr/info req: Hopalong Cassidy

Subject: Hopalong Cassidy
From: PHJim
Date: 20 Oct 09 - 03:54 PM

Does anyone remember the words to this song?

There's a man you've seen on the television screen
Who's the man I'd like to be.
He can ride and shoot and he's plaenty smart to boot
That's Hopalong Cassidy.
Now I am just a cowboy
With neither ??????????? nor ?????????
I need a man to lean upon
To teach me right from wrong.
I am full of pride when I'm riding by his side...

Subject: RE: Hopalong Cassidy
From: deadfrett
Date: 20 Oct 09 - 07:49 PM

I used to enjoy reading the Clarence Mulford stories about Hoppy years ago. I didn't know he had a song. Dave

Subject: RE: Hopalong Cassidy
From: BobKnight
Date: 20 Oct 09 - 07:59 PM

Played by Willian Boyd if I remember correctly.

Subject: RE: Hopalong Cassidy
From: Martha Burns
Date: 20 Oct 09 - 08:31 PM

Was this a theme song to the television show? "There's a man you've seen on the television screen" seems like an odd line for a song introducing the show itself.
By the way, I too was a big fan of Hopalong Cassidy and his ten-gallon hat. The show came on right at the end of my nap-time in the mid-1950s. Four o'clock, I think?
By the mid-sixties I prided myself on knowing all the cowboy show theme songs by heart. There were tons of them, too. You're making me wonder, now, if I left one out.

Subject: RE: Hopalong Cassidy
From: Padre
Date: 20 Oct 09 - 08:53 PM

Here's what I remember:

There's a man you've seen on the television screen
Who's the kind I'd like to be.
He can ride and shoot and he's plenty smart to boot
That's Hopalong Cassidy.

Now I am just a cowboy,
With neither aims nor goals
I need a man to lean upon
To teach me right from wrong.

I am full of pride when I'm riding by his side,
Or he spends some time with me
He will be my friend until the very end
That's Hopalong Cassidy

Subject: RE: Hopalong Cassidy
From: kendall
Date: 20 Oct 09 - 09:13 PM

He originally had a limp, thus the knick name.
The character was created by a Maine native.
So was M.A.S.H. There is no Crabapple Cove in Maine.
Just a bit of trivia.

Subject: RE: Hopalong Cassidy
From: kendall
Date: 20 Oct 09 - 09:14 PM

Anyone remember his side kicks name? I do.

Subject: RE: Hopalong Cassidy
From: catspaw49
Date: 20 Oct 09 - 09:36 PM

California?

Hoppy in the TV series was never big on the sidekick thing, unlike Roy and Gene and the Cisco Kid, but the only one I can recall was named California I think..........


Spaw

Subject: RE: Hopalong Cassidy
From: Bill D
Date: 20 Oct 09 - 10:32 PM

I remember ads for "Hoppy's Favorite Milk".... in my area, it was Steffen's. I'll bet he had 'favorites' all over the country. I don't remember a theme song.

Subject: RE: Hopalong Cassidy
From: Bill D
Date: 20 Oct 09 - 10:36 PM

HA! Many milks

Subject: RE: Hopalong Cassidy
From: Martha Burns
Date: 20 Oct 09 - 10:59 PM

It's sure sounding like that WAS the television theme song, after all. Would someone clear that up? You've got me VERY curious, now.

Subject: RE: Hopalong Cassidy
From: fumblefingers
Date: 20 Oct 09 - 11:43 PM

Sidekicks:
Speedy McGinnis, then California Carlson.

Subject: RE: Hopalong Cassidy
From: Gene
Date: 20 Oct 09 - 11:45 PM

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, Brad King, Jay Kirby, George Reeves (later 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.

G

Subject: RE: Hopalong Cassidy
From: Gene
Date: 20 Oct 09 - 11:52 PM

Lyrics to various Theme Songs.

http://www.lyricskeeper.com/televisiontv_theme_lyrics_science_fictionwesterns_soundtrack-lyrics.htm

G

Subject: RE: Hopalong Cassidy
From: Martha Burns
Date: 21 Oct 09 - 12:10 AM

Thanks, Gene. According to the website you supplied, there's a different theme song for Hopalong Cassidy:

Here he comes, here he comes
There's the trumpets, there's the drums, here he comes.
Hopalong Cassidy, here he comes.

(humming)

There he goes, on his way,
Down the trail the cowboy way.
Hopalong Cassidy, Hopalong Cassidy.

He returns, soon again,
There's no use to say goodbye until then.
Hopalong Cassidy, so long Hopalong.

