In 1955, after seven years as a major star at Warner Brothers and a string of successful films, Doris Day began to free lance. The first project she chose was a lavish musical biography at MGM entitled, “Love Me or Leave Me”. It was the story of 20’s and 30’s chaunteuse, Ruth Etting and her relationship with Marty “The Gimp” Snyder. It opened that summer to critical and box-office kudos.
The well-fashioned script pulls no punches in it’s depiction of the sometimes seamy and tawdry lives of it’s principal characters. Etting and Snyder often used one another for their own personal gain and, for a change, the film doe not gloss over some of the less than savory aspects of their lives. The result is one of the best musical dramas ever committed to film.