February 1, 1954…”The Secret Storm” Debuts On CBS

On February 1, 2015 - TV History


February 1, 1954…”The Secret Storm” Debuts On CBS

At the time this episode aired, the show was about a year into production and holding its ground from 4:15 – 4:30 weekdays, even though it was up against “American Bandstand”.

The show originated from CBS Studio 65, The Hi Brown Theater at 221 West 26 Street. On June 18, 1962, CBS extended “The Secret Storm” to a half hour and moved it to the 4:00 PM time slot, where it ran for six years against NBC’s “The Match Game”.

In 1966, “Dark Shadows” premiered against it on ABC, and CBS moved the show forward an hour to 3:00 PM on September 9, 1968, facing NBC’s fast-rising “Another World”.

“The Secret Storm” went to color broadcasts on September 11, 1967. In all the turmoil of its later years, the main reason for the show’s demise may have been CBS’s choice to buy the show from the original sponsor/packager, American Home Products, in 1969. Ever since CBS purchased the show, it suffered from numerous headwriter and producer changes. The show was canceled in 1974 and replaced with a less-expensive game show, “Tattletales”.

You may remember that in 1968, Joan Crawford, who at the time was over 60 years old, filled in for her ailing daughter, Christina, who played the role of Joan Borman Kane, a character who was only 28. The episodes were broadcast on October 25, 28, 29 and 30. The 1981 film “Mommie Dearest” portrayed Crawford’s appearance without specifying the name of the series. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6vb0yAJ28Y

an episode of ‘The Secret Storm’, dated February 18, 1955 (2 days b4 i was born!!)..complete with original commercials, organ music and all, this episode sho…

Source

6 Comments

  1. Soap Luvva May 18, 2015

    I was one of the fans of “The Secret Storm.” Two of my (late) friends, Charlie Paul and Eddie Layton, were organists/musical directors on the show. Please check out my tribute channel on YouTube:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n91F9q07Qig

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB1R9TodX8k

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEgDrb49aoA

  2. Val Ginter February 3, 2015

    Great history behind the Hi Brown/Chelsea Studios: Started out as an armory (which moved to 14th Street); became a movie studio; then it became a paper box factory; then it became a television film studio; and then it became a videotape production center. Maury Povitch came out of there when they weren’t taping a variety of soaps. And until 2012, that was the home of Martha Stewart’s show.

  3. Mark Norman February 1, 2015

    IIRC, the original title was The Storm Within, until they discovered one of the sponsors was an antacid!! Hailia Stoddard as Pauline…awesome!!

  4. Bryce Lozier February 1, 2015

    Debunks something I’d read on another site years ago, claiming that Secret Storm didn’t go to color until March 1968. Is it true that it was the last of the daytime soaps to convert to color broadcasts?

  5. Val Ginter February 1, 2015

    I was at CBS at the time. It was fun and exciting to watch.

  6. Maureen Carney February 1, 2015

    The audio of one of the Joan Crawford appearances is on YouTube, the video apparently wiped.