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GALE STORM
1922 – 2009 From Mary Pickford to Jennifer Aniston, there has always been an America’s Sweetheart. In the 1950s, it was Gale Storm’s turn. She was already a star in B-movies in the 1940s when she took the risky step of turning to television. “My Little Margie” gave her the signature role that would make her famous. But it was not all happy times—when the 1950s ended, so did her career. For 2 decades, alcohol helped her spiral downward. But her triumphant recovery would become an inspiration. She was born in Bloomington, Texas in 1922 as Josephine Cottle. Her father died when she was a baby and her mother raised 5 kids as best she could in dirt-poor conditions. At one point the struggling family was even without indoor plumbing! Josephine sought refuge in her many school plays. Her high school teachers encouraged her to enter a nationwide talent contest called “Gateway to Hollywood ” which was broadcast on CBS Radio. Judged by 5 RKO executives, the contestants were rated for personality, dramatic ability, and photogenic quality. The winners would receive their Screen Actors Guild Card, an opportunity to appear in pictures at RKO, and a new screen name, which had already been picked out.
Gale’s movie debut at RKO was in “Tom Brown’s School Days” (1940) starring juvenile actor Freddie Bartholomew. She stayed with RKO for a brief period making several more films, including one with her future costar Zasu Pitts (1941’s Uncle Joe”). Later in 1941, she went to work at two of Hollywood’s “Poverty Row” studios---- Monogram and Republic Pictures. She was set to become one of the busiest movie actresses of the 1940s, albeit exclusively in B-pictures. At Republic, she costarred with Roy Rogers (pre-Dale Evans) in three low-budget Westerns. Monogram featured her in the Frankie Darro series (“Let’s Go Collegiate”). But her bright persona soon outshone her featured status and Monogram groomed her to be the star in their low-budget films.
By 1949, Gale was still starring in low-budget features (mainly film noir and Westerns) but now free-lancing at Universal and Columbia Pictures. She could see that her career was starting to wane. She had already begun making a few appearances on early television. So when she was offered the lead role in a new CBS sitcom, she decided to give it a try---even though most movie actors did not want to appear in the new medium. |
17-year-old Josephine made the finals and traveled to Hollywood where she and (as-it-turned out) future husband Lee Bonnell were crowned the winners. They were christened Gale Storm and Terry Belmont. “Gale and Terry” married in 1941 and movie magazines were ecstatic reporting the news. 
She was used in various genres in the 1940s—light musicals (“Rhythm Parade” with The Mills Brothers, “Campus Rhythm”); low-budget pot-boilers (“Nearly Eighteen,” “Foreign Agent”); a horror movie (“Revenge of the Zombies” with John Carradine); one of the first juvenile delinquent films (1943’s “Where Are Your Children?” with Jackie Cooper); a film in the East Side Kids series—Leo Gorcy, Huntz Hall—(“Smart Alecks”); and a film with The Three Stooges (“Swing Parade of 1946”). 
By 1947, Monogram had evolved into Allied Artists and now focused on bigger budget films. She appeared in their first attempt, the wonderful “It Happened on Fifth Avenue.” She continued at Allied Artists mainly in westerns (“The Dude Goes West” with Eddie Albert, “The Kid From Texas” with Audie Murphy).