Both Frank Mayo and Jim Thorpe are in studio records/casting call lists as actors in this movie, but neither of them were seen.
Rogers bought the rights to the story for $10,000 in 1933. It was Fox's biggest grosser in 1935.
Rogers' boat, "Claremore Queen," was named after his home town of Claremore, Oklahoma.
The film was released shortly after Will Rogers' death on 15 August 1935 from an airplane crash near Point Barrow, Alaska. Originally, the ending of the film had him waving goodbye to the character played by Irvin S. Cobb, but the ending was changed to avoid the audience thinking he was saying goodbye to them, which may have caused them to leave the theater in tears.