The Loretta Young Show - S4 E6 - "The End Of The Week"

Episode # 5611 END OF THE WEEK Original airdate: 11-11-56 Loretta Young plays a burned-out grammar school teacher who is eager to quit her job, that is until a fifth-grade student named Freddie (played by Johnny Crawford) asks her to help him prepare for an upcoming spelling bee. At first she refuses, but after Freddie steals money from her desk to get her attention - she decides that teaching is an important calling and that she can be a great deal of help to her students by just giving them a little more time and attention. Johnny Crawford is an actor, singer, and musician who shortly after his several appearances on the Loretta Young Show series, at age 12, rose to fame for playing Mark McCain, the son of Lucas McCain (played by Chuck Connors, another alum of this series) in the popular ABC Western series, The Rifleman, which originally aired from 1958 to 1963. Crawford first performed before a national TV audience on The Walt Disney Company's original Mouseketeers, in 1955. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, Crawford had wide popularity with American teenagers and a recording career that generated four Billboard Top 40 hits, including the singles, "Cindy's Birthday", "Rumors", "Your Nose is Gonna Grow" and "Proud". Don Megowan, portraying the teacher's husband Hank, starred in the science fiction film The Werewolf and appeared in westerns: Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier (1955), The Great Locomotive Chase (1956), Tarzan and the Valley of Gold (1966), The Devil's Brigade (1968) and Mel Brooks Blazing Saddles (1974) Megowan, a smoker from age 12 to 48, died of throat cancer at age 59 on June 26, 1981 in Panorama City, California. His weight had dwindled from nearly 300 pounds to barely 150. Trivia: Megowan also played the Gill-man on land in The Creature Walks Among Us, the final part of the Creature from the Black Lagoon trilogy. Tina Thompson (Sally) is known for appearing on The Ford Television Theatre (1952), Big Town (1950) and Footlights Theater (1952) before appearing on this program at ten years of age. Mira McKinney (Miss Forbes) began her acting career in 1924 as part of the Majestic Stock Company Players with Ralph Bellamy, Edmund O’Brien and Melvyn Douglas. She appeared with Charlie Chaplin in his film Modern Times (1936), and was under contract to Warner Brothers. She had a credited role in a Perry Mason film, The Case of the Stuttering Bishop (1937) among many others. She transitioned from films to television in 1952 in series such as Boston Blackie and Sky King, the Adventures of Superman episode “Mystery in Wax”. McKinney also had parts in Topper, Adventures of Jim Bowie, Loretta Young Show, as well as numerous episodes of The Gene Autry Show, Lone Ranger, and My Little Margie. She died at the age of 85 on May 2, 1978 in Los Angeles, California. Directed by John Newland Teleplay by Pauline Stone from the story by Virginia Chase. Cast: Audrey Curtis Loretta Young Hank Curtis Don Megowan Freddy Johnny Crawford Sally Tina Thompson Miss Forbes Mira McKinney