Showing posts with label Ava Gardner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ava Gardner. Show all posts

April 3, 2019

20,000 vinyl LPs 177: 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.    
       

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.          


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):
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

           
           


vinyl LP, side 1
photo by Styrous®






 
vinyl LP, side 2
photo by Styrous®




         
Viewfinder links:            
           
Doris Day          
Day Dreams        
James Cagney           
Ava Gardner           
Jane Russell             
           
Net links:               
           
Classic Films Reloaded ~ “Whatever I am, I’m what makes you tick!”   
Doris Day ~ The best film I’ve made
NYFF57 ~ Love Me or Leave Me review     
NY Times ~ Ballad of Ruth Etting and The Gimp 1955 review    
Variety ~ Love Me or Leave Me 1954 review        
     
YouTube links:              
        
Love Me Or Leave Me - Trailer        
Love Me, or Leave Me                     
Shaking the Blues Away         
Ruth Etting - Love Me or Leave Me        
       
                    
   

       
Love Me or Leave Me movie poster

    

      
Happy birthday, Doris!
       
      
     
Styrous® ~ Wednesday, April 3, 2019  

     
          
            
          



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November 12, 2017

20,000 Vinyl LPs 116: Wedding in Monaco ~ Princess Grace

                                        
Wedding in Monaco
vinyl LP album cover detail
album photographer unknown
detail photo by Styrous®


On November 12, 1929, Princess Grace of Monaco, aka Grace Kelly of Hollywood, was born. I was 15 at the time but I still recall the day she married Prince Rainier III, on April 19, 1956, in the second, religious ceremony. This album is my tribute to her.    

Wedding in Monaco
vinyl LP album cover
album cover photographer unknown
photo of album cover by Styrous®


The event was like a fairy tale dream right out of a movie! The Hollywood actress wooed and won by her prince charming! It was a magical time for me, and all the world. I don't think there has ever been a bride more beautiful and resplendent.


Grace Kelly - April 19, 1956
wedding in Monaco
photographer unknown


Nor a couple more handsome and elegant . . .    



April 19, 1956 
wedding in Monaco
photographer unknown
 


The album contains the actual ceremony on side one. Side two features the ballet entitled, Homage To the Princess, written by Stan Kenton and arranged by Johnny Richards, specifically for the wedding of the couple. It was recorded on April 18 and 19, 1956.    


Wedding in Monaco
vinyl LP album cover detail
album photographer unknown
detail photo by Styrous®


The ballet has the typical Kenton sound with a lush full orchestra and brass, dissonant and jagged at times. It sounds kind of "jungley" in a couple of spots because of the drums and bongos (big in the late fifties and early sixties). It was performed by the Monte Carlo Opera House Orchestra with Geoffrey Corbett, director. The Ballet Russe of Monte Carlo was the dance company. I saw them perform sometime in the sixties at the Fox Theater when they were in San Francisco on tour.    


photographer unknown

Both the wedding ceremony and Homage To the Princess can be heard on the All Things Kenton website (link below).         




Wedding in Monaco
vinyl LP album back cover
album cover photographer unknown
photo of album cover by Styrous®


She was born Grace Patricia Kelly on November 12, 1929, at the  Hahneman University Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her father, Irish-American John B. Kelly Sr. (1889–1960), had won three Olympic gold medals for sculling and owned a successful brickwork contracting company that was well-known on the East Coast. Two of his brothers were also notable: Walter C. Kelly (1873–1939) was a vaudeville star who also made films for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Paramount Pictures, and George Kelly (1887–1974) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatist, screenwriter, and director.   

Kelly's mother was Philadelphia native Margaret Katherine Majer (1898–1990); the daughter of German immigrants. Margaret had taught physical education at the University of Pennsylvania and had been the first woman to coach women's athletics at the institution. She was noted for her beauty and modeled for a time in her youth.                


Wedding in Monaco
vinyl LP album back cover detail
album photographer unknown
detail photo by Styrous®


Grace Kelly modeled fashions at local social events with her mother and sisters. In 1942, at the age of 12, she played the lead in Don't Feed the Animals, a play produced by the East Falls Old Academy Players. Before graduating in May 1947 from Stevens School, she acted and danced. Her graduation yearbook listed her favorite actress as Ingrid Bergman and her favorite actor as Joseph Cotten. Due to her low mathematics scores, Kelly was rejected by Bennington College in July 1947, however, written in the "Stevens' Prophecy" section was: "Miss Grace P. Kelly – a famous star of stage and screen".             


