The Lewises had been one of the first families in Hollywood to own a television; many others had such disdain for the new medium that they vowed they'd never have one. The first evening the set had been installed, the family and some of the household staff gathered in the living room to watch a suspense show that had just begun. Before long, there was a scene with a woman undressing and as she turned around, the camera came in for a closeup and then two hands came into the shot, closing around her neck and choking her to death. The kids and adults all screamed; no one was used to watching someone being murdered right in their living room.

Loretta and Tom talked about it all night. Did they want this thing in the house that had scared the kids to death? But, as their conversation wore on, Loretta's mind took a different track: if the medium is so powerful, think of the positive message she could get across to a vast audience on a regular basis. Days and weeks passed, and the more she thought about it, the more she wanted to jump in. But how? Anthology series, long a staple on radio, allowed the storyline and characters to change every week, and that appealed to Loretta. As long as she could introduce each show as beautifully groomed, beautifully coiffed, Loretta Young, she then would be free to play characters she had never been offered, or characters she would have never dared, on the big screen. It would be a way to stretch herself as an actress, a goal that had taken on new shape once she had won her Oscar and no longer felt she had to prove herself as a movie star.

The above excerpt is taken from Chapter Eleven of Edward Funk's unpublished book "Loretta Young: Journey of a Hollywood Soul"

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