Replacing Ellison as Cassidy's new sidekick 'Lucky Jenkins' was production crew member Russ Hayden. Hayden was in 27 of the Hoppy adventures from 1937 - 1941. Paramount also used him in several of their fine 'Zane Grey' films. Then, he too left for greener pastures.

Hayden's first stop was as the new sidekick and second lead to veteran Charles Starrett at Columbia Pictures. Looking good in the saddle, he soon was given his own series ... and those films are among my favorites for they are slick, cram full of action, and Hayden really looks good. Later, he would star in several Canadian mountie yarns for Screen Guild, and he also had time for the lead in THE LOST CITY OF THE JUNGLE (Universal, 1946) chapterplay. As the 1940s ended, Hayden was appearing in westerns, often portraying a baddie (which is the same thing that occurred with other western heroes, such as Three Mesquiteer's star Bob Livingston).

After exiting the Hoppy series, Ellison hoped to become a leading man in classier, higher budget films. And he did some good work for the next half dozen or so years at RKO and 20th Century Fox but he never achieved 'star' status. One of his better roles was as the military hero who is engaged to pretty Sheila Ryan --- but falls in love with Alice Faye --- in the Busby Berkeley Technicolor extravaganza, THE GANG'S ALL HERE (20th Century Fox, 1943).

As the market for the B western faded in the late 1940s, Hayden and Ellison found they were not in high demand. For their last hurrah, they signed on with producer Ron Ormond for a series of new oaters with the pair teamed together. Lippert Pictures would handle the film releasing.

In the Ormond series, 'Lucky' Hayden put on chaps and 'Shamrock' Ellison wore buckskins and high-top mocassins (these were very different 'costumes' from what they wore in the Hoppy films; and Ellison's buckskin outfit reminds me of what he wore in THE PLAINSMAN). The story goes that all six of the films were shot together using the same stars and supporting players --- Raymond Hatton and Fuzzy Knight were there, along with Dennis Moore, Tom Tyler, John Cason, I. Stanford Jolley, and George J. Lewis. Pretty Julie Adams (then billed as Betty Adams) was the heroine --- you might remember her as the female lead in THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON. After a month or so of work, the miles of completed film were edited into six B westerns. (Ron Ormond was responsible for some other sagebrush flicks during the closing years of the western programmer --- click here for an example.)

After the Ormond group, Hayden wound up working primarily on the other side of the camera. In the 1950s, he produced the JUDGE ROY BEAN and 26 MEN TV series. He was the lead on TV's COWBOY G-MEN with one-time child star Jackie Coogan as his lawman partner. Hayden's first wife was actress Jan Clayton, the original 'Mom' in the LASSIE TV show with Tommy Rettig.

Ellison still had a few more roles to play on the silver screen, including the heroic military officer in I KILLED GERONIMO (Eagle-Lion, 1950). He returned to being a sidekick and second lead, but this time it was at Monogram and the star was Johnny Mack Brown. Ellison was in his early forties and Johnny Mack was older.Their film appearances together would be brief, and Brown's Monogram series and starring career was nearing the end of the trail. Ultimately, Ellison left the acting profession, and became a success in California real estate and contracting.

James Ellison and Russell Hayden