Wedding in Monaco
vinyl LP album back cover detail
album photographer unknown
detail photo by Styrous®



Kelly pursued her dreams of being an actress against her father's wishes. He viewed acting as "a slim cut above streetwalker." To start her career, she auditioned for the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Manhattan. While at school, she lived in Manhattan's Barbizon Hotel for Women, an establishment which barred men from entering after 10 pm, and she worked as a model to support her studies. She practiced her speech by using a tape recorder.   

Her Broadway debut was in The Father by Strindberg with Raymond Massey. At 19, her graduation performance, was as Tracy Lord in The Philadelphia Story; Katherine Hepburn had made the play a major hit in the late 30's (link below).    


Wedding in Monaco
vinyl LP album back cover detail
album photographer unknown
detail photo by Styrous®


Kelly made nearly sixty live television programs produced by NBC and CBS. Her success on television eventually brought her a role in a major motion picture. She made her film debut in a small role in the 1951 film Fourteen Hours. which starred Richard Basehart, who portrayed a mentally disturbed man on a building ledge, Paul Douglas, the officer who tries to talk him down, and a large supporting cast that included Barbara Bel Geddes, Agnes Moorehead, Robert Keith, Debra Paget, and Howard Da Silva.   

Kelly was noticed during a visit to the set by Gary Cooper, who subsequently starred with her in High Noon (1951). He was charmed by her and said that she was "different from all these actresses we've been seeing so much of."     

Director John Ford first noticed Kelly in a 1950 screen test. The studio flew her to Los Angeles to audition in September 1952, and he said that she showed "breeding, quality and class." She was hired for the role and was offered a seven-year contract with a salary of $850 a week.     


Wedding in Monaco
vinyl LP album back cover detail
album photographer unknown
detail photo by Styrous®


Two months after signing her contract, Kelly and the cast went to Nairobi to begin production of the film Mogambo. Gene Tierney was initially cast in the role, but she had to drop out at the last minute. Upon getting the role, Kelly told Hollywood columnist Hedda Hopper, "Mogambo had three things that interested me. John Ford, Clark Gable, and a trip to Africa with expenses paid. If Mogambo had been made in Arizona, I wouldn't have done it." 

The film is a remake of Red Dust (1932), which starred Gable, Mary Astor and Jean Harlow, and was set in French Indochina. The new version of the film also starred Ava Gardner.   


Mogambo movie poster


During her marriage, Kelly was unable to continue her acting career. Instead, she performed her daily duties as princess and became involved in philanthropic work. She founded AMADE Mondiale, a Monaco-based non-profit organization that was eventually recognized by the UN as a Non-Governmental organization. According to UNESCO's website, AMADE promotes and protects the "moral and physical integrity" and "spiritual well-being of children throughout the world, without distinction of race, nationality or religion and in a spirit of complete political independence." Her daughter, Princess Caroline, continues as President for  AMADE.      


Wedding in Monaco
vinyl LP album back cover detail
album photographer unknown
detail photo by Styrous®


On September 13, 1982, Kelly was driving back to Monaco from her country home in Roc Agel when she had a stroke, lost control of her 1971 Rover P6 3500 and drove off the steep, winding road and down the 120 foot (37 m) mountainside. Her daughter, Stéphanie, who was in the passenger seat, tried, but failed, to regain control of the car. When paramedics arrived at the accident site (43°43′35″N 7°24′10″E), Kelly was alive but unconscious and in critical condition. She and Stéphanie were transported to the Monaco Hospital (later named the Princess Grace Hospital Centre). At the hospital, doctors attempted to resuscitate Grace but because of the extent of her brain injury and injuries to her thorax and a fractured femur, they were unable to save her life. She died the following night at 10:55 p.m., age 52, after Rainier chose to take his wife off life support.       


Wedding in Monaco
vinyl LP record sleeve
photo by Styrous®


Kelly's funeral was held at the Saint Nicholas Cathedral, Monaco on September 18, 1982. After a Requiem Mass, she was buried in the Grimaldi family vault. Over 400 people attended, including Cary Grant, Nancy Reagan, and Diana, Princess of Wales. At a later memorial service in Beverly Hills, James Stewart delivered the following eulogy:     
"You know, I just love Grace Kelly. Not because she was a princess, not because she was an actress, not because she was my friend, but because she was just about the nicest lady I ever met. Grace brought into my life as she brought into yours, a soft, warm light every time I saw her, and every time I saw her was a holiday of its own. No question, I'll miss her, we'll all miss her, God bless you, Princess Grace."      
Prince Rainier III, who did not remarry, was buried alongside her following his death on April 6, 2005. He had ruled the Principality of Monaco for 55 years, making him one of the longest ruling monarchs in European history. He was responsible for reforms to Monaco's constitution and for expanding the principality's economy beyond its traditional casino gambling base. Gambling accounts for only approximately three percent of the nation's annual revenue today; when Rainier ascended the throne in 1949, it accounted for more than 95 percent.        