   Can someone clear up the confusion?

Subject: RE: Hopalong Cassidy
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 21 Oct 09 - 02:41 AM

I seem to remember, from when I was very small back in the '50s, a fragment of a song with the line "Hopalong Cassidy, cliperty cliperty clop". There was also something spoken about " Hopalong Cassidy – never kissed a girl, never shot a man".

Of course, I could be mixing this up with someone else or might have dreamt it all completely. Anyway, I much preferred Roy Rogers.

DC

Subject: RE: Hopalong Cassidy
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Oct 09 - 04:07 AM

Side-Kicks

Jimmy Ellison as Johnny Nelson
George "Gabby" Hayes –Windy Halliday
Russell Hayden as Lucky Jenkins
Britt Wood as Speedy McGinnis
Andy Clyde as California Carlson
Brad King as Johnny Nelson
Jay Kirby as Johnny Travers
George Reeves as Lin Bradley
Jimmy Rogers as Jimmy Rogers
(Trivia Note: Jimmy Rogers was Will Rogers' son.)
Rand Brooks as Lucky Jenkins
Edgar Buchanan as Red Connors (1/2 hr. series for TV)

Theme 1: "My Heart's in the Heart of the West" 1930's FILMS
Theme 2: "Hopalong Cassidy Theme" RADIO 1948
Theme 3: "Hopalong Cassidy March" 1950 ecorded by Frank DeVol in 1952
Theme 4: "Hopalong Cassidy" Composer: Richard Rodgers 2000

1935 Film sang the song "Following the Stars" in HOP - A - LONG CASSIDY
The Sportsmen Quartette with Thurl Ravenscroft: LOST CANYON (1943) - "Jingle, Jangle, Jingle"


HOPALONG CASSIDY AND THE SINGING BANDIT 1946
was available with two 78 rpm or 45 rpm records.


Here He Comes - Television series theme song 1949

"Hoppy, Gene and Me" - Last recording hit of Roy Rogers 1975

Subject: RE: Hopalong Cassidy
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 21 Oct 09 - 04:16 AM

"Anyway, I much preferred Roy Rogers." Thanks, Doug: you *Triggered* a memory of my two favourites, who just come together on my favourite piece of dialogue:—

Man in bank: Are you the loan arranger?
Teller: No, sir. I'm Wyatt Earp.

I am thanking you & am about to kindly leave the stage...

Subject: RE: lyr/info req: Hopalong Cassidy
From: Joe Offer
Date: 21 Oct 09 - 04:26 AM

I can't believe that Hoppy once represented 37 dairies (maybe 67), as stated in the article BillD linked to. I moved to Fresno, home of Producers Dairy, in 1976, and every carton of Producers milk had a picture of Hoppy and the slogan, "Hoppy's Favorite." It was corny back then, and I figured only a dairy in Fresno would use Hoppy as a spokescowboy. Bill's article says Producers is the only one of the original 37 still in business. We get Producers milk here in the Greater Sacramento area, and it still sports Hoppy's picture. I wonder if Hoppy's presence still sells milk, or if people ignore it.
I guess I have to admit I was pleased to see Hoppy again when his milk was introduced in the Sacramento area.
The things a person learns from Bill Day....
-Joe-

Subject: RE: lyr/info req: Hopalong Cassidy
From: JMyer
Date: 21 Oct 09 - 05:15 AM

For MtheGM:

Funny you should tell-er the joke about Wyatt Earp.

He and I share birthdays: March 19th

-- though my year is different, and maybe 6 years after his death.

In fact, maybe I should have said, "I would be sharing his birthday . . . if he were still alive.

JMyer

MtheGM said:

> Man in bank: Are you the loan arranger?
> Teller: No, sir. I'm Wyatt Earp.

Subject: RE: lyr/info req: Hopalong Cassidy
From: Dave Sutherland
Date: 21 Oct 09 - 07:47 AM

You are not mixing it up Doug, I too remember bits of that song (probably from Children's Favourites)and I was hoping that these would be the lyrics published here.

