Lauren Bacall's character, Schatze, says, "I've always liked older men... Look at that old fellow what's-his-name in The African Queen. Absolutely crazy about him." She is referring to Bacall's real-life husband, Humphrey Bogart.
Zoe Akins's play, "The Greeks Had a Word for It," opened on Broadway in New York City, New York, USA on 25 September 1930 and closed in May 1931 after 253 performances. The opening night cast included Verree Teasdale, Muriel Kirkland and Dorothy Hall. Dale Eunson's and Katherine Albert's play, "Loco," opened on Broadway in New York City, New York, USA on 16 October 1946 and closed on 16 November 1946 after 37 performances. The opening night cast included Jean Parker as Loco. Parts of this play were added to beef up Betty Grable's part in the movie.
Before becoming a major Hollywood success, Lauren Bacall worked as a model for several years of her teenage life while auditioning for roles on Broadway. The modeling she did is exactly like that of her character Ms. Paige, showing pieces for clients.
Hollywood legend has it that Marilyn Monroe, then rocketing to major stardom, was befriended during filming by Betty Grable, who offered Marilyn this encouragement: "Honey, I've had mine. Go get yours."
In one scene the three women are talking to each other about who they would like to marry. Marilyn Monroe's character says she wouldn't mind marring Mr. Cadillac. Lauren Bacall's character replies "No such person, I checked". There was a Mr. Cadillac. He was the French governor of Canada (founded the city of Detroit and in 1710 was named the governor of Louisiana). The Cadillac was named for him and his surname lives on in the form of his descendants.
On the plane, Pola is reading a book called "Murder By Strangulation" which is how Marilyn Monroe's character met her demise in Niagara.
One of the first films to have its score recorded in stereo.
Signed to Twentieth Century-Fox since October 35, 1939, Betty Grable informed the studio chief Darryl F. Zanuck during production that she would not commit to the remaining three years of her latest contract. On June 3, 1953, a studio press release announced the official split. Returning only once to Fox, Betty would star in How to Be Very, Very Popular, a vehicle in which Marilyn refused to appear and was replaced by Sheree North. Two unfulfilled proposals to have Miss Grable film again at Fox were the mother role (subsequently played by Ginger Rogers) in Teenage Rebel and then in 1964, another mom part in a project ultimately canceled named "High Heels."
The on-screen orchestra at the beginning plays music that was composed by Alfred Newman for the 1931 film Street Scene. The music was also used in 20th Century-Fox's I Wake Up Screaming, also with Betty Grable, and in Gentleman's Agreement.
This film features approximately 254 shots over 88 minutes of action. Thus on average each shot lasts about 21 seconds. This is quite high, even for 1953.
This film was the final box-office bonanza in Betty Grable's 26-year movie career. According to a 1995 biography of Miss Grable, "The Girl With the Million Dollar Legs," written by Tom McGee, business would be fairly strong for Betty's next picture, Three for the Show, but her last feature, How to Be Very, Very Popular, was tagged, in Betty's own words, "a turkey."
This film's plot is similar to The Greeks Had a Word for Them, in which 15-year-old Betty Grable showed up briefly as a hatcheck girl, and also to Moon Over Miami, one of Miss Grable's most popular Technicolor vehicles.
This is Twentieth Century-Fox's first CinemaScope feature; however it wasn't released until after The Robe.
This was the first film shown on "NBC Saturday Night at the Movies", 23 September 1961, the first television program to exclusively broadcast relatively recent theatrical films on US network television, most of them, like this one, in pan/scan versions (there was no television "letterboxing" back then). The idea proved so successful that NBC soon followed it up with another series with the identical format, "Monday Night at the Movies", and it wasn't long before the format was taken up by both CBS and ABC.
When Betty Grable listens to her then-husband Harry James on the radio in Maine, the song playing is "You'll Never Know," which then becomes the love theme for Miss Grable and Rory Calhoun. The Oscar-winning song of 1943 (music by Harry Warren, lyrics by Mack Gordon) had been sung by Alice Faye in two musicals, Hello Frisco, Hello and Four Jills in a Jeep, and then sung by Betty Grable in Diamond Horseshoe, and also sung by Ginger Rogers in Dreamboat.
While Betty Grable received top billing as the credits rolled -- a contractual promise made to her by Twentieth Century-Fox -- Marilyn Monroe was promoted to first place in the trailer and poster art.
Writer and humorist Dorothy Parker's famous quip that "men seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses" was purposely bobbled by screenwriter (and producer) Nunnally Johnson for Marilyn Monroe's character Pola to assert to David Wayne (as Freddie) that "you know, men are seldom attentive to girls who wear glasses."