DOWN T.V. WESTERN MEMORY LANE

HOPALONG CASSIDY RIDES AGAIN

William Boyd ranked among the top ten western stars in salary between 1935 and 1944. He became so completely identified with the role of Hopalong Cassidy from that 11 year string of 67 movies, it was impossible for him to get any other part.

By the time that string of B-movies had run out, just about the time that television was coming in, he was down to touring with circuses for $250 dollars a week (a very comfort able living in 1944, but hardly what a movie actor would normally make).

Toby Anguish, a promoter, and an unsung hero of early television, came to his rescue. Knowing that Harry "Pop" Sherman, the original producer of the Hoppy film series, had lost interest in the character and the films, Anguish talked Boyd into buying the rights to the films.

In 1944, Boyd sold everything he owned except a Hollywood bungalow to raise the $250,000 in cash. They got the rights, but could only release the films to theaters-TV would have to wait until 1953.

Boyd reissued the movies to theaters, where they continued to be popular, but didn't make money.

The next step was to secure the to the characacter of Hopalong Cassidy, and try him in the new medium of television.

At the time, the new medium was in its infancy-programming was generally primitive, and no movie studios would go near it, fearing that television, as a "free" (i.e. sponsor-paid) entertainment brought directly into the home, would eventually destroy the movie industry; virtually every Hollywood contract contained a clause that prohibited actors from appearing on the small screen.

Moreover, there was a shortage of programming, especially for children, who seemed to take to the new medium far better than their parents.