While Spencer Tracy and Jean Harlow play an engaged couple in this film, it was Harlow and William Powell who were contemplating marriage off screen during production. Unfortunately, Harlow would die the following year, before she and Powell could wed. She was only 26 years old.
Reportedly, while shooting the movie, the four stars had become close friends, and William Powell even gave up his old habit of hiding out in his dressing room between scenes so he could join in the fun with the rest of the cast. One of the biggest jokes was a running gag Spencer Tracy played on Myrna Loy, claiming that she had broken his heart with her recent marriage to producer Arthur Hornblow Jr. He even set up an "I Hate Hornblow" table in the studio commissary, reserved for men who claimed to have been jilted by Loy.
Some of the cast and crew travelled to the California mountains during production in order to shoot exteriors of the bucolic scenes. They spent nearly a week living cosily in small cabins, according to Myrna Loy, and enjoying the rustic scenery far from the bright lights of Hollywood. This was where William Powell filmed his bit of slapstick in which he must pretend to be an expert angler in order to impress Connie's father. "It's a hysterical piece of work," praised Loy, "but then Bill was a very gifted man, able to do great comedy and tragedy, everything."
William Powell and Myrna Loy also co-starred in The Great Ziegfeld (1936), another of the Best Film Oscar nominees that year.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
