Trivia for
I'll Cry Tomorrow (1955) More at IMDbPro »

• According to actress Patty Duke, she made one of her very first movie appearances in this film as a non-speaking extra eating a pretzel. She and Susan Hayward were infamously teamed years later in Valley of the Dolls (1967).
  
  
• Lillian Roth was disappointed that MGM did not ask her to sing for Susan Hayward on the soundtrack. Concurrently with the movie's release, Epic Records issued an album of Lillian reprising tunes associated with her career in vaudeville, on Broadway and in Hollywood. The LP used the same title - "I'll Cry Tomorrow" - as Miss Roth's 1954 autobiography (co-written with Mike Connolly and Gerold Frank, plus the 1955 biopic. Lillian's album did not include the film's promotional song (music by Alex North, lyrics by Johnny Mercer), a mournful ballad sung by Susan Hayward, backed by Johnny Green and His Quartette. Initially, the Hayward cut was released by MGM Records on both a 45-rpm single (flip side: Cole Porter's "Just One of Those Things") and on a five-selection EP. In 2004, the commercial theme recorded by Susan was reissued on the full soundtrack CD by Film Score Monthly.
  
  
• Deleted from the movie was Susan Hayward singing "I'm Sitting on Top of the World" (music by Ray Henderson, lyrics by Sam Lewis and Joe Young). Miss Hayward's prerecording was first released by MGM Records on a contemporary five-selection EP. In 2004, the ditty was included on the complete soundtrack CD, issued by Film Score Monthly.
  
  
• Hollywood actresses in contention to play Lillian Roth included June Allyson (who nearly won the role), Grace Kelly, Janet Leigh, Jane Wyman, Jean Simmons, Jane Russell and Piper Laurie.
  
  
• Pryor to filming, Susan Hayward took the opportunity to study Lillian Roth's vocal style, tone and delivery when Miss Roth performed in Las Vegas. Moreover, the two women became friends during the production.
  
  
• Appearing together for the only time on film were Eddie Albert (playing Burt McGuire) and his wife Margo (portraying Selma). The couple were wed from December 5, 1945 until Margo's death on July 17, 1985.
  
  
• MGM had hired vocalist Sandy Ellis to sing for Susan Hayward, but after listening to Miss Hayward's rehearsal tracks, the movie's creative team chose instead to use her own singing voice, which had been dubbed earlier by Peg La Centra in Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman (1947), and by Jane Froman in With a Song in My Heart (1952). Initially, Miss Ellis had prerecorded two standards: "When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along" (music and lyrics by Harry M. Woods) and "Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe" (music by Harold Arlen, music by E.Y. Harburg). Both Ellis prerecordings plus all the Hayward vocals are featured on the complete soundtrack CD issued by Film Score Monthly in 2004.
  
  
• Earning nearly $8,000,000, this picture became the fourth-highest moneymaker of 1956.
  
  
• In March 1955, The Hollywood Reporter wrote that nine-year-old Lana Wood had tested to play Lillian Roth as a child. In May, the trade paper noted that Thelma Ritter was being considered for the role of Lillian's mother Katie.
  
  
• Charles Walters, announced as the director, bowed out of the project when his first choice for lead actress, June Allyson, lost the part to Susan Hayward. Upon her casting, Miss Hayward requested Daniel Mann to direct, and Susan also wanted and received script revisions.
  
  
• In its poster art for the film, MGM proclaimed that "Susan Hayward Sings" -- in a similar vein to the studio's earlier "Garbo Talks" slogan for Anna Christie (1930).
  
  
• In her second autobiography published in 1958, "Beyond My Worth," Lillian Roth noted that although her mother Katie spoke with a Boston accent, Jo Van Fleet portrayed Katie as sounding ethnically Eastern European Jewish.
  
  

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