Today’s pic revisits “Grubstake,” the episode of the Hopalong Cassidy television series that first aired on February 5, 1954. Blacksmith Dan Warner is discussing something very important with Bummer Lowe (Percy Helton) and Hoppy himself (William Boyd).

After a successful career as a romantic leading man in the silents, Boyd found himself adrift when talkies took over. He struck gold when he was offered the role of  Sheriff Hopalong Cassidy in 1935. He portrayed Hoppy in films, on radio and on television for the next 18 years. In 1948 he became one of the first actors to purchase the rights to all of his films, enabling him to retire in 1953 at age 58. He was married 5 times, and passed away in 1972 from complications due to heart failure and Parkinson’s disease.