The original Broadway production of "The Seven Year Itch" by George Axelrod opened at the Fulton Theater on November 20, 1952 and ran for 1141 performances. Tom Ewell reprises his role in the movie. The play's author collaborated on the screenplay for the movie version.
The screenplay was adapted from the original Broadway show "The Seven Year Itch" which was written by George Axelrod. The original Broadway show starred Tom Ewell (who reprised his role as the imaginative Richard Sherman) and Vanessa Brown. When the project was moved from Paramount to 20th Century Fox, Brown was replaced by top sex symbol Marilyn Monroe for the film adaptation. Due to the Hays Office Production Code censorship rules, the racy dialogue and sexual innuendos were significantly toned down from the play.
Wilder preferred shooting in black-and-white, but Monroe's Fox contract called for all of her films to be shot in color.