Excerpt From

Those Wide Open Spaces

Chapter 1:            The Most Famous Hero of the West

Judged on acting ability you would have to put Bill Boyd at the top of the list of B-Western cowboy actors.  He had been acting for fifteen years before he started playing the role of Clarence E. Mulford’s Hopalong Cassidy. 

Unlike the comic book character, Red Ryder, played in the movies by four different stars – Don “Red” Barry, Allan Lane, Jim Bannon, and Bill Elliott – William Boyd was the only actor to play Hopalong Cassidy (in sixty-six feature films – the most ever made by an actor playing the same character). 

In 1932 Boyd’s good life came to a screeching halt.…Unfortunately there was another William Boyd – a Broadway actor—who was arrested at a drinking and gambling party. The morning afterwards, Hollywood newspapers printed Mr. William L. Boyd’s photograph in error.  An apology was printed later, but Boyd’s career plunged downhill.  The mistaken identity had made things very hard on Boyd and soon he began going by Bill Boyd.  However, there was another Bill Boyd who appeared in low budget singling cowboy westerns and who was billed as “The Cowboy Rambler.” 

Three years later, in 1935, William L. Boyd gained his own identity as Hopalong Cassidy.  His first Hoppy movie was entitled Hop-A-Long Cassidy.  It was released on July 30, 1935 and was based on Mulford’s 1910 novel by the same name.  Boyd said that until 1935 he had a dual personality.  “I had a good side and a bad side.  I fought the bad side but I couldn’t win.  Then I became Hopalong Cassidy and the good side took over and I lost the Bill Boyd identity and I’m grateful I did.” 

Chapter 7:            The Peaceable Man 

Bill Elliott, a self-proclaimed peaceable man, was always prepared to battle the bad guys.  Perhaps he was best known for his many portrayals of the comic book character Red Ryder and his movie nickname “Wild Bill.”  In 1943 Elliott left Columbia for the Repubic Studios – the best in the business at the time in making B-Westerns.  Republic starred Elliott most notably in Red Ryder, and in 1946 he rose to second place in the Top Ten List (right behind Roy Rogers).  During his career he would finish in the top ten of the money-making western stars a total of fifteen times.  Only Gene Autry and Roy Rogers topped that with sixteen times apiece.  Bill Elliott did share the screen again, however this time it was with Bobby Blake (later known as Robert Blake of In Cold Blood and TV’s Baretta fame) who played the little Indian boy and sidekick called Little Beaver.  Bobby Blake would also later play Little Beaver in the Red Ryder series that starred Allan “Rocky” Lane. 

…Like all other cowboys, Bill Elliott had his horse – a beautiful black stallion called Thunder.  He appeared with Elliott in all of his Red Ryder films.  Because a horse was so very important to the cowboy star, it was hard to find a horse to play the role of Thunder.  Most cowboys loved their horses and asked a lot of them.  The horse had to have a nice disposition; it had to be able to run at a tremendous speed; and when he came to a close-up, the animal had to remain quiet and not interfere with the dialogue. 

After looking over forty to fifty horses, Elliott selected the one he rode into the Red Ryder series.  Thunder was one of the most beautiful of all motion picture horses.  He stood 15 ½ hands tall and weighed in at 1,150 pounds.  Elliott bought him from Levi Garret of Sterling City Texas and the stallion traveled with Elliott all over the United States.  In his spare time Elliott took Thunder to children’s hospitals and entertain the boys and girls who could not get out and run, play or ride like other kids.  When Thunder was taken into hospital wards, he didn’t even wear a halter.  Thunder would walk in-and-around the kids just as carefully as could be, while letting them sit on him.  He would sometimes have as many as six kids on his back at one time. 

---Thunder’s favorite treat was carrots…He was fed a special mixture of grain that Elliott himself had concocted and which was given to the horse at every meal….Elliott had a special horse trailer made to carry Thunder and his quarter horse, Stormy Night (which Bill would also ride in every rodeo performance). 

Chapter 10:            Those Other Silver Screen Heroes 

Republic Studios’ first western produced in color was Home on the Rage featuring a new cowboy star;  Monte Hale.  The movie was released in 1946.  Monte Hale played his guitar, rode and sang his way through nineteen feature films before he took off his spurs and hung up his guns and put his horse Pardner out to pasture. 

…Many will remember Rex Allen’s deep voice on such recordings as the Streets of Laredo and Crying in the Chapel.  The world was saddened to learn of the death of this singer-actor on December 18, 1999 in a bizarre accident in which his caretaker ran him over with a car.  In an interview completed a little over a year before his death, Allen said:  “Wanna see the American dream?  You’re looking at it.” 

…Don Barry, born Donald Barry De Acosta on January 11, 1912, was struggling as a bit player when his career really got a big boost.  He was given his first starring role, which earned him a nickname – “Red” – that he’d carry for the rest of his life.  A former college football star, he got his early acting experience on the stage.  He eventually played heavies for a number of Hollywood studios before his big break came.  Don starred in the 1940 Republic studio’s serial The Adventures of Red Ryder.  He would then forever be known as Don “Red” Barry….The first movie Don appeared in was with John Wayne – Wyoming Outlaw…He committed suicide on July 17, 1980 in Hollywood. 

…Buster Crabbe was born on February 7, 1909 in Oakland, California.  His real name was Clarence Linden Crabbe.  His first claim to fame came as an Olympic Bronze Medallist as a swimmer in the 1928 game.  In 1932 Buster set a world record in the 400-meter event at the Olympic game, breaking Johnny Weissmuler’s (the future Tarzan) record for which he won a gold medal.  He would eventually hold sixteen swimming records….His first western was Man From the Forest…His greatest fame came in the Flash Gordon movie serial and his TV role as Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion. 

Chapter 11:  Queens of the Silver Screen 

Jennifer Holt (born Elizabeth Marshall Holt on November 10, 1920 in Hollywood) was in my opinion, the single-most beautiful, gorgeous saddle gal to ever ride a pony… 

…Linda Stirling was the last of the great “Serial Queens.”  She appeared in six Republic cliffhangers – the last in 1946…During her career she would work with some of the greats in westerns – stars like Bill Elliott, Allan “Rocky” Lane, John Wayne, Sunset Carson, and Clayton Moore.  Linda’s favorite western was one with Sunset Carson entitled Santa Fe Saddlemates (1945)… 

…Anne Jeffreys got the break she wanted when she appeared in her first westerns – an eight picture series with Wild Bill Elliott.  She was in Zane Grey’s Nevada opposite Robert Mitchum (who got his start in Hopalong Cassidy films because Bill Boyd was the only star willing to work with the upstart young actor)…Nevada was shot on location in a beautiful spot near Mt. Whitney (the tallest peak in the continental United States), and the cast and crew stayed in a small town called Lone Pine, California (the location for the majority of B-Westerns and noted for its great rock formations – the rocks by which the famous western chase scenes were shot and re-shot and re-shot)…Anne Jeffreys appears today as Amanda Barrington on the daytime soap General Hospital.