<a href="https://www.tvline.com/2137300/western-tv-shows-define-genre/” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank”>Westerns have historically dominated television in a way that no other genre has. Before “Gunsmoke” or the small screen adventures of “The Lone Ranger,” there was “Hopalong Cassidy.” Though now largely forgotten, “Hopalong Cassidy” holds the distinction of being the first TV Western, and it’s now available to stream for free on Tubi.
Hopalong Cassidy himself made his debut in a series of stories and novels by Clarence E. Mulford, with the first being published in 1904. A rough-and-tumble (but kid-friendly) cowboy whose nickname came from a hopping limp he had as a result of a gunshot, Cassidy made the leap to films a few decades later. From 1935 to 1948, actor William Boyd played Cassidy in 66 movies. Boyd was getting a little old to be playing a cowboy when the film franchise ended, but he thought Hopalong Cassidy could still find success on TV.
In 1948, Boyd invested everything he had into obtaining the television rights to the “Hopalong Cassidy” films, including selling his ranch and mortgaging his car. A 1950 TIME article revealed that he spent $350,000 – close to $5 million adjusted for inflation – on securing them. It was a massive gamble, but it paid off. The first episodes of the show in 1949, which were re-edited versions of the movies, were successful enough for Boyd to begin making new episodes just for NBC.
Television made Hopalong Cassidy more popular than ever
While the “Hopalong Cassidy” movies were successful, they weren’t a sensation. The same could not be said of the TV show, however, which instantly found a massive audience amongs TV-watching kids. Despite his tough-guy attitude, Cassidy was in many ways an ideal character for children. He never killed bad guys and he didn’t drink or smoke. William Boyd cleaned up his act in his personal life to match, and The New York Times quoted him as saying, “When you’ve got parents saying what a wonderful guy Hoppy is, what do you do? You have to be a wonderful guy.”
Within months of being on the air, “Hopalong Cassidy” was so popular that supplies of black dye in the United States were strained because so many fans wanted their own version of Cassidy’s signature black cowboy hat. William Boyd was President Harry Truman’s guest of honor, headlined the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and drew a record-setting crowd at the Chicago Stadium. Boyd even became a millionaire from merch sales.
Some of the best Western TV shows of all time soon followed down the dusty, lucrative path that “Hopalong Cassidy” forged. The Lone Ranger made his debut in radio serials in the 1930s, and had his own TV show by the end of 1949. The likes of including “The Gene Autry Show” and “The Roy Rogers Show” soon followed. William Boyd died in 1972. The full series that made him an icon is now streaming for free on Tubi.
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