Double Feature: Million Dollar Mermaid and Love Me or Leave Me

There are almost too many similarities between these two films to list, but here goes: Both were produced and released by MGM, both were made in the fifties, both were musicals, and both feature women who performed with the Ziegfield Follies, had controlling husbands, and had taboo lives that got splashed across the headlines. These were vehicles for swimmer Esther Williams and songstress Doris Day, and both the women they played were still alive when their films were produced, (though one was unhappy with their casting.) Each of these films proved to be colorful, daring, and inspiring. Ruth Etting and Annette Kellerman were broads who didn’t fear the opinions of early 20th century America, in all its glory, and they proved themselves time and time again, which is the best similarity of all.

Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) dir. Mervyn LeRoy

This was the perfect vehicle for swimming sensation and MGM star Esther Williams. (MGM scribes had been running themselves ragged trying to figure out ways to get Williams in the water during previous productions.) Williams expressed interest in this phenomenal story, and after meeting the then sixty-eight year old Kellerman, the film swiftly began production. Annette Kellerman has the most unimaginable life story of all time: she drummed up publicity for herself by swimming 26 miles to Greenwich, then fought against Victorian dress codes when she was arrested at a public beach for wearing a short sleeved one piece bathing suit. She used the excitement over the ensuing court battle to open an exhibit on the pier at Coney Island, and then starred in her own water ballet show with the Ziegfield Follies. Eventually she became a silent film star with the release of Neptune’s Daughter, and married her manager, who she remained married to up until his death in 1975.

Esther Williams, a strong woman in her own right, was the absolute perfect choice to play the Australian swimmer. The film is broken up into diegetic scenes that follow Kellerman’s career, so the first section of the film is entirely centered on the biopic, but the last third is all musical numbers. Busby Berkeley, the world renowned director of such musicals as 42nd Street and Gold Diggers of 1933, took charge of the water ballet scenes, and they are as stunning as you would expect. The film was also nominated for Best Cinematography at the 1952 Oscars, and is often used as a film school example of the best use of Technicolor. This film’s title became Williams’ moniker after the film became a box office smash, and she went on to write a 1999 autobiography of the same name.

The only part of the film that lags is the constant focus on Kellerman’s relationship with her manager, James Sullivan (Victor Mature). Sullivan comes across as an insecure twerp who lets the woman of his dreams slip through his fingers time and time again, all because he can’t deal with her success. While they easily fall in love, their actual courtship is fraught with jealousy, betrayal, and hurt feelings, which never really get resolved. If the planned sequel had been made we would have seen where Kellerman and her husband end up, as well as her later work with the Red Cross. If the film was made today it surely would have solely focused on her achievements and struggles, rather than the issues stemming from her relationship with an insecure man baby.

Love Me or Leave Me (1955) dir. Charles Vidor

Before I finally saw this film, and 1953’s Calamity Jane, I honestly detested Doris Day’s films. She always plays the virginal stick in the mud who mishandles her personal life and engages in buffoonery on a constant basis (and not in the cute Sandra Bullock way either.) Of course now I know that I was just watching the wrong films. Doris Day is best watched when she gets to sing, when she isn’t in a sex comedy, and when she is subverting norms. I bring up Calamity Jane because it subverts gender norms and sneaks by that times’ morality laws in order to offer a veiled look at a lesbian lead character. Love Me or Leave Me is a film about major songstress and Ziegfield star Ruth Etting, a kept woman who used a gangster to rise through the ranks of the Chicago nightclub scene whilst drinking, swearing, and wearing the skimpiest possible costumes. Though still not as shocking as something like Chicago, this was quite shocking to many when it came out, and was the definitely the aforementioned musical’s predecessor.

Doris Day is paired with James Cagney, a man who was and still is best known for playing song and dance men and gangsters. Here he plays both for the role of Martin Snyder. Using his resources and muscle, Martin gets his lover a job singing in a club, then gets her a radio show, and finally a spot with the Ziegfield Follies, the biggest show in the country. Though Ruth never loved Martin she relented to his affections and married him, a storyline that Day would never have attempted in previous films. (Apparently she would often get letters from fellow Christian Scientists decrying the performance, and she wrote back to every single one explaining the need for realism.) She falls for her piano player (Cameron Mitchell), and the ensuing craziness is almost too amazing to believe really happened.

Overall, this is a beautifully shot Technicolor film, helmed by a veteran director who knew how to use his cast to the best of their abilities. Though Etting didn’t approve of Doris Day playing her, I believe she fits well within the film’s aesthetic and large production numbers, in a way that she wasn’t always allowed to capture onscreen. The songs were updated for a 1950s audience’s sensibilities, and Day is absolutely magnetic in her performance. This is where she belongs, where she always hits her sweet spot, and audiences agreed. The film was a box office success, it won the Academy Award for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story and was nominated for many other awards. This film was also nominated for three separate AFI Top 100 lists, and the BFI’s list of top musicals of all time. Cagney also listed this as one of his all-time favorite roles, though he starred in sixty some films.

Choosing only one film to recommend is an impossible task. I believe that the audience member who enjoys one will easily enjoy the other. If you love the spectacle of Old Hollywood and hearing stories about phenomenal women beating the odds time and time again, you’ll love both of these MGM classics. These are also great choices to watch if you haven’t yet been introduced to the work of Esther Williams or Doris Day, two stars who aren’t as beloved in recent times as they deserve to be.