Letter to Loretta

Letter to Loretta
Also known as	The Loretta Young Show
Genre	Anthology drama
Presented by	Loretta Young
Theme music composer	Harry Lubin
Opening theme	"Loretta"
Composer(s)	Harry Lubin
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	8
No. of episodes	165
Production
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	25 mins.
Production company(s)	Lewislor Films (1953-1958) Toreto Enterprises (1958-1961)
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Picture format	Black-and-white
Audio format	Monaural
Original run	September 2, 1953 (1953-09-02) – June 4, 1961 (1961-06-04)

Letter to Loretta (also known as The Loretta Young Show) is an American anthology drama series telecast on NBC from September 1953 to June 1961 for a total of 165 episodes. The filmed show was hosted by Loretta Young who also played the lead in various episodes.

Letter to Loretta was sponsored by Procter & Gamble from 1953 through 1960. The final season's sponsor was Warner-Lambert's Listerine.

Overview

The program began with the premise that each drama was an answer to a question asked in her fan mail; the program's original title was Letter to Loretta. The title was changed to The Loretta Young Show during the first season (as of February 14, 1954), and the "letter" concept was dropped altogether at the end of the second season. At this time, Young's health, which had deteriorated due to a heavy production schedule during the second season, required that there be a number of guest hosts and guest stars; her first appearance in the 1955-56 season was for the Christmas show.

From this point on, Young appeared in only about half of each season's shows as an actress and merely functioned as the program hostess for the remainder. This program, minus Young's introductions and summarized conclusions (Young insisted on their deletion due to her concern that the dresses she wore in those segments would "date" the program), was rerun in daytime by NBC as The Loretta Young Theater from October 1960 to December 1964, and then appeared, again without the introductions and conclusions, in syndication through the 1970s. In 1992, selected episodes of the original series (with Young's opening and closing segments intact), authorized by Young herself and chosen from her personal collection of 16mm film prints, were released on home video, and eventually shown on cable television.

Guest stars

• Claude Akins
• Anna Maria Alberghetti
• Eddie Albert
• Eleanor Audley
• Frances Bavier
• Hugh Beaumont
• Argentina Brunetti
• Richard Carlson
• Jackie Coogan
• Johnny Crawford
• Hume Cronyn
• Laraine Day
• Elinor Donahue
• Irene Dunne
• Shelley Fabares
• Nina Foch
• Kathleen Freeman
• Alan Hale, Jr.
• Dennis Hopper
• Van Johnson

• Cloris Leachman
• Anna Lee
• George Macready
• Gary Merrill
• Ricardo Montalbán
• Bill Mumy
• Burt Mustin
• Maidie Norman
• Hugh O'Brian
• Merle Oberon
• Edward Platt
• Marion Ross
• Rosalind Russell
• Natalie Schafer
• William Schallert
• Max Showalter
• Barbara Stanwyck
• Hope Summers
• Phyllis Thaxter
• Mary Treen

Awards

In 1959, the series won a Golden Globe Award for Best TV Show. Loretta Young won three Best Actress Primetime Emmy Awards in 1955, 1957 and 1959.

External links

• Letter to Loretta at the Internet Movie Database

Awards
Preceded by no award	Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Drama Series 1955, 1957, 1959	Succeeded by no award
Preceded by unknown	Golden Globe Award for Best TV Show 1959	Succeeded by unknown