Let's talk about The Loretta Young Show!
If you're here this week for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, I apologize. Here's one of my favorite clips from our video playlist this week:
Also in the playlist, though, is a look at The Loretta Young Show, one of the television programs that aired the same night as "Breakdown," the AHP episode we talk about this week on the pod.
Young and her anthology show are largely forgotten nowadays, but she was a big deal back in the day. I must admit my perception of the series' popularity may be colored by the fact that Mad used to poke fun at it. One of the notable aspects of the series was Young's glorious entrances. Each week, she made a bold entrance, twirling a fashionable gown or dress as she entered a doorway. Young's resplendent appearance summoned the glamour of her Hollywood heyday in the previous decades.
The series began as Letter to Loretta, then dropped the framing gimmick of answering fan mail to become a straight-up anthology. Young didn't appear in all episodes but was a constant presence as the host. NBC ran the series for 8 seasons, up to 1961. I don't think this program has circulated for years, but many episodes are available online and from other sources.
