Final film of Fats Waller. On December 15, 1943, less than five months after the film's July 21 opening in Manhattan, Waller, age 39, died of pneumonia on a train stopped at Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri. Having fallen ill during an engagement at the Zanzibar Room in Hollywood, he had boarded the Santa Fe Chief in Los Angeles and was headed for New York City.
Cab Calloway' s zoot suit was screaming yellow in a black and white film. It can be seen partially on the original three-sheet poster, and a photo of him wearing it was used on a "Best of" CD cover.
The original prints of this film were in sepiatone. Unfortunately, only plain black and white prints have been used for broadcast and DVD release.
Two musical numbers were deleted from the release print: "Good-for-Nothin' Joe" (music by Rube Bloom, lyrics by Ted Koehler), sung by Lena Horne, who already was identified with this torch song via her 1941 Victor recording as the vocalist with Charlie Barnet and His Orchestra; and "Alfred the Moocher," a parody by Cab Calloway of his trademark "Minnie the Moocher" (music and lyrics by Calloway, Irving Mills and Clarence Gaskill). The Alfred being spoofed likely is renowned film composer and music director Alfred Newman. Only a voice track of the send-up remains. On a V-Disc of selections from the film made by Miss Horne with the Calloway band, "Good-for-Nothin' Joe" was included.