"I feel this is my home and this is my work," says Frances Farmer of her life in Indiana and her duties as hostess of Channel 6’s late afternoon movie show, Frances Farmer Presents.

"I am very pleased to have been accepted here," the transplanted Washingtonian, Californian and New Yorker goes on. "And Hoosiers are quick to let you know whether you have been accepted or not."

She says she enjoys living here more than she enjoyed either the West Coast, where she was a star in movies, or the East Coast, where she has done Broadway plays, simply because in the Midwest she has met the "friendliest people" of any area of the country.

She resides in Indianapolis in an apartment house at 44^th and College. She hasn’t acquired any pets, as yet, but says one cat in the building has "adopted her."

Miss Farmer attends St. Joan Of Arc Catholic Church, at 42^nd and Central in Indianapolis, and sings in the church choir there. The singing, along with bowling in the church league (she’s bowled as high as 160) and reading contemporary literature, comprise her only relaxation in a busy schedule.

For hostessing duties comprise only a small part of her many activities. She also carefully screens each movie before it is shown, and prepares, with the aid of an assistant, each show’s script. And she is able, as is well known, to add much of her own knowledge of the picture and the stars involved to each script.

She also reads all of her mail, and tries to answer as much of it as possible. But the volume has become so great that she has had to take on an assistant to help her with the actual writing of the answers.

"A lot of it comes from kids," she says of her mail, "saying they like this or that movie." Much of it is also from women, and, additionally, from men pointing up a slight mis-statement of fact she has made concerning a technical point.

"Just let me make a slight mistake, even a slip of the tongue, and the phone begins ringing instantly," she laughs.

On the whole she characterizes her mail as "neighborly, and typically Hoosier."

The mail is an important consideration in the selection of the movies she shows, Frances adds. Each day’s selection is made by her in concert with the station’s program director and others. Balance is their principal aim, to give each week’s viewing a sprinkling of comedy, adventure and drama.

The hostess is also much in demand as a speaker. "People seem to be interested in what I think about tv and movies, and what goes on in Hollywood," she says.

An appearance at the Avondale Playhouse in Indianapolis is also on her agenda for this Summer. She will star with Reginald Gardner in "Present Laughter," a comedy by Noel Coward.

A busy schedule, but she would, it seems, have it no other way.

This article published in TV NEWS, June 11, 1960 – Indianapolis, IN

Index