![\"\"](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/b\/bc\/Abilene_Town_1946_%282%29.jpg\")
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Whatever Happened To Randolph Scott<\/a><\/em>\u00a0– shown<\/em>\u00a0at right<\/em> –\u00a0<\/strong>didn’t<\/strong> happen to “Hopalong<\/a>…”<\/em><\/p>\n (… as in “Cassidy<\/a>.”)<\/em><\/p>\n * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n \u00a0There was a cute young volunteer at the office the other day. \u00a0(At the local\u00a0Keep America Beautiful<\/a>, where I work off and on as a supervisor.<\/em>) \u00a0 Her name was Cassidy.<\/p>\n So when the\u00a0Big Boss Man<\/a>\u00a0called her “hopalong,” I got a bit confused.<\/p>\n I\u00a0assumed<\/a><\/em>\u00a0that maybe – when she put her bag behind the office table – \u00a0she’d done a little hop. Or maybe she’d had a limp the day before. \u00a0But later – working at the recycle bins – it hit me. \u00a0So I asked her about the nickname and she said, “Oh yeah, that’s what a lot of old guys call me!<\/em>”<\/p>\n But that little episode set in motion a whole set of trains of thought<\/a>.\u00a0(Or more precisely, train-lines of\u00a0free association<\/a>.) \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Those train-lines included – but weren’t limited to – the question, “Whatever happened to the guy who played<\/em> Hopalong Cassidy?” \u00a0For that matter, “Whatever happened<\/a>\u00a0to the guys who played other<\/em> old-time cowboy heroes?”<\/p>\n Those queries also include – but aren’t limited to – whatever happened<\/em> to Randolph Scott<\/a>, <\/span>Lash LaRue<\/a>,\u00a0Johnny Mack Brown<\/a>, or for that matter,\u00a0Gene Autry<\/a>. \u00a0For one short answer, check sites like\u00a010 Best Old Cowboy Movies<\/a>, or\u00a0Famous Old Western Actors<\/a>, both courtesy of the\u00a0Screen Junkies<\/a>\u00a0website. \u00a0Or you could check\u00a016 Best Western Movies | The Art of Manliness<\/a>, for more on the ongoing appeal of those old-time cowboys. \u00a0\u00a0That <\/em><\/strong>short answer?<\/p>\n Few figures in history have had as powerful an impact on American masculinity as the cowboy. \u00a0For over a century, the cowboy has \u2014 for better or for worse \u2014 been a standard of rugged individualism and stoic bravery for the American male. \u00a0While the\u00a0mythologization\u00a0of the American cowboy began all the way back in the 1880s … it wasn\u2019t until the advent of twentieth century cinema that the cowboy cemented his place as an icon of manliness.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n But we were talking about\u00a0\u201cHopalong Cassidy<\/a>.” \u00a0(“Hoppy,” for short.<\/em>)<\/p>\n Clarence E. Mulford<\/a>\u00a0created Hoppy<\/em> in 1904. \u00a0And in the original version, he was portrayed as “rude, dangerous, and rough-talking.”<\/p>\n (Not uniike\u00a0Bugs Bunny<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Woody Woodpecker<\/a>. \u00a0Bugs was originally “loud, zany with a goofy, guttural<\/a> laugh” and a “hayseed<\/a> voice.” \u00a0But in later versions he was shown as\u00a0“cool, graceful, and controlled.” \u00a0Woody too went on to “evolve over the years, from an insane bird<\/a> with an unusually garish design to a more refined looking and acting character.”)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Be that as it may<\/a>, in the movie version played by\u00a0William Boyd<\/a>\u00a0– starting in 1935 – Hopalong Cassidy too was transformed into a clean-cut hero. \u00a0(As shown in the bottom image<\/em>.)<\/p>\n …white-haired Bill “Hopalong” Cassidy was usually clad strikingly in black (including his hat, an exception to the western film stereotype that only villains wore black hats). \u00a0He was reserved and well spoken, with a sense of fair play… \u00a0“Hoppy” and his white horse, Topper, usually traveled through the west with two companions – one young and trouble-prone with a weakness for damsels in distress, the other older, comically awkward and outspoken.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Also incidentally,\u00a0Hayes<\/a>\u00a0went on to a long career as a movie sidekick<\/a>. \u00a0He made 44 movies with\u00a0Roy Rogers<\/a>, 15 with John Wayne<\/a>\u00a0– “some as straight or villainous characters” – seven with\u00a0Gene Autry<\/a>\u00a0and six with\u00a0Randolph Scott<\/a>:<\/p>\n Hayes, in real life an intelligent, well groomed and articulate man, was cast as a grizzled codger who uttered phrases such as “consarn it,” “yer durn tootin’,” “dadgummit,” “durn persnickety female,” and “young whippersnapper.