There was Lassie before Timmy…the show started in 1954 with Tommy Rettig playing Jeff Miller…the B Western basically died in 1953 when Gene Autry made his last movie…Roy Rogers’ last one was in 1951…I believe Rex Allen made movie through 1954, but that was the end of them…all the others, Tex Ritter, Eddie Dean, Hopalong Cassidy etc were already out of the movies, although Hoppy, Gene and Roy had TV shows.
There was Lassie before Timmy…the show started in 1954 with Tommy Rettig playing Jeff Miller…the B Western basically died in 1953 when Gene Autry made his last movie…Roy Rogers’ last one was in 1951…I believe Rex Allen made movie through 1954, but that was the end of them…all the others, Tex Ritter, Eddie Dean, Hopalong Cassidy etc were already out of the movies, although Hoppy, Gene and Roy had TV shows.