Gale Storm

Gale Storm

Josephine Owaissa Cottle (April 5, 1922 - June 27, 2009), better known as Gale Storm, was an American actress and singer, who starred in two popular television programs of the 1950s, My Little Margie and The Gale Storm Show.

Early life

Storm was born in Bloomington, Texas, the youngest of five children. She had two brothers and two sisters. Her father, William Walter Cottle, died after a year-long illness when she was just 13 months old, and her mother, Minnie Corina Cottle, struggled to raise the children alone. One of her sisters gave Josephine the middle name, "Owaissa", an American Indian word meaning "bluebird". Storm's mother Minnie took in sewing, then opened a millinery shop in McDade, Texas which failed, and finally moved the family to Houston. Storm learned to be an accomplished dancer and became an excellent ice skater at Houston's Polar Palace. At Albert Sydney Johnston Junior High School and San Jacinto High School, she performed in the drama club.

When she was a 17-year-old senior, two of her teachers urged her to enter the contest on Gateway to Hollywood, broadcast from the CBS Radio studios in Hollywood, California. The first prize was a one-year contract with a movie studio. She won and was immediately given the stage name Gale Storm, while her performing partner (and future husband), Lee Bonnell from South Bend, Indiana, became Terry Belmont.

Film career

After winning the contest in 1940, Storm made several films for the studio, RKO Radio Pictures; the first was Tom Brown's School Days. She worked steadily in a number of low-budget films released during this period. In 1941 she sang in several Soundies, three-minute musicals produced for "movie jukeboxes."

She acted and sang in Monogram Pictures' popular Frankie Darro series, and played ingénue roles in other Monogram features with the East Side Kids, Edgar Kennedy, and The Three Stooges. Monogram had always relied on established actors with reputations, but in Gale Storm the studio finally had a star of its own. She starred in the studio's most elaborate productions, both musical and dramatic. She shared top billing in Monogram's Cosmo Jones in The Crime Smasher (1943), opposite Edgar Kennedy, Richard Cromwell, and Frank Graham in the role of Jones, a character derived from network radio.

American audiences warmed to Storm and her fan mail increased. Altogether, she performed in more than three dozen motion pictures for Monogram. The early exposure from these film appearances paved the way for her success in other media. Storm became an American icon of the 1950s, starring in two highly successful television series, and it was in this decade that her singing career took off.

Television career

Storm's television career skyrocketed from 1952 to 1955, with her starring role in My Little Margie. The show, which co-starred former silent film actor Charles Farrell as her father, was originally a summer replacement for I Love Lucy on CBS. After becoming a hit, the show ran for 126 episodes on NBC and CBS. In an unusual move, the series was broadcast on CBS Radio from December 1952 to August 1955 with the same lead actors. Only 23 episodes of the radio show are known to survive.

Storm's popularity was capitalized upon in The Gale Storm Show (aka Oh! Susanna), featuring another silent movie star, ZaSu Pitts. This show ran for 143 episodes between 1956 and 1960. Storm appeared regularly on other television programs in the 1950s and 1960s as well. She was a panelist and as a "mystery guest" on What's My Line?

Recording artist

In Gallatin, Tennessee in 1954, a 10-year-old girl, Linda Wood, was watching Storm on a Sunday night television comedy show hosted by Gordon MacRae, singing one of the popular songs of the day. Linda's father asked her who was singing and was told it was Gale Storm from My Little Margie. Linda's father, Randy Wood, was president of Dot Records, and he liked Storm so much that he called to sign her before the end of the television show. Her first record, "I Hear You Knockin'", a cover version of a rhythm and blues hit by Smiley Lewis, in turn based on the old Buddy Bolden standard "The Bucket's Got a Hole In It", sold over a million copies. It was followed in 1957 by the haunting ballad, "Dark Moon" that went to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Storm had several top ten songs and headlined in Las Vegas and appeared in numerous stage plays.

Personal life

Storm was married and widowed twice. Her first marriage was to actor Lee Bonnell, with whom she had four children. Bonnell died in 1987. In 1988, Storm married Paul Masterson. Masterson died in 1996.

