The Secret Storm is a
soap operaA soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on television or radio. The name "soap opera" stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers such as Procter & Gamble,...
which aired on
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
from February 1, 1954 to February 8, 1974. The series was created by
Roy WinsorRoy Winsor was an American soap opera writer, creator and novelist.Roy Winsor was born in Chicago Illinois in 1912. He is most famous for creating some of the longest running soap operas in television history. Before he created television soap operas he wrote for many radio serials. He also...
, who also created the long-running soap operas
Search for TomorrowSearch for Tomorrow is a TV soap opera which started airing on Monday, September 3, 1951 on CBS. The show was moved from CBS, its original broadcaster, on Friday, March 26, 1982, with NBC picking it up on the following Monday, March 29, 1982. It continued on NBC until the final episode was aired on...
and
Love of LifeLove of Life is a long-running American soap opera which was aired on CBS from September 24, 1951 to February 1, 1980, lasting 29 years. It was created by Roy Winsor, whose previous creation Search for Tomorrow had premiered three weeks before Love, and who would go on to create The Secret Storm...
.
Gloria MontyGloria Monty was an American TV producer working primarily in the field of daytime drama. Monty attended the University of Iowa, New York University, and Columbia University, where she earned her master’s degree in drama....
of
General HospitalGeneral Hospital is an American daytime television drama and is currently credited by the Guiness Book of World Records as being the second longest-running soap opera in production and the second longest running drama in television in production. It premiered on the ABC television network on April...
fame was a longtime director of the series.
Plot
At the soap's center was the Ames family, a prominent clan in the fictional Northeastern town of Woodbridge (eventually identified as being located in New York). The Ames family consisted of
PeterPeter Ames was the lead male character in the now-defunct American soap opera, The Secret Storm. Although played by many actors, Peter Hobbs was the actor most identified in the role.- Sudden widower :...
, his wife
EllenEllen Tyrell Ames was a fictional character in the earliest versions of the now-cancelled American Soap Opera called The Secret Storm. She was played by Ellen Cobb-Hill.-The catalyst of the Storm:...
, and their three children: Susan, Jerry and
AmyAmy Ames Rysdale Britton Kincaid was a character in the long-running and now cancelled American Soap opera, The Secret Storm She was played, with a few breaks, here and there, by actress Jada Rowland, who grew up in the role, a rarity for any soap....
. The mother Ellen was killed off in the first episode and subsequent stories focused on the widower Peter raising his three children. Lending a hand, however dubiously, was Peter's former fiancee/sister in-law,
Pauline RysdalePauline Tyrell Harris Rysdale, known more familiarly as "Aunt Pauline", was a character in the now-defunct American Soap Opera, The Secret Storm. She was played by actress Haila Stoddard.- Jilted sister :...
.
An interesting fact to note is the character of Amy was allowed to age in real time and not to be subjected to
rapid agingSoap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome is the term used to describe the aging of a television character that is faster than they should be aging, given the timeline of the show...
as most soap operas do.
Jada RowlandJada Rowland is an American actress and illustrator.-Actress:Ms. Rowland was born into a family of actors and artists. She has appeared on Broadway and television, most notably in daytime soap operas. She has appeared as Dr. Susan Stewart on As the World Turns and Carolee Simpson Aldrich on The...
played the character, minus a few breaks, for the length of the show's run.
One of the most unforgettable villains of the time was
Belle ClemensBelle Clemens was a fictional character on the now-defunct American soap opera The Secret Storm. She was played from 1968 to 1974 by actress Marla Adams.- Belle vs. Amy :...
. Belle was played by
Marla AdamsMarla Adams is an American soap opera actress, best known for her roles as Belle Clemens on The Secret Storm, from 1968 to 1974, and as Dina Abbott Mergeron on The Young and the Restless, from 1983 to 1986 and in 1996...
, up to the show's end and was the main source of trouble for Woodbridge, taking up where Aunt Pauline, who was the show's original villainess, left off. Originally due to die of kidney disease, the writers had Belle's daughter drown in an accident, and Belle blamed Amy for the death.
