Gloria Swanson insisted on doing the sequence with the lions herself, even after deMille had scrapped the idea for safety reasons. According to Swanson, there were two trainers on set, along with Swanson's father.
At the premiere of this film, Gloria Swanson once said she heard somebody ask of the lions "I wonder which one is stuffed." According to Swanson, all the lions were real, and very dangerous.
Based (but altered considerably) on James Barrie's play, "The Admirable Crichton." The play originally opened in London on 4 November 1902.
Paramount Pictures' biggest hit of 1919.
The leopard, which Thomas Meighan is carrying in the movie, was actually a real, living leopard. It had killed a man in a nearby zoo, and was to be put to sleep, but De Mille refused to have it killed. They then drugged the Leopard with chloroform, and let the actor act out a scene, carrying the leopard on his shoulder.
The original Broadway production of the play the screen play was based on, "The Admirable Crichton", was written by J.M. Barrie (author of "Peter Pan"), opened at the Lyceum Theater on November 17, 1903 and ran for 144 performances. The play starred William Gillette, noted play author and first actor to portray the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes.