The Styrous® Viewfinder: 20,000 vinyl LPs 177: Doris Day

April 3, 2019

20,000 vinyl LPs 177: Doris Day - Love Me or Leave Me soundtrack

Doris Day - Love Me or Leave Me soundtrack

vinyl LP album cover

cover image film still

photo of album cover by Styrous®

Today is the birthday of Doris Day! I started the vinyl LP series on July 3, 2012, with an album by her, Day Dreams, there was a reason for this. (link below).

Well, here it is, almost seven years and 177 articles about vinyl LP records later and I’m back to Mrs. Day once again. Like friends, good things need revisiting from time to time.

Doris Day - Love Me or Leave Me soundtrack

vinyl LP album back cover

photo by Styrous®

Love Me or Leave Me is a 1955 biographical romantic musical drama film (that's a lot to pack in one film) that tells the life story of Ruth Etting, a singer who rose from dancer to movie star in the twenties.

Ruth Etting - 1937

photographer unknown

Love Me stars Doris Day as Etting, James Cagney as gangster Martin "Moe the Gimp" Snyder, her first husband and manager, and Cameron Mitchell as pianist/arranger Myrl Alderman, her second husband. It was written by Daniel Fuchs and Isobel Lennart and directed by Charles Vidor.

Doris Day - Love Me or Leave Me soundtrack

vinyl LP album back cover detail

detail photo by Styrous®

“Whatever I am, I’m what makes you tick!”
Doris Day & James Cagney
Love Me or Leave Me movie still

It's been decades since I've seen the film, however, I don't know if Day was perfectly cast as Etting as Day was more 50's than 20's but perhaps that was the fault of the costume designer, not Day's. Anyway, it worked back then; Day was gorgeous with a voice that was glorious. She was perfect for the torch songs that were the hallmark of the twenties.

The role of Snyder was originally intended for Spencer Tracy, who turned it down. Cagney suggested to producer Joe Pasternak that Doris Day be cast in the Etting role. The role had been sought by Ava Gardner and Jane Russell, but Cagney persuaded MGM to cast Doris Day, who was excited to play opposite Cagney.

All but two of the songs in the movie were hits that Etting had recorded originally back in the 1920s and early 1930s. Two new songs, written specifically for the film, are Never Look Back by Chilton Price and I'll Never Stop Loving You by Nicholas Brodzsky and Sammy Cahn.

The songs as they appear in the film (all sung by Doris Day except as shown):

Ten Cents a Dance
I'm Sitting on Top of the World (sung by Claude Stroud)
It All Depends On You
You Made Me Love You
Stay On the Right Side Sister
Everybody Loves My Baby (But My Baby Loves Nobody But Me)
Mean To Me
Sam, the Old Accordion Man
Shaking the Blues Away (sung and danced by Doris Day and Chorus)
I'll Never Stop Loving You
Never Look Back
Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue
At Sundown
My Blue Heaven
Love Me or Leave Me

The songs are in different order on the soundtrack recording:

Tracklist:

Side 1:

A1 - It All Depends On You, written by DeSylva-Henderson-Brown*

A2 - You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want To Do It), written by Monaco*, McCarthy, Snr.*

A3 - Stay On The Right Side, Sister, written by Bloom*, Koehler*

A4 - Mean To Me, written by Ahlert*, Turk*

A5 - Everybody Loves My Baby (But My Baby Don't Love Nobody But Me), written by Palmer*, Williams*

A6 - Sam, The Old Accordion Man, written by Donaldson*

Side 2:

B1 - Shaking The Blues Away, written by Berlin*

B2 - Ten Cents A Day, written by Hart-Rodgers*

B3 - I'll Never Stop Loving You, written by Brodszky*, Cahn*

B4 - Never Look Back, written by Price*

B5 - At Sundown, written by Donaldson*

B6 - Love Me Or Leave Me, written by Kahn*, Donaldson*


Credits:

    Conductor [Orchestra Conducted By] – Percy Faith

Notes:

Released on a Columbia "6 Eye" label.
Barcode and Other Identifiers

    Matrix / Runout (Label, Side 1): XLP 36001
    Matrix / Runout (Label, Side 2): XLP 36002
    Matrix / Runout (Stamped, Side 1): XLP36001-1C
    Matrix / Runout (Stamped, Side 2): XLP36002-1C

Doris Day ‎– Love Me Or Leave Me
Label: Columbia ‎– CL 710
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, 6-Eye Label
Country: US
Released: 1955
Genre: Stage & Screen
Style: Soundtrack, Musical