Subject: RE: lyr/info req: Hopalong Cassidy
From: The Muse
Date: 21 Oct 09 - 09:38 AM

If anyone is interested in buying approx 50 Hopalong Cassidy videos along with other cowboy movies please let me know.
Choppers

Subject: RE: lyr/info req: Hopalong Cassidy
From: deadfrett
Date: 21 Oct 09 - 10:31 AM

I used to have a "Hoppy" radio when I was a kid. I could probobly buy a car with it now. Mulford had to clean the Hoppy charactor up with the transition to movies etc. As I recall he drank , smoked and also cussed a little in the early books, but was still good old Hoppy. I guess I'll go read them again. Thanks for the thread PHJim.
Dave

Subject: RE: lyr/info req: Hopalong Cassidy
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 21 Oct 09 - 11:35 AM

Bill D: You must have grown up in the central San Joaquin Valley. I remember Larry Shehady's Producer's Dairy in Fresno using "Hoppy's Favorite Milk" as their slogan for years. Larry's son, Rich, was a classmate at Fresno State and is now the CEO.

Bill Boyd was a stage and sometime film actor in the 1930's whose career was on the decline. He had been a "matinee idol" type in some early film work, with his striking prematurely silver hair. When the Mulford stories were about to become films produced by Harry Sherman, Boyd was the actor chosen, in 1935. In the books, Cassidy was a rather untidy rascal and rather course in his behavior. However, Boyd chose to play the character as a stalwart "knight of the plains," dressed all in black with silver trim and riding a white horse (Topper).

Boyd, in a daring move for the time, mortgaged everything he had in the late 1940's to buy the film rights for the "new gimmick" of television. He eventually made millions on the franchise, appearing at events all over the country and extolling the virtues of honesty and courage to youngsters. Oddly, Boyd was not especially fond of children in real life, according to those who knew him. Along with Roy Rogers and Gene Autry, he was one of the three biggest western heroes to kids of the 30's, 40's and 50's.

All that said, I don't recall the song either. It must have been associated with one of his earlier films, probably at the time the "singing cowboy" movies were becoming a big deal.

Subject: RE: lyr/info req: Hopalong Cassidy
From: Bill D
Date: 21 Oct 09 - 11:44 AM

naawww.. as I said, I think Hoppy's favorite in Wichita, Kansas was Steffen's milk. (I 'think' he once made a public appearance at the dairy there and drank some... I didn't go.)

(Joe... Bill D. has a mind like flypaper. It collects a lot of stuff, but only what randomly flys (flies?) by)

Subject: RE: lyr/info req: Hopalong Cassidy
From: GUEST,Young Buchan
Date: 21 Oct 09 - 12:27 PM

From somewhere in the primaeval swamp that is my childhood memory I seem to recall:
Hopalong Cassidy got 'em on the run
Hopalong Cassidy gonna get his gun.

Logically it would seem better tactics to get the gun first, but that's not how I remember it!

Subject: RE: lyr/info req: Hopalong Cassidy
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 21 Oct 09 - 01:09 PM

I haven't found the words yet but I Googled this reference:

Hopalong Cassidy, clippity, clippity, clop. Words & music: Harry Leon & Jack Henry

I think it was dated about 1954.


DC

Subject: RE: lyr/info req: Hopalong Cassidy
From: PHJim
Date: 21 Oct 09 - 01:20 PM

Thanks Padre.
One of Hoppy's sidekicks, Lucky, was a singer and I recall him recording a song called When I Grow Up I Want To Be Like Hoppy.

When I grow up I want to be like Hoppy,
Like Hoppy, like Hoppy,
A real rootin' tootin' shootin' cowboy,
With a bang, bang, bang and a yippee-ki-yay.

I had a complete Hoppy outfit when I was a kid, with the hat, shirt, pants, (rubber)boots, spurs, guns and a scarf with a steer head woggle. I wonder what happened to it.

Subject: RE: lyr/info req: Hopalong Cassidy
From: Dave Sutherland
Date: 21 Oct 09 - 03:21 PM

Did the chorus go something like:-

"Hopalong Cassidy hand upon the gun,
Hopalong Cassidy got 'em on the run,
Once upon their trail the chase'll never stop,
Hopalong Cassidy clipperty, clipperty, clop" ?

Subject: RE: lyr/info req: Hopalong Cassidy
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Oct 09 - 03:59 PM

Thanks. Probably right. At least he gets the gun out first.

Subject: RE: lyr/info req: Hopalong Cassidy
From: Edthefolkie
Date: 21 Oct 09 - 04:02 PM

I only remember what we used to sing in the playground around 1954, and some of that's gone (see the thread elsewhere about alcohol and brain size).

Hopalong Cassidy clipperty clipperty clop
Hopalong Cassidy clipperty clipperty clop
He rides all day, he rides all night
He ??????????? his guns cos HE CAN FIGHT!

I'm a bit ignorant about him because lots of us Brits didn't have the goggle box in the fifties when he was on and I didn't go to the Saturday morning flicks (swot).

