Phillips Lord and his character's name "Seth Parker" appear above the title. They were familiar to 1931 audiences from the radio program on which the film is based. Some RKO executives, however, expressed concern that the radio program appealed only to older folks and that people 15 to 30 years old do not listen to the program and would not go to see the movie.
That's still how we do painting of buoys and traps here in Jonesport--if the brush still works, we just keep on using it until it literally falls apart or becomes totally board-stiff. I once respectfully asked an "old salt" about this, and he explained to me that the heavy sticky salt-water-resistant paint they use hardens and deteriorates paintbrushes almost right away, so they would lose money if they kept buying new ones all the time.
Way Back Home (1931) was Bette Davis' fourth feature film, after Bad Sister (1931), Seed (1931), and Waterloo Bridge (1940), all also from 1931.
Like his contemporary Charles 'Chic' Sale, Phillips Lord was a much younger man playing an old coot; in fact, he was only 29 when the film was made.
This film has been preserved by the Library of Congress.