Actress/writer Stephanie Braxton and actor Dan Hamilton met while performing on the show. They later married in real life. Lori March, who played Valerie Hill Ames for many years, later played the wife of her real-life husband Alexander Scorby. Actress Diana Muldaur married her co-star, James Vickery, in real-life, also.
Actress
Diane LaddDiane Ladd is an American actress, film director and producer. She has appeared in over 120 roles, in numerous popular TV shows or mini-series during 1958-2003, and several major feature films, including Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore , Wild at Heart, Rambling Rose , Ghosts of Mississippi, Primary...
who played the role of Kitty Styles, would go on to greater fame in the movie
Alice Doesn't Live Here AnymoreAlice Doesn't Live Here Anymore is a 1974 American drama film directed by Martin Scorsese. The screenplay by Robert Getchell focuses on the adventures of a thirtysomething widow and her pre-teen son as they journey across the American Southwest to her hometown of Monterey, California, where they...
(she played
Florence Jean CastleberryFlorence Jean Castleberry , better known to all as "Flo", is a fictional character in the movie Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, the subsequent television series, Alice, and that show's spinoff, Flo...
) and would later on play the role of
Isabelle Amanda DupreeIsabelle Amanda Dupree better known as Belle, was a fictional character in the television series Alice. She was played by actress Diane Ladd who, incidentally, played the character of Flo in the movie Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, on which the television show was based.- She "moves like the...
on
the television show that was based on the movieAlice is an American sitcom television series which ran from August 31, 1976 to July 2, 1985 on CBS in the USA. The series was based on the 1974 film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. The show stars Linda Lavin in the title role, a widow who moves with her young son to start her life over again,...
.
Joan Crawford
In 1968,
Joan CrawfordJoan Crawford was an American actress in film, television and theatre. Starting as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway, Crawford was signed to a motion picture contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1925...
filled in for her ailing daughter,
Christina CrawfordChristina Crawford is an American writer and actress, best known as the author of Mommie Dearest, an exposé of alleged child abuse by her mother, actress Joan Crawford.- Early life and education :...
, who played the role of Joan Borman Kane. The episodes aired from October 21 through October 25, 1968. Although no full shows with Joan Crawford are known to exist, clips from some episodes have appeared on
YouTubeYouTube is a video sharing website on which users can upload and share videos. Three former PayPal employees created YouTube in February 2005. In November 2006, YouTube, LLC was bought by Google Inc. for $1.65 billion, and is now operated as a subsidiary of Google...
. The 1981 film
Mommie DearestMommie Dearest is a 1981 American biographical drama film about Joan Crawford, starring Faye Dunaway. The film was directed by Frank Perry. The story was adapted for the screen by Robert Getchell, Tracy Hotchner, Frank Perry and Frank Yablans, based on the 1978 book Mommie Dearest by Christina...
dramatized Crawford's appearance (presenting her as intoxicated and stepping in a role decades too young for her merely to get personal attention) without specifying the name of the series.
Broadcast history
CBS first placed
Secret Storm at 4:15 PM (3:15 Central) as a 15-minute program, sandwiched between
The Brighter DayThe Brighter Day is a soap opera which aired on CBS Daytime from January 4 1954 to September 28 1962. It ran, at times, simultaneously on the NBC radio network; the NBC radio run was from 1948 to 1956. The radio and television versions were created by Irna Phillips.It was the first soap opera to...
and
On Your Account (later
The Edge of NightThe Edge of Night was a long-running American television mystery series/soap opera produced by Procter & Gamble. It debuted on CBS on April 2, 1956, and ran on that network until November 28, 1975; the series then moved to ABC, where it aired from December 1, 1975, until December 28, 1984...
). Beginning in 1957, it would compete against
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948...
's
American BandstandAmerican Bandstand was a television show that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989, hosted from 1957 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as producer...
, then a five-day-a-week show (it was reduced to Saturdays-only in 1963).
On June 18, 1962 CBS expanded
Storm to 30 minutes.
The Brighter DayThe Brighter Day is a soap opera which aired on CBS Daytime from January 4 1954 to September 28 1962. It ran, at times, simultaneously on the NBC radio network; the NBC radio run was from 1948 to 1956. The radio and television versions were created by Irna Phillips.It was the first soap opera to...
was moved to an early-morning time slot (which contributed to its demise).
