Gale Storm (April 5, 1922 – June 27, 2009) was an American actress and sing… Read Full Bio ↴Gale Storm (April 5, 1922 – June 27, 2009) was an American actress and singer who starred in two popular television programs of the 1950s, My Little Margie and The Gale Storm Show.
Storm was born Josephine Owaissa Cottle in Bloomington in Victoria County, 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 seventeen months old, and her mother, Minnie Corina Cottle, struggled to raise the children alone. One of her sisters gave Josephine the middle name "Owaissa," a Norridgewock Amerindian 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. She performed in the drama club at both Albert Sidney Johnston Junior High School and San Jacinto High School.
When she was 17 years old, two of her teachers urged her to enter a contest on Gateway to Hollywood, broadcast from the CBS Radio studios in Hollywood, California. 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.
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 "A Teenage 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 and headlined in Las Vegas and appeared in numerous stage plays. Amazingly, Storm only recorded for approximately 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. Equally amazing, almost her entire recording career was based on her quickly recording cover versions of new hits by other artists (one, a cover of Joni James' "I Need You So," was never released). Many felt that Storm's covers often were better than the originals, and she developed a large following.
After winning the contest in 1940, Storm made several films for the studio, RKO Radio Pictures. 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."
Storm 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, 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 Cosmo Jones, 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. She performed in more than three dozen motion pictures for Monogram, experience which made possible her success in other media. She became an American icon of the 1950s, starring in two highly successful television series. It was also in this decade that her singing career took shape. She appeared on such variety programs as ABC's The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom.
n 1950, Storm made her TV debut in Hollywood Premiere Theatre on ABC. From 1952 to 1955, she starred 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, but ran for 126 episodes on NBC and CBS. The series was broadcast on CBS Radio from December 1952 to August 1955 with the same actors.
Storm's 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 (aka Oh! Susanna), featuring another silent movie star, ZaSu Pitts. The Gale Storm show ran for 143 episodes 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 What's My Line?
Storm was married and widowed twice. In 1941, she married Lee Bonnell (1918–1986), then an actor and later a businessman. They had four children: Peter, Phillip, Paul and Susanna. She married the second time in 1988 to Paul Masterson (1917–1996).
In her later years she struggled with alcoholism, in her own words:
During the 1970s I experienced a terribly low and painful time of dealing with alcoholism. I had Lee's unfailing support through the entire ordeal. My treatment and recovery were more than rugged. At that time, there was such a stigma attached to alcoholism, particularly for women, that it could be hazardous to your reputation and career. I thank God daily that I have been fully recovered for more than 20 years. During my struggle, I had no idea of the blessing my experience could turn out to be! I've had the opportunity to share with others suffering with alcoholism the knowledge that there is help, hope, and an alcohol free life awaiting them.
Storm was a great believer in the benevolence of God and was very much a Christian and later became an active member of the South Shores Church. She once said of this:
Life has been good and I thank God for His many blessings and the happy life He has given to me.
Storm made occasional television appearances in later years, such as 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, the Friends of Old-Time Radio and the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention.
Storm lived alone in Monarch Beach, California, near two of her sons and their families, until failing health forced her into a convalescent home, near San Francisco in Danville, California. She died there on June 27, 2009.
Storm has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contributions to recording, radio, and television.
Storm was born Josephine Owaissa Cottle in Bloomington in Victoria County, 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 seventeen months old, and her mother, Minnie Corina Cottle, struggled to raise the children alone. One of her sisters gave Josephine the middle name "Owaissa," a Norridgewock Amerindian 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. She performed in the drama club at both Albert Sidney Johnston Junior High School and San Jacinto High School.
When she was 17 years old, two of her teachers urged her to enter a contest on Gateway to Hollywood, broadcast from the CBS Radio studios in Hollywood, California. 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.
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 "A Teenage 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 and headlined in Las Vegas and appeared in numerous stage plays. Amazingly, Storm only recorded for approximately 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. Equally amazing, almost her entire recording career was based on her quickly recording cover versions of new hits by other artists (one, a cover of Joni James' "I Need You So," was never released). Many felt that Storm's covers often were better than the originals, and she developed a large following.
After winning the contest in 1940, Storm made several films for the studio, RKO Radio Pictures. 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."
Storm 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, 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 Cosmo Jones, 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. She performed in more than three dozen motion pictures for Monogram, experience which made possible her success in other media. She became an American icon of the 1950s, starring in two highly successful television series. It was also in this decade that her singing career took shape. She appeared on such variety programs as ABC's The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom.
n 1950, Storm made her TV debut in Hollywood Premiere Theatre on ABC. From 1952 to 1955, she starred 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, but ran for 126 episodes on NBC and CBS. The series was broadcast on CBS Radio from December 1952 to August 1955 with the same actors.
