“I hear you knockin’, but you can’t come in”
July 6, 2009
GALE STORM
It escaped my notice until this morning that Gale Storm died a few days ago at the age of 87.
She was a charming personality on early television; while her series “My Little Margie” was in its first run of 126 episodes, I was getting old enough to notice that she was very cute, too.
I bought a DVD with several episodes of that show. It’s not the kind of comedy that sells today, but it’s still entertaining — especially the conflicts between Margie Albright — Gale Storm’s character — and her father, Vern, played by Charles Farrell. In our household, this series had something for everybody — well, almost everybody. Charles Farrell had been a romantic film star, and he was right up there with Cesar Romero in my mother’s pantheon. I imagine Dad liked Gale Storm’s looks, but if he did, he didn’t say so.
I kind of lost interest in Gale Storm when she went into her second series, “Oh, Susanna,” but I was in high school by then and was spending significantly less time watching television. I rediscovered her when she recorded several hit songs, including “I Hear You Knockin’ ” and “Dark Moon.”
After a couple of setbacks, Gale Storm overcame alcholism, which is always an uplifting thing to hear. Like most people, I suppose, I know several people who struggle with substance addictions. In no case does it appear that they will rid themselves of that problem. I don’t pontificate about such things the way I do about other topics, because I deeply sympathize with the addicted person. I have trouble breaking much less lethal habits, habits that don’t involve substance dependency. I don’t say anything about the habits of others, except in prayer.
GALE STORM and CHARLES FARRELL
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