The Loretta Young Show
The Loretta Young Show is an American anthology drama series that aired from 1953 to 1961 on NBC, created by and starring Academy Award-winning actress Loretta Young. Each episode presented a self-contained story, often with Young playing a different character, exploring themes of morality, family, and personal struggle. The series was notable for Young's signature entrance through a doorway in an elegant gown, and for its emphasis on stories with a moral or spiritual dimension. The show earned multiple Emmy Awards and was one of the most respected dramatic series of its era. Many episodes are in the public domain.
This series is:Anthology
Season 1
Imperfect Balance
A story about a woman struggling to maintain balance in her life amid competing demands and personal crises, with Loretta Young exploring
The Question
A woman faces a difficult question that will determine the course of her life, in a story that explores the weight of moral choices and
My Favorite Monster
A whimsical yet touching story about a woman and the unlikely "monster" in her life, exploring themes of acceptance and the
The Room Next Door
A woman becomes drawn into the life of the person in the room next door, discovering a story that challenges her assumptions about
But for God's Grace
A story about the thin line between fortune and misfortune, exploring how a single moment of grace can change the course of a life, with
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
A legal drama exploring the standard of proof "beyond a reasonable doubt," as a woman caught in a web of circumstantial evidence fights
Evil for Evil
A moral drama about the cycle of vengeance and the cost of returning evil for evil, exploring whether forgiveness can break the chain of
The Flood
A community faces a devastating flood that tests the courage and character of everyone in its path, in a story about how natural
One Beautiful Moment
A story about the power of a single beautiful moment to transform a life, exploring how fleeting instances of joy and connection can
The Lamp
A symbolic story about a lamp that illuminates more than just a room, exploring themes of guidance, hope, and the light that wisdom
Love Story
An aspiring actress falls in love with a clown and marries him, but then she's ashamed to be publicly associated with him.
Laughing Boy
Glass-jawed Walter Stone attempts to rescue Kay Coughlin from a purse snatcher, but he gets hurt instead. Kay nurses him back to health and asks Walter to help her get her boyfriend jealous to goad him into proposing.
The Faith of Chata
A little girl in a Mexican village falls desperately ill and places her faith in God through her patron saint, regardless of whether she survives or not.
The Night My Father Came Home
Charming holiday story about a small boy who frequents a postal station, chatting incessantly with a disillusioned laborer.
Hotel Irritant
Corporate hotel snoop Sally Webster creates unpleasant situations in a hotel to test its operation while becoming impressed with the character and ambition of hotel clerk Newton Ralston.
Inga
Indomitable Inga Helborg convinces a bank president to conditionally reverse the foreclosure of the family farm and takes labor from the prison farm by which both actions she successfully demonstrates her resolute and trusting nature.
Lady Killer
A mystery writer discovers she is marked for death.
Secret Answer
A spirited wife challenges the stodgy attitudes of researcher husband by refusing to respond to one of his survey questions: "If you had it to do all over again, would you marry the same person?"
Big Little Lie
Beverly Washburn plays a lonely schoolgirl whose decision to start a rumor about her mother turns into classroom blackmail. Jeannette Nolan portrays her stern Aunt.
The Hollywood Story
Madge Mason based on her prowess as a local actress in a small Iowa town goes to Hollywood and meets with only modest success but when it appears she is on verge of major success she has second thoughts about the price of fame.
A Family Out of Us
The son of an affluent couple, whose father has little time for him, joins the Cub Scouts.
Act of Faith
Eddie Albert plays a mild-mannered soul whose happy marriage to an earthy woman seems to be coming to an end.
The New York Story
A glamorous mother and wife who dallies with other men's attention takes her own husband and son for granted. Clever opening schoolroom sequence in which the moms comment in theirs heads about each other. The climax in which the woman's mind races with impending terror about her son's lateness might seem melodramatic, but it's all too real for many of us who worry about loved ones. Mabel Albertson of "Bewitched" and so many other series plays the PTA spokesperson.
Nobody's Boy
Fictionalized story of a Chicago juvenile delinquent who meets Jack Robbins, founder of the BBR, a boy's club that still exists today. A familiar face in one scene is the ubiquitous Argentina Brunetti, to whom Dean Martin sang "That's Amore" in "The Caddy." At the end of the story, Young introduces actor Chick Chandler and the real-life Jack Robbins.
The Count of Ten
Tiger Tipton retired from a successful boxing career at his wife's insistence. Now broke from her expensive medical care, he arranges one last fight with the champ, but he can't let his wife find out.
The Clara Schumann Story
The great composer and his concert pianist wife, whose seemingly idyllic marriage descends into mental breakdown.
Son, This is Your Father
Flashbacks tell the story of a charming but irresponsible ex-husband who re-enters the lives of his wife and son. The father/son relationship is similar to that of Gloria's son and her first husband on the series, "Modern Family." In this episode, Young's character's name is "Ginger," a decade before her co-star, Alan Hale Jr., addressed Tina Louise by the name on "Gilligan's Island."
The First Man to Ask Her
Offbeat comic tale of a sheltered young woman whose house is turned upside down by an eccentric lady, her cowboy son -- and his horse. Jock Mahoney makes the first of his many appearances in the series, playing nephew "Andy" to Frances Bavier, who would ironically play Aunt Bee to Andy Griffith less than a decade later.
Man's Estate
Profile of a teenager who wants to be treated as an adult.
Forest Ranger
A forest ranger's wife unknowing allows into her house an escaped convict who seeks revenge on her husband.
The Judgment
A woman is plagued by guilt when her politician husband killed a pedestrian in a car accident. Instead of taking responsibility, he was elated to see someone else arrested and blamed for it.
Oh, My Aching Heart
Nora is hired as a secretary under the condition that she disguise herself to be old and unattractive, so as not to distract her boss. When her boss has need to drop in to Nora's home, he is taken with the young lady he finds there, who claims to be Nora's sister.
Something Always Happens
A young widow's beau won't marry her until he establishes some financial capital, so she deceives him into believing he won a $5000 raffle.
Season 2
Guest in the Night
Duke and Rita visit a remote mountain cabin for a romantic getaway. During a fierce snowstorm, a young boy with pneumonia shows up at their door. Duke won't call for help because he is wanted for robbery, but Rita uses a ham radio to ask for medical help.
You're Driving Me Crazy
A couple finds themselves terrorized by a disturbed man who rear ends their car. There is some genuine suspense in this episode and warrants attention in that it comes years before Alfred Hitchcock Presents and other such anthologies.
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
This familiar plot of a lone holdout juror benefits from extreme unusual close-ups, montages and double-exposures to "open up" the drama beyond the single room setting.
For Father Darling
Clever "amateur sleuth" tale with a sharp Catholic priest who helps a family escape from a smooth con man. Very "Columbo"-like.
The Girl Scout Story
A girl scout is left alone with an escaped convict.
No Help Wanted
Former stuntman and TV's "Range Rider" and "Yancy Derringer," Jock Mahoney, returns to this series, this time playing the owner of a small diner who is taken with a lost soul seemingly left alone in the rain.
Evil for Evil
An embittered man takes revenge on a beloved doctor who lost his wife on the operating table, leading to vigilantism. Among the cast is Oscar-winner Jane Darwell ("The Grapes of Wrath," "Mary Poppins"). The theme of friendly neighbors transformed into a hideous mob would be echoed in Twilight Zone episodes "The Shelter" and "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street."
Time and Yuletide
At a hospital and nursing home, everyone wants to stage Christmas parties for the sick children, but the event coordinator connives to get a party for the elderly residents.
Three Minutes Too Late
A financially strapped New York cab driver becomes desperate for cash when his wife goes into labor.
The Girl Who Knew
Familiar TV faces abound in this fanciful dramedy about a woman's ability to know the time without a watch challenged by a watch company's efforts to use a conceited employee's charms to discredit her.
600 Seconds
A successful Art Director lets her imagination run away with her when a young female business associate of her husband's wants to talk to her about something "personal."
The Case of Mrs. Bannister
A little girl's stories about her seemingly imaginary friend, "Mrs. Bannister," begin to foreshadow real events and imminent danger.
Option on a Wife
The Hollywood success of a New York writer takes up so much of his time and attention that it threatens his marriage.
Case Book
Only a few years after "Spellbound," but before "Vertigo" and "The Three Faces of Eve," this episode uses extended two-actor scenes in its thoughtful exploration of claustrophobia and the benefits of therapy - as well as forgiveness of others and oneself.
Inga II
Dennis Hopper was only nineteen when he appeared in this episode as a privileged young man who is sent to work on a farm to build his character.
He Always Comes Home
An aging man is unfaithful to his wife and negligent to his daughter.
The Little Teacher
A man is plagued by guilt and worry when his daughter breaks a finger after he spanks her in anger.
