tested for the title role in Jesse Lasky's The Great Caruso film. The role ultimately went to Mario Lanza. Lewis served as narrator and male lead of Gordon Jenkins' musical narrative album Manhattan Tower in both the original 10 inch LP and the later recorded, expanded 12 inch LP version of the musical story. Lewis and his second wife, Cathy, released two musical story albums orchestrated by Ray Noble: Happy Anniversary (Columbia MC-160) and Happy Holidays. Lewis reported that though the records never made much money, years later he learned that they were played annually by the CBS affiliate station in St. Louis, KMOX. Television Though he was initially critical of television, Lewis began to work in the medium in the final years of the golden age of radio. Lewis was an announcer for the television series Escape, the visual counterpart of the radio program of the same name. Lewis appeared on television only twice: with Phil Harris on an episode of All Star Revue, and as a judge on episode two of the 1975 Sheldon Leonard sitcom Big Eddie. As the Golden Age of Radio ended, Lewis shifted his focus to television production, where he began by co-producing Climax and Kraft Mystery Theatre. In 1953, he, Cathy Lewis, E. Jack Neuman and Irene M. Neuman formed a radio and television production company, Hawk-Lewis Enterprises. Lewis was one of three members of a "board of revue" established by NBC-TV to oversee development of color programming in 1955. He, Milt Josefsberg, and Jess Oppenheimer evaluated and supervised pilots of color programs and oversaw a development program for new writers. In 1956, he was executive producer of Tomado Productions' Crime Classics, a TV version of the radio program of the same title. By the 1960s, Lewis was directing such shows as The Mothers-in-Law, Petticoat Junction, and Bill Cosby's and Andy Griffith's programs. He was director, producer, and writer for Bat Masterson, MacKenzie's Raiders, and This Man Dawson. before producing Guestward Ho and The Lucy Show (on which his wife Mary Jane Croft costarred as Lucy's sidekick Mary Jane Lewis – her married name). He was promoted to executive producer of The Lucy Show for its 1963–1964 season and stepped down at the end of that season. Lewis joined Bing Crosby Productions in 1964 to work on new projects. His final credited work was as an executive script consultant for Remington Steele. Revival