Storm's 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 (aka Oh! Susanna), featuring another silent movie star, ZaSu Pitts. The Gale Storm show ran for 143 episodes 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 What's My Line?
Storm was married and widowed twice. In 1941, she married Lee Bonnell (1918–1986), then an actor and later a businessman. They had four children: Peter, Phillip, Paul and Susanna. She married the second time in 1988 to Paul Masterson (1917–1996).
In her later years she struggled with alcoholism, in her own words:
During the 1970s I experienced a terribly low and painful time of dealing with alcoholism. I had Lee's unfailing support through the entire ordeal. My treatment and recovery were more than rugged. At that time, there was such a stigma attached to alcoholism, particularly for women, that it could be hazardous to your reputation and career. I thank God daily that I have been fully recovered for more than 20 years. During my struggle, I had no idea of the blessing my experience could turn out to be! I've had the opportunity to share with others suffering with alcoholism the knowledge that there is help, hope, and an alcohol free life awaiting them.
Storm was a great believer in the benevolence of God and was very much a Christian and later became an active member of the South Shores Church. She once said of this:
Life has been good and I thank God for His many blessings and the happy life He has given to me.
Storm made occasional television appearances in later years, such as 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, the Friends of Old-Time Radio and the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention.
Storm lived alone in Monarch Beach, California, near two of her sons and their families, until failing health forced her into a convalescent home, near San Francisco in Danville, California. She died there on June 27, 2009.
Storm has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contributions to recording, radio, and television.
Tell Me Why
Gale Storm Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Every time I look at someone new
Tell me why I think of you
Then you sometimes pass me by
You're playing with love
Darling, tell me why
You left me all alone
To cry over you
My heart is torn and broken
And there's nothing left to do
In my prayers, I'll mention you
Without your love, I feel so blue
Why can't I have all of you
Oh, somebody, please tell me why
Oh, won't somebody please tell me why
Tell me why I think of you
Then you sometimes pass me by
You're playing with love
Darling, tell me why
You left me all alone
My heart is torn and broken
And there's nothing left to do
In my prayers, I'll mention you
Without your love, I feel so blue
Why can't I have all of you
Oh, somebody, please tell me why
Oh, won't somebody please tell me why
The lyrics of the song "Tell Me Why" by Gale Storm describe the lingering feelings of a heartbroken person who is still struggling to come to terms with the fact that their relationship has ended. Every new person they meet reminds them of their lost love. Even when the person they love passes them by, they feel a mix of love and anger. The lyrics suggest that the person who left was not honest and played games with their heart. The singer of the song mentions feeling alone, with a broken heart and nowhere to go. The last verse reveals that they pray for their lost love, and even though they know they can't have them back, the feeling of sadness and confusion remains.
Overall, the lyrics can be interpreted as an expression of love, loss, and the difficulty of moving on after a relationship ends. The singer struggles to make sense of what happened, and the song captures the universal feelings of those who have experienced a broken heart.
Line by Line Meaning
Every time I look at someone new
Whenever I see a new person, why do I immediately think of you?
Tell me why I think of you
I'm curious to know why you still linger in my thoughts.
Then you sometimes pass me by
Occasionally, you walk by me.
You're playing with love
You're behaving irresponsibly with my feelings.
Darling, tell me why
Please explain to me your reasons for your actions.
You left me all alone
You abandoned me without any support.
To cry over you
I'm left with nothing but tears because of you.
My heart is torn and broken
My emotions are shattered into pieces because of what you did to me.
And there's nothing left to do
I'm hopeless and helpless in this situation.
In my prayers, I'll mention you
You're still on my mind, even when I'm praying.
Without your love, I feel so blue
Your absence has left me feeling sad and depressed.
Why can't I have all of you
I want to understand why you can't commit to me fully.
Oh, somebody, please tell me why
I'm desperate for someone to explain the reasons behind my situation.
Oh, won't somebody please tell me why
I'm pleading for someone to shed light on my troubles.
Contributed by Juliana M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
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@58joana
Beautiful voice!
@mrob75
I’m really enjoying all of these Gale Storm records! Like Pat Boone, Gale was one of those artists who Dot Record managers had her cover R & B material much to the chagrin to some 2022 + listeners. Ironically, some of these same critics forgave elvis and the beatles for doing the same thing.
@jannetjebicker4648
Thank you for sharing!👍🙂❤️💐
@bryanrendleman2001
Just a closer walk with thee keeps trying to pop out.
@58joana
I thought so too!
@mickybowser1434
OH OH I LIKE MUCH YES YES🌹VELVET BLU BO'NEE🌈