Lou Costello always suspected that their studio, Universal Pictures, wasn't giving he and Bud Abbott the agreed-upon share of the profits the studio made from their films (a suspicion later proven--as a result of legal action they took against the studio--to be true). Therefore, he developed a habit of picking out furniture he liked from the sets of their films and taking them home, considering it payback for what he believed to be Universal's cheating. One day director Charles Lamont showed up on the set to shoot a scene at the ice skating rink only to discover that all the wrought-iron patio furniture that had been there the previous day had disappeared. Costello denied any knowledge of it, and Lamont said he would shoot no more scenes until the furniture was returned. A compromise was finally reached whereby Costello would bring back the furniture, the scene would be shot, and then he would be allowed to take all of the furniture back home.
The film was started by director Erle C. Kenton. However, he and Lou Costello clashed on several occasions, and Kenton was fired and replaced by Charles Lamont.
After completing production, Lou Costello was stricken with rheumatic fever. This would be the last new Bud Abbott and Costello film for more than a year.
Production began on 11/23/42, just 2-1/2 weeks after the birth of Lou Costello's only son, the ill-fated Lou Costello Jr.--who drowned in the family's swimming pool less than a year later--giving unintended poignancy to the scene in which, after a mix-up in the hospital, Costello is told that he just gave birth to a baby boy.
Sun Valley, ID, is a resort town that was built in the 1930s next to Ketchum. It was the first destination winter resort in the US. After the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, NY, Averell Harriman, chairman of the Union Pacific Railroad, began efforts to locate a winter vacation site in the US--one that would be served by his railroad. He hired an Austrian ski expert to search for a site. Sun Valley was picked and so named, and construction on the resort begun. The Sun Valley Lodge opened to the public on 12/21/36.