WILD WESTERN DAYS

Yippee Ki-yay! For the three short stories written about fictional cowpuncher, Hopalong Cassidy by Clarence E. Mulford. The stories that were written are BAR-20 (1906), The Coming of Cassidy (1908) and Hopalong Cassidy (1910). Yippee Ki-yay was used in many of Roy Rogers’ songs, but to me it was hollered at the cattle by a cowpuncher trying to gather the cattle for the roundup. These stories were written in the language of the times (vernacular), so the story moved slowly forward as you try to understand the meaning of what you just read. For example, Cassidy talking to a woman on the trail, “Ma’am, I wasn’t going to tell you till I had to. But it don’t make no difference now. It’s Injuns, close after us. Don’t show yoreself. If you show yoreself. There’s allus danger with Injuns, ma’am.” The woman wants to know if help is coming. Cassidy says, “Yes. Mebby th’ Injuns won’t know yo’re here, Ma’am.” Okay, that was a readable passage, but don’t get comfortable because the language only gets tougher as the story advances. I actually like writers who use the vernacular (Mark Twain is another)...it makes for more unadulterated reading.

If you remember the old days of TV, like I do, you have to remember the first cowboy series, starring William Boyd as Hopalong Cassidy and Gabby Hayes (for a short time) as his sidekick, Windy. By the way, Boyd was the first non-villain cowboy who wore a black hat on TV, or in the movies. How did Bill Cassidy gets his name...Hopalong? What’s a cayuse? (it took me 97 pages before I finally looked it up) Get your own copy of Clarence E. Mulford’s novel to find out that and more, cowpuncher...like what was Hopalong Cassidy’s favorite drink...sarsaparilla or whiskey? You will love this bit of nostalgia. Okay already...what about Cassidy?

I’ll tell you a little bit about the first story (The Coming of Cassidy). And that’s exactly how the story opens with red-headed Bill Cassidy travelling north by himself. Meanwhile, Buck Peters, the trail boss on the BAR-20 cattle ranch, was losing cowpunchers. After Buck hires some renegade buffalo hunters as cowpunchers, things fall apart, as the renegades were only interested in cow rustling. Cassidy saves the day and is now in the good graces of Buck. Buck petitions Cassidy to take the job. Cassidy says, “I’m headed north. But I’ll give you a hand for a week if you need me.” Buck says, “Much obliged, friend; but it’ll leave me worse off than before. My other puncher’ll be back in a few weeks with th’ supplies, but I need four men all year round. I got a thousand head to brand yet.” So after only thirteen pages, Buck and Cassidy become friends and the reader gets a taste of Cassidy’s prowess with his Colt.

In this story, the author sets the stage for all future western books: cow rustling, branding, chuckwagon eating, gunfighting, saloon gambling, injun fighting, sleeping outdoors under the stars, fist fights, train robberies and of course the big trail drive to get the cattle to the market. Buck and his punchers experience a Norther (a month long blizzard) on their drive westward. Many cattle and cowpunchers die during the Norther... creating a beef shortage. So the first herd to get to the market will get the best prices for his rancher. Let the race between the BAR-20 and the Diamond Bar begin. You know in the back of your mind that there will be skirmishes between the two ranches as they race west. After the trail boss of the Diamond Bar ranch, Sam Crawford, causes a stampede of Buck’s herd, Cassidy rides into their camp and confronts the Diamond Bar trail boss and accuses him of causing the stampede. Cassidy shows Sam proof that he did it. As Crawford’s men quit after finding out what a foul thing he did, “Crawford was backing toward the wagon, his hand resting on the butt of his gun, and a whiteness of face told of fear that gripped him.” Cassidy says, “He ain’t no man, he ain’t; he’s a nasty li’l brat of a kid that couldn’t never grow up into a man. So, that being true, he ain’t goin’ to get handled like a man. I’m goin’ to lick him, ‘stead of shooting him like he was a man.”

This was good ole fashion fun reading these short stories. The answer to the question in paragraph two is sarsaparilla. William Boyd took his Hopalong Cassidy role seriously and never took a different role (after he became Hopalong Cassidy) including the one offered to him by Cecil B. Demille as Moses in The Ten Commandments (1956). Now git otta he’r. 🐎🐎🐎🐎🐎

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Comment: Besides the TV/radio shows, William Boyd did 28 Hopalong cowboy movies. Even though Boyd, as Cassidy, always let the villain draw first, Hopalong killed 100 bad guys and fired 30,000 shots during the show’s TV and movie history. Another oddity is that Hopalong never kissed the heroine he saved! After buying out his shows and movies, Boyd became a rich man. One hundred companies sold over 2,500 products for over 70 million dollars in total sales. William Boyd would not be interviewed by Johnny Carson. Why? Because he wanted to be remembered as a tall strong cowboy, not an old man. Oh yeah, one last question: Whose picture was the first to appear on a lunch box? You guessed it...William Boyd as Hopalong Cassidy. One last thing...In 2009, the USA printed a 44 cent commemorative stamp with William Boyd appearing as Hopalong Cassidy on his horse, Topper.