The plot of this movie, in which a Hollywood studio searches for an actress to play the lead role in the movie version of a best-selling novel, was inspired by the famous search for Scarlett O'Hara. From 1937-39, over 1400 actresses were interviewed by MGM, and production was delayed for two years, before Vivien Leigh was cast in the lead role in Gone with the Wind (1939).
The film abounds with in-jokes, many related to 'Gone with the Wind'. The PR chief and Tyrone Power's boss is called Whitney, possibly a reference to millionaire Jock Whitney, a major investor in Selznick International Inc. who put up half the money for the $50,000 option on Margaret Mitchell's novel "Gone with the Wind," then invested more money for its production. The studio boss (heard only on the telephone and not named) signs off with "I'll send a memo" - a clear reference to Selznick who was famous for communicating with everyone by lengthy memoranda. The big dance number "Back to Back" is possibly a sly joke by Irving Berlin at his own expense; Berlin's biggest dance hit was "Cheek to Cheek" in "Top Hat", the Astaire-Rogers classic made 4 years earlier.
In a scene in Bergen, Minnesota, a townswoman asks Tyrone Power, "Who does Don Ameche really love?" Power replies, "Mrs. Ameche." This was an inside joke, since Tyrone Power had previously co-starred with Don Ameche in four movies, including In Old Chicago (1938) and Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938), while Sonja Henie had appeared with Ameche in One in a Million (1936) and Happy Landing (1938).
The world premiere showing was at the Roxy Theatre in New York on 30 June 1939.
(New York Sun, 28 June 1939)
Betsy Burton's debut.