Storm took over the 4:00 PM timeslot, where it ran for six years, mainly competing against
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices in Burbank,California...
's
The Match GameMatch Game is an American television game show featuring contestants attempting to match celebrities' answers to fill-in-the-blank questions...
. However, 1966 witnessed the premiere of the eventual teen-cult soap
Dark ShadowsDark Shadows is a Gothic soap opera that originally aired weekdays on the ABC television network, from June 27, 1966 to April 2, 1971. The show was created by Dan Curtis, who tells of a dream he had in which a girl takes a long train ride to visit a large mansion. The story "bible," which was...
on ABC, and that (later the
Dating Game) prompted CBS to move
Storm ahead an hour to 3:00 PM (2:00 Central) on September 9, 1968. There, it faced NBC's fast-rising
Another WorldAnother World is a television soap opera that ran on the NBC network from May 4, 1964 to June 25, 1999. It was created by Irna Phillips along with William J...
, a soap itself largely modeled on the melodramatical style of
Storm.
Storm was the last daytime soap opera on the three major TV networks to convert to color. It did so on March 11, 1968.
After four years of mediocre success, CBS next tried it a half-hour later beginning on September 4, 1972 as part of a major overhaul of the network's daytime lineup. It managed to run about even with ABC's
One Life to LiveOne Life to Live is an American soap opera which has been broadcast on the ABC television network since July 15, 1968. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature racially and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social...
and, deciding to put in stronger competition at the 3:30 PM (2:30 Central) slot, CBS returned
Storm to its mid-1960s 4:00 PM slot on March 26. There, it faced reruns on ABC and the weak
SomersetSomerset was an American television soap opera which ran on NBC from March 30, 1970 until December 31, 1976. The show was a spinoff of another NBC serial, Another World.-Overview :...
on NBC - but its audience share and ratings would not be enough to save it from cancellation in an increasingly cost-competitive network daytime scene.
A prime example of that scene happened in September 1973, when the CBS affiliate in San Francisco, KPIX, stopped airing
Storm without warning, replacing it with the
syndicatedIn broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows to multiple individual stations, without going through a broadcast network. It is common in countries where television is scheduled by networks with local affiliates, particularly in the United States...
Mike Douglas Show. According to Bob MacKenzie of
TV GuideTV Guide is a North American weekly magazine about television programming.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews. Some issues have also featured horoscope listings and crossword puzzles.-Annenberg/Triangle era: The...
, KPIX's switchboards received 400 calls that first afternoon, and one woman in
OaklandOakland is the eighth-largest city in the U.S. state of California and a major West Coast port city, located on San Francisco Bay about eight miles east of the City of San Francisco. Oakland is a major hub city for the Bay Area subregion collectively called the East Bay, and it is the county seat...
wrote "We all are wondering what Belle is up to and what Amy is doing and how Brian is coping with his problems." Another viewer wrote to
TV Guide "I am addicted to it, and they simply cut it off in the middle of a fascinating plot. This is not fair! Onions to the station!"
In November, with affiliate pre-emptions like KPIX's mounting and an economic recession causing a decline in ad revenues, CBS made the decision to cancel the serial in favor of a less-expensive game show,
TattletalesTattletales was a game show which first aired on the CBS daytime schedule on February 18, 1974. It was hosted by Bert Convy, with several announcers Jack Clark , Gene Wood , Johnny Olson and John Harlan providing the voiceover at various...
. This had also been the reason for the cancellations of
Where the Heart IsWhere the Heart Is is an American soap opera which was telecast on the CBS television network from Monday, September 8, 1969, to Friday, March 23, 1973. Created by Lou Scofield and Margaret DePriest, the program ran for 25 minutes, the remaining five minutes of its timeslot ceded to a CBS news...
and
Love is a Many Splendored Thing the previous year.
