Hopalong Cassidy: On the Page, on the Screen, Paperback/Francis M. Nevins

Descriere

Clarence E. Mulford spent his creative years, writing a vast saga of interlocking novels and stories, most of them dealing with the Bar-20 ranch and the men who called it home, chief among them a certain Hopalong Cassidy. Eventually Mulford's works became the nominal source of 66 Hollywood films, made between 1935 and 1948, and a 52-episode TV series (1952-54), all starring William Boyd as a character with the same name but very different from Mulford's. Hopalong Cassidy: On the Page, On the Screen covers each of Mulford's books and each of the Cassidy theatrical films in full detail. A comprehensive index enables readers interested in almost anyone or anything linked to the books or films-including eventual stars like Robert Mitchum, George Reeves, Jan Clayton and Barbara Britton-to find the relevant material instantly. It began in the waking dreams of a young civil servant in Brooklyn who spent evenings, weekends and vacations putting into words an old West he had imagined but never seen. Story by story, novel by novel he created a vast canvas centering around a Texas ranch he called the Bar-20 and the men who made it the focus of their loyalty, chief among them a red-headed liquor-swilling young puncher with a noticeable limp, Hopalong Cassidy. Clarence E. Mulford (1883-1956) was one of the most remarkable Western writers America has produced. His fictional universe is an immense saga, written over a third of a century, in which Cassidy and the other main characters go adventuring, fall in love, marry and have children, grow old and eventually take part in the adventures of the next generation. Mulford's life and world are explored in detail in the first several chapters of this book. In 1935, the now prosperous author signed the contracts that brought his world and characters to America's movie theaters-or at least so he hoped. But, except for a handful of character and place names, the 66 Hopalong Cassidy movies, made between 1935 and 1948, starring William Boy