Gale Storm

Josephine Owaissa Cottle (April 5, 1922 – June 27, 2009), known professionally as Gale Storm, was an American actress and singer. After a film career from 1940 to 1952, she starred in two popular television programs of the 1950s, ''My Little Margie'' and ''The Gale Storm Show''. Six of her songs were top ten hits. Storm's greatest recording success was a cover version of " I Hear You Knockin'," which hit No. 2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in 1955.

Early life

Storm was born in Bloomington, Texas, United States. 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 17 months old, and her mother, Minnie Corina Cottle, struggled to rear the children alone.

Storm's elder sister Lois gave her baby sister the middle name "Owaissa", a Norridgewock Native American word meaning "bluebird". Her mother took in sewing, then opened a millinery shop in McDade, Texas, which failed, and finally moved her family to Houston. Storm learned to be an accomplished dancer and became an excellent ice skater at Houston's Polar Palace.

Storm attended Holy Rosary School in what is now Midtown, Houston. She performed in the drama club at both Albert Sidney Johnston Junior High School and San Jacinto High School.

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

Career

Storm had a role in the radio version of ''Big Town''. After winning the contest in 1940, Storm made several films for the RKO Radio Pictures studio. Her first was ''Tom Brown's School Days'', playing opposite Jimmy Lydon and Freddie Bartholomew. She worked steadily in 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' Frankie Darro series, and played ingénue roles in other Monogram features with the East Side Kids, Edgar Kennedy, and the Three Stooges, most notably in the film '' Swing Parade of 1946''. Monogram had always relied on established actors with reputations, but in Gale Storm, the studio finally had a star of its own. She played the lead in the studio's most elaborate productions, both musical and dramatic. She shared top billing in Monogram's ''The Crime Smasher'' (1943), opposite Edgar Kennedy, Richard Cromwell, and Frank Graham in the role of Jones, a character derived from network radio.

Storm starred in a number of films, including the romantic comedies '' G.I. Honeymoon'' (1945) and ''It Happened on Fifth Avenue'' (1947), the Western '' Stampede (1949)'', and the 1950 film-noir dramas ''The Underworld Story'' and ''Between Midnight and Dawn''. U.S. audiences warmed to Storm and her fan mail increased. She performed in more than three dozen motion pictures for Monogram, experience which made possible her success in other media.

In the 1950s, she made singing appearances on such television variety programs as ''The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom.''

In 1950, Storm made her television debut in ''Hollywood Premiere Theatre'' on ABC. From 1952 to 1955, she starred in ''My Little Margie'', with former silent film actor Charles Farrell as her father. The series began as a summer replacement for ''I Love Lucy'' on CBS, but ran for 126 episodes on NBC and then CBS. The series was broadcast on CBS Radio from December 1952 to August 1955 with the same actors. Her popularity was capitalized on when she served as hostess of the ''NBC Comedy Hour'' in the winter of 1956. That year, she starred in another situation comedy, ''The Gale Storm Show'' (''Oh! Susanna''), featuring another silent movie star, ZaSu Pitts. The show ran for 143 episodes on CBS and ABC between 1956 and 1960. Storm appeared regularly on other television programs in the 1950s and 1960s. She was both a panelist and a "mystery guest" on CBS's ''What's My Line?''

Recording artist

In Gallatin, Tennessee, in November 1954, a 10-year-old girl, Linda Wood, was watching Storm on a Sunday night television variety show, NBC's ''Colgate Comedy Hour'', 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, sold over a million copies.

The follow-up was a two-sided hit, with Storm covering Dean Martin's "Memories Are Made of This" backed with her cover of Gloria Mann's "Teen Age Prayer". That was followed by a hit cover of Frankie Lymon's " Why Do Fools Fall in Love". Storm's subsequent record sales began to slide but soon rebounded with a cover of her own labelmate Bonnie Guitar's haunting ballad "Dark Moon" that went to No. 4 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Storm had several other hits, headlined in Las Vegas and appeared in numerous stage plays. Storm recorded for only about two years with Dot and then gave up recording because of her husband's concerns with the time she had to devote to that career.

Personal life

Storm was married and widowed twice. In 1941, while still a teenager, she married Lee Bonnell (1918–1986), then an actor and later a businessman. They had four children: Peter, Phillip, Paul, and Susanna. In 1988, two years after she was widowed, she married Paul Masterson (1917–1996), who also predeceased her.

In her 50s, she struggled with alcoholism. She later said:

She later became an active member of the South Shores Baptist Church. She once said: "Life has been good and I thank God for His many blessings and the happy life He has given to me." Storm was a registered Republican and campaigned for U.S. Senator Barry M. Goldwater in the 1960s.

Later years

Storm made occasional television appearances in later years, such as ''The Love Boat'', '' Burke's Law'', and ''Murder, She Wrote''.

In 1981, she 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 autographed photos at fan conventions, along with Charles Farrell from the ''My Little Margie'' series. She also attended events such as the Memphis Film Festival, Cinecon, the Friends of Old-Time Radio and the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention.

Death

Storm lived alone in Monarch Beach, California, near two of her sons and their families, until failing health forced her into a convalescent home in Danville, California. She died there on June 27, 2009, aged 87."Gale Storm, 87, Is Dead; Earned Television Fame for Her Wholesome Roles"
Nytimes.com, June 29, 2009; accessed December 14, 2015.

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

Filmography

* ''Tom Brown's School Days'' (1940)
* ''One Crowded Night'' (1940)
* ''Let's Go Collegiate'' (1941)
* ''City of Missing Girls'' (1941)
* ''Saddlemates'' (1941)
* ''Gambling Daughters'' (1941)
* '' Uncle Joe'' (1941)
* ''Red River Valley'' (1941)
* ''Jesse James at Bay'' (1941)
* ''Lure of the Islands'' (1942)
* ''Freckles Comes Home'' (1942)
* ''Man from Cheyenne'' (1942)
* ''Smart Alecks'' (1942)
* ''Foreign Agent'' (1942)
* ''Rhythm Parade

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