AM I THAT
EASY TO FORGET?
DEBBIE
REYNOLDS
SONGWRITER:
CARL BELEW; W. STEVENSON & W. S. STEVENSON
COUNTRY:
U.S.A.
ALBUM: AM
I THAT EASY TO FORGET
LABEL: SONY
MUSIC
GENRE: POP
YEAR:
1975
Mary
Frances Reynolds, better known as Debbie Reynolds(April 1, 1932 – December
28, 2016), was an American actress and singer. Reynolds was born in El Paso, Texas. She
starred in many television programs and movies. She also had many songs and albums during
her career.
On
December 28, 2016, Reynolds died at the Cedars-Sinai
Medical Center in Los Angeles, California from a cerebral
hemorrhage with hypertension being a
factor, aged 84. This was one day after her daughter Carrie Fisher died.
Her
recording of the song "Tammy"
(1957; from Tammy and the
Bachelor), earned her a gold record,
and was the best-selling single by a female vocalist in 1957. It was number one
for five weeks on the Billboard pop charts. In the movie (the first of the Tammy film series), she
co-starred with Leslie Nielsen.
Reynolds
also scored two other top-25 Billboard hits with "A Very Special Love"
(#20 in January 1958) and "Am I That
Easy to Forget" (#25 in March 1960)—a
pop-music version of a country-music hit made famous by Carl Belew(in
1959), Skeeter Davis (in 1960), and several years later by singer Engelbert
Humperdinck.
In 1991,
she released an album titled The Best of Debbie Reynolds.
Reynolds
was first discovered by talent scouts from Warner Bros. and MGM who were at the 1948 Miss
Burbank contest. Both companies wanted her to sign up with their studio and had
to flip a coin to see which one got her. Warner
won the coin toss, and she was with the studio for two years. When Warner
Brothers stopped producing musicals, she moved to MGM.
With MGM,
Reynolds regularly appeared in movie musicals during the 1950s and had several hit records during the period. Her
song "Aba Daba Honeymoon"
(featured in the film Two Weeks
with Love (1950) and sung as a duet with
co-star Carleton Carpenter)
was the first soundtrack recording to become a top-of-the-chart gold record,
reaching number three on the Billboard charts.
Gene Kelly,
Reynolds, and Donald O'Connor during the Singin' in
the Rain trailer(1952)
Her
performance in the film greatly impressed the studio, which then gave her a
co-starring role in what would become her highest-profile film, Singin' in
the Rain(1952), a satire on movie making in Hollywood
during the transition from silent to sound pictures. It co-starred Gene Kelly, whom
she called a "great dancer and cinematic genius," adding, "He
made me a star. I was 18 and he taught me how to dance and how to work hard and
be dedicated." In 1956, she appeared in Bundle of Joy with her then-husband, Eddie Fisher.
Her
starring role in The
Unsinkable Molly Brown(1964) led to a nomination for
the Academy Award
for Best Actress. Reynolds noted that she
initially had issues with its director, Charles Walters.
"He didn't want
me," she said. "He wanted Shirley MacLaine,"
who at the time was unable to take the role. "He said 'You are totally wrong for the
part." But six weeks into production, he reversed his opinion. "He
came to me and said, "I have to admit that I was wrong. You are playing
the role really well. I'm pleased." Reynolds also
played in Goodbye Charlie, a 1964
comedy film about a callous womanizer who gets his just reward. It was adapted
from George Axelrod's play Goodbye,
Charlie and also starred Tony Curtis and Pat Boone.
She next
portrayed Jeanine Deckers in The Singing
Nun(1966). In what Reynolds once called the
"stupidest mistake of my entire career", she made headlines in 1970
after instigating a fight with the NBC television network over cigarette
advertising on her weekly television
show. Although she was television's highest paid
female performer at the time, she quit the show for breaking its contract: I
was shocked to discover that the initial commercial aired during the premiere
of my new series was devoted to a nationally advertised brand of cigarette
(Pall Mall). I fully outlined my personal feelings concerning cigarette
advertising... that I will not be a party to such commercials which I consider
directly opposed to health and well-being.
Marquee
listing Reynolds's world premiere at the Riviera Hotel,
Las Vegas, December 1962
For ten years, she headlined for about three months a
year in Las Vegas's Riviera Hotel. She enjoyed live shows even though that type
of performing "was extremely strenuous," she said.
With a performing schedule of two shows a night, seven
nights a week, it's probably the toughest kind of show business. But in my
opinion, the most rewarding. I like the feeling of being able to change stage
bits and business when I want. You can't do that in motion pictures or TV.
As part of her nightclub act, Reynolds was noted for
doing impressions of celebrities such as Eva and Zsa Zsa Gabor, Mae West,
Barbra Streisand, Phyllis Diller, and Bette Davis. Her
impersonation of Davis was inspired following their co-starring roles in the
1956 film, The Catered Affair.
Reynolds had started doing stage impersonations as a teenager; her
impersonation of Betty Hutton was
performed as a singing number during the Miss Burbank contest in 1948.
Reynolds'
last album was a Christmas record with Donald O'Connor entitled Chrissy the Christmas Mouse arranged and conducted by
Angelo DiPippo.
They say you've found
somebody new
But that won't stop my
loving you
I just can't let you walk
away
Forget the love I had for
you
Guess I could find
somebody, too
But I don't want no one but
you
How could you leave without
regret?
Am I that easy to forget?
Before you leave be sure
you find
You want her (his) love
much more than mine
'Cause I'll just say we've
never met
If I'm that easy to forget
Before you leave be sure
you find
You want her (his) love
much more than mine
'Cause I'll just say we've
never met
If I'm that easy to forget
If I'm that easy to forget.
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