Morgan Brittany's first feature film.
Rose Marie was considered for the singing voice doubles for Rose.
Although Rosalind Russell's character is always referred to as "Mama Rose" in reviews and discussions of this film, the character is never addressed that way by anyone in the movie; the closest anyone comes is "Madame Rose".
Before the decision was made to dub most of her vocals, Rosalind Russell attempted to do her own singing. The highly unsatisfactory results can be heard as an extra feature on the soundtrack CD. After Ethel Merman's death, a tape of the Russell recordings was found in a box in Merman's closet. Merman, who was infuriated that she'd not been cast in the film, evidently had retained this copy of the Russell vocals as a strange and somewhat vengeful consolation prize.
During the rehearsals for Gypsy, Mervyn LeRoy was not happy with the girl that he had cast to play "Dainty June". (This was before Ann Jillian was cast.) He thought that the actress was not as good of a dancer or singer as Morgan Brittany, who played "Baby June". He tried to make Suzanne look old enough to play "Dainty June" by having Orry-Kelly design older clothes with padding and having her wear high heels, but the transformation didn't work, she still looked too young to play opposite Natalie Wood, so another casting session brought the role to Ann Jillian. Ann was not really a dancer but her voice was spectacular and Mervyn felt that she made a more believable older June.
In the film, the character of Herbie appears early as "Uncle Jocko". This doubling does not exist in the original musical but was done, presumably, to get Karl Malden on screen earlier.
In the original play, June elopes with Tulsa. In the film, she elopes with the otherwise unknown Jerry. While this gave Tulsa (Paul Wallace) an additional final scene with Louise, the substitution otherwise seems inexplicable.
It was widely thought that during the filming of this movie, Rosalind Russell stuck the hat pin through her head, and that when the scene was over she passed out. This is noticeable at the end of the "Some People" when she sings "Well, they can stay and rot!" When she takes the plaque, you can clearly see the other end of the hat pin doesn't stick out. However, her son Lance has stated that this isn't true: "I never heard of this alleged incident from my mother (or father). It's possible that she might have suffered a minor injury, but not anything serious, or I would have heard about it. She was dropped once by the Conga line guys in Wonderful Town and hurt her back, and I heard plenty about that!"
Most of Rosalind Russell's songs were dubbed by Lisa Kirk. However, Russell's voice can be heard in "Mr. Goldstone," the reprise of "Small World," and parts of "Rose's Turn" and the cut "Together Wherever We Go".
One of the many posters hanging on Tessie Tura's dressing room wall is a caricature of Ethel Merman, who created the role of Rose in the Broadway musical version of "Gypsy".
Per the Rhino soundtrack information Rosalind Russell herself sang in the eventually deleted "Together, Wherever We Go" number, not Lisa Kirk.
The original Broadway production of "Gypsy" opened at the Broadway Theater on May 21, 1959 and ran for 702 performances starring Ethel Merman and Jack Klugman. "Gypsy" was nominated for the 1960 Tony Award for the Best Musical.
The stage team had hoped that Warner would cast Judy Garland as Mama Rose and Ann-Margret as Gypsy. The two stars had heavy scheduling conflicts, so the production team passed on both.
Three legendary women were considered to play Mama Rose on film: Broadway's original Rose, Ethel Merman (who was producer-director Mervyn LeRoy's first choice), Judy Garland and Judy Holliday.
Veteran songwriter Jule Styne, who composed the songs for "Gypsy," can be seen during the opening credits leading the orchestra in the overture.