McKinney: You argue that the American Western seemed to be everywhere—on the big screen and on television in the 1950s. Remind us what that looked like and why it was important.
Flannery: Hopalong Cassidy is a funny name. It was the first network Western series to play. That started in 1949. And in that same year, The Lone Ranger started, and I will mention, you may remember that The Lone Ranger really was the television popular art that made made familiar to Americans William Tell Overture. And so there’s generations of people who like the Davy Crockett song, who grew up with that on their mind too. So, The Lone Ranger and Hopalong Cassidy, they ran for several years, very popular, very successful. Fast forward to 1959, just ten years after the start. There were about 30 western series populating television primetime. . . to watch the full interview, please click here.