Later years

In 1981, Storm published her autobiography, I Ain't Down Yet, which described her battle with alcoholism. She was also interviewed by author David C. Tucker for The Women Who Made Television Funny: Ten Stars of 1950s Sitcoms, published in 2007 by McFarland and Company.

Storm continued to make personal appearances and sign autographed photos with her and Charles Farrell from the My Little Margie program at conventions. She had attended events such as the Memphis Film Festival, the Friends of Old-Time Radio and the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention.

Death

Storm lived alone in Monarch Beach, California, near her two sons and their families, until failing health forced her into a convalescent home in Danville, California. She died there on June 27, 2009 at the age of 87.

Gale Storm has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contributions to recording, radio, and television.

Selected filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1940	Tom Brown's Schooldays	Effie	Alternative title: Adventures at Rugby
1941	Saddlemates	Susan Langley
1942	Rhythm Parade	Sally Benson
1943	Nearly Eighteen	Jane "Janie" Stanton
1945	G.I. Honeymoon	Ann Gordon
1946	Swing Parade of 1946	Carol Lawrence
1947	It Happened on Fifth Avenue	Trudy O'Connor
1948	The Dude Goes West	Liza Crockett
1949	Abandoned	Paula Considine	Alternative title: Abandoned Woman
1950	The Underworld Story	Catherine "Cathy" Harris
1951	Al Jennings of Oklahoma	Margo St. Claire
1952	Woman of the North Country	Cathy Nordlund
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1952-1955	My Little Margie	Margie Albright	126 episodes
1955	The Ford Television Theatre	Hope Foster	1 episode
1956-1960	The Gale Storm Show	Susanna Pomeroy	143 episodes
1964-1965	Burke's Law	Honey Feather Leeps Dr. Nonnie Harper	2 episodes
1979	The Love Boat	Rose	1 episode
1989	Murder, She Wrote	Maisie Mayberry	1 episode

Recordings

Singles

• 1956: "I Hear You Knocking"/"Never Leave Me" (Dot 15412) (#2)
• 1956: "Memories Are Made of This"/"Teenage Prayer" (Dot 15436)
• 1956: "Why Do Fools Fall in Love/I Walk Alone" (Dot 15448)
• 1956: "I Ain't Gonna Worry"/"Ivory Tower" (Dot 15458) (#6)
• 1956: "Tell Me Why"/"Don't Be That Way" (Dot 15474)
• 1956: "Now Is the Hour"/"A Heart Without a Sweetheart" (Dot 15492)
• 1956: "My Heart Belongs To You"/"Orange Blossoms" (Dot 15515)
• 1957: "Lucky Lips/"On Treasure Island" (Dot 15539)
• 1957: "Dark Moon"/"A Little Too Late" (Dot 15558) (#4)
• 1957: "On My Mind Again/Love By The Jukebox Light" (Dot 15606)
• 1957: "Go 'Way From My Window"/"Winter Warm" (Dot 15666)
• 1957: "I Get That Feeling"/"A Farewell To Arms" (Dot 15691)
• 1957: "You"/"Angry" (Dot 15734)
• 1957: "South Of the Border"/"Soon I'll Wed My Love" (Dot 15783 )
• 1958: "Oh Lonely Crowd"/"Happiness Left Yesterday" (Dot 15861)
• 1960: "I Need You So"/"On Treasure Island" (Dot 16057)
• 1960: "Please Help Me I'm Falling"/"He Is There" (Dot 16111)

Further reading

• Sitcom Queens: Divas of the Small Screen by Michael Karol (2005) ISBN 0-595-40251-8
• The Women Who Made Television Funny: Ten Stars of 1950s Sitcoms by David C. Tucker (2007) ISBN 0-7864-2900-3

External links

• Official Gale Storm Website
• Gale Storm at IMDb
• Template:Amg
• John Beal's Gale Storm Website
• Bio on "Films of the Golden Age"
• Gale Storm Actress dies at 87