By Sister Marlene Panko, SSND
When I was 6 years old, I remember wanting two gifts: a Mickey Mouse watch and a big doll house like they had at the Museum of Science and Industry.
After midnight and Santa had come, my brother and I were awakened by our mother and brought to our place near the tree. I stood in awe looking at the giant doll house. But I couldn't help looking for a watch, too. I finally said, near tears, “Santa forgot my watch!”
My mother said, “Oh, Santa left it in the bedroom!” She went into my bedroom to get it. That made me so happy!
My birthday followed quickly after Christmas, on December 31, and I got something I loved more than watches or dollhouses. I got a Hopalong Cassidy outfit. I remember the black shirt with white ribbing over each shoulder, a cowboy tie and cowgirl boots. I wanted to be a cowgirl!
I remember Hopalong Cassidy so well! He would ride into a town with sandy streets, a country store, and lots of people gathered outside talking with others or doing other things like getting supplies to take home. He would hitch his horse to a post and go through the swinging doors of a saloon to get the bad guys out. Then he and his friends would ride back out of town on their horses, along the mountains, and on to the next town.
As I got a little older, we spent the Summer driving on Route 66 to visit relatives in California. On the weeklong drive from Chicago to California, I asked my parents, “When are we going to find the place where Hopalong Cassidy and other cowboys and cowgirls live?”
It seemed to me my parents really tried to find a typical rustic town that would fit what I was looking for. By the end of the trip, though, I vaguely remember realizing that - like Santa Claus himself - Hopalong was really "only in the movies!”
