DA-231 Hopalong Cassidy Show ADA-234

Hopalong Cassidy is a cowboy hero, created in 1904 by the author Clarence E. Mulford, who wrote a series of popular stories and twenty-eight novels. (At the time Mulford invented the character, the name of the historical American outlaw Butch Cassidy had been before readers of newspapers in recent years.)

In his early print appearances, the character appears as a rude, dangerous and rough-talking “galoot”. Beginning in 1935, the character, played by William Boyd, was transformed into a clean-cut hero of a series of 66 immensely popular films, only a few of which relied on Mulford’s works for more than the character. Mulford actually rewrote his earlier stories to fit the movie conception; these led in turn to a comic book series modeled after the films.