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.