Marty Liboff Hoppy Holidays! A Tip Topper Christmas! And a Hoppy New Year! Free Venice Beachhead, December 2014, pp. 12-13.
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Within a year the other big movie cowboys decided to jump into TV. Soon the great singing cowboys Gene Autry, and Roy Rogers with Dale Evans had TV shows. Hoppy couldn’t sing. The Cisco Kid and the Lone Ranger cowboy shows soon followed. Hopalong Cassidy couldn’t compete with all these new shows. He was already a middle-aged, silver-haired man when Hoppy came on TV. His popularity soon faded and his TV show went out to pasture. He quit making movies in 1953. Don’t you think this would make a wonderful movie script?! Maybe call the movie Hoppy?
Hoppyland stayed around in Venice until 1954, when it closed. Hoppy would make an occasional personal appearance, but for the most part retired. He built a home in Palm Desert, CA, that was painted black and white representing him and his horse. He rode off into his last sunset to cowboy heaven in 1972, Grace died in 2010 at 97. He is buried with his wife Grace at Forest Lawn. His horse Topper was buried at the L.A. Pet Memorial Park. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1734 Vine Street. There was a commemorative U.S. stamp issued in 2009 with Hopalong Cassidy and Topper. His old toys and memorabilia are still collected. His TV show recently came back on weekend morning TV. He will always be remembered in my heart. Here is Hoppy’s TV theme song: “Here he comes, here he comes, there’s the trumpets, there’s the drums, here he comes. Hopalong Cassidy, here he comes! woo woo woo . . . There he goes, on his way, down the trail the cowboy way, Hopalong Cassidy, Hopalong Cassidy. He’ll return, soon again, there’s no use to say goodbye until then, Hopalong Cassidy, so long Hopalong.”
For more local history read Jeffrey Stanton Venice California Coney Island of the Pacific.
(Back to 1954)