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Created page with "'''''The Comeback Story''''' is a half-hour drama reality show which aired in black-and-white on ABC Television from October 2, 1953, to February 5, 1954, in which..."
'''''The Comeback Story''''' is a half-hour [[drama]] reality show which aired in black-and-white on [[ABC]] [[Television]] from October 2, 1953, to February 5, 1954, in which celebrities explain how they overcame physical disabilities or other kinds of adverse fortunes in their lives.<ref name=marsh>Earle Marsh and Tim Brooks, ''The Complete Directory to Prime-Time Network and Cable Television Shows, 1946-Present,'' p. 237.</ref><ref>Alex McNeil, ''Total Television,'' p. 173.</ref>
==Production history==
At first the program was hosted by former [[vaudeville]] star, songwriter, and [[actor]] George Jessel (1898-1981). For the last episodes, however, the emcee was Arlene Francis (1907-2001), best remembered as a long-time panelist on the [[CBS]] game show, ''What's My Line?''<ref name=marsh/>
Among the series guests were the female athlete Babe Didrickson Zaharias (1911-1956) of [[Beaumont, Texas|Beaumo].<ref name=marsh/> Legendary jazz singer [[Billie Holiday]] appeared on the third episode, October 16, 1953.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045381/|title=''The Comeback Story''|publisher=Internet Movie Data Base|accessdate=August 28, 2020}}</ref> In the series premiere, [[Canada|Canadian]] singer Bobby Breen (1927-2016), a child soprano who began performing at the age of four in [[Toronto]], appeared to discuss the career challenge that he faced when he turned thirteen, and his voice changed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0106721/|title=Bobby Breen|publisher=Internet Movie Data Base|accessdate=August 28, 2020}}</ref>
The series was telecast live from [[New York City]].<ref name=marsh/> It has been compared to Ralph Edwards' long-running series ''This Is Your Life.''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ovguide.com/tv/the_comeback_story.htm#|title=Watch ''The Comeback Story'' Free On-line|publisher=ovguide.com|accessdate=April 29, 2011}}</ref>
''The Comeback Story'' aired at 9:30 p.m. (EST) on Fridays following ''[[The Pride of the Family]],'', an ABC [[situation comedy]] co-starring Paul Hartman, Fay Wray, Natalie Wood, and Robert Hyatt.
It ran opposite Eve Arden's situation comedy ''Our Miss Brooks'' on CBS.<ref>Alex McNeil, ''Total Television,'' appendix with network schedule.</ref>
Oddly, since the end of the series, the term "comeback story" has been used for the name or part of the name of various productions in film, plays, or television, since the series ended. James Whitmore hosted a 1979 talk show series of twenty-two episodes called simply ''Comeback.'' One of those segments focuses on the [[helicopter]] inventor [[Igor Sikorsky]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tvguide.com/detail/tv-show.aspx?tvobjectid=200596&more=ucepisodelist&episodeid=651282|title=''Comeback''|publisher=tvguide.com|accessdate=August 28, 2020}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Comeback Story, The}}
[[Category:Tlevision Shows]]
[[Category:1950s]]
[[Category:New York City]]
==Production history==
At first the program was hosted by former [[vaudeville]] star, songwriter, and [[actor]] George Jessel (1898-1981). For the last episodes, however, the emcee was Arlene Francis (1907-2001), best remembered as a long-time panelist on the [[CBS]] game show, ''What's My Line?''<ref name=marsh/>
Among the series guests were the female athlete Babe Didrickson Zaharias (1911-1956) of [[Beaumont, Texas|Beaumo].<ref name=marsh/> Legendary jazz singer [[Billie Holiday]] appeared on the third episode, October 16, 1953.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045381/|title=''The Comeback Story''|publisher=Internet Movie Data Base|accessdate=August 28, 2020}}</ref> In the series premiere, [[Canada|Canadian]] singer Bobby Breen (1927-2016), a child soprano who began performing at the age of four in [[Toronto]], appeared to discuss the career challenge that he faced when he turned thirteen, and his voice changed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0106721/|title=Bobby Breen|publisher=Internet Movie Data Base|accessdate=August 28, 2020}}</ref>
The series was telecast live from [[New York City]].<ref name=marsh/> It has been compared to Ralph Edwards' long-running series ''This Is Your Life.''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ovguide.com/tv/the_comeback_story.htm#|title=Watch ''The Comeback Story'' Free On-line|publisher=ovguide.com|accessdate=April 29, 2011}}</ref>
''The Comeback Story'' aired at 9:30 p.m. (EST) on Fridays following ''[[The Pride of the Family]],'', an ABC [[situation comedy]] co-starring Paul Hartman, Fay Wray, Natalie Wood, and Robert Hyatt.
It ran opposite Eve Arden's situation comedy ''Our Miss Brooks'' on CBS.<ref>Alex McNeil, ''Total Television,'' appendix with network schedule.</ref>
Oddly, since the end of the series, the term "comeback story" has been used for the name or part of the name of various productions in film, plays, or television, since the series ended. James Whitmore hosted a 1979 talk show series of twenty-two episodes called simply ''Comeback.'' One of those segments focuses on the [[helicopter]] inventor [[Igor Sikorsky]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tvguide.com/detail/tv-show.aspx?tvobjectid=200596&more=ucepisodelist&episodeid=651282|title=''Comeback''|publisher=tvguide.com|accessdate=August 28, 2020}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Comeback Story, The}}
[[Category:Tlevision Shows]]
[[Category:1950s]]
[[Category:New York City]]