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n But once again we digress. \u00a0We were talking about\u00a0William Boyd<\/a>, and about Cassidy, “Hopalong” or otherwise. \u00a0Boyd was born in 1895 and died in 1972. \u00a0The\u00a0Boyd<\/a>\u00a0link too noted that Hoppy’s character changed drastically from the book to film versions: \u00a0“from a hard-drinking, rough-living wrangler<\/a> to its eventual incarnation as a cowboy<\/a> hero who did not smoke, swear, or drink alcohol (his drink of choice being sarsaparilla<\/a>)…”<\/p>\n Then too, Boyd made the then-radical transition from movies to television. \u00a0When Hollywood branded him a “washed-up cowboy star” in 1948, Boyd made a desperate gamble. \u00a0He bought the movie rights, which set the stage for his moving to the new – and untested – TV format:<\/p>\n Boyd’s desperate gamble paid off, making him the first national TV star and restoring his personal fortune… \u00a0[He licensed] merchandise, including such products as Hopalong Cassidy\u00a0watches<\/a>, trash cans, cups, dishes, Topps<\/a> trading cards, a comic strip<\/a>, comic books<\/a>, cowboy outfits, home-movie digests of his Paramount releases via Castle Films<\/a>, and a new Hopalong Cassidy<\/a><\/i> radio show, which ran from 1948 to 1952.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Married five times, Boyd retired from acting in 1953. \u00a0He invested in real estate and “moved to Palm Desert, California<\/a>. \u00a0He refused interviews and photographs in later years, preferring not to disillusion his millions of fans who remembered him as their screen idol.”<\/p>\n Which I suppose could be an\u00a0object lesson<\/a>\u00a0for some of today’s actors and sports figures, who\u00a0play past their prime<\/a>. \u00a0But in closing, let’s get back to “Cassidy.”<\/p>\n And Wikipedia<\/a>\u00a0noted that “Cassidy may have become a first name due to baby-boomer parents naming their children after ’70s teen idol David Cassidy<\/a>. \u00a0(Seen at right, or perhaps “the Grateful Dead<\/a> song, ‘Cassidy<\/a>.'”)<\/em><\/p>\n So here’s a\u00a0newsflash<\/a>\u00a0for all those coming-of-age young ladies named Cassidy. \u00a0And<\/em><\/strong> who were given that name by baby-boomer parents \u00a0(And – most likely – by baby-boomer mothers who had the hots – when young – for David Cassidy.<\/em>)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n The upper image is courtesy of\u00a0Randolph Scott – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia<\/a><\/em>. \u00a0The caption:<\/em> \u00a0“With Jack Lambert in Abilene Town, 1946.”<\/em><\/p>\n Also re:\u00a0Randolph Scott<\/a>. \u00a0Like Boyd, Scott retired – at age 64 – a\u00a0 wealthy man. \u00a0Through “shrewd investments throughout his life,” he eventually accumulated “a fortune worth a reputed $100\u00a0million, with holdings in real estate, gas, oil wells, and securities.” \u00a0But neither “Randolph” nor “Scott” became associated with a teen idol, who later gave a name to a generation of baby-boomers.<\/em><\/p>\n Note also\u00a0Cassidy (as a surname)<\/a>. \u00a0That common Irish surname translates to\u00a0“descendent of Caiside,” a family from “County Fermanagh<\/a>. \u00a0The Caisides were originally a medical family, who were hereditary physicians<\/a> to the\u00a0Maguires<\/a>.” \u00a0The Maguires are also from County Fermanagh, but that surname is un<\/strong>common, and said to descend from “<\/em>Cormac mac Airt<\/a>, monarch of Ireland about the middle of the third century.”<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/2\/2e\/Hopalong-Takes-Command.jpg\/220px-Hopalong-Takes-Command.jpg\")
I then asked if she knew who “Hopalong <\/em>Cassidy<\/a>” was. \u00a0She didn’t, so I got out my trusty\u00a0smartphone<\/a>\u00a0– or a\u00a0reasonable facsimile<\/a>\u00a0– and showed her the\u00a0Wikipedia<\/a>\u00a0article, complete with pictures. \u00a0(Including the early “rough around the edges<\/a><\/em>” version, by Frank Schoonover<\/a>, at right. \u00a0It’s Hopalong Takes Command<\/span>, “for the 1905 story ‘Fight at Buckskin.'”)<\/em><\/p>\n![\"Gene](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/0\/0a\/Gene_Autry.JPG\/220px-Gene_Autry.JPG\")
Then too, through the magic of\u00a0hyperlinks<\/a>, you can check for yourself what happened to\u00a0Randolph Scott<\/a>, <\/span>Lash LaRue<\/a>,\u00a0Johnny Mack Brown<\/a>, or\u00a0Gene Autry<\/a>. \u00a0(As shown at right.<\/em>)<\/p>\n![\"Gabby](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/3\/3f\/Gabby_hayes.png\/220px-Gabby_hayes.png\")
Incidentally, George Reeves<\/a>\u00a0– who later played\u00a0Superman<\/a><\/em>\u00a0– was one of those who played the “young and trouble-prone”\u00a0sidekick<\/a>. \u00a0And among those who played the older man – “comically awkward and outspoken” – was Gabby Hayes<\/a>. \u00a0(Seen at left, he played Hoppy’s original “grizzled sidekick, ‘Windy Halliday.'”) \u00a0 <\/em>But Hayes left because of a salary dispute…<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/d\/d5\/The_Partridge_Family_David_Cassidy_1972.jpg\/220px-The_Partridge_Family_David_Cassidy_1972.jpg\")
Cassidy<\/a>\u00a0– as a first name especially – comes from the Irish and means “clever.” \u00a0(Or “curly-haired,” from the Gaelic\u00a0Caiside<\/i>.) \u00a0It\u00a0first appeared “among the 1,000 most-popular names for American girls in 1981,” and reached a peak of popularity in 1999. \u00a0(When\u00a0it was “the 99th most popular name for American girls.”)<\/p>\nNow you know why all those old guys call you “Hopalong…”<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n
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