I do remember the Lone Arranger though - he worked in the same bank as me after he hung up his mask. Always boring us to tears about Tonto.

Subject: RE: lyr/info req: Hopalong Cassidy
From: kendall
Date: 21 Oct 09 - 04:03 PM

Lucky Jenkins is the one I was thinking of.

Subject: RE: lyr/info req: Hopalong Cassidy
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 21 Oct 09 - 04:34 PM

Joe Offer:

Didn't realize you were a "valley boy." If you remember, the most memorable thing about the Hoppy character (other than being the only good guy dressed in all-black) was the cadence and sound of Boyd's very distinctive laugh.

Subject: RE: lyr/info req: Hopalong Cassidy
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 21 Oct 09 - 04:51 PM

"I do remember the Lone Arranger though - he worked in the same bank as me after he hung up his mask. Always boring us to tears about Tonto."

Wasn't he the one who would pass over bags of half-crowns, exclaiming "Hi-ya, silver — away!' Enough to drive anybody tonto!.

Subject: RE: lyr/info req: Hopalong Cassidy
From: GUEST,Geno
Date: 06 Jun 10 - 10:51 AM

Padre's lyrics are correct and taken from an 78 RPM record that accompanied a Hopalong Cassidy book. You listened to the record and when you heard a beep you knew to turn the page. Sorry no idea of the title. The intro song on the record was as Padre stated earlier:

There's a man you've seen on the television screen
Who's the kind I'd like to be.
He can ride and shoot and he's plenty smart to boot
That's Hopalong Cassidy.

Now I am just a cowboy,
With neither aims nor goals
I need a man to lean upon
To teach me right from wrong.

I am full of pride when I'm riding by his side,
Or he spends some time with me
He will be my friend until the very end
That's Hopalong Cassidy

Subject: RE: lyr/info req: Hopalong Cassidy
From: Mr Happy
Date: 06 Jun 10 - 10:57 AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hopalong_Cassidy

Subject: RE: lyr/info req: Hopalong Cassidy
From: GUEST,Sue
Date: 29 Sep 11 - 09:43 PM

My parents have the "Singing Bandit" 78rpm record that has this song. I listened to it all the time. I think there was one other verse:

"Oh he has a mind
Both strong and kind
And I guess that I must be
Such a lucky guy
With a friend as fine
As Hopalong Cassidy"

The character, Lucky, was singing the song.

I think there may also be a different word used in the bridge (I could be wrong too):
"For I am just a cowboy
With neither aims or goals
I need a PAL to lean upon
To teach me right from wrong"

Subject: RE: lyr/info req: Hopalong Cassidy
From: C Stuart Cook
Date: 30 Sep 11 - 04:55 AM

And the name of his horse was? Or has someone already covered that?

Subject: RE: lyr/info req: Hopalong Cassidy
From: clueless don
Date: 30 Sep 11 - 08:58 AM

I remember being a fan of Hopalong Cassidy as a young boy (me, not Hopalong.) I had a plastic model (they weren't called "action figures" back then) of him and his horse. One of his characteristics was that even though he was a "good guy", he dressed all in black. On my model, over the years the black paint slowly chipped off of his hat, until it was all white.

I wonder if it was lead-based paint? That would explain a lot.

I don't remember thinking about "Hoppy" in the same breath as Roy Rogers and Gene Autry. I do remember that I preferred Roy to Gene.

Don

Subject: RE: lyr/info req: Hopalong Cassidy
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 30 Sep 11 - 12:07 PM

I can't believe I missed this topic first time around, being as I'm a big B-Western fan...even preparing a proposal for a class on the genre (not to be taught by me).

There is a bit of misinformation about the films posted back then, none serious, but for the record.

The series is not considered a "trio series" in the accepted meaning of that term. They are Hoppy films. William Boyd as Hoppy always got top billing, with his sidekicks getting lesser billing. The Hoppy character was clearly the boss (usually the foreman). In the typical trio series--The Three Mesquiteers being the longest running--the characters were basically co-equals, as was the billing. Often two were romantic rivals, and the third was somewhat of a comic figure.

Regarding Robert Mitchum: he did appear in about a half dozen Hoppys in 1943, the first being Hoppy Serves a Writ. But his first confirmed film role--by mere days according to release figures--was The Human Comedy, a very touching film of WWII on the homefront. Mitchum, by the way, was slated to replace Tim Holt in the Zane Grey western series at RKO, but his fine notices in The Story of GI Joe rescued him from the oblivion of the B-Western.