Wedding in Monaco
vinyl LP record sleeve
photo by Styrous®




Kelly was active in improving the arts institutions of Monaco, forming the Princess Grace Foundation in 1964 to support local artisans. In 1983, following her death, Princess Caroline assumed the duties of President of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation; her brother, Albert II, Prince of Monaco, is Vice-President.    

The Princess Grace Foundation-USA (PGF-USA) was established, following Kelly's death, to continue the work she had done, anonymously, during her lifetime, assisting emerging theater, dance and film artists in America. Incorporated in 1982, the foundation is headquartered in New York. The The Princess Grace Award, a program of the foundation, has awarded nearly 500 artists at more than 100 institutions in the U.S. with more than $7 million to date. The foundation also says it "holds the exclusive rights and facilitates the licensing of her name and likeness throughout the world."    

Kelly was one of the first celebrities to support and speak on behalf of La Leche League, an organization that advocates breastfeeding. She also planned a yearly Christmas party for local orphans and dedicated a Garden Club.    
















Wedding in Monaco
vinyl LP record, side 1
photo by Styrous®





















Wedding in Monaco
vinyl LP record, side 2
photo by Styrous®




Tracklist:

Side 1:

    Actual Recording Made At The Wedding Of S.A.S. Prince Ranier III And Grace Kelly
A1 - Civil Ceremony - Throne Room In The Palace   
A2 - Religious Ceremony Performed In St. Nichols Cathedral. Monaco April 18, 19, 1956 Monaco, France   

Side 2:

    Actual Recording Made At The Monte Carlo Opera House
B1 - The Ballet "Homage To The Princess”, written by Stan Kenton

Stan Kenton ‎– Wedding In Monaco
Label: Mercury ‎– MG 20149
Format: Vinyl, LP
Country: US
Released: 1956
Genre: Classical
Style: Religious, Spoken Word
          
      



Viewfinder links:      
    
Ingrid Bergman articles/mentions            
Katharine Hepburn articles/mentions        
       
Net links:      
     
Grace Kelly filmography        
Kenton discography              
All Things Kenton ~      
         Wedding Ceremony (audio only 21 min.)      
         Ballet: "Homage to the Princess" by Stan Kenton (19 min.)     
         Kenton special recordings       
                       
      
YouTube links:      
    
Royal Wedding (23 Apr 1956)        
     Movietone Newsreel       
     Pathé Newsreel
     Portrait of a Princess Pathé Newsreel (6 min.)       
     The American Princess (Documentary 58 min.)
     The Wedding In Monaco Pt. 1 (Documentary 15 mins.)   
     The Wedding In Monaco Pt. 2 (Documentary 13 mins.)                
     Grace Kelly wedding interview
     ABC 20/20 (last interview - 6 parts)    
     Smithsoniam ~ Plot to Make Grace Kelly a Princess (4 min.)
     Pathé Newsreel ~        
               Civil Rite Wedding Ceremony, Pre-Wedding Celebrations & Rehearsal (no audio 6½ min.)     
     
       
      
           
 
          
    
          
"The idea of my life as a fairy tale is itself a fairy tale."
                              ~ Grace Kelly

        
         
Styrous® ~ Sunday, November 12, 2017    
       




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September 8, 2017

20,000 Vinyl LPs 108: Chuy Reyes ~ Rumba de Cuba @ 10"

 

10" vinyl LP album book cover 
2nd re-issue - date unknown
photo by Styrous®


I was organizing my vinyl LP space with Lon Clark (link below) yesterday and came across this delightful 1949 gem. Chuy Reyes ~ Rumba de Cuba, was a 10" vinyl LP in a book album similar to The Nutcracker and The Pentateuch of the Cosmogony (links below). This format was common in the 40's and early 50's. Unfortunately, the record itself disappeared years before I bought it. All I have is the album but the graphics were too good to pass up.     


10" vinyl LP album book cover  interior
2nd re-issue - date unknown
photo by Styrous®
 


It was a mono recording, of course, and my version is a re-issue (date unknown). There was also a 45 rpm version of the album issued.    


original issue - 1949

1st re-issue - date unknown




10" vinyl LP album cover interior 
photo by Styrous®

Chuy Reyes was born in Mexico but I could not find the date. He and his Hollywood Mocambo Orchestra was the club band at the Mocambo Night Club from the time it opened on January 3, 1941. 

