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