The Styrous® Viewfinder: I'll Cry Tomorrow

June 30, 2017

45 RPMs 14: I'll Cry Tomorrow ~ Susan Hayward @ 100

Susan Hayward

was born 100 years ago today,

June 30, 1917

I'll Cry Tomorrow ~ soundtrack

45 RPM vinyl record cover detail

detail photo of album by Styrous®

I'll Cry Tomorrow (1955) is a biopic which tells the story of Lillian Roth, an American singer, actress and Broadway star who rebels against her domineering mother and after the death of her fiancé she becomes an alcoholic. It stars Susan Hayward, Richard Conte, Eddie Albert, Margo, and Jo Van Fleet. The film, is based on Roth's autobiography, I'll Cry Tomorrow, written with author-collaborator Gerold Frank in 1954. It was one of many films Hayward made that came to be known as "Sob Sister" movies.

I'll Cry Tomorrow ~ soundtrack

45 RPM vinyl record front cover

photo of album by Styrous®

It was during the making of trial recordings for I'll Cry Tomorrow with Johnny Green, General Musical Director of M-G-M Studios, that Hayward's singing voice first came to light. Rich, throaty and mellow, it throbs with all the "heart" one would expect and, amazingly, controlling this deep, warm quality is a vocal technique as polished as if she had been recording for years.

Some of the songs made popular by Lillian Roth in the 1930's were: Sing, You Sinners, When the Red, Red Robin (Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along), and I'm Sitting on Top of the World (YouTube links below).

I'll Cry Tomorrow ~ soundtrack

45 RPM vinyl record back cover

photo of album by Styrous®

The screenplay was adapted by Helen Deutsch and Jay Richard Kennedy from the 1954 autobiography by Lillian Roth, Mike Connolly and Gerold Frank. It was directed by Daniel Mann. The film won the Academy Award for Costume Design for Helen Rose, and was entered into the 1956 Cannes Film Festival.

I'll Cry Tomorrow poster

Susan Hayward was born Edythe Marrenner in Brooklyn, New York, the youngest of three children, to Ellen (née Pearson) and Walter Marrenner. Her paternal grandmother was an actress, Kate Harrigan, from County Cork, Ireland. Her mother was of Swedish descent.

I'll Cry Tomorrow ~ soundtrack

45 RPM vinyl record back cover

photo of album by Styrous®

After working as a fashion model, Hayward traveled to Hollywood in 1937. She secured a film contract and played several small supporting roles over the next few years. Her career continued successfully through the 1950s and she received Academy Award nominations for My Foolish Heart (1949), With a Song in My Heart (1952), and I'll Cry Tomorrow (1955).

Susan Hayward 1940's

Publicity photo

Hayward was diagnosed with brain cancer in 1973. On March 14, 1975, she suffered a seizure in her Beverly Hills home and died at the age of 57. A funeral service was held on March 16 at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Roman Catholic Church in Carrollton, Georgia, Hayward's body was buried in the church's cemetery.

Hayward may have developed cancer from radioactive fallout from atmospheric atomic bomb tests while making The Conqueror with John Wayne in St. George, Utah. Several production members, as well as Wayne himself, Agnes Moorehead, Pedro Armendáriz, and its director Dick Powell, later succumbed to cancer and cancer-related illnesses. The cast and crew totaled 220 people. By the end of 1980, as ascertained by People, 91 of them had developed some form of cancer and 46 had died of the disease.

I'll Cry Tomorrow ~ soundtrack

45 RPM vinyl record, side 1

photo by Styrous®

Susan Hayward has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6251 Hollywood Boulevard. The Walk of Fame is administered by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and maintained by the self-financing Hollywood Historic Trust.

According to MGM records the film made $5,873,000 in the US and Canada and $1,854,000 elsewhere, resulting in a profit of $2,933,000.

I'll Cry Tomorrow ~ soundtrack

45 RPM vinyl record label, side 1

photo by Styrous®

In 1958, Lillian Roth published a second book, Beyond My Worth, which was not as successful as its predecessor, but told the compelling story of what it was like to be placed on a pedestal that she could not always live up to. Roth had managed to re-invent herself as a major concert and nightclub performer. She appeared at venues in Las Vegas, the Copacabana in New York City and was a popular attraction in Australia.

On April 5, 1958, Roth was interviewed by Mike Wallace, She talked of her battle with alcoholism, religion, psychoanalysis, Alcoholics Anonymous, and her book, Beyond My Worth. (link below).

I'll Cry Tomorrow ~ soundtrack

45 RPM vinyl record, side 2

detail photo by Styrous®

Roth died from a stroke in 1980, at the age of 69. The inscription on her marker in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Westchester County, New York, reads: "As bad as it was it was good."

I'll Cry Tomorrow ~ soundtrack

45 RPM vinyl record label, side 2

photo by Styrous®

Tracklist:

Side 1:

A1 - Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe, written by Arlen-Harburg

A2 - The Vagabond King Waltz / I'm Sittin' On Top Of The World, written by Friml-Hooker, Henderson-Lewis-Young

Side 2:

B1 - Sing You Sinners, written by Coslow*, Harling*

B2 - When The Red Red Robin Comes Bob Bob Bobbin Along, written by Woods*


Credits:

Music by - Alex North

    Conductor – Charles Henderson
choral director (uncredited) - Jeff Alexander
orchestrator: Alex North (uncredited) - Maurice De Packh
conductor (uncredited) - Johnny Green
    cello (uncredited) - Alex Alexander
    viola (uncredited) - Virginia Majewski
    guitar (uncredited) - Jack Marshall
piano (uncredited) - Max Rabinowitz
piano (uncredited) - Milton Raskin
trumpet (uncredited) - Uan Rasey
trombone (uncredited) - Si Zentner

Notes:

The songs, taken from the sound track of "I'll Cry Tomorrow," were arranged by Charles Henderson who also conducted the accompanying M-G-M Studio Orchestra.

Susan Hayward ‎– I'll Cry Tomorrow
Label: MGM Records ‎– X1180
Format: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, EP
Country: US
Released: 1955
Genre: Stage & Screen
Style: Soundtrack

Net links:

I'll Cry Tomorrow Plot
I'll Cry Tomorrow Cast

Susan Hayward Filmography
Lillian Roth Filmography

Lillian Roth Broadway shows
Lillian Roth ~ Mike Wallace interview (1958)

YouTube links:

Susan Hayward ~
When the Red, Red Robin (Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along)

The Vagabond King Waltz & I'm Sittin' On Top of the World
Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe

Sing You Sinners
What Happened to Susan Hayward?
Lillian Roth ~ Sing You Sinners

Mitzi Green & Lillian Roth ~ Sing You Sinners

Lillian Roth ~ Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe

"When you're dead, you're dead.
Being remembered isn't the most important thing . . .
It's what you do when you are here that's important"
~ Susan Hayward

"As bad as it was it was good."
~ Lillian Roth

Styrous® ~ Friday, June 30, 2017

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June 30, 2017

45 RPMs 14: I'll Cry Tomorrow ~ Susan Hayward @ 100