"Lux Radio Theater" broadcast a 60 minute radio adaptation of the movie on
March 9, 1942 with Barbara Stanwyck and Charles Coburn reprising their film roles.
Preston Sturges wrote the script in Reno, Nevada, while awaiting his third divorce.
At the beginning Henry Fonda makes references to the help of a "Professor Marsdit". Raymond L. Ditmars of the AMNH at the time was the best-known reptile expert in the country, the kind of popularizer that Carl Sagan later became.
It was hibernation season during the shoot so Emma the king snake was always sleeping while also shedding her skin. Needless to say, she was very uncooperative.
One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by MCA ever since.
The check that that Henry Fonda's character, Charles Pike, writes to Charles Coburn, playing "Colonel" Harrington, is dated August 29. August 29th is director Preston Sturges' birthday.
This film was selected to the National Film Registry, Library of Congress, in 1994.
When Muggsy places a brush over his face and imitates Hitler, he is really speaking Swedish. Directly translated he is saying: "Bad boy I'm going to hit you on the jaw".