Page 6

Gale Storm keeps ‘Margie’ alive in re-creation at Elmira little theatre

sperdvac friend and honorary member is subject of local magazine article

Gale Storm, star of radio’s irascible Margin in My Little Margie and sperdvac friend, appeared in a local re-creation of that series as a benefit for the Elmira (NY) Little Theatre last month. As reported by Nancy MacCaig, in Hey! The Magazine, an arts and entertainment publication in the southern Finger Lakes region of New York, “audiences will now experience live that famous Margie giggle and feel the vivaciousness of this charming star.”
As MacCaig writes, “America offers magical rises to stardom,” and “thus is the story of a Texas-born girl christened Josephine Owaissa Cottle, the youngest of five children.”
MacCaig then offers the following account of Miss Storm’s career and life:
Upon the death of her father when she was but a year old, the Cottle family moved to Houston. Involved with the drama club, Josephine was named best actress in the Texas State High School competition which brought her to the attention of two teachers who insisted that she enter a nationwide talent search on network radio called Gateway to Hollywood. To the surprise of the 17-year-old, Josephine won the local contest which took mother and daughter to Hollywood where, on New Year’s Day, 1940, she won the national contest and was named Gale Storm.
The actress says, “It was my two teachers, Miss Rona Collier and Miss Mary Ellen Oatman who changed the course of my life for had it not been for them I would never have entered the

contest.”
Miss Storm also relates that she and the male winner of the contest, Lee Bonnell, fell madly in love, married, had four children and lived happily ever after for the next 45 years.
The contest brought both young talent contracts with RKO and Gale simultaneously completed her schooling while appearing in two movies.
Miss Storm says, “My first TV series, My Little Margie, with Charles Farrell, was originally a summer replacement for I Love Lucy. I was overwhelmed by the immediate success of it. Later came The Gale Storm Show: Oh Susanna in which I played a social director on a cruise ship with Zasu Pitts as my roommate and Roy Roberts as the captain. In those two successful network programs I completed 269 half-hour TV episodes over a period of eight years.”
In between this busy schedule, Gale was a headliner in Las Vegas, and won a coveted “Gold Record” for “I Hear You Knocking.” Then it was on to the opera for this versatile lyrical soprano who appeared as Letitia in Gian Carlo Manotti’s opera The Old Maid and the Thief.
Miss Storm’s state credits include The Unsinkable Molly Brown, South Pacific, Finian’s Rainbow, Plaza Suite, and Forty Carats.
The celebrity has risen above being widowed twice, her second marriage being to Paul Masterson, and a bout with alcoholism which has led her to serve as an inspiration to many recovering alcoholics.
Gale Storm currently lives in Monarch Beach, CA, near two

of her sons. She was willing to come to Elmira because she is dedicated to keeping alive an interest in the art of old-time radio.
Gale says, “I keep busy with benefits and film festivals, answering fan mail,and enjoying life with my family which includes eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. I look forward annually to doing the narration for the Christmas musical presented by the choir of the South Shores Church. Life has been good to me, and I thank God for the many blessings and the happy life that He has given me.”
—Contributed by Albert Kopec