Season 3
Christmas Stopover
This Christmas day tale of a small town waitress, lonely serviceman and the child of separated parents marks Loretta Young's first appearance on the series after many months of guest star presenters who filled in while she recovered from illness.
Inga III
One of Inga's prison workers is distraught over his wife's ill health, and Inga takes steps so that he can care for his wife. Seeing the strength of their marriage, Inga contemplates marriage for herself.
But for God's Grace
A mother, suffering sustained grief of losing one of her two sons, has distanced herself from her other son and husband. She becomes attached to a melancholy neighborhood boy.
Season 4
Double Partners
A deaf woman is entangled in strange and deadly events.
The Question
A real-life research project inspired this tale about a wife and mother having trouble juggling work and family when she becomes embroiled in a psychological thesis based on asking people a very telling question.
Now a Brief Word
A copywriter finds herself writing speeches for two opposing candidates.
The Years Between
In a taut drama that sadly still resonates today, an arrogant personnel director finds his ageist hiring policies coming back to bite him.
Goodbye, Goodbye
During a beach picnic, a widowed mother recalls when her romance with a novelist hit an unexpected snag.
The Great Divide
A woman convinced she will never marry falls for an old school friend.
The End of the Week
Just as a disillusioned schoolteacher is about to quit, she encounters classroom challenges including stolen money and a neglected student.
Inga IV
Inga Helborg returns, this time to help get an accounting job for a ex-convict who was jailed for embezzlement.
Somebody Else's Dream
A decorated veteran contends with careers that threaten his integrity, as well as an ambitious, social climbing wife.
Imperfect Balance
A little Swiss boy suspects the respected Burgermeister of loading his scales and cheating village children.
My Favorite Monster
A sensitive little girl becomes hysterical when she sees a horror movie starring her mother's boyfriend.
Tension
A best selling author, who has taken to callous treatment of those he deems unimportant, finds his wife and himself in a death trap when his car hits a high tension wire.
Wedding Day
An eerie period piece about a bride suffering apparent breakdown and confusion in the wake of strange events she can't seem to piece together.
Emergency
Emergency — season 4, episode 25 of The Loretta Young Show (1953).
The Room Next Door
A man and woman who live in neighboring city apartments are reluctant to allow romance into their lives.
Legacy
The difficult conditions of an inheritance put a couple in conflict
The Countess
Ken Osmond plays a young boy involved in a deadly resistance movement for a small country under military siege.
Season 5
A Dollar's Worth
The spoiled daughter of a brash manicurist discovers that her father hadn't died when he returns from a prison sentence for forgery.
The Little Witness
A mother struggles to protect her son (Johnny Crawford), who witnessed a murder.
Friends at a Distance
A widowed small-town gift-shop owner and children's book illustrator meets a charmingly foreign handyman and it seems her dreams of a Prince Charming are coming true.
Season 7
One Beautiful Moment
A teacher's attitude is transformed during a trip to Hawaii, but she faces a crisis upon her return.
Mask of Evidence
A woman watching Mardi Gras from her balcony becomes concerned when a stranger comes over to her apartment - and won't leave.
A New Step
A widowed dance instructor decides to volunteer at a rehabilitation center.
The Lady in the Fish Bowl
A woman lives in a store window for a week to win a contest - but seems to be watched by a mysterious man.
Little Monster, Tall Tales
Jeff, a recently adopted child, continually makes up stories - worrying his new family.
Season 8
The Long Night
The lives of the new family next door have a great impact on a housewife's own marriage.
Love Between the Acts
At a popular play, a widow believes her meddling aunt arranged to have a certain man sit next to her. James Philbrook (New Loretta Young Show co-star) plays the mystery man.
Conditional Surrender
A man who has been working closely with a young woman, asks his wife for a divorce. However, he's not prepared for her reaction.
These Few Years
A wife's decides to leave a New Year's Eve party early to spend the evening with her family.
This Subtle Danger
A husband's recovery from back surgery results in an increasing dependence on pain killers.
Emergency in 114
After an accident involving their son, a wife must locate her philandering husband.
The Forbidden Guests
After the death of her husband, a sculptress without children fixates on her statues.
Not in Our Stars
A wife begins to believe her personal horoscope impacts what happens to her family.
Details
- Years
- 1953–1961
- Seasons
- 8
- Episodes
- 87
- Genres
- Drama, Anthology
- TMDB Rating
- 6.6/10 (7 votes)
- Maturity Rating
- TV-PG
- Quality
- SD
- Audio
- English
- Status
- Public Domain Mark 1.0
- Studio
- Lewislor Productions
