User Reviews

I completely concur with richard d.fuller1's comments regarding Larry Storch. After viewing this documentary, it is hard to look at him the same way again. Not just for the nature of how he's portrayed in the documentary(lovingly,and with respect),but because when you watch him in anything he was appearing in in the sixties,you realize he must have been carrying a lot of painful baggage. You can look at the man's face and tell that-even though he's very funny-he carries painful memories of repressed secrets from many years. He knew about his wife's secret life and said nothing, until his step-daughter,June Cross,made this fine documentary. Larry Storch is definite proof of that old cliché that pain hides behind the smile for comedians. Incidentally,he has a nice part in another documentary,The Aristocrats. It would have been nice if the producers of that film had included his entire version of that classic joke.

This film is a serious look at race as it is lived in America. I don't think anyone, of any race or inclination, can come away from it without gaining insight into themselves and the world around them.

Incredible story of June Cross, the step daughter of Larry Storch, star of the sixties comedy F Troop. Her mother was Norma Greaves and her father was vaudevillian James Cross, best known for a comedy duo called Stump and Stumpy. His trademark song was "I Ain't Got Nobody (I'm Just A Gigolo)" most recently redone by David Lee Roth, formerly of Van Halen. June was raised by a black family in Atlanta due to any concern of what an up-and-coming star of the sixties may encounter if it were learned his wife had a black daughter. She meets family on both her parents' sides and finds old home movies of her father holding her as a baby. James Cross died in 1981 and apparently June never reunited with him. James Cross can still be seen in various episodes of Gomer Pyle, I Dream of Jeannie, Petticoat Junction and is even uncredited as a steward in Poseidon Adventure.

The most compelling thing about Secret Daughter was that everyone seemed resigned to what they had encountered in their past; what's done is done. June certainly was angry, as stated, at her father, but her inviting smile, which she inherited from him, shows no sign. She welcomes all the animosity she can learn just to have the void filled with any substance, good or bad. Jerry Lewis, who emulated Cross at that time, is also interviewed about how he made it in show business while Cross wouldn't, due to his race.

June's own sensitivity toward her mother is also amazing. ONe attempt to film her mother talking about her relationship with Cross is ruined when the audio fails to work. Now June must build up the nerve to ask her mother again for the interview. She learns about a half-sister, who looks nothing like her, and their paths could have crossed much sooner after the sister had a conversation with Sammy Davis Jr, who told her her mother was married to Larry Storch and she replied she had no idea what he was talking about, but had she investigated, she would have found June then. Truly incredible program that brings realism to the make-believe world of the sixties.

I believe I watched this documentary from June Cross at least three times when it first aired on PBS. I found it compelling from the roots-searching angle, the race angle, and the show business angle. It was an absolutely brilliant film, and although I cried my eyes out every time I watched it, I definitely recommend it to everybody who wants to explore the themes I explained, or just want to see what a wonderfully kind and patient man Mr. Larry Storch is. Her story can also be viewed as a parable on the history of race in America, or inspiring by showing us how we can succeed, despite how either one or both of our parents might be dysfunctional. Ms. Cross should be commended on making such a wonderful film. If PBS aired it again (and announced they were airing it again), I would watch it again in a second, at least once, or possibly another three times. Glenn in the Bronx, NY.