The mocambos (from mocambo, literally Huts) were village-sized communities mainly of runaway slaves in colonial Brazil, during the Portuguese rule. They were also called, ladeiras, magotes, or quilombos.     

Mocambos were exile communities established by fugitive Brazilian slaves between the 18th and 19th century. The purpose of these settlements was to protect the slaves from the Portuguese opposition, thanks to their hidden location, which was difficult to find for the punitive military expeditions. Mocambos were a threat to the economy and the social fabric of the slave regime, because the parasitic economy of these communities was mostly composed of theft, extortion and raiding. Though the minority of communities lived off agriculture and arms trade. Mocambos were not controlled by the government and because of the high percentage of Brazilian slaves, which incorporated one third of the total population, the number and the importance of Mocambos was continually increasing. For this reason Mocambos inhabitants were executed by punitive military expeditions and the children born in the Mocambos became property of the leaders of the exterminating expeditions.         
 
       
 The Mocambo

The Mocambo - 1941 


The Mocambo was located in West Hollywood, California, at 8588 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip and was owned by Charlie Morrison and Felix Young.      

The Mocambo - 1957 


Among the celebrities who frequented the Mocambo were Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, Errol Flynn, Charlie Chaplin, Elizabeth Taylor, Judy Garland, Henry Fonda, Lana Turner, Ava Gardner, Bob Hope, James Cagney, Sophia Loren, Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner, Grace Kelly, Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, Howard Hughes, Kay Francis, Marlene Dietrich, Theda Bara, Tyrone Power, Jayne Mansfield, John Wayne, Ben Blue, Ann Sothern, and Louis B. Mayer. Myrna Loy and Arthur Hornblow, Jr. celebrated their divorce there.        


The Mocambo - 1947
photographer unknown


photographer unknown


Mocambo, 1951
 photographer unknown




Mocambo - 1955 
photographer unknown 





Ava Gardner & Mervyn LeRoy 
Mocambo nightclub - 1948
photographer unknown 


The Mocambo wouldn’t allow Ella Fitzgerald to sing there, because of the color of her skin. One day Marilyn Monroe, by then a superstar, paid a visit to Charlie Morrison, the owner of the club. She made Charlie an offer: if he booked Ella, she promised she would be there, front and center, every single night of Ella’s show. Morrison agreed, because there was no star bigger than Monroe at the time (imagine the publicity!), and Ella suddenly found herself on that stage.       

photographer unknown



The club's main stage was replicated on the TV series I Love Lucy as the "Tropicana" Club. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were frequent guests at the Mocambo and were close friends of Morrison.


Lobby ~ Mocambo nightclub
photographer unknown


Chuy Reyes And His Hollywood Mocambo Orchestra ‎– 
Rumba De Cuba


Tracklist:

Side 1:

A1 = Baracoa, Vocals – Tony Martinez (9), written by Traditional
   
A2 = Almendra, Vocals – Tony Gari, written by Abelardo Valdes*
   
A3 = Boteando, Vocals – Tony Martinez (9), written by King-Martinez
   
A4 = La Yuca, Vocals – Tony Martinez (9), written by Traditional
   
Side 2:

B1 = La Ultima Noche, Vocals – Tony Martinez (9), written by Bobby Collazo
   
B2  Blen! Blen! Blen!, Vocals – Tony Gari, written by Pozot-Cugat
   
B3 = Negra Leono, Vocals – Tony Gari, written by Antonio Fernandez
   
B4 = Hokey Joe, Vocals – Tony Martinez (9), written by Swan-Ricardo

   
Chuy Reyes And His Hollywood Mocambo Orchestra* ‎– Rumba De Cuba
Label: Capitol Records ‎– H152, Capitol Records ‎– H-152
Format: Vinyl, 10", 33 ⅓ RPM, Mono
Country: US
Original release: 1949
Re-issue: unknown
Genre: Latin
Style: Rumba
   
 
  
Viewfinder links:               
    
“Just the cover, ma’am!”            
Lon Clark          
Dave Greenslade ~ The Pentateuch of the Cosmogony      
        
Net links:              
             
Martin Turnbull ~ Mocambo: The Nightclub’s Nightclub                        
Night at the Mocambo ~ Marilyn Monroe & Ella Fitzgerald  
              
YouTube links:              
             
Baracoa              
Almendra           
Boteando             
La Yuca              
La Ultima Noche             
Blen! Blen! Blen!
Negra Leono       
Hokey Joe       
              




    
Styrous® ~ Friday, September 8, 2017    














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