Gale Storm
Birthdate: April 5, 1922

Birth Place: Bloomington, Texas

Birth Name: Josephine Owaissa Cottle

Key TV Programs:
My Little Margie, As Margie Albright, 1952-1955, 126 episodes, co-starring Charles Farrell, Hillary Brooke, and Clarence Kolb

Oh! Susannah (aka The Gale Storm Show), as Susan Pomeroy, 1956-1960, 125 episodes, costarring ZaSu Pitts and Roy Roberts

Gale Storm is a product of Hollywood, literally. She won a "Gateway to Hollywood" contest (sponsored by producer Jesse Lasky) while in high school, and went to Los Angeles after she graduated in 1939. Her name was changed on arrival, as was the Lasky custom. Perhaps because she came in on a whirlwind of publicity, it was changed to Gale Storm.

Fortunately, the girl was cute, and she could act and sing, and so was pushed into the studios. When her movie career fizzled as TV came along, the new medium welcomed her with open arms. She starred in two hit series, and by the way sold six millionrecords as a pop star durign the 1950s. Some tidbits follow. (For much more, including a Foreword the delightful Ms. Storm wrote for my book Sitcom Queens, click on the cover, below.)

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My Little Margie was a unique show in that, except for costar Clarence Kolb's (Vern's excitable boss) patented bluster, it mined laughs out of a group of nice, average people, people that the TV audience obviously wanted to get to know. The show, initially a summer replacement for I Love Lucy, lasted through the 1955 season, and the following year Gale emerged in a second hit: Oh! Susannah (AKA The Gale Storm Show.) • • •

Playing cruise ship entertainment director Susannah Pomeroy, with silent film star and early sound comic ZaSu Pitts as her "Ethel Mertz," Susannah benefited from different locales and ports of call that could be used as the cruise ship traveled. It also benefited from musical performances by Storm and others. There was even Roy Roberts on hand as the captain of the ship, filling the father/parent figure role occupied by Gale Gordon on Lucille Ball’s shows in the 1960s and 1970s. • • •

In addition to her movie and TV careers, Storm also had several major recording hits in the 1950s, including "I Hear You Knocking," and "Memories are Made of This," both 1955; "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" and "Ivory Tower (1956); and "Dark Moon" (1957). • • •
Storm was married for more than 40 years to fellow "Gateway to Hollywood" contest winner Lee Bonnell (until his death). They had four children. She had a well-publicized bout with alcoholism during a mid-career crisis, but lived to tell about it in an uplifting autobiography, I Ain't Down Yet (1981). She remains active, hosting her own official website. • • •
She still makes occasional public appearances, and was most recently seen on film in Shirley (2002), an affectionate look back at Shirley Temple. When I spoke with Gale a few months ago (summer 2006) she was getting ready to celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Gale Storm Show at a party fans and friends had set up. One might be tempted to consider Storm a minor actress in the show-biz pantheon, but if so, ask this question: How many actors have had made more than 30 movies, starred in two successive hit television shows, and at the same time managed a successful recording career (not to mention writing a book and appearing on stage for the past 40 years)? The list is a very short one, and Gale has most certainly earned her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

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Michael Karol has written four books about Lucille Ball: Lucy A to Z, The Lucille Ball Encyclopedia, the revised, expanded 4th Edition, published in 2008, with exclusive pictures for the first time; Lucy in Print, looking at press coverage of Lucy and her costars over the past 60 years; The Lucille Ball Quiz Book; and The Comic DNA of Lucille Ball: Interpreting the Icon. He has also written the best-selling TV Tidbits book The ABC Movie of the Week Companion. A date gone wrong sparked his vampire/mystery novel Kiss Me, Kill Me. Its prequel, Sleeps Well With Others, was published in the fall of 2006. All are currently available on Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble.com, and many other online and in-store sources. Visit here for more information.