In all the turmoil of its later years, the main reason for the show's demise was likely CBS' choice to buy the show from the original sponsor/packager, American Home Products, in 1969 (the network also bought
Love of LifeLove of Life is a long-running American soap opera which was aired on CBS from September 24, 1951 to February 1, 1980, lasting 29 years. It was created by Roy Winsor, whose previous creation Search for Tomorrow had premiered three weeks before Love, and who would go on to create The Secret Storm...
from AHP as well). One effect of the purchase was that the show suffered from numerous changes in head writers and producers. Upon CBS' cancellation, AHP reacquired the rights to
Storm in an attempt to move the show to another network. After NBC executive Lin Bolen rejected the show in favor of a project of hers,
How to Survive a MarriageHow to Survive a Marriage is a soap opera which aired on the NBC television network from January 7 1974 to April 17 1975. The serial was created by Anne Howard Bailey, with much input from then-NBC Vice President Lin Bolen...
, and ABC chose to use its daytime budget to buy out
Agnes NixonAgnes Nixon is an American writer and producer.She attended Northwestern University where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority....
's soaps, an effort to syndicate the show failed because AHP could not obtain enough clearances among affiliates in the largest markets to justify continued production.
That failure occurred largely because of scheduling complications local stations would have faced.
Storm would likely have aired on ABC affiliates between 10:00 and 11:30 AM (when the network feed began for the day) or on CBS or NBC stations during their respective networks' half-hour breaks at 1:00 PM (Noon Central). This would have meant that the soap would have faced in either case considerably-stronger network programming (game shows in the first case, ABC's
All My ChildrenAll My Children is an American soap opera that has been broadcast Monday through Friday on the ABC TV network since January 5, 1970; repeat episodes air weeknights on SOAPnet. Created by Agnes Nixon, the show is set in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, a fictitious suburb of Philadelphia...
in the second). Stations could have preempted their network feeds to run the syndicated version, but would probably have not done so because the program's relatively-high production expenses (compared to
situation comedyA situation comedy, usually referred to as a sitcom, is a genre of comedy programs which originated in radio. Today, sitcoms are found almost exclusively on television as one of its dominant narrative forms...
reruns or talk shows) would have been passed down to the local station's purchase price. That in turn would have reduced potential profits from local advertising, likely to the point of amounting to less than the network's payment for a half hour of station airtime.
Neither would it have made sense to broadcast
Storm between 4:30 and 6:00 PM, as housewives of that day would have been away from the television set, tending to chores like preparing the family's dinner. Scenarios like these are the main reasons that few soaps have ever been attempted in syndication on American television, and none as of 2008 have lasted past their first seasons.
The program's ending was particularly poignant: the 5,195th and final
Secret Storm episode aired one week after the show's 20th anniversary.
Title sequences
The series had three distinctive opening visuals. The first was a shot of a tree with windblown branches. The second was a short-lived shot of a town with shots of people walking about similar to
Peyton PlacePeyton Place is an American prime time soap opera which aired on ABC in half-hour episodes from September 15, 1964 to June 2, 1969.Based upon the 1956 novel of the same name by Grace Metalious, the series was preceded by a 1957 film adaptation. A total of 514 episodes were broadcast, in...
. The third, perhaps the most remembered one, had shots of the surf at high tide, crashing against the rocks in the opening titles similar to that of
Dark ShadowsDark Shadows is a Gothic soap opera that originally aired weekdays on the ABC television network, from June 27, 1966 to April 2, 1971. The show was created by Dan Curtis, who tells of a dream he had in which a girl takes a long train ride to visit a large mansion. The story "bible," which was...
(the
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948...
television show which aired opposite
The Secret Storm and whose popularity contributed to its demise). The in-house organist was
Charles PaulCharles Paul is an American composer and organist, most known for his musical accompaniment on radio and television.Originally providing musical accompaniment to such old-time radio programs as The Adventures of Ellery Queen and Young Doctor Malone, he transitioned to television in the 1950s...
. Carey Gold provided the music during the show's last years.
For the last several years of the show, the theme song was the theme from the second movement of the Concerto for Violin and Violincello by Johanes Brahms.
Susan Ames Dunbar
Susan was the eldest daughter of
Peter AmesPeter Ames was the lead male character in the now-defunct American soap opera, The Secret Storm. Although played by many actors, Peter Hobbs was the actor most identified in the role.- Sudden widower :...
and his wife,
EllenEllen Tyrell Ames was a fictional character in the earliest versions of the now-cancelled American Soap Opera called The Secret Storm. She was played by Ellen Cobb-Hill.-The catalyst of the Storm:...
