Modern sources state that a preview of the film had such a bad reception that M-G-M production head Irving Thalberg decided to re-shoot part of the picture, dropping Johnny Mack Brown as Carl and re-shoot it with Clark Gable. At that point, Brown's career in mainstream feature films at MGM ended and he transitioned to 'B' westerns.
Marjorie Rambeau, who played one of Crawford's fellow showgirls would play Crawford's mother 22 years later and receive an Oscar® nomination for her role in a musical film called Torch Song (1953), ironically, the title of the original story "Laughing Sinners" is based on.
Kenyon Nicholson's play, "Torch Song," opened on 27 August 1930 on Broadway in New York City. Guy Kibbee originated the role of Cass Wheeler in that production.
Laughing Sinners (1931) did well at the box office, earning a profit of $156,000 ($2.48M in 2016) for MGM according to studio records.
This was Mary Ann Jackson's first film after leaving the Our Gang series. She played an uncredited "Betty."