The character of Alvin was based on the popular newspaper columnist Walter Winchell.
The film debut for Dick Powell.
The original Broadway show starred Roger Pryor as Alvin Roberts. In the film version, Isabel Jewell (in her film debut as Dorothy Lane), Allen Jenkins (as Frankie Wells) and Milton Wallace (as Joe Moskowitz) all recreated the roles they created on the stage.
The original play opened in New York on 12 February 1932.
The photograph that Lee Tracy shows to Allen Jenkins as he describes the torments of the electric chair is genuine. It shows Ruth Snyder at the very moment of electrocution in the chair in 1928 and was taken by a reporter with a hidden camera strapped to his ankle. Just as the switch was pulled he crossed his legs and took the shot.
This movie was originally intended to star James Cagney.