. After her mother's death in a car accident, she became the new mother figure in the family. She was usually responsible for the well being of her younger siblings, Jerry Ames, and her youngest sister,
AmyAmy Ames Rysdale Britton Kincaid was a character in the long-running and now cancelled American Soap opera, The Secret Storm She was played, with a few breaks, here and there, by actress Jada Rowland, who grew up in the role, a rarity for any soap....
. She also resented any plans of her father to remarry, a situation shared by her maternal aunt,
Pauline RysdalePauline Tyrell Harris Rysdale, known more familiarly as "Aunt Pauline", was a character in the now-defunct American Soap Opera, The Secret Storm. She was played by actress Haila Stoddard.- Jilted sister :...
. Despite all her plans, though, he did eventually remarry. First to Myra Lake, whom she despised; and then to
ValerieValerie Hill Ames Northcote was a fictional character on the now-defunct American Soap Opera, The Secret Storm. She was played from 1961 until the show's end in 1974, by actress Lori March.- The shelter for the Ames family :...
, whom she somewhat got along with.
She was married to a man named Alan Dunbar,(James Vickery) a former golf pro who was involved in a drug ring. He slowly broke away from that life, and married Susan. She also had his son named Peter, named after her father, Peter. Susan and Alan were happy, despite some storms, especially dealing with his fellow newspaper reporter Ann Wicker, who was seducing Alan. He almost succumbed to tempation, but still remained a good husband, until he was presumed dead in Vietnam.
Thinking that he's dead, Susan married a man named Frank Carver. Until Alan, now played by Liam Sullivan, turned up alive, and his war experiences made him psychotic. He also reestablished his mafia connections. Susan annulled her marriage to Frank and returned to Alan. She and Alan left Woodbridge in the late 60's and early 70's, leaving her sister, Amy, to be the only Ames left in Woodbridge. Her brother, Jerry, married to a painter named Hope, had already moved to Paris.
Susan Ames Dunbar Carver was played by several different actresses.
Jean Mowry originated the role in 1954 and departed The Secret Storm in 1956, going on to play Pat Cunningham in
As the World TurnsAs the World Turns is an American television soap opera that airs each weekday on CBS.Set in the fictional town of Oakdale, Illinois, the show debuted on Monday, April 2, 1956 at 1:30pm EST. Prior to April 2, 1956 all serials were fifteen minutes in length...
from 1957-1959 until retiring from acting to marry.
Rachel Taylor then took on the role before departing the show in 1957. Actress Tori Darnay temporarily played Susan. Norma Moore stepped into the role in 1958 but was soon replaced by Mary Foskett that same year who successfully carried on Susan's role until 1964 when Frances Helm took on the role for a few months before she was replaced by
Judy LewisJudy Lewis is an American actress, producer, and therapist. She is the daughter of actress Loretta Young and her husband Tom Lewis, but the biological daughter of actor Clark Gable. She is the niece of actresses Polly Ann Young and Sally Blane...
(the illegitimate daughter of
Loretta Young-Early life:She was born in Salt Lake City, Utah as Gretchen Young, of Luxembourgian descent.At confirmation, she took the name Michaela. She and her family moved to Hollywood when she was three years old. Loretta and her sisters Polly Ann Young and Elizabeth Jane Young worked as child actresses,...
and
Clark GableWilliam Clark Gable was an American film actor, nicknamed "The King of Hollywood" in his heyday. In , the American Film Institute named Gable seventh among the greatest male stars of all time....
).
LewisLewis is the northern part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island of the Western Isles or Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The total area of Lewis is ....
left the show in 1968 and
Diana Van der VlisDiana Van der Vlis was an Canadian stage, screen and television actress best known for her character ‘Dr. Nell Beaulac’ on the ABC soap opera "Ryan's Hope" and her character ‘Kate Hathaway Prescott’ on the CBS soap opera Where the Heart Is...
temporarily replaced her. Van der Vlis was then replaced by Mary McGregor who was in turn replaced by
LewisLewis is the northern part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island of the Western Isles or Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The total area of Lewis is ....
when she returned to the show in 1969.
LewisLewis is the northern part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island of the Western Isles or Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The total area of Lewis is ....
played the role until 1971 when the character took her exit.