The Comeback Story
The Comeback Story is a half-hour drama reality show which aired on ABC 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.At first the program was hosted by former vaudeville star, songwriter, and actor George Jessel. For the last episodes, however, the emcee was Arlene Francis, best remembered as a long-time panelist on the CBS Television game show What's My Line?
Among the series guests were the female athlete Babe Didrickson Zaharias of Beaumont, Texas, who thereafter died in 1956 of colon cancer. Radio announcer Norman Brokenshire explained his victory over alcoholism. Another guest was the blind pianist George Shearing. Legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday appeared on the third episode, October 16, 1953. In the series premiere, Canadian singer Bobby Breen, a child soprano who began performing at the age of four in Toronto, Ontario, appeared to discuss the career challenge that he faced when he turned thirteen, and his voice changed.
The series was telecast live from New York City. It has been compared to Ralph Edwards' long-running series This Is Your Life.
The Comeback Story aired at 9:30 p.m. 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.
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.
