Love Me or Leave Me

• OSCAR WINNER:
• Best Screenplay

Brilliant performances by Doris Day and James Cagney highlight the story of jazz singing sensation Ruth Etting and the vicious Chicago hood who controlled her life.

Roaring ’20s songstress Ruth Etting (Day) had everything—the looks, the wiles, the smoky jazz voice, the it-factor. She also had Chicago racketeer Martin “The Gimp” Snyder (Cagney) who, even as he propelled her career, also mistreated and undermined her.

Laced with Day’s vibrant performances of songs from the era, this 1955 Academy Award winner is based on the tough-minded tale of Etting’s life with the man who boosted her career with strong-armed tactics and smothered her in an obsessive grip that she escaped only at great peril.