Other well known actors who early played in Hoppy films were George (Superman) Reeves, Duncan (Cisco Kid) Renaldo and Lee J. Cobb (once billed as Lee Colt!).

I don't know if anyone mentioned it above, but running concurrent with the TV half hours there was a a Hopalong Cassidy weekly radio show.

Subject: RE: lyr/info req: Hopalong Cassidy
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Sep 11 - 04:34 PM

FWIW "Hoppy" milk was marketed by the Sorge Dairy in eastern Wisconsin

Subject: RE: lyr/info req: Hopalong Cassidy
From: Rog Peek
Date: 30 Sep 11 - 05:29 PM

Don't remember the song, but certainly remember Hopalong films at 'Saturday morning pictures' in the local ABC cinema in the fifties. Like MtheGM, I was a bigger fan of Roy Rogers.

Rog

Subject: RE: lyr/info req: Hopalong Cassidy
From: PHJim
Date: 30 Sep 11 - 06:51 PM

Hoppy's horse was named Topper.

Subject: RE: lyr/info req: Hopalong Cassidy
From: GUEST,dan
Date: 26 Dec 11 - 04:47 PM

I think a variation on part of the song is:

For I am just a cowboy
A ridin' on the trail
I need a pal to lean upon
To teach me right from wrong

Subject: RE: lyr/info req: Hopalong Cassidy
From: GUEST,999--from LyricsPlayground
Date: 26 Dec 11 - 04:57 PM

HOPALONG CASSIDY
From "Hopalong Cassidy & The Singing Bandit" Record Reader (1950)
(Billy May / Alan Livingston)

Rand Brooks - 1950


There's a man you've seen on the televison screen
Who's the kind I'd like to be
He can ride and shoot, and is plenty smart to boot
That's Hopalong Cassidy

I am full of pride when he's ridin' by my side
Or he spends his time with me
He will be my friend until the very end
That's Hopalong Cassidy

For I am just a cowboy
With neither aim nor goal
I need a pal to lean upon
To teach me right from wrong

Oh, he has a mind both strong and kind
And I guess that I must be
Such a lucky guy with a friend as fine
As Hopalong Cassidy


(Transcribed by Mel Priddle - December 2005)

Subject: RE: lyr/info req: Hopalong Cassidy
From: GUEST,banjoman
Date: 27 Dec 11 - 05:32 AM

I was an avid follower in my younger(much) days. I seem to recall that at the end of each TV show, Hoppy would give some sort of talk and said that the name Hoppy stood for " Help Other People ???" sorry the rst is lost in the mist of time . Can anyone else remember?

Subject: Lyr Add: HOPALONG CASSIDY THEME
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 04 Feb 12 - 03:28 PM

The Hopalong Cassidy theme appears on 3 albums:

TV Theme Songs of the Past (Big Eye Music, 2009)
Western TV Themes (Big Eye Music, 2010)
TV Themes of the '50s & '60s (Big Eye Music, 2009)

I listened to all of them on Spotify and they sound identical. I assume they were recorded right from the TV. Here's what I hear:


Here he comes; here he comes.
There's the trumpets; there's the drums; here he comes.
Hopalong Cassidy, here he comes.

Ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh, [etc.]

[break*]

There he goes, on his way,
Down the moonlit trail to where cowboys sway(?).
Hopalong Cassidy, Hopalong Cassidy.

He'll return, soon again.
There's no use to say goodbye until then.
Hopalong Cassidy—so long, Hopalong.


[* There seems to be a break in the middle where one recording is quickly faded out and another faded in. I'm guessing the part before the break came at the beginning of each program and the rest at the end.]

Subject: RE: lyr/info req: Hopalong Cassidy
From: GUEST,Beachcomber
Date: 05 Feb 12 - 09:09 AM

I have a memory of a travelling show coming to my little village away back in the late 40s. It was called the "Maskot Kinema" and their posters (handwritten) were misspelled as well. They showed only silent movies in the tent with it's timber side walls, and stayed for a week or so. At the time there was no electricity in our area and they had a diesel generator which powered the projector and gave them a better lighting than we locals had. The one film that sticks in my memory was "The Last Days of Pompey" starring William Boyd ! The only other title I can remember was "The Doctor's Sacrafise (sic)". Oh , and the company's mother played the piano accompaniment.
Talk about Magic Lantern. They were an English family with a boy around my age (72 now) but I cannot remember the name.
The funny part is that we had had several "modern" picture shows with talkies before that. Wonder if anybody remembers them or similar shows ?